PEOPLE & COMPANIES Edward Cruz, former CEO of E.E. Cruz and Company, died at his home in Bay Head, N.J. Cruz was born in Camarneira, Portugal on March 22, 1941, the eldest of five children. He graduated from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1963 with a B.S. in civil engineering and in 2013 earned a Doctor of Science, honoris causa from NJIT. Cruz headed Cruz Construction Company after his father and then founded E.E. Cruz & Company. Over the years, E.E. Cruz grew to become an ENR Top 400 Construction Firm in the U.S. Cruz is a former president of the National Utility Contractors Association, the General Contractors Association of New York City, and The Moles. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the Associated General Contractors of New Jersey and the Executive Committee of the General Contractors Association of New York City. Cruz was elected Mayor of Holmdel, N.J. and served on the boards of the Richmond County Savings Bank Foundation and Monmouth University. Cruz recently completed his memoir, A Bold Journey, which has been eagerly anticipated and enthusiastically received by his family, friends and colleagues. Schnabel Engineering announced the promotion of Charles Smith to senior associate/senior vice president. Smith attained his B.S. from Clarkson University and his M.S. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. His expertise is in geotechnical engineering and laboratory soil mechanics testing. He has been with the company for over 10 years and has been a pivotal participant in many of the projects Schnabel has performed through the years. Schnabel also announced the recent promotion of Carlos Englert, P.E., to associate. Englert received h i s B . S . i n c i v i l engineering from the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello from Caracas, Venezuela, and his M.S. in civil engineering from Penn State. Englert is a specialist in design and field supervision of pressure-injected footings (Franki piles), drilled shafts, micropiles, shoring, slurry walls, ground improvement, stone columns, soil nails and tiebacks. He is also chair of the DFI Sustainability Committee. Schnabel announced the promotion of Thomas Fitzgerald, P.E., to principal of the firm. Fitzgerald is currently the branch leader of the Greensboro, N.C. office where he manages a team of over 25 engineers, geologists, and CAD and GIS professionals doing dam projects across the U.S. Fitzgerald holds a B.S. degree in civil engineering and an M.S. in water resources engineering, both from Rutgers College of Engineering. Schnabel also announced the promotion of Brian K. Banks, PG, to principal/ senior vice president. Banks is based out the Rockville, Md., office and is responsible for business development and leadership of the infrastructure team for Schnabel’s Washington, D.C. area operations, with emphasis on the transportation, water/wastewater and energy markets. Banks holds a B.S. in geology from the University of North Carolina as well as an M.S. in geology from Southern Methodist University. GEI Consultants announced that its board of directors selected Gillian M. Gregory, Ph.D., P.E., as its new chairman, following her reelection to a second term on the board. Gregory, who is replacing Naser J. Bateni, P.E., senior vice president, is the first woman chairman the company has appointed to the position. Gregory is a geotechnical engineer specializing in dam safety investigations and dam engineering and earned both an M.S. and a Ph.D. in civil engineering at the University of Massa- chusetts at Amherst. Dr. Jean-Louis Briaud, distinguished professor and holder of the Spencer J. Buchanan Chair in the Zachry Department of civil engineering at Texas A&M University, was recently elected technical region director of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for 2015-2018. A distinguished member of ASCE and a registered professional engineer, Briaud received his bachelor’s degree from the Ecole Speciale des Travaux Publics in France in 1972, and his doctorate from the University of Ottawa in Canada in 1979. Joel G. Carson was selected to serve as exec- utive director of the Geoprofessional Business Association (GBA), suc- ceeding John P. Bachner. Bachner has served as GBA’s chief of staff since 1973. Carson began his career in 1988 after majoring in civil engineering at the University of Utah. In 1993, he joined the staff of Kleinfelder and initiated a 20- year focus on environmental engineering, hydrological and hydrogeological site characterization, and remediation. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • SEPT/OCT 2015 • 113
