DFI Welcomes New Board Members for 2015

The Deep Foundations Institute has a new crop of board members to begin 2015.

The group elected four new faces to the board and re-elected two members, according to a recent announcement. Terms for the new board begin Jan. 1, 2015.

DFI members joining the board for the first time include:

Matthew E. Meyer, PE, brings about 20 years of geotechnical engineering experience to the board. He’s a registered professional engineer in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, New York and Connecticut. Meyer has chaired the DFI’s Augered Cast-in-Place Pile Committee, and is a veteran of numerous public and private sector projects. He’s currently a principal and vice president with Langan Engineering and Environmental Services.

Thomas D. Richards, Jr., P.E., D.GE, has served an active role in many committees within the DFI and other groups like the ADSC, PTI and ASCE. Richards has more than 25 years of experience in various aspects of foundations, including micropiles, anchors, soil nails, diaphragm walls and grouting methods. He’s currently chief engineer at Nicholson Construction Company.

Stefano Valagussa has worked in Egypt for Rodio and in the United States for Rodio and Nicholson Construction. He has overseen high profile foundations projects, such as slurry wall installation at New York City’s Ground Zero; deep mixing at the LPV-111 Levee Improvement Project in New Orleans, the largest such project ever done in the U.S.; and the complex rehabilitation at Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky. He is also an active member of DFI, ADSC, AGC and ASDSO.

Alan Roach serves as president and CEO of Berkel & Company Contractors, and also chairs that company’s board. Roach has worked in several capacities with Berkel over more than 40 years, with an emphasis on augered cast-in-place pile installations in the U.S. and overseas. He’s also helped drive Berkel expansion through the opening of numerous regional offices.

Re-elected board members include:

Dr. K.S. Rama Krishna recently retired as chief engineer-technology from L&T GeoStructure. Krishna, who serves as chair of DFI of India, has spent more than 35 years researching and designing special foundations and geotechnical projects. He has a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

David Borger, PE, has worked for 17 years at Skyline Steel. He’s also been an active member of the DFI’s Driven Pile Committee, on which he’s served for 10 years, and the Marine Foundations and Sustainability committees.

Officers of the DFI have also changed. John Wolosick of Hayward Baker has moved to president from vice president. Dan Brown of Dan Brown & Associates PC, formerly treasurer, shifts to vice president. Matthew Janes moves into the role of treasurer from secretary. Finally, Michael Wysockey of Thatcher Foundations joins the DFI Executive Committee, where he will serve as secretary.

The DFI is an international association of contractors, engineers, academics and suppliers in the deep foundations industry with more than 3,300 members worldwide. For more information about the Deep Foundations Institute, visit www.dfi.org.