Real Estate: BRENDAN BECHTEL

Bechtel first started working at his family company during summer breaks in high school. After joining full-time, he took on responsibility in field construction, project management and executive leadership. He is the fifth generation of the Bechtels to lead the global engineering, construction and project management company.

Bechtel Group’s portfolio includes massive infrastructure and industrial projects, including the Ankara-Gerede highway in Turkey, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART), Crossrail’s Elizabeth Line railway in England, and large aluminum production facilities in Bahrain and Canada.

In April, the company formed Reston-based Bechtel Manufacturing and Technology, which will focus on engineering, procurement and construction for sectors such as semiconductors and data centers.

Brendan Bechtel served as the company’s president and chief operating officer from 2014 to 2016 before being named CEO in 2016. He was elected chairman the following year, at age 36.

A graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, Bechtel also earned an MBA and a master’s degree in construction engineering and management from Stanford University.

He serves on the Business Roundtable’s board of directors and chairs its Infrastructure Committee. Bechtel also is a trustee of both the National Geographic Society and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.