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The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI’s) membership voted to elect four new members to the DFI Board of Trustees. Their terms begin on January 1, 2025. The newly elected trustees are Andrew Burns, P.E., Underpinning & Foundation Skanska; Ed Laczynski, P.E., Wagman Heavy Civil; Antonio Marinucci, Ph.D., P.E., Google; and Cassandra Rutherford, Ph.D., P.E., Iowa State University.
Burns is senior vice president of engineering and estimating for Underpinning & Foundation Skanska. In his current role, he manages geotechnical risk as a specialty geotechnical subcontractor as well as a general contractor for Skanska Civil USA Northeast. Burns has been a presenter, an author and an active participant and member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, DFI and The International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC). He served as ADSC Northeast Chapter President from 2013–2017 and was chair of DFI SuperPile ’18. He graduated from City College of New York and is a licensed professional engineer in New York and a member of The Moles.
Laczynski is vice president of geotechnical construction for Wagman Heavy Civil and co-chair of the ADSC-DFI Anchored Earth Retention Committee, prior to which he was the chair of the DFI Tieback and Soil Nail Committee. In his role at Wagman, he manages the company’s work as a foundation and specialty geotechnical subcontractor where his background is in design-build, temporary and permanent anchored retaining systems, and deep foundation systems. Laczynski holds an M.B.A. from George Washington University, a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech, and is a professional engineer licensed in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina and Washington, D.C.
Marinucci serves as the global technical lead for georisk, constructability and sustainability at Google, where he is a technical leader in developing and deploying Google’s global data center infrastructure. In 2017, he founded V2C Strategists, which is an advisory consultancy focused on geostructural specialty construction and strategic business growth, and in 2019 co-founded Advanced Foundation Solutions, which provides technical services for improving performance and increasing reliability of the deep foundation systems. Marinucci is active in numerous professional organizations, is a past chair of the ASCE Geo-Institute Deep Foundations Committee, past executive editor of Deep Foundations magazine, and is an instructor and researcher for the Federal Highway Administration’s National Highway Institute. He is licensed in 14 states and Washington, D.C., and has co-authored more than 55 peer-reviewed technical publications.
Rutherford is an associate professor in geotechnical engineering at Iowa State University and holds the endowed Richard L. Handy professorship. She is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and teaches courses related to advanced soil testing, foundations and introduction to geotechnical engineering. She has served on a number of professional technical committees including the Soil Properties and Modeling Technical Committee of the Geo-Institute, the Marine Renewable Energy Technical Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the D18 Soil and Rock Technical Committee of the American Society of Testing and Materials, the Marine Foundations Technical Committee of the Deep Foundations Institute and the Offshore Geotechnics Technical Committee of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
President’s Awards presented at DFI Annual Conference
Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) President Gianfranco Di Cicco recognized three DFI members with President’s Awards at the DFI 49th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in Aurora, Colo., this past October. The awards were presented on behalf of Di Cicco by incoming DFI President James Johnson.
Established in 2016, the DFI President’s Awards are given at the discretion of the DFI president to recognize the outstanding contributions and service of DFI members who advance the work of DFI. This year’s awards were presented to:
Maurice Bottiau, Franki Foundations, was recognized for his prolific service as member of the DFI Board of Trustees from 2002-2013, founder of DFI Europe and officer of all DFI Europe board positions including his current role as president, and chair of the upcoming 2025 DFI-EFFC International Conference on Deep Foundations and Ground Improvement “Geotechnics Reimagined.” He was also the program chair for the DFI-EFFC Conference in Rome in 2018, and delivered the John Mitchell Lecture at the DFI-EFFC Conference in Berlin in 2022.
Mary Ellen Large, P.E., BC.GE, Nicholson Construction, was recognized for her outstanding service as co-chair of the DFI Structural Slurry Wall and Seepage Control Committee, lead for the USACE-DFI Seepage Control Task Force and organization of the 2023 Workshop in Denver, and organization of a special committee production at IFCEE 2024. She is a founder and active member of DFI’s Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF) Committee and is the future conference chair for DFI’s 51st Annual Conference on Sea Level Change.
Jamey Rosen, P.Geo., Geosyntec, received this award because of his service as chair of the Information Management Systems Committee, leadership in the USACE-DFI Seepage Control Task Force resulting from the 2023 Workshop in Denver, and organization of a special committee production at IFCEE 2024. He is an active member of the DFI Structural Slurry Wall and Seepage Control Committee and regularly publishes papers and delivers presentations at DFI and industry events.
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