DFI Announces Board of Trustees’ Election Results

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 is president and CEO of TREVIICOS. He has 20 years of experience and is an active member of DFI, ADSC, AGC, ASCE 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.