A Pile of News - October 2019

 

A Pile of News October 2019

A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors, associated manufacturers and suppliers and affiliated engineers who comprise the PDCA.
by Matt Bisbee, PDCA
 
Does it Mean New Air Quality Regulations? -                  A "U"nique Career Trajectory - Bra Art in the Bayou
Tired of this dirty ol' city? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reclassified seven major American metros from "Moderate" to "Serious" for declining air quality; this could have permitting ramifications for industrial plants and equipment in the foreseeable future. Among the affected regions; Chicago, Greater Connecticut, D-FW and Houston, Nevada County and San Diego, CA, and New York. See this Regulatory Update published by TRC Companies Inc.; it includes a link to the formal EPA action.

Look Who We Know, Part II: A ribbon-cutting ceremony concluded Corman Kokosing's two-year rehabilitation of the Conococheague Aqueduct in Williamsport, MD. Attendees included Governor Larry Hogan, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, U.S. Representative David Trone, and Mayor Bill Green. Elsewhere; Congressman Fred Keller toured Glen O. Hawbaker Inc.'s Pleasant Gap, PA facility. The Houston offices of Fugro hosted Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reappointed  Palmer Clarkson, CEO of Bridgestone HosePower to a state board. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined the team from Hardesty & Hanover at the opening ceremonies for the Kosciuszko Bridge in New York City.

Editor's Note: The previous entries were grouped together because it's important that companies recognize relationships with elected officials can be useful when government imposes regulations. PileDriver magazine, coming to your mailbox and inbox later this month, will feature an article about governmental affairs.

From Pile Lines to Linebackers: While a student-athlete at Tulane University, Blake Baker did part-time work for his cousin Robert Baker at Baker Pile Driving in Covington, LA. After graduation, he became a full-time project foreman. But his heart was in football; following one year on the job, he returned to the gridiron as a high school coach. Then, it was a meteoric rise in the ranks through college football. Today, just 10 years after leaving the pile driving industry, 36-year-old Blake is the defensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes, an elite and storied program in its own right. Many congratulations and well wishes to Blake!
 
PDCA, other Industry Events
You're invited! The PDCA New Member Campaign goes on location; The PDCA Florida-Georgia Blitz  is scheduled for October 30 in Jacksonville, FL, three days before the rivalry football game. The event is open to all in the pile driving industry; it's designed to grow and strengthen the organization in the Southeast... and have a little fun in the spirit of college football. 

PDCA's Design and Installation of Cost-Efficient Piles (DICEP) Conference is November 5-6 in Cleveland; registration and sponsorships can be completed online.

The PDCA Gulf Coast Chapter hosts the "Engineers Conference"  on October 24.

DFI hosts its 44th Annual Conference in Chicago, October 15-18.

ASCE is holding a Deep Foundations Seminar October 24-25 in Minneapolis.

The PDCA Store features educational materials and association merchandise for sale online. There's a Steel Sheet Pile Installation Guide, a Best Management Practices Guide, commemorative coasters, a gym bag, various clothing items and more. Shop now for the holidays!
 
Acquisitions, Elevations, Transitions, Elevations
and Recognitions...
Personnel moves: Dewberry names Bo Temple vice chair of its Board of Directors and Larry Melton Jr. gets a seat; Jason Estes promoted to manager in Daphne, AL. ECS Mid-Atlantic promotes Teresa Levisay, Keith Nelson, Alexis Herr and William Pratt; ECS Florida hires Will Vaughn and Bill Otey, it promotes Victor Faltas and David Moore. Dane Pehrman joins Haley & Aldrich as principal consultant in Burlington, MA. Terracon names Russell Clark national manager of construction consulting services. McCarthy announces Manasi Pitkar as the new preconstruction director in Southern California. Women of SteelSarah Honeyman and Dawn Johnson Keiffer join Meever USA in the southeast.

