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2015 CalAPA Spring Conference Speakers & Presenters
Toni Carroll, Technical Services Supervisor, Vulcan Materials
Toni Carroll is the Technical Services Supervisor for Vulcan Materials’ Northern
California Plants. She earned a bachelor of science in Mining Engineering from
the University of Missouri-Rolla and a MBA from California State University –
East Bay. Her history in the industry began with plant engineering and expanded
into quality control a few years later. She has managed the permitting of a
Greenfield plant site, aided in the startup of a brand new aggregate plant, and
most recently has been coordinating her plants’ integration of higher RAP/RAS
contents and Superpave. She has served on the Board of Directors for CalAPA
and is currently a co-chair for the Bay Area Technical Committee. She is an
active participant in the association’s Technical Advisory Committee as well as
the Caltrans Section 39 and Superpave subtask groups, and has presented on technical topics at
previous CalAPA conferences.
Steve Marvin, P.E., President, Labelle-Marvin, Inc.
Steve Marvin is the president of Labelle-Marvin, Inc. Labelle Marvin, Inc., (LMI) is
the full-service civil engineering firm headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., that
specializes in all pavement-related projects with over 40 years serving local and
state clients. Founded as LaBelle and Associates in 1969 by Francis F. LaBelle,
LaBelle Consultants and ultimately LaBelle Marvin, Inc., by Steven R. Marvin.
Marvin is a registered civil engineer in California has received numerous honors
for his work with asphalt concrete and teaches at local colleges and universities
along with conducting seminars for pavement and material design. Marvin has
more than 40 years of experience in the area of pavement engineering. He
oversees final quality control for all field and laboratory data including
construction inspections, pavement evaluations, and final engineering reports. In 2013 he was honored
with an ASCE Life Member Award.
Gary Hicks, Ph.D, P.E., Project Manager, Pavement Preservation Center, CSU Chico
Gary Hicks is currently a part time Project Manager for the California Pavement
Preservation Center established at CSU, Chico. Prior to his current position,
Hicks was the Technical Director for the Center, senior principal for MACTEC
E&C (now AMEC) in Sacramento, and a Distinguished Professor of Civil
Engineering at Oregon State University for over 25 years before retiring in 1997.
He also was an Associate Professor at Georgia Tech in the early 1970’s. Hicks
has worked in the area of pavements and pavement preservation for nearly 50
years and has worked on rubber modified asphalt since the late 70’s. He has
been active with the Transportation Research Board (having served as the head
of the pavements section and as a member of the pavement maintenance and
preservation committees.), Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists (having served as president and
selected as an honorary member), Foundation for Pavement preservation (served on the Board), and the
International Society of Asphalt Pavements (Founder member, served on the board, and an honorary
member). He was co-chair of the organizing committees for the 1992 and the 1997 ISAP conferences in
Nottingham and Seattle. He is a registered Civil Engineer in the states of California, Oregon, and Alaska
and has authored more than 200 publications. He is still active as a consultant to several companies and
organizations.
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Erik Updyke, P.E., Los Angeles County Department of Public Works
Erik Updyke is the Section Head of the Specifications and Environmental
Compliance Section in the Construction Division of the County of Los Angeles
Department of Public Works. Updyke has over 33 years with the County serving
in various positions in the Road Maintenance, Design and Construction Divisions.
Updyke has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Maine and an MBA
from California State University, Long Beach, and is a Registered Civil Engineer
in California. From 2001 through 2013 Updyke was the Technical Advisor for the
Southern California Rubberized Asphalt Concrete Technology Center under a
contract with CalRecycle. He is one two voting members representing Los
Angeles County on the Greenbook Committee and has been the APWA Co-Chair
since 2005.
Jeff Ensell, Demonstration & Training Specialist, Roadtec
Jeff Ensell is a seven-year veteran of the United States Air Force. With
knowledge in hydraulics and electronics he was a construction machine control
technician for eight years. For the past eight years Ensell has worked as a
demonstration / training specialist for Milling and Paving at Roadtec, an Astec
Industries Company.
Gary Gallegos, P.E., Executive Director, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)
Gary Gallegos is the Executive Director of the San Diego Association of
Governments (SANDAG). He is a nationally recognized expert in transportation,
land use, regional public policy making, and bi-national planning and diplomacy.
SANDAG is the leading research, planning, and transportation agency for the
San Diego region. The agency builds consensus; makes strategic plans; obtains
and allocates resources; plans, engineers, and builds public transportation, and
provides information on a broad range of topics pertinent to the region's quality of
life. Agency policymakers are elected officials from each of the area’s 18 cities
and the county. Gallegos leads a staff of about 350 professionals who develop
public policy initiatives for elected officials on numerous issues encompassing
population growth, transportation, environmental management, economic development, municipal
finance, binational coordination, and public safety. Gallegos’ recent accomplishments at SANDAG include
overseeing the completion of the Interstate 15 Express Lanes, a $1.3 billion expressway within a freeway,
and spearheading the acquisition of the State Route 125 toll road, commonly known as the South Bay
Expressway, for $341.5 million. In January of 2003, Gallegos ushered SANDAG into a new, expanded
role. State Senate Bill 1703 consolidated the responsibilities of SANDAG with many of the functions of the
Metropolitan Transit Development Board and the North County Transit Development Board, allowing
SANDAG to assume regional transit planning, funding allocation, project development, and eventually
construction. In 2004, Gallegos led the charge to extend TransNet, a regional half-cent sales tax for
transportation; 67 percent of county voters approved the extension. Administered by SANDAG, the
original 20-year TransNet program generated $3.3 billion to fund highway, transit, and local road projects.
