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A Pile of News: July 2026

A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors,

associated manufacturers, construction suppliers and affiliated engineers

who comprise PDCA

By Matt Bisbee, PDCA

Originally sent July 1, 2026

Top of the pile:

Happy Canada Day to our Canadian readers! And this Saturday, July 4th, the USA celebrates 250 years; be safe and smart. First, we share a large pile of news:

Each quarter begins with public thanks to the newest PDCA members:

• Contractors: Bellingham Marine Industries, Inc. of Dixon, CA; KATL Deep Foundations in Attalla, AL.
• Associates: Louisiana Concrete Products of Baton Rouge, LA; Measutronics of Lakeland, FL; Shunli Steel USA, Inc. of Carlyle, IL; Purple Wave Auction of Manhattan, KS; CVK Pile Driving and Ground Improvement Equipment Inc. of Tampa, FL; Kings Mobile Welding of Newport News, VA; Cappco Tubular Products of Bal Harbor, FL.
• Engineering Affiliates: ECORP Consulting Inc. of Rocklin, CA; CTI Construction Testing and Inspections Corp. of Sunrise, FL; Cullin, Grummitt & Roe, UK; Scientific Applied Concepts LTD of Ottawa, ON.
• Retired: Eduardo Bonar
• Academic Employee: Laura Crocker Mitchell of UAB; Ariana Santos
• Government Employees: William Henderson, Joseph Walsh of NJ-DOT; Ramiro Ampudia, Brantley Stevens of FL-DOT; Sarbjeet Singh of NYC Transit; Sanchitha Jaykody of NBRI (Sri Lanka).
• Students: J. Brant, Montana State; A. Migdady, Embry-Riddle; M. Santos, L. Aristizabal, E. Patino, N. Manage, E. Correa, J. Gil, UCF; K. Kupselaitis, J. Carlisle, T. Mee, J. Steinbach, E. Weniger, USF; B. Etheridge-Toope, Mount Saint Vincent University; K. Cry, J. Lopez, A. Ramsey.

The Mouse helped make Orlando a top tourist destination. Many attendees at next week's PDCA Annual Conference at the Four Seasons Walt Disney World Resort will visit local attractions during their stay. Seismologists and vibration hyperfixators may be interested in the region's newest science tourism; a confirmed earthquake originated off Cuba's coast on June 8 and 24 Orlando-area locations recorded tremors.

The BIG REVEAL will be found in this space on Aug. 3. The next PileDriver magazine, which announces winners of the 2026 Project of the Year Awards, will be linked here. (And if you follow Jordan Pile Driving on Facebook, you already know that publication will feature a profile on the 80-year-old, Mobile, AL-based contractor.)

An unsolicited endorsement? PDCA accepts! Thank you, Lodge Lumber Co.!

From the Association & Chapters

Mark your calendars:

• July 1: Deadline to apply for Pacific Coast Chapter scholarship. Limited to West Coast students, awards of $2K will be announced in August.
• July 79: PDCA Annual Conference & Expo, Orlando: Register now. Attend for industry education, networking, awards. Jason Hewlett is keynote speaker.
• Aug. 13: Value Driven Webinar Series, virtual, 2PM. Hear Geotechnical Optimization of Deep Foundation Installation in Utility-Constrained Environments as Georges Valcour, PE, PSM, WEDG, analyzes SOE design methods.
• Aug. 14: Deadline for Texas Chapter scholarship applications. Texas students pursuing construction careers are eligible for $2,500 awards.
• Aug. 21: Northeast Chapter Sporting Clays Fundraiser, Coplay, PA. Annual sport shooting returns to Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays; register/sponsor today.
• Sept. 22: Texas Chapter Golf Tournament, Wildcat Golf Club, Houston.

From the PDCA Blog:

• Your 10-gallon hat can't hold their water The June Texas Chapter Lunch & Learn featured talks from Dean Abbondanza of JD Fields and Lina Garcia Martin of Orion. Both spoke about building marine geostructures.
• Make life one long weekend when you wear the new resort-style shirt from PDCA. It features an embroidered piling design with the Annual Conference theme, Pile Driving Around the World. Buy now, while supplies last. Pro tip: everyone will be wearing this at the conference opening reception!

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Transitions:

