Downtown-based construction management firm Cumming Corp. named chief operating officer David Baird as its new chief executive, effective Jan. 1, replacing founder Finlay Cumming.

The company made the announcement on Oct. 6.

Cumming, which was founded in Orange County in 1996, has more than 900 employees across 30 offices in the U.S. and five locations overseas.  

It has acquired several companies along the way, and last year posted about $225 million in billings.

Among the prominent Los Angeles-area projects Cumming Corp. has managed are the recently completed remake of the Music Center Plaza in downtown and Hackman Capital Partners' ongoing 30-acre office park redevelopment project in El Segundo.

Baird, 42, joined the company in 2004, rose through the executive ranks and in January was named COO.

“After seeing how skillfully and successfully David executed his role over the past year, I knew this was the right time to move forward with our succession plan, which has been five years in the making,” Finlay Cumming said in the transition announcement.

Cumming, who is 63, will assume a new role as executive chairman. He will provide strategic guidance to the company’s management team.

Although it started in Orange County, Cumming Corp. shifted its headquarters several times over the past two decades, moving to downtown Los Angeles in the early 2000s, then to San Diego in 2011 and back to downtown Los Angeles in 2016.