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“In HR, you never know what your day has in store for you,” says Marie Mitchell-Jackson, a Senior Human Resources Specialist in our San Diego office who just celebrated her 16th year with Kleinfelder.

“Things are fast-paced and constant in the world of HR. When you start work in the morning, you have in mind the things you plan to accomplish during the day; however, an urgent issue will come along out of nowhere and knock you for a loop, changing the whole direction of your day.”

But that’s what keeps things interesting for Marie. “There’s never a dull moment,” she continued “and with every challenge comes a learning experience and the opportunity to improve our processes and policies.”

Engineering a Career in HR

Before joining Kleinfelder, Marie was a Senior Sales Administrator at a biotech/software firm. When she heard news that her position was being eliminated – and with some encouragement from the senior VP of HR at the firm – she decided to take “a leap of faith” into the field of HR.

“I registered with a local firm that specialized in HR recruitment and placements, updated my resume to make my past work experience more functional, and later enrolled in HR management classes,” she said. “Now, here I am 21 years later (16 with Kleinfelder) and extremely happy I made that career move.”

Marie says the experience she’s gained, the close relationships she’s made, and the employees she’s been able to help along the way are what she’s most proud of in her Kleinfelder career. “I also work with an amazing group of HR professionals, who support and empower me,” she added. ​​​​​​​

Benefits of Being on the Benefits Team

So, as part of the Benefits team at Kleinfelder, what does Marie recommend Kleinfelder employees take advantage of, if they’re not already?

“Sometimes, the Employee Assistance Program, or EAP, is overlooked when an employee or a family member experiences a personal crisis,” she said. “Especially during these unprecedented times – with issues related to COVID-19, such as feeling more isolated than usual – it’s important to take care of both our physical and mental health, and the EAP is just one tool we have available to us.”

Kleinfelder’s EAP, through ACI Specialty Benefits, is available at no cost, whether you’re enrolled in a Kleinfelder medical plan or not. Through this program, you and your family members have 24-hour access to mental health assistance and legal and financial help from a number of professionals. All services provided are confidential and will not be shared with Kleinfelder, and the topics you can seek assistance for range from emotional health, alcohol or drug dependency, and relationship issues to job pressures, anxiety, depression, and grief. You can even seek financial or legal advice through EAP.

“I think (U.S.) employees are excited about Teladoc, too” she added, referring to the telemedicine benefit through Aetna, “because of its convenience and relatively low out-of-pocket cost. And let’s not forget about the funding that Kleinfelder contributes to employees’ Health Savings Accounts if they’re enrolled in one of our medical plans and the HSA.”

Information and resources on Kleinfelder’s benefits are available on K-NET, UltiPro, and through our Benefits Assistance Center. Links and contact information are also provided below, and you can of course reach out to Marie – or anyone from the Benefits team – at any time for additional support.

“There’s always room to improve what we do,” Marie said in closing, “and we are always seeking innovative ways to communicate our benefit offerings.”

Marie Mitchell-Jackson is a Senior Human Resources Specialist at Kleinfelder. She is based in San Diego, CA.

Just two years into his career, Jake Huber has already had a lot of exposure to Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) projects.

HDD is just one construction method in the Trenchless Technology family of construction methods used for the installation of pipelines and cables below ground to minimize or eliminate excavation.

“Trenchless technology can provide positive social, economic, and environmental alternatives to pipeline and utility installations,” Jake said.

One such project took Jake from his Raleigh, NC office to Santa Rosa, FL, for the upgrade and replacement of four electrical power distribution subaqueous cables for Gulf Power, who required Kleinfelder’s assistance in avoiding sensitive environmental resources and streamlining permitting.

The Kleinfelder team, including Jake, provided HDD design support for the project to avoid direct and secondary impacts to approximately 2 acres of seagrass that the typical cable installation methods (via a jet plow) would have otherwise caused.

“I primarily work on the design and calculations of HDDs, and I believe each project presents a different scenario or set of risks,” Jake said. “The information and data gathered throughout the design process allows for our team to approach each drill with a specific solution in mind to conduct a successful project delivery.

To gain the best advantage of each drilling method on the Santa Rosa Sound project, Kleinfelder bored approximately 1,000 feet under existing seagrass to avoid direct and secondary impacts from cable installation. The team also pushed HDD pipe from landside in one direction to avoid seagrass and drilled from a barge to the pipe to tie in the cable.

Though this wasn’t Jake’s first HDD project, it was his first outfall project. “In short, an outfall line is a Horizontal Directional Drill that exits within a cofferdam in a body of water,” he explained. “This project was unique because it consisted of two separate drills from the shore out into cofferdams in the Santa Rosa Sound.”