The 40-year TransNet extension will raise another $14 billion for similar improvements. Gallegos also led
the effort to create the TransNet Early Action Program, which focuses on jump-starting construction of the
top priority transportation projects and programs identified in the Regional Transportation Plan. Most
recently, Gallegos has worked with partner agencies toward securing the federal and state approvals
necessary to create a third international border crossing in San Diego County – Otay Mesa East – and a
short connecting highway. SANDAG will administer a toll that will generate funds to pay for the facility. In
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addition, Gallegos is the Chief Executive Officer of the SANDAG Service Bureau, the nonprofit public
benefit corporation chartered by SANDAG. Prior to joining SANDAG in 2001, Gallegos held the position
of District Director for Caltrans District 11, covering San Diego and Imperial Counties. Gallegos holds a
bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of New Mexico. He is a registered civil engineer.
Imelda Diaz, P.E., M.S., Los Angeles County Department of Public Works
Imelda Diaz is a Registered Engineer and has over 20 years of service with the
County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works. Her experience extends
across the board in pavement design, materials analysis, and pavement
management. She headed the Pavement Management Unit in the Geotechnical
and Materials Engineering Division, managing the largest and most complex
County road network in the state. She also served as a technical advisor for the
Southern California Rubberized Asphalt Concrete Technology Center and has
presented in several chip seal and pavement preservation conferences. Diaz
received her B.S. and a M.S. in Civil Engineering from California State
University, Long Beach with an emphasis in materials and geotechnical
engineering.
Nelson Nelson, P.E., Public Works Director, City of Corona
Nelson Nelson is the Director of Public Works for the City of Corona. Nelson has
over 26 years of service in Public Works and six years in construction. Prior to
working for the City of Corona, Nelson worked for the County of Los Angeles
Department of Public Works for 17 years serving in various positions in the
Construction, Operational Services and Information Technology Divisions; and
for the City of Chino Department of Public Works. Nelson has a B.S. in Civil
Engineering from the University of Wyoming and is a veteran of the United States
Marine Corps where he served as a Construction Surveyor. He is a Registered
Civil Engineer in California. Nelson served as the Chair of the Greenbook
Specifications Subcommittee for 8 years and is the Co-chair for WATCH
Committee.
Margot Yapp, P.E., Vice President, NCE
Margot Yapp, P.E., is vice president for Nichols Consulting Engineers. She has
more than 25 years of experience in implementing and updating pavement
management systems. She was responsible for the last PMP/GIS update for
MCOG in 2009/10, and has assembled the same key personnel that successfully
completed the update. Her experience includes numerous turnkey
implementations and updates of pavement management systems for cities,
counties and airports throughout California, Oregon, Nevada, Hawaii and Texas.
Her projects have included the use of a variety of pavement management
software packages, both public domain software (USA-Corps of Engineer’s
MicroPAVER and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC)
StreetSaver™) as well as proprietary software (Hansen and Cartegraph). She has worked with the
StreetSaver™ software since 1987 and implemented pavement management systems for over 100
agencies in California. Her projects include performing condition surveys to setting up budget parameters
to preparing final reports to making presentations to Councils for cities (Torrance, Malibu, Vernon, Bell,
Cudahy, San Marino, San Dimas, Chula Vista, La Habra, Mission Viejo, Fullerton, San Jose, Oakland,
Fremont, Hayward), counties (Inyo, Mariposa, Lake, Orange, San Bernardino, Mendocino, San Mateo,
Marin, Stanislaus, and Monterey) and federal agencies (USFS, Presidio of San Francisco, Barbers Point
NAS) in California, Oregon, and Hawaii. She has been involved in all aspects of PMS implementation,
from collecting field data, performing condition surveys, performing analyses, preparing reports,
presenting results to decision makers, and managing projects. In addition, she has worked with MTC to
provide hotline support, training, and developed computer user’s manuals for the software. She has
assisted MTC in the Joint Development Meetings for StreetSaver™. In 2007, Yapp was honored by MTC
with the 2007 Local Streets and Roads All Star Award in recognition of her leadership and outstanding
contributions toward improving regional streets and roads.
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Basem Muallem, P.E., District Director, Caltrans District 8 (retired)
Basem Muallem retired on March 30 as the District Director of the California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) for District 8 encompassing Riverside
and San Bernardino counties. It is the largest geographically of the 12 statewide
Caltrans districts, with four interstates and 32 routes totaling over 7,000 lane
miles within its boundaries.The region is facing continuing growth. As more
people, businesses and vehicles, including trucks, come into the area, the
challenges of providing a highway system to meet the region’s growing needs
increase. Prepared to meet those challenges, Muallem managed a staff of 1,280
and an operating budget of $181 million. He oversaw all facets of design,
construction, operation and maintenance of the state highway system in the
greater Inland Empire region. Muallem worked in partnership with both regional transportation and local
resource agencies to provide a safe and reliable highway network for the traveling public and was the
liaison to the statewide Caltrans Director regarding local issues, achievements and opportunities.