More personnel news: Jim Bossange returns to GZA as senior project manager in Boston. EXP in Towsen, MD makes three new hires: David Amlalo, John Boling and Trudy Edwards. Eustis Engineering opens Houston office, names Joshua Miles new branch manager; Bryan Connelly joins the New Orleans firm. S&B Drilling names Steven Simard as new North Dakota district manager, Traver Melby joins business development. S&ME names Bill Forte senior project manager in Nashville. Skanska USA promotes Dennis Yung to executive VP and GM over Houston and Dallas.

Member recognitions: San Diego Business Journal recognizes Balfour Beatty's Luda Safransky and Kyle Frandsen in 40 Under 40, Luda listed as 2019 Outstanding Women in Construction and Design; their colleagues celebrate notable anniversaries with the company 40 years for Steve Jordan, while Donnie Luster and Frank Ortiz reach 30 years. Tolunay-Wong's VP Jaideep Chatterjee in Houston earns Board Certification as a geotechnical engineer. Matt Coaker, VP at Southern Earth Sciences named 40 Under 40 in Alabama Construction. John J. Peirce of Peirce Engineering named 2019 Delaware Valley Engineer of the Year. Eustis Engineering's Robert Elkins in New Orleans retires after 42 years. 


Your vote counts: The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge has simplified travel across the Mississippi River in St. Louis (while honoring a legend); the Massman Construction project is up for a People's Choice Award from AASHTA. VOTE HERE to support the Kansas City contractor. 

Someone tell Al Roker we have a new centenarian! Weeks Marine of Cranford, NJ reaches the rare milestone for 100 years of continuous operation. They've impacted millions of lives through their foundation work in one of America's most heavily populated regions. Here's to the next 100! Other birthdays include: 75 years for Texas Gulf Construction Co. in Galveston, TX; 55 years for GZA GeoEnvironmental Technologies in Cambridge, MA; and 40 years for DeWitt Construction in Vancouver, WA.
 
Newsmakers
Balfour Beatty named a top workplace by Orlando Sentinel and Puget Sound Business Journal

CD Perry featured in Albany Business Review in a story about a seawall project.

Cianbro subsidiary A/Z to build the Coast Guard Museum in New London, CT; more in The Day newspaper.

CZM Foundation Equipment broke ground on its new Georgia HQ; watch coverage on WJCL-TV 22 Savannah.

Dewberry is Best of Biz 2019 for engineering according to South Jersey Biz Magazine.

GZA Environmental featured in the Baraboo News Republic for zoo filtration project. 

Mason Construction pictured in the Beaumont Business Journal accepting a safety award.

McCarthy hires homeless veterans; Los Angeles NBC-TV covers the story.

Mueser Rutledge Engineers and Trevcon in The Tribeca Trib on Pier construction in NYC, great photos!

PND Engineers make Green & Gold News in story about retaining local talent from University of Alaska.

Shannon & Wilson consults on seismic upgrade for a Seattle landmark; coverage in PRISM.

Shimmick Construction contributes to safety enhancements on Golden Gate Bridge, read it in Construction Dive.

Skanska on Fortune Magazine list of companies that make social, environmental impacts.

For those who question the validity of a YouTube channel as a legitimate news source, be advised that the Myrtle Beach and Things YouTube Channel has 7,500 subscribers and it sells ads. Here, they provide coverage of crews from Cape Romain Contractors building the beach community's new Springmaid Pier.
 
Shaping Our Communities
Balfour Beatty's annual Portland Golf Tourney raised $10K for the city's Artists Repertory Theater; their Atlanta office prepared and served a meal for area homeless. 

Cajun Industries
and Group Deep Foundations appreciate fine art. Bra Art exists as a creative expresson, who knew? Apparently the cultured, crawfish connoisseurs in Big Raggedy did; both companies generously sponsored BUST Breast Cancer: Bra Art Fundraiser in Baton Rouge. 


EXP sponsored the Forest Preserve Foundation Conservation Cup; the Chicagoland golf event supports efforts to restore and manage natural habitats and wildlife and featured two retired Bears players. 

