EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE Rewarding Awards T his is one of my favorite times of year to be executive director of DFI. Not just because it’s summer and the sun is shining and the days are longer; not because we are in the season of hosting our Educational Trust fundraising golf outings; and not because we are putting the finishing touches on our upcoming Annual Conference in Chicago in October AND kicking off the planning for the 2020 Annual Conference in National Harbor, Md. The reason I love this time of year is because I have the opportunity to contact people and let them know they are being honored and rec- ognized for their industry achievements. This is the time of year when DFI announces the recipients of its most prestigious awards — the Distinguished Service Award, the Outstanding Project Award, the recently established DFI Traveling Lecturer and, this year (once every four years), the Legends Awards — plus nominations for those to be placed on the ballot for service on the DFI Board of Trustees are determined. The fun part is I get to be the one to let them know, before anyone else knows, that they have won! Being recognized, especially by your peers, is such a great feeling and is truly rewarding. Recognition fills people with pride and appreciation. For me, I am filled with gratitude to have the privilege of knowing many of these preeminent geopro- fessionals and hearing their surprise and humbled thanks when I tell them that they’ve been selected. Being validated for years of hard work and exceptional achieve- ment is a deep human need and desire. It’s the best “thank you” one can receive. So, the first people I contacted were the three recipients of our 2019 Legends Award — Bengt Fellenius, Thomas Wysockey and Thomas Bauer (see pages 31-33). Each mentioned how “honored they were,” how “excited they were,” how “they can’t believe they’ve been selected” and, in the case of the Legends, their nom- inators were just as proud, as they will be the ones to present the honorees’ life and career achieve- ments during the Legend’s Pro- gram in Chicago. My next outreach was to Mike Batten of HDR to congratulate him and his colleagues at the North Carolina Department of Transportation and PCL Civil Constructors on winning the Out- standing Project Award (OPA) for their innovative deep founda- tions for the Marc Bas- night Bridge (see page 23). Batten explained how excited the team was to be receiving the award and how grateful they are for the opportunity to make a presentation on the project during the Annual Confer- ence and in the Sept/Oct issue of this publication. My conversation with the 2 DFI Traveling Lec- turer (see page 49), whose tour will run from Sep- tember 2019 through May 2020, was at first speechless and then overjoyed, as he loves giving presentations to up-and- coming deep foundation professionals, be they students or entry-level staff, and couldn’t be more flattered to be chosen for this assignment. When you can hear a person’s smile through the phone, you know you’ve provided good news. Willie M. NeSmith, P.E., nd The last awardee I contacted was Tom Richards, P.E., D.GE, recently retired from Nicholson Construction. He was choked up and expressed how amazing his being Theresa Engler Executive Director [email protected] accepted this year was to him, the same year Thomas Wysockey and The reason I love this time of year is because I have the opportunity to contact people and let them know they are being honored and recognized for their industry achievements. Bengt Fellenius are winning two of the three Legends Awards. The reason is he distinctly remembers being awestruck when he met and spoke with them both at the first DFI meeting he ever attended. “To be recognized as the DFI 2019 Distin- guished Service Awardee at the same conference where two industry icons I’ve looked up to through- out my career is over- whelming and very much appreciated; I am thrilled to accept this honor,” he told me. How can I not love this time of year! In addition, I was pleased to convey to Peter Faust of Malcolm Drilling and Franz-Werner Gerres- sen of Bauer that their names will be on the ballot for this year’s trustee election, and each graciously accepted the opportunity, thrilled to be selected and looking forward to serving, if voted in by the membership. Soon, I’ll be contacting the winners of the Student and Young Professor Paper Competitions, several Educational Trust scholarship recipients and the Women in Deep Foundations professional development grantees. What a great part of my job — sharing in the joy of well-deserving people who have achieved our highest honors. Congratulations to all! DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2019 • 9
