RTD General Manager to Leave Agency in July/CU-Boulder Presents Its Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards

Cal Marsella, general manager and CEO of Denver’s Regional Transportation District, will leave the agency on July 31 after 14 years at the helm. Under Marsella’s leadership, RTD made several major accomplishments but also has been criticized for being over budget on its sprawling FasTracks program.

During his tenure, Marsella led the opening of the city’s first light-rail lines, including the Southwest Light Rail Line in 2000, the C Light Rail Line in 2002 and the T-REX Southeast Light Rail Line.

Marsella also helped to expedite the purchase of Denver Union Station in 2001 in partnership with the City and County of Denver, the Denver Regional Council of Governments, and the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Twice under his leadership, RTD was named the Outstanding Public Transportation Agency in North America by the American Public Transportation Association—in 2003 and again in 2008.

Bear Creek Water and Sanitation District recognized Barney Fix, vice president and manager of the civil infrastructure business unit operations for Merrick & Co., for his 20 years of service to the district as district engineer.

Fix started his work with Bear Creek in 1988 while working for Greiner Engineering. Following his move to Merrick in 1992, the district engineering contract moved with him and he continued his work with Bear Creek in reviewing development plans, observing construction of public water and sanitary sewer in developments, and providing planning, engineering and surveying for capital improvements for the district over the years.

JE Dunn Construction, a commercial general contractor with offices in Denver and Colorado Springs, recently added Ryan Dorsey, assistant estimator; Dane Hix, project engineer; and Kelsey Fuhrman, project coordinator.

Janet Lawler McDaniel, a partner at Faegre & Benson LLP, has earned LEED accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council.

McDaniel joins only eight other attorneys in Colorado and fewer than 350 in the country who have earned this designation. Her practice at Faegre & Benson focuses on commercial litigation with an emphasis in construction law.

Holly Piza recently joined the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District as a project engineer in the Master Planning Program. Piza brings 12 years of water resource experience to the district. She is a professional engineer and certified floodplain manager with experience in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling and the design of drainage and flood-control facilities.

Aurora-based Adolfson & Peterson Construction now has 135 LEED-accredited employees companywide. The newest LEED APs in Colorado are: Al Ammidown, superintendent; Randy Berner, project executive; Cameron Donegan, virtual construction engineer; Anthony Durst, estimator; David Flint, project manager; Justin Geis, estimator; Zella Goettsch, project manager; Adam Haass, field engineer; Kevin Harrison, field engineer; Kyle Kennett, project engineer; Dan Lamphere, senior project manager; Andrew McLean, superintendent; Chris McNamara, estimator; Denise Purcell, field engineer; and Don Schlaht, preconstruction manager.

The University of Colorado at Boulder presented the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award to six accomplished engineers at the 44th annual Engineering Awards Banquet this spring.

Recipients of the 2009 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award were: David DiLaura, a retired CU-Boulder professor who specialized in lighting engineering; Dayl Larson, who retired from Denver’s H+L Architecture, where he was an architect specializing in the design of education and health care facilities for more than 30 years; Kenneth May, a researcher and entrepreneur who helped to make solar thermal technology a commercial reality; Kile Morgan, chairman of Ponderosa Homes, a homebuilder in the San Francisco Bay area; Theodore Randolph, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at CU-Boulder; and Nguyen Xuan Vinh, CU-Boulder’s first PhD graduate in aerospace engineering.

McCauley Constructors of Windsor has added two project engineers, Steve Rewerts and Alan Kee.

Six staff members at Taylor Kohrs of Denver recently became LEED-APs: Justin McLead, Nick Dire, Nicole Buscher, Scott Heasty, Chris Fermanian and Mike French.