Westport’s Terex Corp. Wednesday reported a 35 percent increase in quarterly earnings as high commodity prices and a continued developing-world infrastructure boom created strong demand for its cranes and heavy construction machinery.

Second-quarter profit rose to $236.3 million, or $2.32 a share, from $174.6 million, or $1.66 a share, a year ago. Sales rose 25 percent to $2.94 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates, on average, had expected the company to report earnings of $1.98 a share on sales on $2.78 billion.

Terex said it was raising prices to offset the rising cost of steel and other key supplies. 

Westport-based Terex Corporation today announced that Eric A. Nielsen has been named president, Terex Materials Processing & Mining.. He will report to Terex President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas J. Riordan.

Nielsen, 48, joins Terex from Volvo Construction Equipment, where he served as president and chief executive officer, Volvo Excavators and Volvo Group Korea, since 2000. Under his leadership, the group grew into a large global operation.

From 1998-2000, Nielsen was chief financial officer and chief information officer, Volvo Construction Equipment Korea. He began his tenure with the company in 1994 as vice president, Business Control and Information Systems.

Prior to his tenure at Volvo, Nielsen held leadership positions at WECO Metals and FMC Corporation. During his early career, he held various engineering and product marketing roles.

Westport resident Gerald M. Kagan and his firm Kagan Architecture of New Haven were awarded the 2008 Merit Award by the Connecticut Building Congress for its design and construction team effort on the Benjamin Jepson K-8 Magnet School in New Haven.
Gerald M. Kagan: $31 million project came in on time. Contributed photo

Kagan Architecture along with the project team members consisting of Fusco Corporation, Gilbane Building Co., Torrenti Engineering, Westcott & Mapes, Inc., vanZelm Heywood &  Shadford Inc., and Stantec successfully collaborated more than five years on the school project, which was completed in August 2007.

The 91,000-square foot inspirational flexible design consists of two stories of classrooms, media center/ library, administration spaces and cafetorium, along with a separate wing and playground area designed for the pre-K program.

Kagan and Rosemary Benivegna, project architect, successfully completed the project on time and within budget at a cost of $31 million, an announcement said.

Thomas J. Hansen and David C. Wang have been elected to Westport-based Terex Corporation board of directors, the company announced today.

Hansen, 59, is vice chairman of Illinois Tool Works, Inc., a manufacturer of fasteners and components, consumable systems and a variety of specialty products and equipment.

Wang, 64, is president of Boeing China Inc. and vice president of international relations of the Boeing Company, a manufacturer of commercial and military aircraft, and has held these positions since 2002.

Time Warner Cable today announced that Matthew Siegel, a Westport resident, has been named senior vice president and treasurer.

Siegel joins Time Warner Cable from Time Warner Inc., where he was vice president and assistant treasurer. Before joining Time Warner Inc. in 2001, he was senior vice president of finance and treasurer of Insight Communications, a multi-system cable operator based in New York with operations in the Midwest.

Previously, he worked for nine years at Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., the spirits and entertainment company where, as assistant treasurer, he was responsible for corporate finance, capital markets and domestic operations.

Siegel graduated from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics and earned his M.B.A. from University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. He lives in Westport with his wife, Wendy, and two children.