Geo-Technology Associates donated time and expertise to install new dugouts at the Fallston, MD ballpark where their late founder John Wirth spent years coaching youth. The new John Wirth Field honors the contributions he made before his untimely death in 2017 from a rare form of cancer.

Geotechnology, Inc. in St. Louis is a Pledge Partner in the MoDOT Buckle Up Phone Down campaign to make Missouri roads safer. The Cardinals MLB Playoff berth will definitely increase traffic in the region! 

GZA is sponsoring this month's Kirwin/Murray Tour de Falmouth cycling event in Massachusetts to combat homelessness; also, several employees ran in the Cigna Elliot Road Race to support New Hampshire's Elliot Regional Cancer Center.

Haley & Aldrich presented $48,000 to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital; it was money raised during their sold-out 9th Annual Charity Golf Tournament

Hardesty & Hanover joined a South Florida social service to provide hurricane relief to the Bahamas. 

Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering in Columbia, SC made a generous gift to the Harvest Hope Food Bank, supporting its initiative to feed underprivileged school children in the area. 

Linde-Griffith sponsored a major golf event that raised over $505,000 for two New Jersey hospitals. 

McCarthy supported the WellStar Foundation Golf Classic in Atlanta, which raised more than $228,000 for advancements in emergency and trauma services.

Terracon hosts an annual golf tournament on October 14th; 100 percent of the profits support Louisiana's Child Advocacy Services
 
Some Casing Pipe and a Snake Dog IPA While You Wait...
Rev Drill Sales & Rentals of Frederick, MD sells great equipment, but their proximity to adult beverages might be the biggest reason to shop there. See how they use social media to co-brand with craft beer; after all, everyone knows that pile drivers deserve a cold one!

Atlas Tube in Chicago mimicked the multiple choice test in a recent promotional post on their social media. (We always did prefer multiple choice over the dreaded essay question, right?) Anyway, the factoids one learns from this particular question are kinda interesting, especially to sports buffs. 

Tectonic Engineering & Surveying Consultants in Mountainville, NY advertises job opportunities all over the country; growth is good! We couldn't help but wonder how often they have openings in the home office for "letter holders?" This Facebook cover photo depicts several employees dutifully performing their job (except for the woman on the far right who seems vertically challenged by her assignment).

That's it for now, we hope you have a great October and Happy Halloween. Keep posting your company news online and don't forget to include #PDCADriven in your social media for your chance to become a random winner of PDCA merchandise!
 
If your company has news to share with the pile driving industry, please email matt@piledrivers.org. We look forward to distributing your unique stories, personnel changes, charitable efforts and recognitions. Remember to include the hashtag #PDCADriven on all of your driven pile-related social media posts se we can follow along and share.
 
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A Pile of News - September 2019

A Pile of News September 2019

A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors, associated manufacturers and suppliers and affiliated engineers who comprise the PDCA.
by Matt Bisbee, PDCA
 
Look who we know - Cyber-bullied in Beaumont - True Patriot to deploy - #GruberStrong
Heavy hitters meet heavy machinery: Politicians like hitting the hard hat circuit; here's a look at recent VIP visits to PDCA members. Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed three bills at Cianbro's 40,000-panel solar generation project. Nucor's Darlington, SC steel mill marked 50 years of operation with an onsite celebration; Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Sen. Hugh Leatherman and Reps. Jay Lucas and Robert Williams attended. Hawaii Gov. David Ige was at the groundbreaking for a big development involving the Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company. State Sen. Thomas H. Kean Jr. addressed staff at Hoffman Equipment in Piscataway, NJ. French President Emmanuel Macron greeted the team in the Liebherr booth at a Paris exhibition. 

History lesson: The late Missouri Congressman Champ Clark served as U.S. Speaker of the House 100 years ago. This summer, Kansas City's Massman Construction completed the new Champ Clark Bridge (ahead of schedule) connecting Louisiana, MO to Illinois via U.S. 54 over the Mighty Mississippi. Henry Massman spoke at the ceremony where Louisiana Mayor Marvin Brown cut the ribbon.

