NASTT Officers & Board of Directors
View NASTT Officers | View NASTT Board of Directors
The NASTT Board of Directors directs the affairs of the Society, on behalf of NASTT and its membership. The Board is comprised of a minimum of sixteen (16) and maximum of nineteen (19) directors, who are elected by the Society's members. Only elected Directors may serve as Officers of the Society and are appointed by the Board of Directors. Read more about NASTT’s leadership team in the brief introductions that follow.
NASTT OFFICERS
Chair, International Representative & 2012 No-Dig Show Program Chair
George Ragula – Distribution Technology Manager, Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G)
George Ragula is responsible for evaluating cutting-edge technologies that increase efficiency and effectiveness of operations for Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G). Responsibilities include planning, coordinating, managing and implementing procedural and equipment technology transfer with particular emphasis on increased use of various trenchless technologies. He has spent the last 18 years committed to the ever-growing technologies in trenchless construction.
George has a very diverse background in gas distribution engineering and operations. Prior to joining PSE&G in 1988, he held various positions at Brooklyn Union Gas responsible for project estimating, field engineering/construction, system planning and network analysis, design, codes and standards, contract administration, gas leak detection including emergency response as well as drafting.
He is a member of the American Gas Association, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, North American Society for Trenchless Technology, Society of Gas Operators and the New Jersey Society of Asphalt Technologists. He serves as Treasurer of the Northeast Gas Distribution Council and is actively involved as a Project Advisor for the Gas Technology Institute Operations Technology Development Program and Sustaining Membership Program. In addition, he serves as Chairman of the NYSEARCH - Northeast Gas Association R&D Committee. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in New York.
Vice Chair
Robert H. Westphal – Senior Vice President, Michels Corp.
Robert H. (Bob) Westphal's career with Michels began in 1965. Since then, he has earned himself a distinguished reputation as a hard worker with determination, strong convictions, great work ethic and a "get-it-done" attitude. Westphal held numerous positions while working his way up through the ranks, which include laborer, operator, foreman, project superintendent, project manager and general superintendent. In 1989,
Westphal was appointed to the position of Vice President. He currently is Senior Vice President for Michels Corp., a position he has held since 2000.
Westphal has evolved with the underground construction industry through the years and has helped transform what is now Michels Corp. into a worldwide leader in underground construction, specifically in the fields of horizontal directional drilling and pipeline construction. Westphal served as president of the Pipe Line Contractors Association (PLCA) in 2005 and currently sits on its Board of Directors. He also serves on the PLCA's Labor Committee and the Pipe Line Industry Advancement Fund (PLIAF). Additionally, he sits on the Board of Directors for the North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT) and is a trustee on the Laborers National Pension Fund.
Westphal and his wife, Jone, reside in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and are involved with several civic and charitable causes. They have four sons and ten grandchildren.
Secretary
Benoît Côté, M.Sc. – Vice President, Aqua-Pipe, Sanexen Environmental Services Inc.
Benoît Côté has been employed with Sanexen Environmental Services since 1995. In 1998, he was involved in the development and marketing of the Aqua-Pipe technology for water main rehabilitation. For the past ten years, he has managed the development and growth of the water main rehabilitation branch.
Since 2001, Ben has held the director of Aqua-Pipe position at Sanexen working to market and license the technology in North America. He has comprehensive expertise in water main rehabilitation and NSF certification protocols. He is also active with the AWWA. Ben earned his M.S. from the University of Sherbrooke.
Treasurer
Kaleel Rahaim – Manager, Pipeline Remediation Polymers, Thermoset Resins Division, Interplastic Corp.
Kaleel Rahaim is a graduate Chemical Engineer from Mississippi State University. He has experience in many different aspects of engineering such as project and process engineering. He has been involved in the thermoset polymer industry for almost 30 years. His current position is Business Manager, Pipeline Remediation Polymers for the Thermoset Resins Division of Interplastic Corp. Kaleel is also on the Board of Directors for the North American Society for Trenchless Technology and involved in other trade organizations for the trenchless remediation industry. He served as the Program Chair of NASTT’s 2008 No-Dig Show in Dallas, Texas. Kaleel resides in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Peggy.
Immediate Past Chair
Chris Brahler – President & CEO, TT Technologies, Inc.
Chris Brahler has been active in the development and growth of the underground construction industry for 30 years. He received a B.S. in Business Administration in 1974 and began his career in the cable installation equipment market that same year. Chris soon developed an interest in trenchless technology.
In 1991, Chris started TT Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of a wide range of trenchless tools and equipment in Aurora, Illinois. As President and CEO, Chris works with many different underground construction applications including boring systems, pipe ramming, horizontal directional drilling and pipe bursting.
