2022 Agenda

Dr. Ariaratnam is a professor and construction engineering program chair in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He has published more than 250 technical papers, holds four patents and is active in numerous professional organizations. He is the immediate past chairman of ISTT and was appointed to the Executive Committee of the ASCE Pipelines Division. He is co-author of the “HDD Good Practices Guidelines” and the “Pipe Bursting Good Practices” books.

For more than 13 years, Cory Maker has been employed at Ditch Witch. Currently in his role as HDD utility product manager, Cory works to address the demands of those working in the horizontal directional drilling sector. Having worked in a variety of roles, he started in manufacturing before becoming an electrical and hydraulic technician. He spent the next five years of his career as a product support specialist, then another two years working as a regional sales manager for the western United States. Cory holds a bachelor’s degree in information technology from the University of Phoenix.

Chris Thompson is a Product Manager at Ditch Witch with responsibility over the Vacuum Excavation product line. He holds a BA in Organizational Leadership from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MBA from Oklahoma Christian University. Before taking on the Vacuum Excavation product line he covered the CUE and Utility Locator product lines. Chris focuses on providing Ditch Witch customers with innovative, customer-driven products and solutions with the goal of damage prevention and jobsite solutions.

Matt Cott is the director of Sales and Business Development with Behrens and Associates Inc., Environmental Noise Control. Matt has spent the last 11 years, and 15 overall, in the noise impact evaluation and mitigation field with a primary focus on Oil and Gas and Pipeline Construction. Matt puts an emphasis on tying together the technical side of acoustics, sound level impacts and sound control “fixes” along with the real-world applications and feasibility of working on an active HDD or construction site to ensure that projects are evaluated and mitigated properly with performance, safety and operational concerns all being addressed. Matt is based out of the Longmont, Colorado office but has been instrumental in the development of Environmental Noise Control’s operations in Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.

Randy Peterson is an Accounts Representative for Wyo Ben in Billings, MT. He has been at his current position for three years. He has spent the last 32 years in the HDD industry with 17 years of it in drilling fluids with two companies. For ten years he was a product specialist for drill rig manufactures. He has spent five years on the locating side of the industry. Before that he spent six years burring telephone cable in the Midwest.

Dave’s engineering practice focuses on trenchless technology.  He has expertise in geotechnical evaluations, microtunneling, tunneling, HDD, and pipe bursting.  He conducts feasibility studies, preliminary designs, design/constructability reviews, provides permit assistance, prepares plans and specifications, prequalification packages, and instrumentation and monitoring plans, and plans and supervises geotechnical investigations.  he provides claims evaluation and expert witness services to Owner agencies, engineering firms, contractors, and other parties. He serves on Disputes Review Boards, and served on the CalTrans Advisory Panel for the Devil’s Slide Tunnel. He trains construction inspectors and develops construction guidelines and practice standards for microtunneling, HDD, and pipe bursting. Prior to forming BTE, he was a research geotechnical engineer and Chief of the Soil and Rock Mechanics Division and Testing Laboratory for the US Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station.

Matthew Wallin is a Partner and Senior Project Manager with Bennett Trenchless Engineers, LLP in Folsom, California. Mr. Wallin obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Geotechnical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a registered Professional Engineer in both California and Texas and has been involved in the geotechnical and trenchless technology fields since 2000. He has worked on numerous trenchless design and construction management projects in Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Virginia, Washington, and throughout California. His professional focus is design and construction management and inspection of trenchless technology projects for new pipeline installations

Clint has a bachelor degree in Agricultural Engineering from Iowa State University.  Clint has worked for Vermeer for 14 years, most of that time spent on the engineering teams of horizontal direction drills.  Clint’s current role is Product Manager for horizontal directional drills.

Chris has worked at Halliburton, focusing on drilling fluids for industrial drilling applications, for over 10 years. This includes technical field support, logistics, customer service, and operations. Chris currently manages business development for the construction market for Bentonite Performance Minerals LLC, a Halliburton company.

Aaron is a lecturer at Arizona State University teaching courses that focus on heavy/civil construction methods in the Del E. Webb School of Construction and is also the Director of Estimating Products for InEight, Inc, a construction industry software solutions provider.   Aaron holds bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a master’s from DePaul University. Prior to joining ASU, Aaron served for 10 years as the president and owner of Apollo Trenchless Inc.

Tom has led the Underground Solutions, Inc. development of Fusible PVC® from its inception to record setting product it now is in the HDD industry for thermoplastic pipe. He has also led development of the necessary tools for the training, handling, and installation of Fusible PVC® in trenchless applications.

Siggi Finnsson has an engineering background and has been involved in the underground construction industry for 31 years. Since 1995 he has been involved in the development of most of DCI’s locating products, additionally working in customer service and marketing activities. Finnsson is currently a Product Manager, primarily involved with new product development and product and design definition.

Mark Gallucci, General Manager, Customer Service, Digital Control, Inc.

Mark Gallucci has 24 years with Digital Control Incorporated. Mark has held many positions over the years including Western States Field Manager, Training Manager and General Manager of DCI Australia. Mark currently looks after the In-house Customer Service Group and is responsible for much of the DCI’s training materials.

Clint has a bachelor degree in Agricultural Engineering from Iowa State University.  Clint has worked for Vermeer for 14 years, most of that time spent on the engineering teams of horizontal direction drills.  Clint’s current role is Product Manager for horizontal directional drills.

For the last 6 years Nick has been working for Transwest’s hydrovac division covering the Western United States from Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Hawaii, and Alaska. He has clients operating trucks in all states in the Western US, along with several other states. He was promoted to Hydrovac Sales Manager for the US in 2021, and is responsible for a sales and support team that covers the US.  He has gotten a true “hands on education” by working in the field side by side with customers, operators, and their teams on their job sites to help better understand the roles hydrovacs play in the underground construction industry. Nick works hand in hand with companies to help with their hydrovac, truck, & equipment needs & solutions, along with operator training, and helping get systems in place to improve operations, training, efficiencies, and safety around hydro excavation equipment and jobs. “Being active in the field and in the mud with the crews is a vital part to really understanding what operators and teams are faced with everyday. If you can do that, you are better suited to help with real world solutions that work. “