You lock your front door, right? Protecting your data is just as important as securing your office. Too often, we hear about data breaches at major companies. Cyberattacks can happen to anyone; Mason Construction in Beaumont, TX was a victim over the summer. Scammers posed as Mason employees, then solicited money and offered jobs to their social media users. This created needless headaches for the contractor. Consult an IT professional today to secure your data, a PSA from PDCA.

Not just a name, it's a culture: The entire PDCA community joins Patriot Construction and Industrial in Duson, LA in sending prayers to Civil Estimator Paul Glakler, an Army National Guard helicopter pilot, as he deploys for active duty this month.

To all our friends and colleagues at Goettle, we are thinking of you. #GruberStrong
 
Events and News from PDCA and the Chapters
Welcome CDG, LLC of Alexandria, LA, the first company to join PDCA in the New Member Drive; Sam Gassiot enrolled online within 30 minutes of the campaign launch. Invite your friends to PDCA

Sept. 6, PDCA of the Northeast Chapter holds its annual Membership Drive.  

Sept. 11-13, PDCA hosts Deep Foundation Dynamic Testing and Analysis (DFDTA) in Cleveland.

Nov. 4-6, PDCA offers the 20th Annual Design and Installation of Cost-Efficient Piles (DICEP) Conference, also in Cleveland. Visit us online for further details and registration.

Everyone says it's better to live in the present, but PDCA wants you to think about the future! We have already confirmed dates and locations for the 2020 annual conference and the 2020 DICEP program. With all that preparation, we better see you there!


It's time for weekend tailgates; deer season and cooler weather are close behind. Get your stainless steel cup, camo hat, quarter-zip pullover and more PDCA logo merchandise at The PDCA Store.

The PDCA of South Carolina Chapter held their 3rd Quarter Dinner Meeting on August 6.

The PDCA Gulf Coast Chapter hosted its Quarterly Dinner Meeting on August 22, also, they announced the "PDCA Engineers Conference" coming up October 24.

 
 
Acquisitions, Transitions, Elevations and Recognitions...
An entry-level project engineer in 2000 is the next CEO for McCarthy Holdings, congrats Raymond Sedey on his elevation; other moves at the company, Colleen Martindale named estimating director for the Heavy Civil, Marine and Industrial Business Unit, Corey Lewis rejoins that team and Chris Kelly promoted to project director. McHugh Construction transitions Ryan Keane to VP Nashville. Meredith Keyes is the new CFO at S&ME Inc. Junttan names Demis Petridi Russia sales manager. Ronnie Browning promoted to dir. supply chain management at American Cast Iron Pipe Company in South Carolina. Bruce Riegel, PE named Hardesty & Hanover West Trenton, NJ office manager. GZA Environmental appoints Benjamin Alter co-chair of its Environmental Site Investigation technical practice.

Katie Spear of i+iconUSA receives MCA Internal Communications Merit Award from Pittsburgh SMPS.

Kiewit's female professionals in Kansas City won the Corporate Hero STEMMy Award from Central Exchange in celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine. 

Manson Construction Co. snags two notable recognitions; winners of the 2018 AEU Safety Award and the ASBPA Award for Nation's Best Restored Beaches

Tom Abkemeier, VP at Shannon & Wilson, earns induction to Missouri S&T Academy of Civil Engineers

Myrrh Caplan of Skanska receives Volunteer Leadership Award-Member of the Year from the U.S. Green Business Council Capital Region. 

Is there room for cake? Several PDCA members celebrate significant birthdays this year, most notably Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman, Inc. in Branford, CT which marks an unrivaled 175 years in business! Also, Cianbro of Pittsfield, ME reaches 70 years in business; Spark Contractors of Dorothy, NJ celebrates 60 years; the pride of Irondale, AL Morris Shea turns the big 5-0; Sun Pile Foundations, Inc. of Frankford, DE is 45; and PND Engineers in Anchorage, AK celebrates 40 years (commemorative PND birthday art).
 
