Orange County Office Leadership

Renita Mollman, PE, LEED AP, leads the Orange County and San Diego offices with 21 years of experience in design and construction of commercial, industrial and aviation projects. Before taking the helm in California in 2009, Mollman was the project manager for the Branson, Mo., GateOne Airport and lead civil engineer for the U.S. Central Command headquarters expansion and renovation at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. Under her leadership, the California offices have expanded work in stormwater systems, renewable energy technologies, environmental studies and permitting, and electrical transmission and distribution. The offices continue to serve all sectors of the aviation industry, building on work at Naval Base Point Loma, China Lake, the Naval Post Graduate School, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center and Naval Air Station North Island. Mollman is a licensed professional engineer in 10 states and is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers. She received her Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines.

Dennis Blackwood, PE, is responsible for the Aviation & Facilities practice in Southern California. He has more than 25 years of experience designing mechanical systems for a variety of facility types. His experience includes HVAC, plumbing and fire protection systems. His projects have ranged from a 315,000-square-foot Veterans Administration skilled nursing facility to 5,000-square-foot dining halls for Beale Air Force Base. He has performed all project engineering and management tasks for industrial, military, commercial, institutional, retail, residential and health care facilities. In addition, he has performed energy audits, commissioning and facility condition assessments. He earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Houston and is a registered professional engineer in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington. 

Dr. Richard Friesen leads the Orange County office's Environmental Studies & Permitting practice. He has more than 35 years of national and international experience as a manager and environmental scientist specializing in environmental policy, planning and regulatory compliance. His solid understanding of consulting is based of work with regulatory agencies, policies and codes of state and federal resource agencies, and diverse environmental market sectors. He leads efforts in monitoring biological mitigations, wildlife management planning, providing expert testimony and other initatives related to the environmental review process. He earned his doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Southern California and his Bachelor of Science in biology from Southern Nazarene University.

Bryan Hughes heads up business development efforts in California. His past work in consulting engineering led him to serve as chairman of the Corrosion Control Committee of the California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association. He has also filled roles with other technical and industry organizations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASTM International and the Water Environment Federation. He was a contributing author and advisory board member to the Zweig White publication Marketing Now, and currently serves in a leadership role with the Society for Marketing Professional Services. Hughes earned a master's in cross-curricular education from National University in 2000 and a Bachelor of Science in aquatic biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1995.

Stephen Kane, PE, PMP, is the region's project director. He has more than 20 years of experience in energy and transmission projects, as well as managing projects in utilities, oil and gas, petrochemical, and brewing industries. At Burns & McDonnell he is responsible for all aspects of program management, including consultation, siting, regulatory compliance, engineering, procurement and construction. Kane has developed a number of project management and project controls initiatives aimed at improving project execution performance. He earned a bachelor's degree in energy engineering from Napier University, United Kingdom, and is a professional engineer registered in Alberta, Canada. He is a project management professional and a member of the Association of Professional Engineering, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta and the Project Management Institute.

Keith Owens, PE, is building the Aviation & Facilities practice in Southern California, concentrating on airport projects in the region. Prior to joining Burns & McDonnell, he was principal engineer of development services and capital improvement projects for the Western Municipal Water District in Riverside, Calif. He managed planning, engineering and construction services of several sewer projects, including a $12.5 million, LEED Silver operations center expansion project. Owens also led various large taxi, runway and landside projects for Los Angeles World Airports, which manages three major airports in California. He earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Long Beach State University.

Phillip Stephenson, LEED AP, leads the Construction/Design-Build practice for the office. He previously served as a project executive. His collaborative approach and leadership fostered more than a decade of continuous work on the Children's Hospital Los Angeles campus, constructing more than 900,000 square feet with a total construction value of more than $575 million. Most recently, he assisted in the collaborative pre-construction management of a 302,000-square-foot, $220 million Redwood City Medical Center replacement tower and central utility plant project. Stephenson is involved with the Los Angeles chapter of the Lean Construction Institute and holds a Lean Six Sigma green belt. He also has been involved with the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering. He is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council. Stephenson earned a Bachelor of Science in construction engineering from Iowa State University.