Board Members

Company: Underground Solutions

Shawn Garcia is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Texas and currently serves as Regional Manager for Underground Solutions (an Aegion Company) for the North Texas/Oklahoma Region, where he manages and oversees all business development, operations, and activities in the region.  Shawn has over 18 years of engineering development, design, and construction experience in the Municipal Water/Wastewater Utility Infrastructure Rehabilitation and New Construction industry.  He previously worked for Archer Western Construction and the City of Wichita Falls.  He received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Texas Tech University.

Company: Black & Veatch

Ash joined Black & Veatch after receiving her MS degree in Geotechnical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Her expertise lies in engineering design and construction management, proposal development, preparation of contract documents, and conformance reviews of heavy civil infrastructure projects.

Her experience is as broad as it comes – she has worked on all aspects of tunnel projects including pre-positioning with clients, chasing pursuits, technical innovation and value add, and project execution including planning, preliminary and detailed design, and construction contract administration and inspection services. She has successfully delivered dozens of projects adding up to construction contract values of over 1 billion USD.

Ash has authored various technical papers and presented in premier industry conferences to a wide variety of audience. She is a program committee member and session chair for the 2021 and 2022 NASTT No-Dig Show and a reviewer for the 2023 NASTT No-Dig show.

Company: CCI & Associates

Justin Taylor, P.E. is the VP of Engineering for CCI & Associates, an engineering, design, and inspection firm specializing in trenchless technology. Justin holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta. After almost 10 years of various engineering and management roles in the Western Canadian CCI offices, Justin moved to Houston, Texas to head the engineering team in CCI’s first stateside offices. Justin is a licensed P.Eng. in Alberta, among other provinces, as well as a licensed P.E. in multiple states including Texas. In his time with CCI, Justin has worked on trenchless crossings for various high profile projects such as Keystone/Keystone XL, Enbridge Line 3, and Kinder Morgan TMEP Pipelines, and has been involved in the development of tools for real-time measurement of strain and stress on steel pipe during Horizontal Directional Drill installations. Justin is an active member of NASTT, having authored and co-authored several papers for the organization, and being a member of the NASTT Program Committee.

Company: Plummer Associates

Alan Swartz, PE, is currently the Oklahoma Area Leader for Plummer Associates and has over 20 years of experience in the design and rehabilitation of water and wastewater pipelines, lift stations and pump stations throughout Oklahoma and Texas. Alan has extensive experience in the design and construction of small and large diameter water transmission and distribution mains utilizing both open cut and trenchless construction methods including auger boring, tunneling and horizontal directional drilling. His pipeline rehabilitation experience includes traditional sliplining of large diameter sanitary sewer interceptors and compressed fit HDPE liner (Tite Liner) for small and medium diameter water transmission lines. Alan is a licensed Professional Engineer in both Oklahoma and Texas.

Paul is HDR’s Trenchless Services Team Leader and has nearly 30 years of experience in the design, project management, and construction of power, water, oil, gas, and other utilities utilizing trenchless technologies, specifically horizontal directional drilling (HDD), conventional boring methods, and Direct Pipe^®. He has special expertise in the construction of complex, large-diameter HDD pipeline installations with world-record lengths, plus extensive on-site experience with major projects around the world. In addition, Paul has worked with multi-skilled, international teams to complete pipeline projects from front-end engineering and design (FEED) through construction. 

Company: Parkhill

Mike Ramirez, PE, is a Principal and the Director of Construction Services. He brings 20 years of engineering experience with an emphasis on large-diameter pipelines, pumping facilities, GIS applications, collection and distribution modeling, and the planning, design, and construction of water and wastewater projects. He has managed the planning, design, or construction of over 100 miles of pipeline projects in the last 10 years, ranging in size from 6” to 90”.

He has years of experience in engineering and management, research and development, leadership and mentoring, as well as problem-solving.

A 1999 graduate of UTEP, he holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, licenses as a professional engineer in both Texas and New Mexico, and is accredited by the Congress for the New Urbanism. Ramirez is a former state deputy trustee for American Water Works Association, president of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) El Paso Board of Directors, past chair of Keep Vinton Beautiful and past president of American Water Works Association.

