EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE DFI’s Infrastructure — Continuous Improvement A s I thought about the Infrastructure theme of this issue and what I could contribute to the magazine as an editorial, I struggled to find inspiration. Perhaps that was because I was looking for a positive outlook on the challenges facing our nation’s infrastructure, never mind on the entire world’s infrastructure needs, while I was on my daily long, slow commute from home in New York to DFI headquarters in New Jersey. As I crossed multiple bridges and traversed expressways, parkways and highways, I found it hard to be creative with all the honking, gesturing and jockeying for position to advance a few mere feet. As I begged my Waze app to find me a better route, so I could make it to the office before my first conference call of the day, I contemplated whether I should switch routes and take the tunnel instead; perhaps I should take some back roads through neighborhoods to avoid the other commuters. Regardless, every route showed those dreaded red lines and traffic jams of 30 minutes or more. So, I stayed where I was, crawling along, and thought about the other articles in this issue. Could I really contribute more insight than what’s described in the ASCE 2017 Infrastructure Report Card (see page 14) with its statistics and facts on the state of U.S. infrastructure and strategic solutions that could be implemented? Could my opinion complement the history of tunnel ing and the widespread innovations in recent years from that segment of the industry as reported on by the new chairs for DFI’s Tunneling and Underground Systems Committee (page 81). What could I add to DFI Trustee Dave Paul’s account of the challenges being faced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (page 89), as it relates to water resources infrastructure and its 243-year history of managing its large inventory of dams and levees. Plus, Executive Editor Antonio (Tony) Marinucci already wrote a to-the-point editorial on funding and improving our country’s infrastructure (see page 111). As I continued to inch my way to the office, my thoughts wandered to a different type of infrastructure — the business infrastructure of DFI. Over the last 12 years during my tenure as executive dir- ector, I’ve been fortunate to see the organization grow and expand its activities across the globe and across industries. To assure a consistent experience for DFI members and the deep foundations industry our infrastructure of human resources, business pro- cesses and operational tools need to grow with us and align people, activities and technology to our strategic goals through careful planning and well- thought-out systems. There isn’t a day that goes by where we’re not planning the next im- provement to our website and data management systems, or restructuring responsibilities among our growing staff to ensure efficiency. We work hard to document our evolving processes to safeguard reliability of our products and services; train and educate not Theresa Engler Executive Director [email protected] To assure a consistent experience for DFI members and the deep foundations industry our infrastructure of human resources, business processes and operational tools need to grow with us and align people, acti- vities and technology to our strategic goals through careful planning and well- thought-out systems. only our staff but also our volunteer leadership; and engage students and young professionals to guarantee that our efforts to improve the planning, design and construction of deep foundations and excavations continues well beyond my time in this position. Likewise, we continue to expand our technical activities with new committees and new research projects that all lead to improved educa- tional materials, such as research reports, guidance documents, presentations and videos. As I broke through the traffic caused by the ongoing construction on the roadways that I travel daily, I realized I should rejoice in being stuck on my way to the office. There are improvements being made and money being spent on the infrastructure around me. I should be and am grateful that the institution for which I work is an essential part of the critical infrastructure that is vital to our society’s economic development and prosperity. journal papers, DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2018 • 9
