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IGS North America is excited to announce its 2023 – 2024 Board of Directors:

• President: Ben Leshchinsky, P.E. (Oregon State University)
• President-Elect: Kristin Sample-Lord, PhD, P.E. (Villanova University)
• Past President: John Allen, P.E. (MBCC Group)
• Treasurer: Marco Isola, PhD, P.E. (WSP)
• Secretary: Eric Blond, P.Eng (Eric Blond Consultant)
• VP: John Lostumbo, P.E. (Solmax)
• VP: Lilma Schimmel, MSCE, P.E. (AECOM)
• VP: Fady Abdelaal, PhD, P.Eng (Queen’s University – Kingston)
• VP: Joseph Scalia IV, PhD, P.E. (Colorado State University)

The IGS North America Board of Directors and membership would like to thank John McCartney, PhD, P.E., F.ASCE (University of California – San Diego) and Kate Patterson, P.Eng (Klohn Crippen Berger) for their years of service on the board, helping steer the chapter through a pandemic that dramatically changed how the field interacted.

The Board was officially installed during the IGS North America General Assembly (February 7, 2023) in Kansas City, Missouri. More news from the event will be published soon.

Learn more on the About page.

It’s elections time for the IGS North America Board of Directors! IGS North America, which represents the field in Canada and the United States, is electing a new President-Elect and three (of four) vice presidents. The current President-Elect Dr. Ben Leshchinsky will transition into the IGS-NA President’s role during the General Meeting on February 7 in Kansas City at Geosynthetics Conference. (Thank you, John Allen, for your years of service as President-Elect 2019-2020 and President 2021-2022!) IGS North America keeps four Vice Presidents, on staggered four-year terms. This year, we are filling three of the four positions.

Voting links have been sent out to all individual members.  (Student and affiliate members are not eligible.) Votes will be collected through January 31 and winners announced on February 7 at the IGS North America General Meeting in Kansas City.

Additional roles with the IGS North America Board will be announced after the election (e.g., Treasurer, Secretary, and position other special VP roles).

THE CANDIDATES

President-Elect

Kristin Sample-Lord, Ph.D., P.E. (USA)
Unchallenged

Dr. Sample-Lord is currently an IGS North America Vice-President with a mission focus on University Outreach. She is Associate Professor and Assistant Department Chair in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the Center for Resilient Water Systems at Villanova University. She received her MS and PhD from Colorado State University. Her research focuses on environmental containment barriers and green stormwater infrastructure, supported through funding from multiple national and state agencies (National Science Foundation, Department of Environmental Protection, PA Department of Transportation). She is an editorial board member for Geotextiles and Geomembranes and Canadian Geotechnical Journal. In addition to her work with IGS North America, she serves in a range of leadership roles in the geosynthetics, geotechnical, and engineering education communities. These roles include Board Member of the United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research (USUCGER) and Communications Coordinator for the ASCE Geoenvironmental Engineering Technical Committee. Dr. Sample-Lord has been recognized a rising “changemaker” for geotechnical engineering education. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Vice President Candidates

Fady Abdelaal, Ph.D. (Canada)

Dr. Abdelaal is an Assistant Professor of Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He is also the Education Committee Co-Chair for GeoAmericas 2024, the 5th Pan-American Conference on Geosynthetics, which will take place in April 2024 in Toronto.  He has worked as an engineer and as a professor on multiple continents going back to 2004. He has a significant background in barrier systems, from private practice and research, including with low-level radioactive waste containment, potable water, landfills, and mining applications (e.g., heap leach pads, tailings storage facilities, and the Bayer process for Aluminum extraction). Learn more on LinkedIn.

Marco Isola, Ph.D., P.E. (USA)

Marco Isola is an Associate Engineer – Geotechnical at WSP. He is based in the Tampa area (Florida). He brings experience in design and construction of civil, geotechnical, and hydraulic structures for the mining, geo-environmental and transportation sectors: engineering analysis, design of geosynthetics systems, development of design criteria, plans and specifications, permitting and procurement support, dam safety inspections, and managing construction projects for operating and closed mine sites and other large-scale geotechnical projects throughout North and South America and Africa. He is a recognized expert in the design and use of geosynthetics for soil stabilization and reinforcement, waste and tailings containment, and drainage applications. He teaches seminars and short courses on geosynthetics applications at national and international agencies, organizations, and engineering colleges. Learn more on LinkedIn.

