Alton and Sandra Cleveland Professorship

ALTON (BUDDY) CLEVELAND is a 1972 graduate of Johns Hopkins with a degree in operations research and industrial engineering. After graduation he went to work for Bechtel Corporation in Gaithersburg, MD, which was involved in the engineering and construction of power generation plants. He began his career performing computerized stress analysis but ultimately moved into supporting and validating engineering software culminating in installing the division’s first computer-aided design system. This led to becoming involved in developing new software to support Bechtel’s engineering and construction activities. He was ultimately named a Bechtel Fellow in recognition of the innovative information technology solutions he created.

While at Bechtel, Buddy met his wife of 42 years, SANDY, who also worked for Bechtel. Sandy has always been his most ardent and enthusiastic supporter. They have two grown sons, Tony and Paul, and three grandchildren.

In 1991, Buddy and three of his colleagues, with enthusiastic support and encouragement from Sandy, started their own software company, Jacobus Technology. Their goal was continuing to deliver software to companies involved in the engineering, construction, and operation of industrial facilities of all types. In 1998, Jacobus was acquired by the global software company, Bentley Systems. Buddy relocated to the Bentley headquarters in Philadelphia as a senior vice president, in charge of Bentley’s global software development organization. Buddy retired as a full-time employee in 2013, but continued as a part-time consultant until 2018 when he fully retired.

It was while at Bentley that Buddy reconnected with Johns Hopkins. He shared a portfolio of projects that companies executed using Bentley software which caught the attention of Dr. Ben Shafer. After Dr. Shafer was named the chair of civil engineering he reached out to Buddy in 2010 to chair a reconstituted Industry Advisory Group and he remains involved with this group.

Sandy and Buddy now support a number of charitable organizations and share a love of music, particularly the Blues. They sponsor a number of music events each year and Buddy continues to perform with a number of blues bands in the Philadelphia area.