Chris has been very involved in promoting the growth of the trenchless technology market and increasing the trenchless education level. He has spoken about trenchless technology and related applications to engineers, contractors, municipalities and construction related industry groups throughout the United States and the world, including China, Mexico and Europe.
Chris has been a featured presenter at conventions and conferences around the country including, UCT, PCCA, DCA and NUCA. He has served on the NO-DIG Trenchless Committee, DCA Board of Directors and the National Utility Contractors Association Trenchless Committee.
NASTT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Director
Alan Atalah, Ph.D., P.E. – Associate Professor, Bowling Green State University
Alan Atalah, Ph.D., P.E. is an Associate Professor working for Bowling Green State University, where he teaches construction management. Alan earned a Doctorate of Engineering, M.S. in Civil Engineering, and MBA degrees from Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana. He graduated with diploma in Construction Management and B.S. in Civil Engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. He has more than 24 years of construction experience in water and wastewater projects; 15 years of which were in trenchless technology construction. He has delivered hundreds of trenchless technology and construction management presentations at many national conferences and educational seminars.
Director
George Cowan, P.E. – Vice President, HAKS
George Cowan graduated Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1973, earning his B.S. in Civil Engineering, and has been a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of New York since 1977. Cowan is also a member of ASCE, BAMI, and the Industry Advisory Board of Louisiana Tech University’s Trenchless Technology Center.
Previously, he worked at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection from 1973 through 1996 involved in the design and construction of sewers. Upon New York City's formation of the Department of Design and Construction in 1996, Cowan was appointed the Assistant Commissioner for the Division of Infrastructure/Design, where he was responsible for overseeing the Design of the City's infrastructure including sewers, water mains and roadways. Most recently, he was employed as a Project Engineer for Carp-Seca Construction. Currently, Cowan is the Vice President of HAKS based in New York, New York.
Director
Frank Firsching – Vice President of Sales, Underground Solutions, Inc. (UGSI)
As the Vice President of Sales for UGSI, Frank Firsching oversees the UGSI Regional Sales Managers and coordinates all domestic and international sales activities. He has extensive engineering, sales and management experience. He received an MBA at the Wharton School Business and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia. Before joining UGSI, Frank worked for USFilter as President of the Water and Wastewater Systems Group with responsibility for USFilter's global process equipment and technology divisions. Frank also held the positions of Executive Vice President of the Process Water Group, West Regional and GM in USFilter. In addition, he has worked for Deloitte & Touche Management Consulting and GE.
Director
Jennifer Glynn, P.E. – Project Manager, RMC Water & Environment
Jennifer Glynn, P.E. is a Project Manager for RMC Water and Environment in their Walnut Creek, California office. She earned her B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and then headed west to California. Jennifer has 15 years of experience in municipal infrastructure planning, permitting, design and construction management with an emphasis on pipeline design and the use of trenchless technology. She has published and presented papers on projects she designed using trenchless technology at conferences all over the country.
Jennifer has been a member of the No-Dig Show Program Committee for the past seven years and is one of the founding members of the Western Chapter (WESTT). She currently serves as Chair of WESTT and is a volunteer NASTT Pipe Bursting Good Practices Course instructor. Jennifer is also a member of the American Water Works Association Water Pipeline Rehabilitation Committee and a past Vice President of the Northern California Pipe User's Group (PUG).
Director
Mark Hallett – Vice President, SAERTEX multiCom LP
Mark Hallett has been in the construction business the majority of his working career specializing in the rehabilitation of underground infrastructures. He is the Vice President of SAERTEX multiCom LP, a manufacturer and supplier of resin impregnated glass fiber liner designed to cure under UV light. Previously, Mark was employed by Miller Pipeline Corp., a full service underground utility contractor, where he served as Vice President of the Utility Division. Mark has been active in a number of trade associations and was the president of NASSCO's International Pipe Bursting Association (IPBA) and is now serving on the Board of Directors for the North American Society for Trenchless Technology. He also served as the Program Chair for NASTT’s 2010 No-Dig Show in Chicago (Schaumburg), Illinois.
Director
Jamie Hannam, MBA, P.Eng. – Manager, Engineering & IS, Halifax Water
Jamie Hannam is the Manager of Engineering and Information Services for Halifax Water, a position he obtained in 2007. Prior to this, he was the Chief Engineer with the Halifax Regional Water Commission from 1994 to 2007. A graduate of Acadia University (B.Sc. 1983), Technical University of Nova Scotia (B.Eng. 1985) and Dalhousie (MBA 1990), he spent the earlier years of his career in Municipal Government in both Halifax and Dartmouth working on a variety of engineering tasks. In his role as Manager of Engineering and IS, he is responsible for water and wastewater infrastructure master planning, asset management, and capital project delivery with an annual capital budget of $30M.
