Industry milestones.

R.D. WHITLING & ASSOCIATES, Murrysville, Pa., merged with the National Survey & Engineering division of R.A. SMITH & ASSOCIATES INC., Brookfield, Wis. The merger allows National Survey & Engineering to provide land surveying services to clients throughout western Pennsylvania. Robert D. Whitling, PLS, serves as survey manager of the newly formed R.D. Whitling Survey Group under the National Survey & Engineering division.

LANDMARK ENGINEERING INC. (LEI), Phoenix, Ariz., now offers its premier civil engineering, surveying and land planning practice through V3 COMPANIES LTD. (V3), bringing new opportunities to clients in Phoenix and Tucson. The Landmark office becomes the third regional office for V3, adding to its current regional locations in Chicago and Denver. The combined companies create a workforce of 350 people with capabilities in all areas of land development, natural resources and public infrastructure.

STERLING SYSTEMS, Madison Heights, Mich., an Autodesk partner, announced a new location for its Ohio office. STERLING SYSTEMS-OHIO can be found inside Enterprise Place, a 125,000-square-foot office building located at 3401 Enterprise Parkway, Suite 416, Beachwood, Ohio 44122.

AUTODESK INC., San Rafael, Calif., named Carl Bass as president and chief executive officer effective May 1, 2006. Bass was also appointed to the company's expanded board of directors. Carol Bartz, who has served as CEO since April 1992, will become the company's first executive chairman of the board. As executive chairman, Bartz will focus her energies on improving the business climate for Autodesk around the world, particularly in emerging markets such as China, India and Eastern Europe, as well as work to build even stronger relationships with Autodesk's key customers, partners and investors.

MERRICK & COMPANY, Aurora, Colo., a provider of LiDAR, digital ortho imaging, photogrammetry and GIS mapping, appointed William (Bill) Emison as MARS product manager. Emison is responsible for sales, marketing, product development, and the MARS partner and reseller programs. MARS (Merrick Advanced Remote Sensing) software offers users the ability to efficiently view and analyze large amounts of LiDAR data.

Paul Klimas, GISP, rejoined the WOOLPERT INC. team in Lansing, Mich., as a project director. His responsibilities include IT-geodetic related consulting services for Woolpert clients. Klimas previously served as a project director for more than a decade at Woolpert, specializing as a technical advisor in system integration for ESRI applications. Prior to his return, Klimas spent more than five years working for the city of Grand Rapids, Mich., developing and managing IT-GIS strategic initiatives. He has extensive experience in system and database design as well as programming.

CLARY & ASSOCIATES PROFESSIONAL SURVEYORS AND MAPPERS, Jacksonville, Fla., welcomed Mike Colligan as the company's newest surveyor-in-training. Colligan's duties include research for map preparation; production of boundary and topographic surveys using computer-aided drafting technologies and more. Colligan earned a bachelor of science in geomatics at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He is an active member of the Florida Surveying and Mapping Society (FSMS).

All personnel announcements must be accompanied by a photo to ensure publication. Submit details, photos and a contact number to jensenk@bnpmedia.com.