CLINTON, Iowa – Michael Johnson, the president of Clinton Engineering, a full-service general contractor, will retire April 1 after 36 years of service with parent company McCarthy-Bush Corporation’s family of companies.
Mr. Johnson, who has worked for 21 years with Clinton Engineering, has served a variety of leadership roles over his nearly four decades with McCarthy-Bush. Ryan Birney, who previously served as industrial segment manager at McCarthy Improvement, has been named as Clinton Engineering’s new president.
A 1979 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Mr. Johnson joined McCarthy-Bush in 1986 as vice president of McCarthy Building Systems and then vice president of operations at McCarthy Improvement. Prior to joining McCarthy-Bush, he worked seven years in the Chicago market with Incryco, Inc., as project manager at its Nuclear Power Plant Post Tensioning and Design-Build Construction divisions.
Among his other roles at McCarthy-Bush, Mr. Johnson served as executive vice president at Linwood Mining & Minerals before being promoted in January 2001 as Clinton Engineering’s president. A 45-year member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Mr. Johnson was active in various industry associations, including as a board member and chair of the Iowa Concrete Paving Association.
His community involvement included serving on a number of boards in Clinton. He chaired the Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce, Gateway Area Foundation and Clinton Regional Development Corporation. Mr. Johnson also served on the boards of The Franciscan University and Mount St. Clare Education Foundation.
Additionally, he and his wife of 40 years, Barbara (Bush) Johnson, co-chaired the largest capital campaign in the history of Davenport’s St. Ambrose University – the BUILDING OUR FUTURE Campaign. He has held leadership roles on numerous committees, boards, and capital campaigns in the Quad Cities region, including at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Assumption High School.
“I was privileged to graduate from the University of Notre Dame with a civil engineering degree, although I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it at the time,” Mr. Johnson said in a news release. “Fortunately, I have had an incredible range of work thanks to the diversity of experiences that civil engineering offers: nuclear power plants, roads, highways, airports, buildings, mining, material production, environmental, industrial, bridges, even sewers.”
He added that he was honored to end his career at Clinton Engineering, describing it as “a fixture in the Gateway Area for 95 years that excelled in many of those civil engineering fields.”
“Every day, as I drive around the Clinton region, I am proud of the many projects that our company has built; but I am especially proud of the tremendous, hard working, skilled people who did the work…,” he said in the release. “Our frontline workers, our leadership team, and our customers have made my job easy and rewarding over these past two decades at Clinton Engineering; as well as during my entire three and a half decades in the McCarthy Bush organization.”
He praised his successor, Ryan Birney, a Clinton County native and resident and recalled first meeting him when Mr. Birney was studying at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and dropped off a resume at Clinton Engineering one Saturday morning in 2008. “He ended up at our sister company, McCarthy Improvement Co., and is now back leading Clinton Engineering,” Mr. Johnson said. “I am confident that Ryan will bring our company to new heights and lead Clinton Engineering into its second century of service to the Gateway community.”
Thanking Mr. Johnson and McCarthy-Bush for their confidence in him, Mr. Birney said “I plan to continue Mike’s history of building strong relationships, providing exceptional general contracting services to our clients and leading a diverse team committed to excellence.”
Prior to his new role, Mr. Birney helped advance McCarthy Improvement’s industrial division’s growth strategy. He brings more than 14 years experience overseeing complex, multi-phase roadway projects across the Midwest to managing local industrial projects from estimation to completion.
Shane Hauman is assuming Mr. Birney’s responsibilities as industrial segment manager at McCarthy Improvement.