• Emelia Harper joins the CIANBRO Maine offices as HSE professional.
• David Finocchio, PE, rises to VP business development at Keller, and Kevin Dawson becomes SVP for technology and corporate development.
• Tony Eckert celebrated a June birthday on his last day at Richard Goettle, Inc. The retired equipment manager spent 43 years at the Cincinnati-based builder.
• Phillip Corrales, Mark Jiminez, Francis Nuay, Danielle Presa, Johnny Sison, Larry Sumabat, George Tumaliuan, Nate Turman and Jacy Yatsu are new engineers at Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co.
• Francisco Crespo joins Piling Pros as superintendent in South Florida.
• Aidan Stuart onboards as field engineer at Richard E. Pierson Construction.
• Clayton White works on home projects, books and TV shows. He has enjoys a well-earned retirement from Sargent after 54+ years at the Maine company.
• Sarah Tacker becomes the new EVP & COO for Shimmick Corporation. Also, Greg Smith appointed new VP of preconstruction and Stephen Harder is the VP of the southwest division for the California-based builder.
• Joseph Hahn, Ryan Reid, Liam Justison and Nico Maffei are new project engineers at The Great Lakes Construction Co. Zach Monyak onboards with the Cleveland-based contractor as a shop assistant.
• Alex Terenik joins Weeks Marine, Inc. as operations manager in New York and Quinn Rhamy joins the finance team at the Louisiana office.
• Surya brings a data science master's degree from University of Houston to the newly-created AI Specialist position at Aggregate Technologies.
• Christopher Roberts retires after 43 years at Bull Moose Tube in Elkhart, IN.
• Andy Badeaux brings 15 years of heavy civil and marine experience as new business development manager for Corpac.
• Riley Frazier is appointed to lead marketing for newly branded Dieseko USA.
• Clarence Gardiner, an 18-year service specialist for the Bauer Equipment line, was honored with a retirement lunch at Equipment Corporation of America in Philadelphia. He started ECA welding facilities in Philly, Toronto and Pittsburgh.
• Samantha See moves to JD Fields & Co. as a new Florida-based rep.
• Amine Bourahli, proficient in four languages, joins Pile Dynamics, Inc.'s sales as global technical markets manager to serve clients in the Eastern Hemisphere.
• Amanda Pommerenck, PE, rises to VP & Army/USACE client mgr. at Dewberry.
• Chris Gianotti, PE, SE, retired after a 32-year career designing foundations, new structures, bridges and more in the Alaska offices of PND Engineers, Inc. John Keiser, PE, P.Eng., the firm's VP, reaches 35 years on the job.

Recognitions:

• Jim Beard (Beard Construction Group), Shane Kirpatrick (GROUP Industries), Mike Juneau (Premier Geotech and Testing) and Todd and Lane Grigsby (Cajun Industries) make the Baton Rouge Business Report's Capital Region 500 list.
• John R. Wolosick, a senior advisor at Keller, has earned election to the prestigious National Academy of Construction.
• Allison Monyak, a project engineer at The Great Lakes Construction Co., spoke to graduating seniors in a special ceremony at the University of Akron.
• Lisa Reineccius and Olivia Gillman from Veit are 2026 Women Building Success Award winners, celebrating tradeswomen in Minnesota.
• Ruben Ortiz, QC manager at Locke Solutions in Houston, earned seven concrete certifications, from construction practices to concrete technologies.
• Cory Ramhart from Lodge Lumber sales won an industry scholarship from a Houston group. Materials manager David Parrott's daughter was also awarded.
• Shana Carroll, PE, of D.W. Kozera, Inc., was a Baltimore Business Journal mentor at its gathering of professional women discussing shared challenges.
• Brian Deschamp, PE, of Eustis Engineering (Gulfport, MS branch), introduced geotechnical engineering to young campers in the Wayfinder Initiative.
• Brett Larabee at GeoEngineers, Inc. started Bike & Run Month, a firm tradition each May, when staffers get outside, stay active and make time for wellness.
• Paul Bullock, chief engineer at Loadtest, a division of Fugro USA Land, was awarded by ASTM International for outstanding service on soil and rock.
• Eric Fleet, SE, PE, an SGH consultant, earned honors from the Illinois structural engineers. Taylor Walsh won Young Engineer of the Year by the SoCal branch.

Milestones:

Tell me 'bout the good ol' days ... June 3 was a BIG day for two highly recognized PDCA members. It's the day they both became grandpas!

• John King, owner of Pile Drivers, Inc. in Charleston, SC, is also a past president of PDCA and a longtime member of South Carolina Chapter leadership. His newest title is his proudest; granddaughter Cora was born healthy to John's daughter Abigail and her husband Hunter.
• Bradford Roberts is senior principal at GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. and sits on the PDCA Board of Directors. The Bostonian's talents beyond geotechnics extend to sport fishing, beer brewing, beekeeping and more. But June brought his newest extracurricular activity, when his daughter Joanna and husband Rob gave him granddaughter Riley Jane.

In sympathy:

• Carol H. Ziadie (19652026) was the loving wife of American Piledriving Equipment salesman Bill Ziadie for 33 years. She passed away peacefully in April. Join PDCA in sending comfort to Bill and their three children.

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Acquisitions & expansions:

• Bull Moose Tube has secured the purchase of Hanna Steel Corp which may close this month. The new asset brings new steel manufacturing operations in Alabama and Illinois, and in-house trucking to the Missouri-based supplier.
• H&H grows its footprint, again, with the addition of a fourth New Jersey office. Morristown will serve the regional infrastructure clientele.
• Earth, Inc. seeks to fill one to two leadership roles at the 43-year-old geotechnical engineering and design consulting firm in Pittsburgh. Extensive office, field and lab experience is required. Eventual firm ownership is possible for the right candidate. Contact Mike Sydlik through LinkedIn.

