PEOPLE & COMPANIES Schnabel Engineering announced that Walter J. Rabe, P.E., was appointed president and CEO. Rabe has been with Schnabel since 2001 and served as branch leader for the firm’s office in Sterling, Va., until 2012. He served as executive vice president of Schnabel Engineering Consultants, since that time. Rabe has been very involved with the growth of the firm’s international work, traveling to more than 60 countries in the past 15 years. Gordon M. Matheson, Ph.D., P.E., P.G., who has served as Schnabel’s president and CEO since 2001, continued in an advisory role to facilitate Schnabel’s leadership transition until his retirement in February 2016. Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers (MRCE) opened a new Washington, D.C. office, conveniently located within The Yards development, to broaden its metro area profile and allow a more rapid response to client needs. Leading the office is Gregg Piazza, P.E., office manager. MRCE also announced that Steven R. Lowe, P.E., and Andrew R. Tognon, P.E., were promoted to senior associates. Lowe is a structural engineer with 26 years of experience working as the structural project manager or lead structural engineer on numerous developments and projects. Tognon is a geotechnical and instrumentation engineer with 17 years of experience. He is the manager of MRCE’s geotechnical instrumentation department, and his expertise includes a wide variety of geotechnical engineering disciplines. Advanced Geosolutions (AGI) hired Timothy S. Avery, P.E., M.ASCE, as dir- ector of business develop- ment. Avery has a B.S. and an M.S. in geological engineering from the University of Arizona. Avery’s 30 years of experi- ence in tunneling, grouting and geotech- nical construction brings a strong technical background in ground improvement to AGI’s capabilities. He will be based in AGI’s new office in Oakland, Calif. Brian Funkhouser, P.E., president and CEO of Buchart Horn was hon- ored with the Alumni Fellow Award by the Penn State Alumni Association. The award was presented in recognition of Funkhouser’s outstanding professional accomplishments, and is the highest award given by the Penn State Alumni Associ- ation. Funkhouser has served as president and CEO of Buchart Horn for the past seven years. He holds a B.S. in water resources engineering and an associate degree in surveying from Penn State University. Chris Ryan, P.E., D.GE, founder of Geo-Solutions and its predecessor firm, Geo-Con, is retiring. Ryan spent more than 40 years in the geotechnical and geo-environmental construction industry and is well known for applying new technologies to solve difficult soil and groundwater problems. He earned three degrees in civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focusing on geotechnical engineering and construction management. Ryan was an active member of a number of professional organizations, including DFI, ASCE, ASTM, Young Presidents Organization, American Entrepreneurs Institute and The Moles. He published numerous technical papers and articles, primarily on the topics of containments and in-situ mixing. GeoStructures announced three new additions to the company. Joe Zwetch- kenbaum completed his M.S. in civil engineering at Virginia Tech this past December after getting his B.S. from Cooper Union in Manhattan. His current responsibilities include preliminary design engineering for ground improvement as well as various projects aimed towards making the company more competitive. Ed Carrasco, P.E., ori- ginally from Puerto Rico, obtained a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and an M.S. in geotechnical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He worked for CH2M Hill in Washington, D.C. for five years before joining GeoStructures. Chris Leininger finished hi s M. S . de g r e e in geotechnical engineering at the Universi ty of Maryland College Park in May 2015, and joined GeoStructures as an E.I.T. His current responsibilities include delivering preliminary engineering designs for bidding and estimating. The Bauer Group Companies, appointed Jaime R. Picorelli, P.E., as president and CEO for its U.S. geotechnical construction division, Bauer Foundation Corp. Picorelli has over 18 years of experience in the deep foundations industry and holds a B.S. in civil engineering from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and a geotechnics graduate certificate from Missouri S&T. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • MAY/JUNE 2016 • 125
