Freese and Nichols Promotes Perez and Johnson To Executive Leadership Roles
Freese and Nichols has promoted Gwen Perez and Kevin Johnson, both longtime leaders of our firm, to Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, respectively.
Gwen Perez, Chief Financial Officer
Gwen Perez has played key roles on Freese and Nichols’ business side for more than 20 years. She joined the company in 2000 as a financial analyst, progressed to Accounting Services Manager and started serving as Controller in 2008.
Gwen succeeds Cindy Milrany as CFO. Working closely with Cindy for the past two decades, Gwen has been deeply involved in numerous aspects of Freese and Nichols’ consistent growth, expansion into national markets and continuous improvement efforts.
Gwen serves on our firm’s 401(k) and Continuous Improvement committees. Earlier in her career, she taught middle school math and was an internal auditor for an oil and gas company. She received her MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington and her bachelor’s from Texas A&M University.
Kevin Johnson, Executive Vice President
Kevin Johnson moves into the second Executive Vice President for Operations position, overseeing our South Central US, Central Plains and Western US regions.
Kevin Johnson has been at Freese and Nichols since his first internship in 1998. He has spent his entire career here, working with municipalities and public agencies, designing and managing multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects, managing/developing CIPs and bond programs. His recent positions include Division Manager and Program Management/Construction Management Practice Leader. Kevin plans to use his new role to continue elevating opportunities for future leaders as Freese and Nichols continues to grow in our core regions and expand westward.
Kevin is a longtime member of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers and was recognized as Engineer of the Year by the Preston Trail Chapter in 2017. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering Advisory Council at Texas Tech University, his alma mater, and is Chairman of the City of Rockwall Parks & Recreation Board.
Succession Planning
Freese and Nichols continuously invests in developing leaders at all levels, with succession plans providing continuity for our employees and clients alike.
Scott Cole succeeds Kevin as our new North Texas Division Manager. Scott was our Assistant Division Manager for North Texas Water and Environmental for the past three years, and from 2013 to 2020 he was Group Manager for Water/Wastewater Master Planning. He has been at Freese and Nichols since 2006.
Matt Shafer succeeds Gwen as our new Controller. For the past seven years, Matt served as our Process Improvement Manager in the Office of the President, and earlier he was Corporate Financial Services Manager. He has been at Freese and Nichols since 2010.
As mentioned, Cindy Milrany is stepping down as CFO after 30 years in that role. She remains Chief Strategy Officer and is now Chief Administrative Officer as well. In these roles, Cindy leads our strategic planning and championing our Baldrige journey, as well as overseeing Strategic Services, Business Technology, and Marketing.