President’s Awards Presented at DFI Annual Conference

Matthew Janes, MBA., P.Eng, of Isherwood Associates and president of DFI, presented four President’s Awards at the business meeting during the DFI 45th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations held online October 29. 

Established in 2016, the DFI President’s Awards are given at the discretion of the DFI president to recognize the efforts and service of DFI members to advance the work of DFI. This year’s awards were presented to: 

Peggy Hagerty Duffy, P.E., D.GE, president of Hagerty Engineering and technical director for ADSC-IAFD, was recognized as the driving force behind DFI’s informative recruitment video, “What is the Geotechnical Field?”  The video has over 7,700 views, and has been widely praised. She also serves as a driving force for safe construction by fostering the joint efforts of the Working Platforms Industry-Wide Working Group involving ADSC, DFI and PDCA. 

Lucky Nagarajan, general manager – engineering and business development at Giken America, was recognized for her dedicated and energetic work as the co-chair of the DFI of India Regional Chapter Support Committee, chair of the Women in Deep Foundations Committee, and founder of the Women in Deep Foundations subgroups in India and the New York Metro area. She led a team of DFI members to present the popular ongoing webinar series “Converting Crisis into Opportunity – Different Perspectives.” 

Ben Turner, Ph.D., P.E., a project engineer at Dan Brown and Associates, was recognized for his enthusiastic participation with DFI. He chairs DFI’s Young Professor and Student Paper Competitions, leading a team of reviewers to select award-winning papers to be published in DFI Journal. He also led this year’s S3 Virtual Software Discussion on the use of deep foundations for stabilizing slopes. He has also facilitated DFI’s Committee Meeting Day workshop on “kick-butt presentations,” a light-hearted look at improving our presentations skills. 

Andrew Verity, P.E., national account manager for Terracon’s transportation and infrastructure sector, was recognized for his many contributions to DFI over the years. He currently supports DFI as an Educational Trust board member and leader of the annual 5K fundraiser. He also facilitated a tremendous donation by Terracon to establish a scholarship for university students. He served as chair of the Driven Pile Committee and is an active member of the DFI technical community.

Contact: Theresa Engler, Executive Director, +1 (973) 423-4030, tengler@dfi.org