Who's Next? Sep 25, 2026

Welcome to the first issue of Bridging the Gap.


It's been a big couple of months. The IIJA hit its end date, Texas put $138B on the table, and Tennessee picked a team for a $9.2B P3. What's on my mind most, though, is leadership.
 

Opinion: Who's next?

This summer at MKH Search we went through the leadership teams of every firm on the ENR 2026 Top 400. The short version is that the industry has a succession problem, and most firms aren't talking about it.

 

• More than half of CEOs with a known age are 55+
• The average VP is 50.8 and the average CEO is 56.9, a gap of just 6.1 years
• 77.8% of VPs were promoted from within
• 48% of internal CEOs spent 21+ years at the firm first

 

Long tenure isn't the problem. The problem is a lot of those leaders stepping back at the same time.
 

If your CEO retires at 65 and your VPs are only a few years younger, that isn't succession. It's a relay race with tired runners.
 

If I ran a $300M to $1B firm, I'd be asking four questions. Who could realistically run the company in five years? Is our CEO-to-VP gap closing or widening? Do we have an HR leader at the top table? And when did we last bring in an outside leader?

The firms that plan now get to choose their next leader. The rest will choose in a hurry. Been through a handover? I'd love to hear what worked.

The big stories

IIJA runs out. The stopgap extends it to December 11, but without advance appropriations transit loses about 20% and passenger rail about 81%. My take: plan for a lumpy 2027.

Texas commits $138B. Texas Department of Transportation's 2027 UTP runs over 10 years. My take: contractors will hire ahead of the work, and Texas is already short of supers and PMs.

I-24 P3 picks its team. AECOM, Ferrovial (Cintra and Webber), Transurban Consulting Engineers and Tikehau Star Infra will build $9.2B of toll lanes near Nashville. My take: they'll need US leaders who know design-build.

Texas water keeps coming. Sundt Construction broke ground on the $92M Pecan Creek MBR expansion in Denton. My take: live-site phasing experience is one of the hardest skill sets to hire right now.

Record-low unemployment. AGC reports 3.1% construction unemployment. My take: if craft is this tight, supervisory is tighter.

All three will need bridge supers, engineers and PMs for years.

Regional radar
 

• Texas: the UTP plus I-35 Capital Express Central. Water PMs with plant experience are in a great spot.
• Florida: Garney's $1.2B One Water South is underway. Construction is 5.7% of state GDP.
• Gulf South: Louisiana had the fastest construction job growth in the US (+12.7%).
• Tennessee: it's all about I-24. Expect Webber, a Ferrovial company to be hiring in Nashville.
• Carolinas: NC added 17,500 construction jobs year on year.
• Virginia/DC: Hampton Roads wraps by February 2027, freeing up tunnel and marine talent.

By the numbers

Mortenson jumped 12 places into the ENR Top 10. For civil, watch Kiewit , which led on new contracts at $41.4B (29% transportation, 14% water). Construction management (26%) has now overtaken engineering (22.5%) as the most common CEO degree.

 

A day in the life: the traveling super

The day starts with a 5:30 AM hotel breakfast and a 20-mile drive to site. There's a 7:00 briefing and a site walk catching layout issues. Lunch happens in the truck while chasing missing rebar, and the day ends with a 6 PM PM check-in. With Calcasieu, I-24, the Texas UTP and Hampton Roads all moving at once, good traveling supers will have their pick of work. If that's you, let's talk.

 

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Thanks for reading. If there's a region, role or project you'd like covered next time, drop it in the comments. Thinking about your next move, or building a team for what's coming? My inbox is open: 

📩 sophie.booker@mkhsearch.com

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Sources: Planetizen, Roads & Bridges, Construction Dive, AGC, Engineering News-Record 2026 Top 400, The Lane Construction Corporation, Bridge design & engineering, Alabama Department of Transportation, Maryland Matters, Virginia Business. Charts: MKH Search analysis.