Company: Subsite Electronics & HammerHead

Nik Taylor has worked in the underground construction industry for five years. Nik began his career with HammerHead Trenchless and is currently employed by Subsite Electronics & HammerHead as the Regional Sales Manager for the South-Central Region of the United States. Nik began his professional career as an Art Director at a Newspaper in San Diego County and worked in marketing and project management in electrical sign construction before joining the underground construction industry.

Nik has worked with the Ditch Witch dealer channel, assisted damage prevention associations, and has helped develop training and best practices for large organizations. Nik is a certified underground utility locator and is a trained HDD tracking expert. Nik currently serves as the Treasurer for the NASTT South Central Chapter.

Company: Arcadis U.S., Inc.

Shah Rahman, MBA, M.ASCE, is the Area Manager of the Resilience Water Team of Arcadis, U.S., Inc. in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate civil engineer with 27 years of professional experience in the field of water and wastewater conveyance, and buried pipeline infrastructure.

Shah’s duties at Arcadis includes serving as Account Leader for various clients in Southeast Texas, including the Greater Houston area. He works directly with clients to determine needs and deliver solutions. Actively participating as a member of Arcadis’ Texas Leadership Team, Shah develops and strategically positions, and actively works with and mentors local teams in new and on-going pursuits. Shah is a nationally recognized water transmission and large diameter pressure pipe design and installation expert, and previously served in the role of Director of Trenchless Technology and Pipeline Rehabilitation for one of the largest manufacturers of steel and concrete pipe materials in North America. Specifically in the field of trenchless technology, Shah was played critical roles in the technical development and market launches of Fusible PVC® pipe, the BullDog® PVC Joint Restraint pipe joint, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) for the repair of PCCP, and Permalok® casing pipe for microtunneling.

Shah is a Civil Engineering graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and is currently pursuing a PhD in Structural Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. He holds an MBA from the Southern Methodist University in strategy, marketing and general management.

Company: City of Irving

Mr. Sauceda is currently the Engineering Manager for the City of Irving, manages the design of water and wastewater projects, development services, real estate services and franchise utility inspection in the Capital Improvement Program Department. Prior to that, Robert spent 16 years with the City of Fort Worth Water Department and served as the Director of Engineer for the City of Colleyville. He holds Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from New Mexico State University and pursuing his MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. Mr. Sauceda is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas. He has worked on water and wastewater conveyance, treatment, pipeline, trenchless construction, project management, water supply and distribution, master planning, street, highway and drainage projects in Texas, New Mexico and internationally in Mexico for the State of Chihuahua. He has more than 28 years of construction experience on large and small diameter water and wastewater pipelines, tunnels, wells, street, and drainage and highway construction. He is an Associate Water Asset Manager and is NASSCO certified for sewer condition assessment techniques and has supported many small and large diameter trenchless rehabilitation projects. He has designed, managed, or provided quality control for pipelines ranging from 6- to 108-inches in diameter. He is an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Water Works Association (AWWA), and is the current Vice President and Board member of the Underground Construction Technology Association (UCTA) North Texas Chapter. Presented at the NASTT-SC Trenchless Technology conference at UTA, on several wastewater rehabilitation projects and hand tunneling rehab methods on wastewater and water projects.

Company: HVJ Associates, Inc.

Farouq has been involved in the Trenchless industry as a contractor his entire career. He has worked for Frontier Kemper, Vadnais, Granite, Southland, and currently is working at Harper Brothers Trenchless. Most of his postions have involved tunneling. Farouq regularly attends NASTT events. Both local SC NASTT & National No Dig events.

Farouq Esmail, Estimating Manager, HB Trenchless, LLC. Farouq has close to two decades of underground construction experience with projects located across North America. His experience includes small diameter microtunneling to large diameter (20’+) TBMs in soft soil and hard rock. A graduate of the University of Washington in civil engineering, his underground focus has primarily been associated with transportation and water conveyance.

Company: Horseshoe Construction