Brent W. Lippman of Paradise Valley, Ariz., has been appointed to the board of directors for ESS, Tempe, Ariz. For nearly 20 years, Lippman has established a reputation for generating aggressive growth as a CEO or board member of several public and private technology companies. In 1997, he was named CEO of JDA Software Inc., and ESS. Previously, Lippman founded Khimetrics Inc., a U.S.-based provider of enterprise software.

Robert Cox, a communications professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was elected by the Sierra Club’s board of directors to return as president of the nation’s largest environmentalist organization. Cox has been a club leader for more than 25 years, and served as president of the organization twice before, from 2000-2001 and from 1994-1996. He led the club in launching its Training Academy for grassroots organizers, expanding its environmental justice program and reaching out to more diverse members. He also nurtured the club’s Blue-Green alliance with unions, and secured funding for the Sierra Student Coalition, the youth branch of the club.

Peter Filanc, P.E., a nationally recognized leader in the water and wastewater industries and former president of J.R. Filanc Construction Co., died on May 9 following a lengthy illness. Filanc was 54. For the past year, he had primarily been involved in the general engineering company’s strategic planning and business development activities, said his brother, Mark Filanc, who has assumed the presidency. Filanc also had been speaking at water and wastewater industry conferences throughout the United States.

Gary R. McAllister, P.E. has been named to head the new Portsmouth, N.H., office of GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. McAllister is senior project manager for the company and a registered professional engineer with over 17 years of experience in engineering, field inspection, project management, logistics and operations in the consulting industry. He has provided geotechnical, environmental, construction and civil consulting for the general building, environmental, industrial, transportation, manufacturing and energy industries throughout the East Coast.

EPA Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic) presented its Lorraine Urbiet Communicator of the Year Award to Patricia L. Taylor, of Northeast Philadelphia, at its annual employee recognition ceremony on April 24. The award is given to a regional employee in memory of Lorraine Urbiet (1947-1993), who personified excellence in communications with creativity and caring. Taylor, a community involvement coordinator with the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Division, was particularly recognized for setting up a community outreach program for Hurricane Rita victims that has since been emulated across the agency.

Edward J. Garbin, Ph.D, P.E., has been named chief engineer for Hayward Baker’s Southern Region Tampa, Fla., office. In that position, Garbin will lead the design of specialty geotechnical systems, research and development involving new and existing technologies, as well as design and implementation of instrumentation and load testing. Prior to joining the company, Garbin was a geotechnical engineering manager and drilling manager for Universal Engineering Sciences in Tampa, Fla.