Halifax Water, the first regulated water, wastewater and stormwater utility in Canada and the largest utility in Atlantic Canada, serving 350,000, with pipes as old as 1856, has utilized trenchless technologies and NASTT resources as key components of their system rehabilitation program for the past 15 years.
Director
Tom Hayes – President, Haywood Associates, LLC
Tom Hayes is the President of Haywood Associates, LLC. Previously, he was Vice President of the North American Rehabilitation Division for Insituform Technologies, where he worked for 24 years. Tom has over 30 years experience in underground pipeline infrastructure. Before joining Insituform he was a partner at Utility Surveys, Inc., a utility construction firm. Prior to that he worked for McCullough Environmental, a firm specializing in sewer system evaluation surveys (SSES) for municipal and federal utility systems. An Atlanta, Georgia resident, Tom holds a B.A. degree in Psychology from the University of South Carolina and a MBA degree from Jacksonville University. Tom is a member of the American Public Works Association and the American Water Works Association.
Director
Jim Hoggatt – Engineering Department Manager, South Tahoe Public Utility District
Jim Hoggatt is the Engineering Department Manager for the South Tahoe Public Utility District in South Lake Tahoe, California. He has over 30 years of experience in planning, permitting, design, and construction management in the field of municipal engineering. Jim has been the project manager on the design and construction of many trenchless projects including slip lining, CIPP, pipe bursting, HDD and auger boring. Jim earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from New Mexico State University and has been active in NASTT for the past 15 years. He also received NASTT’s Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Lifetime Service in 2011.
Director
Dave Krywiak, P.Eng. – Senior Associate & Project Manager, Stantec Consulting Ltd.
Dave Krywiak is a Senior Project Manager with Stantec Consulting Ltd. in their Edmonton, Alberta office. He obtained a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta in 1977 and has been employed in the consulting industry since that time. Many of the projects that Dave has been involved with have included significant trenchless technology components, such as conventional and microtunneling, horizontal directional drilling and cured-in-place pipe relining. He is one of the founding members of the Northwest Chapter (NASTT-NW) and has served on the Chapter Board for a number of terms, including a term as the Chapter Chair.
Director
Jason Lueke, Ph.D., P.Eng. – Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
Upon completion of his Civil Engineering degree in 1997, Jason began graduate studies at the University of Alberta. There he completed his M.Sc. (1999) and Ph.D. degrees (2005) in Construction Engineering and Management with dissertations on trenchless pipe replacement and horizontal directional drilling. Jason has published over 40 journal and conference papers in the field of trenchless technology and was the inaugural president of the University of Alberta Student Chapter. Jason joined Terraco in 2001 working on pipe bursting and lateral sewer replacement projects. In 2003, he joined Associated Engineering Ltd. managing numerous projects including water distribution, wastewater and storm water management as well as providing specialized expertise for HDD, relining, pipe bursting, pipe ramming and tunneling. In January 2009, Jason changed careers and became an Assistant Professor with the Del E. Webb School of Construction at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
A strong promoter of the trenchless industry, Jason has been actively involved with NASTT for 11 years. He is a volunteer instructor for NASTT’s Horizontal Directional Drilling, Pipe Bursting and Laterals Good Practices Courses. He is currently the Chair of the WESTT Chapter and a member of the No-Dig Show Program Committee since 2006. He was the Chair for two and a member of seven organizing committees of the Alberta Trenchless Symposiums, and was the Edmonton Section Chair of the Northwest Chapter. Jason has authored two award winning papers: the NASTT No-Dig Rehabilitation Paper of the Year (2005) and the ASCE John O. Bickel Award (2001), and was the recipient of the Trent Ralston Award for Young Trenchless Achievement Award in 2010.
Director
Derek Potvin, P.Eng. – President, Robinson Consultants Inc.
Derek Potvin, P.Eng. is the President of the multidisciplinary engineering firm, Robinson Consultants Inc. He obtained his Bachelor of Applied Sciences with a minor in business administration from the University of Ottawa. Derek has been providing trenchless rehabilitation solutions to his clients for over 20 years, including a trenchless technology project that won a Canadian Consulting Engineering Award.
Derek is actively involved with NASTT’s No-Dig Show where he has authored many papers including a paper that won an award for Outstanding Paper, and for several years, he has been an instructor of NASTT’s Introduction to Trenchless Technology Short Course (sewer and watermain trenchless rehabilitation). Derek has also been involved as an organizer and instructor of NASTT’s Good Practices Courses and regional trenchless conferences, such as the Trenchless Road Show.
