Urs Bühler Abbado. Before joining Il Divo, he was mainly based in the Netherlands, singing oratorios and performing with the Netherlands Opera Gezelschap (NOG). Despite many performances there are only a handful of recordings available of him before Il Divo. In December 2003, Urs became a member of the international musical quartet Il Divo along with Carlos Marín (Spain), Sébastien Izambard (France), and David Miller (United States). He had an informal first audition with the group's creator, Simon Cowell. In Cowell's office, he simply asked Urs to sing for him unaccompanied. Impressed by Buhler's tenor voice, Cowell offered him a place in
URS Corporation capabilities and a broader international presence to the organization. When Dames & Moore Group joined in 1999 (which had recently absorbed the Australian firm Hardcastle & Richards), URS further strengthened its program and construction management expertise and added to its FORTUNE 500 client base. In February 1999, URS also acquired transport consultant Thorburn Colquhoun. In 2002, URS acquired EG&G Technical Services, positioning the company as a leading U.S. federal services contractor. In November 2007, URS acquired Washington Group International of Boise for $3.1B and operated it as the "Energy and Construction Division". On June 12, 2009, URS Chief Executive Officer