Newsmakers
The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report features a Q&A with Group Industries VP Donn Peterson.  

The Washington Post quotes Hardesty & Hanover in coverage of Potomac River bridge repairs; WPTV-5 Ft. Lauderdale features live coverage of an historic Florida bridge reopening after the firm's rehab project. 

Nevada's largest public works project ever, "Project Neon" is chronicled in the Las Vegas Review Journal; Kiewit contributed to the feat that included 2.3 million hours worked, 29 new bridges and more. 

AZ Business Magazine names McCarthy SVP Kristine Newman to Most Influential Women in Arizona list; the New York Times quotes the company's VP Safety Kevin Maitland on hot working conditions.

Headed to Chicago for DFI in October? Consider booking VU Rooftop, one of Crain's Chicago Business best new private dining spots for 2019; it's a McHugh Construction project.

Alaska Business Magazine (article 1) published a special Environmental edition which features two stories (article 2) that extensively quote Shannon & Wilson VP Matt Hemry.

 
 
Shaping our communities
Aldridge Electric volunteers in Libertyville, IL pack 31,320 meals for Feed My Starving Children.  

Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc. breaks an event record by raising more than $115,000 for several Central Pennsylvania non-profit organizations at their 28th Annual Charity Golf Outing

Geotechnology, Inc. in St. Louis raised $1,500 for the Children's Hospital during KIDstruction Week; their team in Memphis donated supplies to its local STEM partner elementary school.

GZA GeoEnvironmental
cyclists raise $33,000 to fight cancer in Pan-Mass Challenge.


Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction hosted the 6th Annual BBQ for the Homeless in Draper, UT. Their Colorado team joined The American Cancer Society to fight pediatric cancer at The Big Dig

Attention North Dakota artists S&B Drilling, LLC says the deadline is September 10 if you want to submit your work for potential display at the new Williston Basin International Airport.

Simpson & Brown contributed to the transformation of Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ into a 98% solar powered facility, a remarkable renewable energy effort. 

Skanska supports STEM; they hosted Girls Inc. of Lynn EUREKA! STEM at a Massachusetts seaside development. Also, they participated in Nashville's Play Like a Girl STEM Field Day.

Veit &Company in Rogers, MN conducted mock interviews for the Minnesota Trades Academy during an event designed to familiarize students with careers in construction trades.
 
Fun Facts from the Field (or are they from the
marketing office?)
Because we appreciate creative marketing, we are compelled to pass along some not-ready-for-prime-time nuggets uncovered while compiling this month's A Pile of News. Example: AET Inc. in St. Paul, MN gives AETees at golf outings. Maybe you'll win an obscure trivia contest after reading this final section. 

Flexicore of Texas manufactured and delivered the largest prestressed concrete piles in its 66-year history. The 24" x 135' piles were made in Houston and delivered to Galveston. That's a load of pile! (Sorry guys, we used the 'bigger in Texas' cliché for Lodge Lumber last month.)

Marketers are hawkish about branding efforts and "owning" a color is paramount. New Jersey-based RPI Construction Equipment is calling dibs on blue! They've already started painting the equipment; to the other "blue" wannabe's, be advised to find a different color. (Nice photobomb, MKT Manufacturing!).

According to Valard Construction, it is the 5th largest purchaser of Ford trucks in Canada. They paint them blue. (We will monitor relations between RPI and Valard for any branding color struggles.)

Finally, R.L. Wadsworth has paved more than 4,000,000 square yards of concrete in the past five years. They believe this could pave every NFL football field in America 20 times. Let's hope they don't though, football head injuries are a serious concern. With that, hope your team has a great season!
 
If your company has news to share with the pile driving industry, please email matt@piledrivers.org. We look forward to distributing your unique stories, personnel changes, charitable efforts and recognitions. Remember to include the hashtag #PDCADriven on all of your driven pile-related social media posts se we can follow along and share.
 
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