A 12-year veteran of the firm, Lutton most recently served as vice president in charge of directing the company's strategic growth. In this role, he expanded Gradient's services to include preliminary endangerment assessments, methane design and mitigation, dual-phase extraction and brownfield development.

Lutton's experience in the field stretches back more than 14 years and includes a stint with the County of San Diego. In this capacity, he served as a member of the technical work groups of the Site Assessment and Mitigation Division of the county's Department of Environmental Health, which established guidelines for soil sampling and natural attenuation of petroleum hydrocarbons.

In his new role, Lutton will be filling the slot left vacant by Terry Brennan, who previously acted as president of both Gradient and its parent company, Leighton Group Inc. Brennan is now focusing his energy on his role at Leighton Group, where he still serves as president.