Derek is the Treasurer for the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence and Atlantic Chapter (GLSLA). Derek, along with two other GLSLA members, was recently invited to Cairo, Egypt to provide a course on municipal infrastructure management, including trenchless technologies, to attendees from Egypt, the Middle East and North African countries.
Director
Cindy Preuss, P.E. – Associate & Project Manager, Harris & Associates
Cindy Preuss graduated with a B.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and is a licensed professional civil engineer in the State of California. She is an Associate and Project Manager with Harris & Associates and works out of their corporate headquarters located in Concord, California. In her ten years with Harris & Associates, Cindy's engineering expertise includes designing new and rehabilitated pipeline systems and other infrastructure facilities.
Her pipeline design projects include such trenchless technologies as horizontal directional drilling, jack and auger boring, slip lining, cast-in-place plastic lining and pipe bursting. Prior to Harris & Associates Cindy worked at the Regional Water Quality Control Board, monitoring and enforcing cleanup orders for soil- and groundwater-contaminated sites in the San Francisco Bay.
Cindy is currently serving her sixth year on the Board of Directors for the Northern California Pipe User's Group (PUG), an association of public agencies, private consultants, contractors, vendors and suppliers that study current, conventional and trenchless pipe technologies. PUG has been active in sponsoring attendance to and scholarships for NASTT's No-Dig Show, regional No-Dig conferences offered through the WESTT Chapter, and in offering courses to PUG members on various trenchless technologies administered by NASTT.
Cindy is excited to contribute further to NASTT through her participation as a Director, her continued service on the No-Dig Show Program Committee, and her involvement on the Board of Directors of the WESTT Chapter.
Director
Jim Rankin II – Global Segment Manager, Vermeer Corp.
Jim Rankin has been with the Vermeer Corp. for more than 33 years and has amassed a vast array of knowledge of industrial equipment and trenchless technology applications. For the past 23 years, Jim’s focus has been on the Vermeer Horizontal Directional Drills (HDD). Jim was the Project Leader for the team that developed the first drill commercially marketed by the Vermeer Corp. Prior to working with HDD equipment, he was involved with the development for Vermeer’s Utility Products (formerly Rubber Tire) and track equipment.
He has demonstrated his innovation abilities and technical skills by earning 14 industrial patents. Jim delivers the Vermeer Vision Taking Care Of Customers Worldwide with Better Solutions through extensive domestic and international travel and by meeting the business needs of the Vermeer customers and dealers.
Jim is a long-term member of the No-Dig Show Program Committee and serves as the Chair of NASTT’s Educational Fund Auction Committee. Jim and his wife Jeanette have three daughters, one son and three grandchildren. Jim spends his free time boating and woodworking.
Director & 2012 NASTT No-Dig Show Program Vice Chair
Kimberlie Staheli, Ph.D., P.E. – President, Staheli Trenchless Consultants
Kimberlie Staheli is the President and founder of Staheli Trenchless Consultants in Seattle, Washington, a trenchless engineering consulting firm specializing in the design and construction management of all types of high risk trenchless projects for over 18 years.
Kim has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a M.S. in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University and a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a Registered Professional Engineer in Washington, Oregon and California.
Kim has specialized in trenchless design and construction working for contractors, performing trenchless research and working as a consultant. She is particularly interested in minimizing the risks of installation techniques including microtunneling, directional drilling, pipe ramming, auger boring and large diameter tunneling. Kim has focused on risk reduction through the development of geotechnical baseline reports as well as pro-active construction risk management. She has vast experience in trenchless forensics and post construction claims analysis and provides expert testimony.
Director
Isabel Tardif, B.Eng., LL.B., M.P.M. – Technologies Director, CERIU
Isabel Tardif holds a Bachelor in Civil Engineering from McGill University and a Law Degree from the University du Quebec in Montreal. She also earned a Master in Project Management from the University du Quebec en Outaouais.
Isabel is a Technologies Director pertaining to underground infrastructures for the Centre for Expertise and Research on Infrastructure in Urban Areas (CERIU). Prior to CERIU, she has held the position of Operations Manager - Potable Water and Sewer Networks for the City of Aylmer and as well as Coordinator - Potable Water and Sewer Rehabilitation for the Engineering Department for the City of Gatineau.
She has been involved in several INFRAGuide Committees; the North American Society for Trenchless Technology and with the CERIU for many years in regards potable water and sewer underground infrastructures. Isabel has moderated and has given conferences in Africa and in North America on different topics pertaining to potable water, sewer, and trenchless technologies. She currently gives courses and lectures on trenchless technologies to engineers, technicians, as well as university and college students.
