MEMBER PROFILE William Walton: Ingenuitive Engineer and Energetic Leader “Bill is a highly-qualified foundation engineer with a very broad technical inquisitiveness and expertise. His enthusiasm in studying, analyzing and resolving practical solutions for very complex problems is outstanding. Whether developing deep foundations for building structures or evaluating geotechnical aspects of dam systems, his energy level knows no bounds,” commented Stanley Korista, P.E., from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. William (Bill) Walton was born and raised in Vermont — the son of a mechanical engineer and grandson of a surveyor, both of whom were very influential to his upbringing. Bill was always technically oriented and by middle school he knew he wanted to be an engineer. His interest in engineering was second only to his love of skiing and sports. Walton was a competitive ski jumper — a true daredevil and thrill seeker. But by the end of high school he faced the reality of getting a college degree to pursue his technical interests. Wal ton enrol led in Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass., where he went on to receive the Stephen Salisbury Award for Top Civil Engineer in the 1978 graduating class. He was also selected as a National Science Foundation Fellow and taught engineering courses to underclassmen. While at WPI he met his wife Patricia, a fellow civil engineering student. They married in 1980. Walton received a full scholarship to attend Cornell University for a master’s degree in agricultural engineering. In the middle of graduate school he was enticed to take a six month job in marine foundations off the coast of Brazil with Scripps Oceanographic Institute on the R/V Glomar Challenger on Leg 72 studying deep sediments under the South Atlantic Ocean. After he returned to the U. S., he completed his master’s degree from Cornell in absentia in 1981. Walton took a job with Chas T. Main in Boston, Mass., as a geotechnical engineer from 1980 to 1985, and he worked on projects around the globe, including the Middle East and Africa, performing power- related work on projects such as hydroelectric power and fossil fueled plants. Walton’s next adventure was a position with GZA GeoEnvironmental, based out of Massachusetts. When he was 29, he relocated to Philadelphia, Pa., to open a GZA office doing work in dams, landfills and commercial developments. After successfully launching the office, he returned to Massachusetts in 1989. In 1990, Walton was hired by GEI Consultants in Woburn, Mass., and worked in the design group, mainly on hydro- electric power facilities. In 1993, his wife was promoted to an officer position in her insurance firm and they moved to Chicago. Walton opened GEI’s first Midwest office in Chicago. He led the office which grew into a small group of engineers. He left the firm in 1996 and joined STS Consultants. Walton developed deep foundation practices there and had the opportunity to travel the world working on the design of many exciting structures such as the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi, the Trump Tower in Chicago, an iron production plant in Trinidad, an earth dam in Missouri, and he also performed forensics on the Infinity Tower excavation collapse in Dubai. Walton was determined to make his mark in the industry and was encouraged by his friends Clyde Baker and Safdar Gill to become a licensed structural engineer. He became an S.E. in his early 40s and attri- butes much of his success to the acquisition of his license to practice structural engineering “from the ground down.” Walton began working with contractors on tunneling, bracing and shoring projects. Alton Davis, Jr., P.E., of GEI Consultants remarked, “Bill has an amazing level of energy and enthusiasm and what I consider a rare quality: curiosity. He always tried to learn from other team members what the big picture looked like and how his piece fit. This curiosity has served him well throughout his career and development into one of the leaders in our profession.” “A story that illustrates Bill’s character occurred early in his career when he was observing construction of the Harriman Dam, an embankment dam in Vermont,” added Davis. “One Friday night at the end of the work day, an emergency condition developed. Bill took immediate charge with the contractor to mobilize equipment and materials and construct an emergency fix to ensure that this did not lead to a larger problem. Bill’s willingness to take charge and act in the emergency is a testament to his professionalism and skill.” Walton’s interdisciplinary skills led him to serve on the board of directors for STS. In 2007, STS Consultants was acquired by AECOM and Walton worked on the team that assisted with the acquisition. In late 2008, Walton was selected by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to lead an investigation of the Kingston Dredge Pond failure in Tennessee. He oversaw 35 employees following the largest coal ash spill in U.S. history. Walton describes Kingston as the “project of a lifetime,” which included performing static liquefaction and undrained analyses on loose sluiced ash that had been placed within tailings ponds on a challenging foundation, gaining skills in dispute resolution, and participating in insurance recovery and litigation as an expert. He was the forensic expert on the failure and had the privilege of reporting to the U.S. Congress and Senate on the findings of the study. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2015 • 69
