Jensen Hughes Recruits New President and COO, Pankaj Duggal, as its Operations Expand Worldwide

BALTIMORE, March 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Jensen Hughes, a global leader in safety, security and risk-based engineering and consulting, today announced the successful outcome of a five-month search for a new President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) with the selection of Pankaj Duggal, a senior executive recognized across the global architectural, engineering and consulting services market as a successful operational business leader. Duggal joins Jensen Hughes from global engineering firm, Jacobs, where he most recently held a senior leadership role managing the company's federal and environmental businesses worldwide.

Duggal steps into this pivotal role at a critical and exciting stage in Jensen Hughes' growth after several years of long-term investments in its rapidly expanding ability to provide global end-to-end services to its clients, wherever they work in the world, across the spectrum of risk from fire and life safety and code compliance to security and forensics. Since 2014, the company has been acquiring businesses that extend its global reach and significantly expand the depth of its bench of experts and offices, across regions, countries, languages and markets.

"We cast a really wide net for this position because the individual leading our operational teams – which represent the majority of our people here at Jensen Hughes – needed to meet or exceed a comprehensive list of requirements," says Raj Arora, Jensen Hughes CEO. "Pankaj is a well-rounded executive who is proven in both business development and operations, and really understands how to build a strong company culture. He knows where we are going because he's been there. He understands the path ahead and will help our client-facing teams integrate and extend their value to our clients worldwide."

Duggal takes over a position held on an interim basis, since October, by Jensen Hughes executive Derek White, who has now accepted another senior leadership assignment, focusing on the company's North American Fire + Building Safety Business. "I'm impressed with how quickly and effectively Derek took on this key role," says Arora. "He brought stability and continuity to this transition. He also drove many key initiatives that are setting us up for a very promising 2020."

With nearly three decades of experience, Duggal brings to his role strong business leadership across global market sectors. While at Jacobs Engineering Group, he most recently served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the public company's Federal and Environmental Solutions business, and as the global business leader for the U.S. government business covering the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. 

Over the last five years, Jensen Hughes has undergone a remarkable transformation from a merger of equals in the fire protection and life safety industry to an integrated, highly diversified global industry leader supported by a professional leadership team; a defined multi-year strategy; a new business development group; 14 newly-acquired businesses in complementary high-growth adjacency markets across the world; and a scalable platform with extensive new back-office systems and processes to support growth over the next five years.

"Taking on this role is very exciting," says Duggal. "I'm honored to be joining a team with strong momentum and a business with global growth and cultural opportunities. What Jensen Hughes has already achieved in a very short period of time is enormously promising. I'm passionate about creating a great environment for our people to thrive and deliver innovative solutions to our clients – a culture of caring – which will ultimately take our people and our business to the next level."

About Jensen Hughes

Jensen Hughes is a global leader in safety, security and risk-based engineering and consulting. Every day, a team of 1,400+ engineers, consultants and scientists develop and deliver innovative and cost-effective solutions to a global client base involving fire protection systems design and analysis, code consulting, emergency management services, security consulting, forensic engineering, fire research, risk-informed applications, probabilistic risk assessments, development and testing, commissioning and construction services. Operating from 90+ offices throughout the world, Jensen Hughes consulting teams have delivered more than 40,000 projects in all markets across industries. Jensen Hughes is a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors, a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management teams. For more information, visit www.jensenhughes.com.

About Gryphon Investors

Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors is a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. The firm has managed over $5 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997. Gryphon targets making equity investments of $100 million to $300 million in portfolio companies with sales ranging from approximately $100 million to $500 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon's capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise. For more information, visit www.gryphoninvestors.com.

SOURCE Jensen Hughes