Cumming Group Picks Gavin Middleton and Christine Mosholder for Top Posts

Construction consulting giant Cumming Group has picked two of its own for top leadership positions, Commercial Observer has learned.

Cumming promoted Gavin Middleton to chief operating officer and Christine Mosholder to become its first chief development officer, according to the company. 

Middleton has been serving a dual role as CEO of Cumming’s division Lehrer Cumming and executive vice president of Cumming’s U.S. project management division. He will now take over the COO role from Finlay McClay, who left the position more than a year ago. Meanwhile, Mosholder was a senior vice president at Cumming.

“These appointments bolster our client advocacy, team development and operational excellence,” Cumming CEO Derek Hutchison said in a statement.

Middleton began his new position June 1 and Mosholder starts this week, according to the company.

Both executives came to the company through its recent acquisitions. In Mosholder’s case, that was the 2021 merger with Boston-based Fort Point Project Management, which she co-founded in 2000. And Middleton was a partner at Lehrer, once a competitor with Cumming before the firms joined forces in 2018 to become Lehrer Cumming.

Middleton began his career at Citibank, climbing the company’s ranks to become vice president of Citi Property Investors in 2009. He spent a formative chapter as senior vice president at Starwood Capital Group. At the time, Starwood founder Barry Sternlicht was frenetically developing a pipeline of Baccarat Hotels across the country.

“In that part of my career, I was a heavy user of consultant services, like Cumming provides,” Middleton said. “So when the opportunity came along to do something different and join the consultant ranks, it was helpful to me to have spent so much time as a client previously.”

Middleton knew what sophisticated clients like Starwood were looking for in hiring a consultant, and those insights proved invaluable to New York builder Peter Lehrer, who brought Middleton on as a partner at his eponymous construction advisory firm in 2016. 

Mosholder, for her part, has a knack for founding things, including Fort Point and two nonprofit organizations, women’s wellness network WWIRE and used furniture salvager The Furniture Trust. She ran Fort Point for two decades before Cumming bought it in 2021. 

She then transitioned to a new role as senior vice president at Cumming, focusing on expanding its presence in New England and the mid-Atlantic regions.

“Chief development officer is, frankly, my dream job because it’s all about the people,” Mosholder said. 

In the mid-Atlantic states, Mosholder will focus on developing Cumming’s technical expertise for a new slate of manufacturing projects underway there. And throughout both regions, Mosholder said she’ll focus on retaining Cumming’s already loyal customers.

“I think something we’re particularly proud of is our legacy clients,” Mosholder said. “We have a lot of repeat business.”

Hutchison said both appointments prove Cumming’s continued commitment to retaining talent. 

“Both Gavin and Christine embody our values,” Hutchison said. “They look after the people that look after our clients.

“With their elevated and expanded roles, they will strengthen our position as the most trusted team in the built environment,” Hutchison added.

Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.