Real Estate 2023: BRENDAN BECHTEL

Serving as CEO since 2016 and chairman since 2017, Bechtel is the fifth generation to lead his family-owned global engineering, construction and project management company. Ranked the nation’s second largest construction company by Engineering News-Record, Bechtel Corp. has completed more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries since its 1898 founding in San Francisco.

The firm’s portfolio includes massive infrastructure and industrial projects across the world. In November 2022, Bechtel Corp. was selected to design and build the first phase of Intel’s $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing facility near Columbus, Ohio. Other notable projects include the Ankara-Gerede highway in Turkey and Crossrail’s Elizabeth Line railway in England.

Brendan Bechtel, a Middlebury College and Stanford University graduate with business and engineering degrees, previously served as the company’s president and chief operating officer and was elected chairman at age 36. He sits on the board for the Business Roundtable and chairs its infrastructure committee. He is also a trustee for the National Geographic Society and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.