What made the work more challenging was the lack of access and visibility due to the water. “The Horizontal Directional Drills used a wireline tracking system for the pilot bore, which has to be laid out, staked, and surveyed,” Jake said. “But due to the tides in the Sound, the wireline shifted throughout the drilling process and caused false directional readings for the steering hand. The soft soil conditions also made it difficult to keep a clean bore hole open for the duration of the project.”

The Kleinfelder team’s design solution considerably reduced environmental impacts, operating budget, and permitting time by avoiding near-shore seagrass impacts; excluding long- term permitting, monitoring, and mitigation; preserving more than $500,000 in capital budget through elimination of a 10-year monitoring requirement; and reducing the permitting timeline by a full year.

“Trenchless technology is important and is expanding within our industry,” Jake added. “Owners and operators of oil, gas, and water pipelines can really benefit from the technology as it can lower costs, reduce installation time, and minimize adverse impacts to the environment as well as disruptions to the public in urban settings.”

“Just remember, you don’t know what you don’t know!”

“I enjoy the niche market and unique abilities trenchless technologies bring to the oil and gas industry and the expanding uses of trenchless technology in our society.”

Jake Huber is a Civil Engineer at Kleinfelder. He is based in Raleigh, NC.

Lately, you might be hearing more about trenchless technology and wondering what, exactly, that means. It’s a name that refers to a set of construction methods used for the installation of pipelines and cables below ground to minimize or eliminate excavation. These methods include horizontal directional drilling, or HDD, and Kleinfelder is proud to have a growing group of experts in this field.

One such rising trenchless tech star is Ryan Parker, a Project Manager in Kleinfelder’s Raleigh, North Carolina office.

“I’ve been working at Kleinfelder for over eight years and have had my hands in trenchless technology designs pretty much since I started here,” said Ryan. “It’s been interesting to see how our design process around trenchless technology has evolved over the years.”

Santa Rosa Sound Project

An example of this is the recently completed Santa Rosa Sound project, which took Ryan from Raleigh to Santa Rosa, Florida, for the upgrade and replacement of four electrical power distribution subaqueous cables for Gulf Power.

The Kleinfelder team, including Ryan, provided HDD design support for the project to avoid direct and secondary impacts to approximately 2 acres of seagrass that the typical cable installation methods (via a jet plow) would have otherwise caused.

A Unique Approach

“Typically, HDDs are drilled from land to land,” explained Ryan. “However, on this project, there were workspace and drilling distance limitations which forced us to perform two drills from each end that exited underwater in the Santa Rosa Sound.”

The two drills were then connected via an open trench installation. In order to connect the HDD exits to the open trench portion, the contractor had Kleinfelder design cofferdams to be placed out in the sound.

Challenges

Ryan continued to explain that the design itself was a challenge, as Kleinfelder was proposing an approach that they’d never really considered or designed before. Additionally, the sheer location itself – including soils – presented challenges to the entire project team.

“The geotechnical investigation we performed found very poor soils, which were not the most ideal to be drilling through, presenting a challenge for the contractor,” said Ryan. “Workspace and landowner impacts, especially on the south end of the project, were challenging. The south side was essentially an alley with beach rental houses on the west and condos with many year-round tenants on the east. I believe the contractor ended up renting one of the beach houses as their office, and the condo owners were temporarily relocated for the duration of construction.”

Solutions

Kleinfelder’s  design solution considerably reduced environmental impacts, operating budget, and permitting time by avoiding near-shore seagrass impacts; excluding long- term permitting, monitoring, and mitigation; preserving more than $500,000 in capital budget through elimination of a 10-year monitoring requirement; and reducing the permitting timeline by a full year.

“I enjoyed helping our client utilize trenchless technologies and understand the importance of what we do,” Ryan said.

Ryan is also frequently consulted for HDD projects. “I’ve been called by clients multiple times because they got stuck in the middle of drilling an HDD,” he said. “The conversation is usually something like, ‘I didn’t think we needed a geotechnical investigation and HDD design, but we definitely do now.’”

He added that there’s so much more to HDD than simply sketching out the drill path on a plan set, including geotechnical factors, environmental factors, construction considerations, and more that all need to be considered during design.

“Most of our competitors look at an HDD project as a civil design project with a geotechnical component,” he said. “We at Kleinfelder look at it exactly opposite – as a geotechnical project with a civil design component – because the geotechnical investigation plays such a key part in facilitating the design and construction of HDDs. We also provide many of the services in-house that contribute to HDD design and construction.”

Ryan Parker is a Project Manager in Kleinfelder’s Raleigh, North Carolina office.

“Relocating has always been a goal of mine,” says Aliza Danker, “and being able to relocate within Kleinfelder was the icing on the cake!”

Aliza is a Staff Professional on the Water Resources team and – up until last month – worked in Kleinfelder’s Rocky Hill, Connecticut office, where she started as an intern in May 2017 and was hired on full-time the following year.

On September 25, she embarked on a week-long, cross-country drive to relocate to her new Kleinfelder office, the Downtown San Diego headquarters, where she’ll keep her same role but support the Southern California Water Team.

