Lars Balck is a Concrete Consultant and ASA/ACI Nozzleman Examiner. He recently retired from CROM, LLC, as a Senior Vice President. He has been involved in the design and construction of prestressed concrete tanks built with shotcrete for over 40 years. He received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Florida and served with the U.S. Army as First Lieutenant in Vietnam as a Combat Engineer. Balck is a Past President of ASA. He is Chair of ACI Subcommittee 506-C, Shotcreting Guide; a past Chair and current member of ACI Committee 506, Shotcreting; and a member of ACI Committees 376, Concrete Structures for Refrigerated Liquefied Gas Containment; 563, Specifications for Repair of Structural Concrete in Buildings; and C660, Shotcrete Nozzleman Certification.

Axel G. Nitschke is Vice President of Shannon & Wilson Inc. He received his MSc and PhD in civil engineering from Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany, in 1993 and 1998, respectively. He has gained more than 20 years of in-depth, on-the-job experience in all aspects of underground construction, geotechnical engineering, and mining. He has worked on the engineering and construction of many tunnel projects in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Colombia. He is well-experienced in all ground conditions, ranging from soft ground to hard rock, and the associated implications for design and construction methods. Nitschke has held key positions, such as Senior NATM Engineer, Contract/Claims Manager, Risk Manager, Design Manager, and Project Manager.

Mason Guarino started in the pool industry when he was 14, learning how to install reinforcing bars. Since then, he has worked on all phases of swimming pool construction. Guarino has been with South Shore Gunite Pools & Spas, Inc., full-time since graduating from the Wentworth Institute of Technology with his BS in construction management in 2009. Guarino currently serves on ASA’s Board of Direction and is an ACI Certified Nozzleman.

Nominated Treasurer:

Frank Townsend III is the President of Patriot Shotcrete. He received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, and his master’s degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Townsend served the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and his diverse military background has led to him being deployed around the world. He is an active member of ACI Committee 506, Shotcreting, and the American Shotcrete Association. He has been Awarded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ deFluery Medal and Engineer News-Record New York’s “Top 20 under 40” design and construction leaders in 2016. He is a member of the Moles and Beavers, which are fraternal organizations of the heavy construction industry.

Nominated ASA Director:

Dennis Bittner is the National Sales Manager–Infrastructure for The QUIKRETE Companies. He has been involved in both wet- and dry-mix process projects in multiple arenas of shotcrete construction, with an emphasis on bridge and tunnel projects for state departments of transportation (DOTs) and the rail industry. Bittner had previously served on the ASA Board of Direction and is currently the Chair for the ASA Marketing Committee. 

Nominated ASA Director:

William “Bill” Geers is Business Development and Technical Manager-USA/Canada for Bekaert Underground Solutions. He is a professional civil engineer with over 25 years of experience in the reinforced concrete industry. He is an active member and serves on the ASA Board of Directors. He is also an active member of the ACI Subcommittees 506 and 544, as well as ASTM Sub - committees C09.42, Fiber Reinforced Concrete, and C09.46, Shotcrete. In 2018, he was appointed to serve on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Transportation Research Board (TRB) AFF60 Standing Committee on Tunnels and Underground Structures and is a member of the Deep Foundation Institute (DFI).

Nominated ASA Director:

Ryan Oakes is a Professional Watershape Designer and President of Clearwater Construction Group, Inc., Revolution Gunite, and Revolution Pool Finishes, all of which are award-winning firms in their respective trade. Oakes is a faculty member at Watershape University, where he continually aims to raise the bar in the swimming pool and the watershape construction industry. As a member of the leadership team for the International Watershape Institute (IWI) and through educational outreach to a vast pool builder network throughout the United States, he aims to improve the building techniques and methods of constructing swimming pools. Oakes is a member of ACI Committee 506, Shotcreting, and ACI Subcommittee 506-H, Shotcreting Pools. He serves on the ASA Board of Directors and also serves as Vice Chair of both the ASA Pool & Recreational Shotcrete Committee and the ASA Contractor Qualification Committee.

Kevin Robertson is the Business Development Manager, U.S. Markets for King Packaged Materials Company. For the past 12 years, he has played a key role in the growth of KING’s concrete rehabilitation, civil, and tunneling business in Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and U.S. Markets. His areas of expertise include shotcrete materials, application, and equipment for all shotcrete applications. Robertson is a member of the American Shotcrete Association (ASA), the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and is on the Board of Directors of the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI) as the Region 4 Representative. He is a member of ICRI Committee 320, Concrete Repair Materials and Methods.

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