June 20, 2017

(Chicago, IL) - The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) is pleased to announce three senior leadership promotions: Danielle Kleinhans, PE, PhD, to vice president of bridges and managing director of the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA); John Cross, PE, to vice president of special projects; and Tabitha Stine, SE, PE, to vice president of market development. 

Kleinhans joined AISC this past January as managing director of NSBA, responsible for maintaining and building on the technical and market development activities, strategies and culture that have positioned the alliance as a respected leader in the bridge community. She has 15 years of experience in structural engineering and management. Prior to joining AISC, she worked for the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI), rising from the position of structural/transportation engineer to managing director of CRSI’s Epoxy Interest Group (EIG). Before that she worked for CTLGroup in the positions of senior engineer and group manager for structural engineering and mechanics. She began her career at Modjeski and Masters, Inc. as a structural design engineer. She serves on numerous industry committees and has received several awards including the Young Member Award for Professional Achievement from the American Concrete Institute (ACI). She earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and a master’s degree and PhD in civil engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Charlie Carter, SE, PE, PhD, president of AISC, said, “Danielle’s new title reflects that the NSBA division of AISC is now also fully integrated as a department of AISC. We already are enjoying the benefits of this unification, with sharing of marketing, legislative, and technical ideas and resources, and increased collaboration among our departments. Danielle will further grow these capabilities and activities and continue to build the NSBA brand that has come to be so well recognized in the bridge community.”

Cross, who will be retiring in July of 2018, has served as AISC’s vice president of market development for nearly 15 years, and also led its finance department for eight years. He is a well-respected expert in the structural steel industry and has been actively involved in the engineering community for more than four decades. He also has authored more than 50 publications on various industry topics. Prior to joining AISC in 2001, he served as executive vice president of STS Consultants and regional vice president for Beling Consultants. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a master of divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He has served as a member of the National Board of Advisors and the Commission on the Future at Rose-Hulman and on the Board of Directors of People International USA.

“In his new role, John will focus on creating the significant and varied information we need at our disposal and in the hands of our industry -- winning messages that will allow us all to succeed in our market development and related activities,” said Carter. “He also will continue to fulfill his expert role in sustainability, market information, economic statistics and SteelDay (scheduled for September 15 this year).”

Stine succeeds Cross and assumes direct responsibility for all staff and activities of the AISC market development department. For the past 10 years, Stine has served as AISC’s director of technical marketing and later as the director of market development, responsible for supervising and coordinating all of the activities for the AISC Steel Solutions Center and that of the AISC regional engineers around the U.S. to help educate decision makers about the inherent benefits and technical solutions to designing and building in structural steel. Previously she was AISC’s great plains regional engineer for four years, and before that she spent nearly a year as an advisor in the Steel Solutions Center. Prior to joining AISC, she worked for Sargent & Lundy, LLC in Chicago as a structural engineer in their fossil power division. She earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) and a master's degree in structural engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 2009, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of SIUC. She currently serves as a member of the professional advisory board of the Civil Engineering Department at SIUC.

“Tabitha has a demonstrated a history of success in leading the market development activities of the AISC regional staff and the Steel Solutions Center,” commented Carter. “More recently, she has championed our transition to a new, city-based market development plan, building excitement and progressing faster than expected in our initial plans.”

To learn more about AISC, visit www.aisc.org. For more about NSBA, visit www.steelbridges.org. 

Danielle Kleinhans	John Cross	Tabitha Stine