March/April 2022 - 113

PEOPLE & COMPANIES
E r i c D r o o f f w a s
recent ly appointed
president of Keller,
North America. He had
previously served as
Keller's chief operating
officer since 2018 and succeeds James
Hind who retired. After earning a
bachelor's degree in civil engineering
from Bucknell University, Drooff spent
several years working for general
contractors in the New York Metro area
before joining Hayward Baker (now
Keller) in 1992 as a project manager. He
was promoted to vice president, senior
vice president, and in 2015, became the
president of Hayward Baker. He has
been actively involved in ASCE
technical committees, DFI and is a
member of The Moles.
Mary Ellen Large, P.E., D.GE, the
former technical activities
director at DFI,
joined Nicholson Construction
Company in
January. She has assumed
the role of client
care manager for the geotechnical
specialty engineering and construction
contractor. She will focus on strengthening
relationships with current
clients and developing new relationships
and partnerships across several
markets. With almost 30 years of
industry experience, Large brings a
unique viewpoint to her new role. She
previously spent 12 years at DFI and
started her career as a project manager
with Woodward-Clyde Associates. Her
previous roles include being the
president and founder of geotechnica,
s.a., a woman-owned consultancy
offering technical and project management
consulting services in civil, environmental
and geotechnical engineering.
She also serves as executive
director for the International Society for
Micropiles (ISM).
Ground improvement special ist
Menard USA acquired Farrell DesignBuild
of Placerville, California, in
December. With 15 offices across the
eastern U.S., Menard, now has its first
West Coast location. Tom Farrell will
remain president of Farrell and noted
that the change allows more service
offerings to California and West Coast
customers. Founded in 1999, Farrell
designs and builds deep foundation and
ground improvement support for heavy
structures, parking garages, office, highrise
and industrial buildings, hospitals,
schools and universities, water
treatment plants and warehouses in
highly seismic regions of California.
Farrell, a company of 65 employees,
adds to Menard's 300-employee base.
Based in France and part of Vinci
Construction, Menard works across
North America and in more than 80
other countries. Since 2005, Menard has
expanded from its corporate office in
the Pittsburgh area to offices in
Baltimore/Washington, D.C.; Boston;
Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago;
Cleveland; Cranford, New Jersey;
Houston; Minneapolis; New Orleans;
Philadelphia; Richmond, Virginia;
Syracuse; Tampa; and Wilmington,
North Carolina. After decentralizing its
regional operational management
structure in 2018, Menard USA's
revenue has grown significantly to
greater than $150 million in 2021. Like
Menard, Farrell safely delivers many
quality services, including stone
columns, aggregate piers, rapid impact
compaction, auger cast piling, drill
displacement pi les, rapid vibro
compaction, micro piles and helical
piles. Farrell has provided more than 20
years of ground improvement and
foundation design, engineering and
construction in California.
Sebastian Lobo-Guerrero, Ph.D., P.E.,
from AGES, who is the
chair of DFI's annual
conference in Maryland
in October, represented
the institute by presenting
in three international
events recently. In January, he
presented for Canada's TV Seminars on
the state of the art regarding drilled
shafts. The series continued in February
with a collaboration between Canada's
TV Seminars and UK's Researcher
regarding design and construction of
micropiles. And in March, LoboTom
Farrell, Farrell Design-Build president, and Seth Pearlman, CEO North America at Menard
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAR/APR 2022 * 113
March/April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March/April 2022
