Chief of Parsons to Retire After 24 Years With Firm

William E. Leonhard will retire as chairman and chief executive of Parsons Corp. on May 15 after 24 years with the Pasadena-based engineering and construction firm, it was announced Wednesday.

Leonhard, who will be 75 next month, said he has accomplished all his objectives at the firm, adding, “I feel good at this moment contemplating retirement and handing the reins to younger hands to take the company into the 21st Century.”

Leonhard joined Ralph M. Parsons, now a unit of Parsons Corp., in 1966 as senior vice president and assistant general manager. His intent was to make the then-heavily leveraged company solvent, to diversify beyond its focus on the oil and gas industry and to eventually take the firm private, which happened in 1985.

The company recorded sales of $706.5 million last year.

Since Parsons Corp. was created in 1978, Leonhard has been its chairman and chief executive.

Parsons’ board will select a replacement in March from senior officers including Ray W. Judson, Parsons Corp. president; Leonard J. Pieroni, executive vice president and director of corporate planning; Robert B. Sheh, Ralph M. Parsons Co. president; Thomas L. Langford, Parsons Corp. executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Joel H. Bennett, executive vice president and director of business development.

Leonhard served in the military for 28 years, rising to the rank of Air Force brigadier general in 1960. The next year he was made chief of staff of the Air Force Systems Command at Andrews Air Force Base.

Parsons Corp. projects included building Los Angeles International Airport’s second level roadway, which opened in 1984, and designing the 103-mile Washington Metrorail system. Parsons is building a multibillion-dollar industrial city in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, which the company said is one of the world’s largest engineering and construction projects in progress today.