Hawthorne, NJ (December 18, 2014): DFI’s membership voted to elect four new members to the board and re-elect two members as follows. Their terms begin on January 1, 2015.
Matthew E. Meyer, P.E., is a professional engineer registered in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, New York and Connecticut, with about 20 years of geotechnical engineering experience. He is the immediate past chair of DFI’s Augered Cast-In-Place Pile (ACIP) Committee. He has been involved with major public sector and private sector projects. Meyer is currently a principal / vice president with Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. Meyer has a B.S. in civil engineering from The Citadel and a M.S. in civil engineering (geotechnical focus) from Virginia Tech.
Thomas D. Richards, Jr., P.E., D.GE, is chief engineer at Nicholson Construction Company. He is active in numerous committees of DFI, ADSC, PTI and ASCE, leading to frequent commenting on FHWA and other industry documents. He is also a member of the Moles. For over 25 years at Nicholson, he has dealt with technical aspects of a multitude of specialized geotechnical projects using micropiles, anchors, soil nails, diaphragm walls and numerous grouting techniques. Richard’s responsibilities include design, quality control, research, testing and instrumentation.
Stefano Valagussa has worked in Egypt for Rodio and the U.S. for Rodio and Nicholson Construction. Valagussa is an active member of DFI, as well as ADSC, AGC and ASDSO. Among other projects, he directly oversaw unique projects such as the slurry wall installation at Ground Zero, New York City; the cutoff wall by jet grouting at Diavik Diamond Mine, North West Territories, Canada; the largest deep mixing project ever done in U.S., and possibly the world, for the LPV-111 Levee Improvement, in New Orleans; and Wolf Creek Dam, in Kentucky, considered the largest and most complex dam rehabilitation project to date. Valgussa graduated from the Politecnico di Milano, Milan Italy with a degree in civil engineering.
Alan Roach is the president and CEO and chairs the Board of Directors of Berkel & Company Contractors, Inc. at the corporate office in Bonner Springs, KS. He served as the chairman for the DFI Annual Conference in Kansas City in 2009. For more than 40 years, he has been involved with the company in both the contracting and installation of many types of deep foundations and excavation support systems with emphasis on the use of Auger Cast-in-Place piles throughout the United States and overseas. He has been instrumental in establishing numerous regional offices nationwide.
Dr. K.S. Rama Krishna, the current chair of DFI’s regional chapter in India, and David Borger, P.E., engineering manager at Skyline Steel, were both re-elected to the board. Dr. Rama Krishna, formerly chief engineer-technology at L&T GeoStructure has more than 35 years of experience in the research and design of special foundations and geotechnical projects for land, near shore and offshore based structures. David Borger has worked for Skyline for 17 years and has been a member of DFI’s Driven Pile Committee for 10 years and also serves on its Marine Foundations and Sustainability Committees.
Additionally, the officers of the Institute have also changed. John Wolosick (Hayward Baker) has moved from vice president to president, Dan Brown (Dan Brown & Associates PC) has moved from treasurer to vice president and Matthew Janes moves from secretary to treasurer. The Executive Committee also welcomes its newest member, Michael Wysockey (Thatcher Foundations Inc.) who will serve as secretary.
DFI Appoints New Technical Committee Chairs
Hawthorne, NJ (December 18, 2014): Three of the 16 DFI Technical Committees have new committee chairs. It is the role of the Technical Committees to focus on the unique issues of major methods and technologies and their applications within deep foundations and excavation, and to keep DFI members and the industry up to date with the state of practice through publications, guidance documents, peer review of papers, educational events and committee reports in Deep Foundations magazine.
Lori Simpson, P.E., G.E., principal engineer at Langan Treadwell Rollo, is the new chair of the Codes and Standards Committee, following Tom Gurtowski of Shannon & Wilson, Inc. Simpson has over 25 years of experience in geotechnical engineering. She obtained a B.S. in civil engineering from Stanford University and an M.S. in geotechnical engineering from UC Berkeley. Simpson has provided geotechnical services during design and construction for a variety of projects that include deep foundations, deep excavations and ground improvement, predominantly on sites that have poor ground conditions, including potentially liquefiable soil and highly compressible clays. She has been active on the Codes and Standards Committee for many years, and has written and defended code proposals that have advanced the practice of foundation engineering in the U.S.
Giovanni Bonita, Ph.D., P.E., vice president of GEI Consultants, takes over the reins of the Slurry Walls Committee, replacing Nicolas Willig-Friedrich of Case Foundations. Bonita has over 21 years of experience with complex underground structures, retaining systems, ground improvement, geological and geophysical investigations, and deep foundations. He received an M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, an M.S. in hydrogeology from the University of Kentucky, and a B.A. in geology from Franklin and Marshall College. Bonita is experienced in geotechnical and geostructural engineering, support of excavations systems, movement of adjacent structures, ground improvement, hydrogeology, geophysics, karst geology and geologic mapping. He has extensive expertise with both temporary and permanent slurry, secant, soldier pile and lagging, soil mix and soil nail walls for historic buildings, structures with deep foundations, transit systems, tunnels, dams and tall buildings. He has used traditional and advanced analytical techniques to recommend and design excavation and ground improvement methods and foundation systems for major high-profile public works projects with difficult engineering challenges. Bonita is also an adjunct faculty member in the Civil Engineering Department at Catholic University in Washington DC.
Steve Davidow, P.E., S.E., vice president of Crux Subsurface, Inc., has succeeded Jon Bennett of Brayman Construction as chair of the ADSC-DFI Joint Micropile Committee along with ADSC representative Greg Sullivan, P.E. of Subsurface Construction Company LLC. Davidow has over 15 years of experience as a structural engineer with projects around the world. He is licensed as a civil and structural engineer in 40 states and serves as engineer of record for all design build activities performed by Crux Subsurface. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from Washington State University. Davidow is an expert in commercial structure and deep foundation design and is heavily involved in the electrical transmission and distribution industry. Davidow also co-chairs the DFI Electric Power Systems Foundation Working Group with Peter Kandaris, office manager, DiGioia Gray & Associates.
About the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI): DFI (www.dfi.org) is an international association of contractors, engineers, suppliers, academics and owners in the deep foundations industry. Our multi-disciplinary membership creates a consensus voice and a common vision for continual improvement in the planning, design and construction of deep foundations and excavations. We bring together members for networking, education, communication and collaboration. With our members, we promote the advancement of the deep foundations industry through technical committees, educational programs and conferences, publications, research, government relations and outreach. DFI has more than 3,300 members worldwide.
