About Us - Office of the Chairman

The three-member Office of the Chairman serves much like an internal board of directors for Commonwealth, providing corporate guidance for the company as well as mentoring current leadership and the next generation of engineers.  The Office of the Chairman acts as champion for the company culture, and strives to transfer the relationships, insights and values that have been acquired from many years of executive level leadership in the E&C and related industries. 

The members of the Office of the Chairman are:

Paul J. Varello, P.E., is Chairman and founder of Commonwealth Engineering and Construction, LLC. He has spent more than 45 years in the engineering and construction industry as both a contractor and an owner. His contractor experience includes 18 years with Fluor in various capacities including President of the Process Sector. In 1990, he became Chairman and CEO of American Ref-Fuel Company, a major energy firm involved in the design, construction, ownership and operation of advanced technology waste-to-energy plants throughout the northeast United States.

In Commonwealth Engineering and Construction, Varello has created a company that addresses the need to provide innovative and cost effective engineering and construction services while maintaining a positive and supportive work environment for the company’s employee-owners. 

A native of Rockaway Beach, New York, Varello received his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Villanova University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. He is a registered professional engineer in Texas, Louisiana and California and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He also serves as Chairman the Board of Directors of Sims Metal Management [NYSE:SMS], the Global leader in metals and electronics recycling.   

 
Hans J. Kirchner, P.E., Office of the Chairman - Operations, brings more than 40 years of experience in major EPC firms including Fluor, Raytheon and ABB Lummus. 

In reuniting with Commonwealth Chairman Paul Varello, Kirchner notes that the pair brings the value of their many years of experience to a new generation of engineers. The concept of mentoring is central to the company’s charter, as is a system of rewarding innovative approaches to efficiently executing work processes.

Kirchner is a registered professional engineer in Texas and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers. He sits on the Advisory Board of a major geotechnical firm and is also a past chairman of the Executive Board of the Houston Business Council and the Industry Advisory Board of the Center for Construction Education at Texas A&M University. He holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Miami and a master's degree in Business Administration from the California State University at Northridge.

Donald F. Coleman, Office of the Chairman - Commercial, has over 30 years experience in the EPC industry, including key positions in marketing, sales, operations and business strategy for Fluor. He has been involved in setting strategy and business design for Commonwealth from its inception. He brings innovative and flexible approaches to address contractual needs of Commonwealth Clients.

In the EPC industry, he has held several sales and marketing leadership positions, and as an individual contributor led over a hundred successful campaigns in energy and chemical markets. These encompass refining and petrochemicals, production module fabrication, sub-sea production, sub-sea pipelines, and gas processing efforts. Major projects were located in the U.S., Norway, Saudi Arabia, Korea, among others, and utilized both open-shop and union construction execution. He also has negotiated several strategic partnering and alliance relationships.  He serves on the Advisory Board of a leading Texas minority-owned geotechnical firm.

Coleman holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College, and an MBA from the Drucker Center, Claremont Graduate University.