How long have you been with the company?

Since September 2022

What does your job entail?

In a nutshell, my job entails the direction of field technicians and coordination of surveyors during the collection of SUE field data, analysis of field designating and locating results, review and preparation of final SUE plans, preparation of test hole data summaries and test hole data forms, and management of CADD technicians and junior Project Managers. I also prepare proposals and cost estimates for clients, and am actively involved in the Yellow Rose business development efforts.

Who inspired you to pursue a career in SUE?

A deep question  - I would say that it was a combination of Chris Hoff and Perry Burnett. They were my former supervisors and introduced me to SUE after I graduated from Texas A&M back in 2010. They are first class characters, excellent mentors and taught me what I know now.

What’s the best advice you can give to someone who just started their career in SUE?

“Utilities are the biggest problem in Civil Engineering.” Those aren’t my words, but I have heard TxDOT say it numerous times, as well as nearly every major City that we have worked with. Utilities are buried everywhere, and without accurate and reliable maps, they can cause a tremendous amount of delays and greatly increase the cost of a project.

Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) is the answer to that problem! SUE hardly gets any attention in universities, but it helps solve the biggest problem that exists within civil engineering, which is – unreliable utility information. We help remove that risk posed by unknown utilities and provide highly accurate and reliable maps of the existing underground utilities. What we do matters, and we are tackling the biggest problem that faces Civil Engineering projects.

What’s your secret talent no one knows about? Or tell me something most people don’t know about.

Back in high school and college, I was in a rock band. Were we any good? Eh… I think we were good enough to be confused for a mediocre band a few times. You get a gold star if you can find the band.

I was also chased by a baboon during a marathon once. It was scary, but it did end up being the fastest I have ever finished a race.

What do you like doing in your free time? Or what’s one thing on your bucket list?

I have 4 kids and our oldest daughter is 5. So as you can imagine, our house is a little crazy these days and I don’t have an abundance of free time between work and family. In the time that I do have, I like to run, play guitar, and read. I also make time for my daily cold plunge. They say the hardest thing about doing cold plunges is not telling everyone about it. I agree ha! You should do it. It is a game changer.