“A silver lining of a couple trips getting canceled because of COVID is that I was able to save the PTO and use it for the trip out,” she says. “I’m so lucky the team has been so understanding and allowed me to do so.”

Aliza says that although she is staying in the same role, the change in geology and landscape of the West Coast will provide her with many new and exciting professional opportunities in the water engineering field. “I am most excited to get to explore this new environment year-round.”

She says that studying abroad in Australia first prompted her passion for traveling, and that “everywhere and anywhere” was on her list to travel.

“I’ve lived in Connecticut my entire life,” she says. “And, although I have grown an immense appreciation for my hometown, I am ready to see and experience new things.”

“The Southern California Water Team is excited that Aliza has made the trip out to join us here in San Diego,” says Nick Fontaine, Kleinfelder Principal Professional and Water Team Lead. “Aliza already has three years with Kleinfelder, which means she’s ready to contribute technical skills and an understanding of the Kleinfelder culture, and she also brings strong, established relationships, which will undoubtedly help us collaborate with our teammates on the East Coast.”

Nick also adds that Aliza is joining a group that already has ties to the Northeast: “Five of the Southern California Water Team members trace our roots to New England, and we can attest that her decision to trade her insulated boots for a pair of flip flops was a wise one,” he says.

Welcome (to San Diego), Aliza!

Aliza Danker is a Water Resources Engineer in Kleinfelder’s San Diego, CA office 

From an intern from Penn State in 2012 to a Program Manager in our Allentown, PA office in 2020, Trevor Dombach has not only grown his professional experience, but has also been part of the growth of our company.

Trevor joined Kleinfelder in December 2019 when we acquired Advantage Engineers – the company he’s worked for since 2012.

“I actually continued to work through my last year of school and then started with Advantage Engineers full-time in 2013,” Trevor said. “I was hired as an entry-level Geotechnical Specialist and was fortunate enough to continue to complete a variety of construction materials engineering and testing tasks before going on to assist with some due diligence geotechnical tasks, such as test boring oversight and infiltration testing. I also had the opportunity to work with our retaining wall design team on several segmental block retaining wall projects. The first project I got to work on post-graduation was hiking a natural gas pipeline in the Wheeling, West Virginia area (pictured), in order to find right-of-way (ROW) slope failures.”

Since joining Kleinfelder almost a year ago, Trevor says there’s been opportunities to become involved in various projects across the country: “The opportunities have allowed me to expand my technical knowledge and continue to grow professionally,” he said. “Additionally, our clients were excited that we’re able to assist them with their projects in other markets.”

Trevor also said his favorite part of his career is the people and the teamwork.

“The people – everyone who came along with the Advantage Engineers acquisition, as well as all the new colleagues I’ve met – have been great to work with,” he said, adding that collaboration is his favorite part of the job. “We’re all in this together. From my colleagues to clients and subcontractors, we all have to work as a team to deliver a project.”

Trevor Dombach is a Program Manager in Kleinfelder’s Allantown, PA office

John Karr has worked across Kleinfelder’s Central Division, rising from Laboratory and Field Technician to Laboratory Manager and Hydrogeologist.

“Las Vegas and Nevada have always been home for me,” he said. “I was born and raised in the Las Vegas suburbs and studied and earned my degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, so I know the geology and industry very well out here.”

John first started in Kleinfelder’s Las Vegas office as a Laboratory and Field Technician in 2017. He relocated to our Houston, TX office in January 2020 where he served as a Staff Professional working on power plant upgrades and hydrogeological case studies in the Southern Texas region.

“My family and I relocated to the Houston area after a small time in the South Florida region,” he said. “There, I worked as a Hydrogeologist with a small environmental firm working on a federally funded project that aided old gas stations and petroleum reservoirs on upgrading their facilities. This taught me the intricate ins and outs of contaminant hydrogeology in a region with a shallow groundwater table and let me get firsthand knowledge on how contaminants interact in the hydrogeology.”

Part of the reason John relocated back to Las Vegas this past summer was because his family is there – and being close brings them peace of mind – but also because he wants to be part of Kleinfelder’s growth taking place in the region.

“I’m excited to be rejoining the Las Vegas team as the Laboratory Manager and Hydrogeologist,” he said. “Not only did I learn a lot there initially, but I’ve always wanted to contribute to the growth of our company.”

“I am looking forward to expanding our services in the region and putting my technical expertise to good use. As a growing community, there’s a lot of potential to contribute to Las Vegas infrastructure, but most importantly, I can give back to the community I have always considered home. I am excited to be part of the Construction Materials Engineering & Testing and Environmental teams, but also look to expand my technical skills in the geotechnical and engineering fields.”

John Karr is a Laboratory Manager and Hydrogeologist in Kleinfelder’s Las Vegas, NV office