John Lostumbo, P.E. (USA)

John Lostumbo is seeking a second term as a Vice President for IGS North America. He is Vice President of Marketing and Technical Services AMS for Solmax. For IGS North America, he currently serves as Vice President – Technical and as the Co-Chair of the Exhibits & Sponsorships Committee of GeoAmericas 2024. Lostumbo brings 25 years of experience as a private practice engineer (e.g., project design and management on major transportation works) and as an expert from the manufacturing side of geosynthetics. He serves in multiple industry organizations and volunteers regularly in his community. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Joseph Scalia IV, Ph.D., P.E. (USA)

Dr. Scalia is Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University and Co-Chair of GeoAmericas 2024. Scalia specializes in geoenvironmental and geotechnical engineering. Scalia’s research and teaching center on the convergences of soil mechanics with contaminant hydrology, geology, environmental engineering, hydrology, mechanical engineering, and hydraulics. Prior to joining CSU, Scalia was a senior associate at Exponent (formerly Failure Analysis Associates) in the Environmental and Earth Sciences Practice in Bellevue, Washington, and Natick, Massachusetts. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Dear IGS North America members,

The Board of IGS-NA seeks nominations for individuals for the President-Elect, Treasurer, and two (2) open seats for Vice-President. The current election cycle is particularly important, as the chapter is a partner to GeoSaskatoon 2023 and is developing the 5th Pan-American Conference on Geosynthetics (GeoAmericas 2024, Toronto) and the 13th International Conference on Geosynthetics (13 ICG – Montreal, 2026).

CALL FOR CANDIDATES – OPEN POSITIONS

The President-Elect serves one 2-year-term of office in that capacity, following which they serve one 2-year-term as President.

The Treasurer serves a 2-year term and is responsible for overseeing the finances of IGS-NA. (Note: IGS North America does have professional management that reports to the Treasurer.)

Vice-Presidents serve 4-year terms. IGS-NA’s Board includes four vice-presidents, whose terms are staggered. Two positions are up for election every two years.

Please contact info@igs-na.org with nominations for any of these positions before September 30, 2022. Self-nominations are encouraged.

Elections will be held in January 2023 and the new Board of Directors will officially be installed in early February during the IGS-NA general meeting at Geosynthetics Conference 2023.

John McCartney
IGS North America Past-President

The Mission of IGS North America is to provide leadership in advancing geosynthetics education and research to attain their appropriate and widespread use as engineering materials in the United States and Canada. We encourage all members interested in playing a larger role in leadership and program and service development to consider standing for office with IGS-NA.

Nominations for the following seats are accepted through 30 September 2018:

1 Seat – President Elect. Serves one 2-year-term of office in that capacity followed by one 2-year term as President and an additional 2-year term as Past-President. As President-Elect, the successful candidate will be responsible for assisting the President and performing assignments directed by the President and/or Board.

2 Seats – Vice-President. Serves a 4-year term. Vice-Presidents are responsible for representing Members of IGS-NA and performing assignments directed by the President and/or Board.

To nominate someone or yourself, email info@IGS-NA.org.

Please include the nominee name, title, company/institution/organization, address, email, and phone. Also, please include a 150-word description about the nominee’s involvement in the geosynthetics industry and reason(s) for running for the seat. Please also include a photo of the nominee.

IGS NORTH AMERICA 2019 ELECTIONS IMPORTANT DATES

• 1 – 30 September 2018 – Call for Nominations
• 1 – 15 December 2018 – Election by electronic ballot
• 19 – 21 December 2018 – Successful candidates notified. Announcement made.
• 10 – 13 February 2019 – Newly elected Board Members take office at the IGS North America General Assembly, to be held in Houston, Texas during Geosynthetics 2019.

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact the Chairman of the IGS-NA Nomination Committee and Past-President John Henderson (j.henderson@tencategeo.com).