Ali Elnaamani and Lori Jones have been promoted within the Burns & McDonnell family of companies’ regional office in Atlanta. Elnaamani leads the regional team for 1898 & Co., and Jones leads the regional Global Facilities Group for Burns & McDonnell.

Elnaamani has more than 14 years of experience in industrial controls, operational technology cybersecurity, risk, compliance and technology consulting. He has extensive global leadership experience in digitalization and industry 4.0 consulting experience leading and supporting international teams and a wide range of industrial customers. Elnaamani holds a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems, a master’s degree in business administration and information security management and a master’s degree in cybersecurity. He joined 1898 & Co. in April 2021 as the director of industrial cybersecurity, after having previously worked for a Fortune 500 company supporting global startups and growth initiatives.

“With the world increasingly turning to digital solutions and autonomous operations across all industrial sectors, it has been a fulfilling time to join 1898 & Co. and to take on the drastically growing consulting business,” Elnaamani says. “I am excited to tackle this role and work on growing our company’s services in utility consulting, renewables, cybersecurity and technology consulting.”

Jones was promoted to lead and deliver manufacturing, industrial and commercial facilities solutions across the region for Burns & McDonnell. She has more than 20 years of engineering, construction and project management experience working with a wide range of public- and private-sector clients. Throughout her career, Jones has led several large-scale projects in the Southeast, including a $400 million greenfield chemical processing facility in Tennessee.

“It’s thrilling to take on this role to deepen our presence in the region and grow our team,” Jones says. “As a fully integrated design and construction firm, we are uniquely positioned to tackle a wide-range of challenges across the industries including industrial manufacturing, commercial and health care, food and consumer products, mission critical and aerospace.”

Elnaamani and Jones are expected to expand operations across Atlanta, leading to significant job growth in the area. Burns & McDonnell opened its first office in Atlanta in 1997. Since then, the firm has expanded across the region to nine offices:

• Huntsville, Alabama
• Miami, Florida
• Orlando, Florida
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Aiken, South Carolina
• Greenville, South Carolina
• Chattanooga, Tennessee

By the end of 2022, 1898 & Co. plans to double its staff in Atlanta with a total of 30 new hires. The Global Facilities Group in Atlanta plans to double its staff with more than 50 new hires in the next three years.

“We are excited to see the project opportunities across a variety of industries come to fruition with the recent promotions of Ali and Lori,” says Oko Buckle, vice president and general manager of the Atlanta office for Burns & McDonnell. “The Southeast region is in the midst of seeing significant expansion in the number of jobs and opportunities that will come from these two joining our Atlanta operations.”

Backed by an international network of 7,600 professionals, the Burns & McDonnell offices across the Southeast provide a wide range of aviation, construction, electrical transmission and distribution, power generation, manufacturing, mission critical, facility and environmental services. Burns & McDonnell is ranked No. 1 in Power and Transmission and Distribution and is recognized as No. 6 in the top 100 design-build firms by Engineering News-Record. The firm is also ranked as one of the top workplaces in the city, as well as a healthiest workplace and a top engineering firm in Atlanta.