Board Members

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: 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: Brierley Associates

Jim Williams is a Senior Associate with Brierley Associates, located in Austin, Texas where he works exclusively on trenchless projects. He has 26 years of experience in a wide range of projects primarily in horizontal directional drilling and other trenchless methods. His experience includes design, planning, construction, and construction management of trenchless projects throughout North America.

Jim received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Florida and is a licensed civil engineer in 17 states. He began his career working for several engineering firms in Jacksonville, Florida before founding a trenchless engineering firm in 2006 that focused on contractor support services. In 2010 he joined Mears Group as HDD Engineering Manager until late 2017 when he joined Brierley. He has also authored numerous technical papers and taught many HDD training classes in North America, Europe and Australia.

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.

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: Mears

Shai Joshi has been involved in the trenchless pipeline industry since 2012. He began his career working as a Project Coordinator for a pipeline installation contractor. Shai spent most of his time in the field documenting on-site activities and learning horizontal directional drilling operations. Two years later Shai accepted the role of Project Manager and became responsible for the planning and budgeting of trenchless crossings and interfacing with clients over the course of construction.

During his time in the industry Shai has been exposed to many aspects of the business including estimating, business development, management, design, and construction. He has been involved with projects in several markets including gas, electric, water, sewer, telecom, and chemical. Over the past eight years he has gained experience with drills in challenging formations, and complex crossings with multiple pipe bundles, large diameter pipe, and intersect crossings at lengths over 9,000 feet.

Company: Granite Inliner’s Trenchless Technologies

Ms. Savoie is the strategic leader for Granite Inliner’s Trenchless Technologies growth in the Southeastern United States. Spanning a territory from Texas to South Carolina, she serves as the primary interface for both municipal and Oil and Gas industry customers. In her role, Ms. Savoie is focused on expanding upon and educating underground utility leaders on the technical benefits and commercial values realized through trenchless applications. She has applied her expertise to the construction of numerous repair and rehabilitation projects and has worked closely with field leadership and site crews in the region of East Texas, where she coordinates projects, crews, and subcontractors.

With a concentration on potable water well rehabilitations, Ms. Savoie served as an Account Manager for the Granite WMS (Layne Christenson) Water Resources Group in Houston beginning in 2018. With a desire to expand her knowledge of the underground utilities, she transitioned to the Granite Inliner Houston team in 2020. Born and raised in New Orleans, Ms. Savoie graduated from Louisiana State University with a BS in Petroleum Engineering.  Prior to joining the Granite team, she worked as a wire line field engineer in the Oil and Gas Industry in California and Colorado.

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.

Company: Freese and Nichols, Inc.

Clayton Barnard is a Principal and Vice President at Freese and Nichols, Inc. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Frisco office, coordinating marketing efforts within Collin and Denton Counties, and serves as the technical lead for water/ wastewater transmission and utilities. Clayton began his career at Freese and Nichols through Texas A&M University’s Co-op program in 2003, and joined the company in 2005 after graduating Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He earned his Texas P.E. license in 2009.

Since then, he has developed a broad background, including program management, water distribution and transmission lines, gravity sewers and force mains, and pump stations and lift stations. This experience includes trenchless technologies, including horizontal directional drilling, slip-lining, cured-in-place liners and pipe bursting, as well as conventional boring/tunneling. Clayton has presented on these technical topics at professional conferences around the country. 

An active member of boards and civic groups within his community, Clayton is a graduate of TSPE’s Professional Engineer Leadership Institute (Class VI) and Leadership Frisco’s class 21. Within the Preston Trails chapter of TSPE he has been named 2018 Engineer of the Year for his outstanding achievements and dedicated service in the engineering profession. Clayton was also awarded the chapter’s 2019 President’s Award for his service to the Preston Trails chapter.

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: GEO Engineers

Danny Crumpton is a Petroleum Engineer with a minor in Geology and Math, he has 17 years experience in the oil field and 26 years of experience in HDD and geotechnical engineering. He has project management experience in engineering design, construction observation and construction management, including twenty years of designing horizontal directional drill (HDD) projects for pipelines up to 54 inches in diameter and lengths of more than 11,000 feet. In addition, he has extensive knowledge in HDD drilling, mud motors, mud technology, surveying and tool design/selection and management. He has also earned a degree in Drafting and Mechanical Technology. Danny’s trenchless project experience includes management of HDD projects, HDD feasibility, completing site reconnaissance, evaluating site survey data and performing and coordinating subsurface soil exploration programs for HDD pipeline crossings. In addition, he has managed HDD projects in Canada, United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Argentina, Brazil, China as well as Europe and Africa.