Kevin Rampe was appointed president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. by New York Governor George Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Rampe had been functioning as interim president since his predecessor Louis Tomson resigned. Prior to joining the LMDC, Rampe served as first deputy superintendent and CEO of the New York State Insurance Department, the largest insurance regulatory agency in the country; before that he was first assistant counsel to Governor Pataki.

Alfred Kovalik was named president of the Connecticut Society of Professional Engineers, which represents 500 licensed engineers in the Constitution State from all disciplines. Kovalik is an associate with Leggette, Brashears & Graham Inc., an environmental engineering services and ground-water consulting firm based in Trunbull, Conn. A licensed engineer in six states, Kovalik also serves as president of Groundworks, a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to the environmental enhancement of Bridgeport’s urban landscape.

Allan Brot became executive vice president of construction and development for the Manhattan-based Builders Group. He is also president and principal of BG Builders, the firm’s base-building division, which focuses on ground-up residential construction and major infrastructure and restoration projects. Prior to joining Builders in 2000, Brot served as head of operations for Esposito Concrete.

Michael Rush joined Cannon Design as vice president. He will be spearheading strategic initiatives for the firm’s New York City office and the entire Northeast. Prior to joining Cannon, Rush was an associate partner with Syska Hennessy Group in New York City. In that capacity, he was the prime consultant on the $6 million renovation of the United Nations General Assembly Hall and the UN’s representative during construction, which included upgrades to the HVAC, a new fire protection system, asbestos abatement, ceiling replacement and new lighting systems.

Sam Gershwin was appointed president of Westminster Communities LLC, the construction division of Kushner Cos., which is based in Florham Park, N.J. with offices in New York City. Westminster currently has 40 projects in various stages of approval and development, mostly in northern New Jersey. Among them are: Horizons at Franklin Lakes, an adult lifestyle rental community; The Mews at Annandale, a rental community in Clinton; and Horizons at East Brunswick, a luxury condominium community.

James Lee Witt is the new CEO of the International Code Council, the 50,000-member organization that develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings. Previously, Witt had served eight years as the director of the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). At the same time that Witt became CEO, Karl Meyer was appointed to the newly created position of ICC chief financial officer.

Also at Cannon Deisgn, Malcolm Lawrie was recently promoted to vice president. He is currently project manager for the $250 million renovation of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan as well as the $18 million Campus Center at State University of New York at Oswego.

Beatrice Ortega, the president and founder of Dot Construction of New York Inc., was named by Professional Women in Construction as its nominee for the Woman of the Future Award at the Galaxy Awards, an annual event held by New York Women’s Agenda to salute outstanding women selected by NYWA’s member organizations. Dot Construction, which was founded in 1998, is based in the Bronx. It is a union shop and has quintupled its gross revenues in the past year to $4 million. It projects a 240 percent increase in contracts for the next fiscal year.

Stephen DePalma, chairman and CEO of Schoor De Palma received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He was recognized in the New Jersey Region, Architectural and Engineering Services category. David Tishman, chairman and CEO of Tishman Construction, Interiors and Technologies and executive vice president of Tishman Realty Corp., received the Humanitarian Award of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Louis Esposito, vice president of HRH Construction was awarded the Italian Board of Guardians Man of the Year Award.

Robert Prieto resigned as chairman of the board of Parson’s Brinckerhoff Inc. to pursue other career opportunities. During his tenure the firm grew to 9000 employees in over 200 corporate and project offices with an annual revenue of $1.3 billion. Prieto will continue his service as a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Business Advisory Council, a position to which he was appointed by President George W. Bush. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Polytechnic University of New York. He lives in Princeton Junction, N.J.