ESU Backup Insider

“If you are willing to meet opportunity and challenge head on then you will succeed,” Dave Dunning ’74, told the Class of 2011 as it was about to graduate this spring.

Dunning, group president of Power for Fluor Corporation in Greenville, S.C., was the keynote speaker at ESU’s two undergraduate graduation ceremonies on May 7. Both a morning and an afternoon ceremony were needed because of the large number of graduates.

“Don’t let your legacy be defined by what others do,” Dunning said. “Remember, your legacy will be a marathon and not a sprint.”

Dunning majored in health and physical education, and has completed executive education programs in finance and leadership at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and in strategic negotiations at Harvard University.

As group president of Fluor, a Fortune 150 company, Dunnig is responsible for the company’s activities in the global fossil-fueled, environmental compliance, nuclear generation and solar and wind renewable industries. Throughout his career, he has been assigned increasingly higher levels of responsibilities in the areas of engineering, operations, quality inspection, quality assurance, project development, sales and executive management. He has 37 years of direct power industry experience, including 34 years of service with Fluor.

Founded as a construction company in 1912, Fluor now develops solutions for complex global projects in industries including chemicals and petrochemicals, commercial and institutional, government services, life sciences, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, power, renewable energy, telecommunications and transportation infrastructure. The company has offices in more than 25 countries across six continents.

Dunning is also a member of the board of directors for the United States Energy Association in Washington, D.C., and the Powerspan Corporation in New Hampshire.

He was a member of the Foundation Board at ESU from 2007 to 2010, and now sits on the Global Benefits and Benefits Administrative committees at Fluor.

Dave recently served as the chairman of Fluor’s Corporate Sales Board. He represents Fluor as a featured speaker at various global industry events and was recently a guest on CNBC LIVE during CERAWeek’s annual conference.

Dunning lives in Charlotte, N.C., with his wife, Christina. They have three daughters: Brooke, Lauren and Abby.