Recognitions:

• Beaty Construction was on the award-winning, Renew Richmond project team that built a new bridge in the Indiana town's Depot District. Their crews drove Nucor Skyline HP with a Pileco hammer. ASCE and ACEC awarded the work.
• Bellingham Marine salutes its life saving project team. A man suffered a non-work-related emergency while visiting an undisclosed job site. It prompted the crew to administer CPR, coordinate rescue services and assist with site access.
• Blue Iron Foundations & Shoring crews operating a Giken Silent Piler make TV news on Milwaukee's CBS 58. They are shown installing steel sheet piling to protect Wood National Cemetery from adjacent road construction.
• Boh Bros. Construction Co. is number two on Louisiana's list of Forbes 2026 Best-In-State company rankings. The N'Awlins builder beat out Raising Cane's!
• SJ Hamill Construction incorporated new AI technology to capture "knowledge" from its experienced Charleston, SC-based builders.
• Locke Solutions precast concrete products are now SMaRT certified; it recognizes attributes like durability, recyclability, low toxicity and sustainability.
• Tolunay-Wong Engineers, Inc. secured geotechnical "titans" Jen-Louis Briaud and Charles Aubeny, both from the TAMU civil engineering department, to lead a series of internal workshops to supplement staff engineers' education.

Giving back:

• Beaver Excavating Co. supports Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital as sponsor of Mercy Charity Clays sport shooting event.
• McCarthy Building Companies teamed up with partners on a North Texas project to donate 265 bicycles for K-8 students in Hamlin.
• PND Engineers...short for Pink N Dangerous? That was the name of the firm's sponsored team in June's Alaska Run for Women breast cancer fundraiser.
• SGH supports the Michael Tecci Memorial Scholarship fund, honoring the firm's late colleague and friend. It benefits students pursuing STEM careers and embodies values reminiscent of Mike. Rising Northeastern University freshman Matthew Mahoney accepted the first award from Mike's wife, Katie.

Continental Heavy Civil used a Flexifloat modular jackup to facilitate steel sheet pile installation to repair storm-breached infrastructure on Florida's west coast.

Forefront Deep Foundations crews drove 438 Nucor Skyline HP with an APE D-30 hammer to widen a SoCal freeway bridge in Anaheim, near the MLB Angels stadium.

R.E. Pierson Construction Co. builds the Sparrows Point Container Terminal at Baltimore's port. PM Mike Postorivo says crews are installing 1,517 pipe piles from JD Fields, with two Dieseko USA vibros and impact hammers from ICE and APE. Part of the pipe order will come from the nearby, soon-to-be-online Fields mill.

Scott Bridge Company updates work on the DuPont Bridge replacement in Panama City, FL. Crews drive piles for multiple piers, cut piles, pour plugs and form bent caps.

Tecnac S.A. updates work on the Capital Shopping Portoviejo project in Manabi, Ecuador. Crews have driven more than 1,000 PSC piles using PILECO hammers.

Dewberry supports three Loudoun County (VA) transportation projects: a road extension, a pedestrian trail and a highway interchange. Also, the firm's Danville, VA, office moves to riverfront space, where it continues nearly five decades of service.

GRL Engineers, Inc. and sister-company Pile Dynamics, Inc. put forward their respective presidents to present State of the Practice Seminars (6.5 PDH) this fall. Interested parties may attend in Atlanta, Philly, NYC, Houston, Mobile or St. Louis.

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Notes from the Field

Rolling Toomer's (and Tider's) was yesteryear's job. Today, Morris-Shea Bridge Co. mobilizes at Auburn University's Jordan-Hare Stadium to begin an expansion project, after donating a design-assist. Notably, M-S proprietor Richard Shea was noseguard for the football Tigers (198891); years later, daughter Courtney wore his number 93 as starting softball catcher. He says, "Our roots at Auburn run deep and always will."

Monsters of the Midwest Sports fans know a Chicago Bears move to Indiana is likely. Hoosiers are hailing the idea, while the football purists pout. We asked PDCA VP Michael Wysockey of Thatcher Foundations, a Gary, IN contractor originally from Chicago, what he thinks. Spoken like a true pile driver, he said: "We'd be happy to put in the foundation for the Bears in Hammond, IN, or wherever they build the stadium."

Quarterback U Port Everglades hosted stakeholders in Ft. Lauderdale to talk economic growth. Orion sent representatives VP Lina Garcia-Martin, CFO Alison Vasquez and special envoy Bernie Kosar. Lina confessed ignorance on the history of her temporary colleague who was the 1983 National Champion Miami Hurricanes QB and 1985 NFL top draft pick to the Cleveland Browns. "Bernie is a really nice guy!"

Wrecking ball A Richmond Flying Squirrels AA baseball game set the scene for a Geo-Technology Associates, Inc. staff outing. One social media post from the event said firm partner and geotech Eric Church, PE, fired a 90-mph first pitch. Suuure.

Paul "El Alemán" is a popular comedian and social influencer whose schtick involves cultural contrasts between Germany and Latin America. He was among global celebrities at World Cup events. In Houston, he stopped for a selfie with George Cerda of OTTO Fabricators and his brother Pablo Cerda of PACO Equipment.

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