Muallem was with Caltrans for 29 years. He is a licensed civil engineer and has served in a number of
engineering and management positions. He has experience in Construction, Design,
Operations/Encroachment Permits, Surveys, Maintenance, Program/Project Management, and Right of
Way. He most recently was the District 8 Deputy District Director for Program/Project Management and
Deputy District Director for Right of Way. Previously, he was the Deputy District Director for Maintenance
in District 8 and also served as the interim HQ Division Chief for Maintenance and Division Chief for Right
of Way. Muallem holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in biology, and he has Bachelor’s and Master’s of
Science degrees in Civil Engineering. He began his career in Los Angeles (District 7) as an entry-level
Civil Engineer.
Bob Humer, P.E., Senior Regional Engineer, Asphalt Institute
Bob Humer is the Senior Regional Engineer of the Asphalt Institute for
Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, Arizona and Hawaii. Humer has a
master’s degree in civil engineering from Delft University of Technology in the
Netherlands, and has worked as a research engineer at the Asphalt Institute’s
headquarters laboratory during the 1970s. Before becoming an Asphalt Institute
district engineer in 1989, Humer was for seven years the staff airports engineer
for the Dutch equivalent of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. He has
worked with both government agencies and consulting firms on such projects as
the Midget Man Missle System, the Strategic Highway Research Program
(SHRP, and harbors and airports worldwide. Humer is a member of ASCE and
the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists (AAPT).
Christopher S. Long, Infrastructure Team Leader, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Christopher S. Long is the Infrastructure Team Leader for the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA), California Division. Prior to coming to Sacramento in
2012, he was a Division Bridge Engineer, MS Division, in Jackson, Miss.. From
1999 to 2011 he was a principal in a private consulting firm in Atlanta. From 1994
to 1996 he was a bridge engineer for the FHWA Georgia Division, and from 1992
to 1994 he participated in the Highway Engineering Training Program at various
locations across the United States. His hometown is St. Louis, Mo. He holds a
BSCE from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and a MSCE from
the Georgia Institute of Technology.
SAVE THE DATE! Fall Asphalt Pavement Conference and
Equipment Expo, Oct. 28-29, 2015 in Sacramento.
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Scott Dmytrow, Director of Marketing, Telfer Oil
Scott Dmytrow has been actively involved in hot mix asphalt, chip seal,
slurry/micro surfacing, aggregate and asphalt industries since 1991. Starting as a
laborer and equipment operator he moved to estimating and then project
management and design. In 1996 he became the general manager for a small
construction company in Pennsylvania. In 1998 Dmytrow went to work for Koch
Materials Co. selling emulsion and asphalt products in the Northeastern United
States. In 2002, he moved to California and in 2004 he went to work for Telfer
Oil Company as their Director of Marketing. He has been the president of the
California Chip Seal Association in 2007 and in 2014. He is also currently the
president of the Northern California chapter of the American Public Works
Association and the industry co-chair for the Surface Seal Task Group of the Pavement Preservation
Task Group, which bridges the gap between industry and Caltrans. He has been instrumental in
introducing Bonded Wearing Course, Warm Mix Asphalt, Polymer Modified Rejuvenating Emulsions,
Scrub Seals and a variety of Interlayer Materials in the state of California.
Jesse Bhullar, P.E., Caltrans State Pavement Engineer
Jesse Bhullar is the State Pavement Engineer for the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans), having been appointed to the position in February of
2015. The State Pavement Engineer, which is a part of the Division of
Maintenance, oversees asphalt and concrete pavement maintenance and
specification development. The State Pavement Engineer is also one of three
Caltrans co-chairs of the joint Caltrans-industry Rock Products Committee that
vets changes in materials specifications and testing requirements. Bhullar has
worked for Caltrans for over 26 years, including holding positions in planning,
design, construction, traffic operations and local assistance. Prior to being
promoted to State Pavement Engineer, he was managing the local bridge, bond
and safety programs in the Division of Local Assistance. Prior to that, he led the development of
California's Strategic Highway Safety Plan, which received the National Roadway Safety Award in 2009.
While managing the Traffic Safety Program from 2000 to 2005, he developed and managed the collision
reduction program in the State Highway Operations & Protection Program (SHOPP), expedited the
delivery of safety projects and developed the Run-off Road Monitoring Program. A licensed Civil Engineer
and a licensed Traffic Engineer, he was the recipient in 2007 of the department's prestigious Karl
Moskowitz Award for outstanding contributions to the field of transportation. He has also served on
numerous national committees, research panels and is a member of the American Association of State
Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety.
John Harvey, Ph.D, P.E., Director of the University of California Pavement Research Center
John Harvey is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chair of the
Transportation Technology and Policy graduate studies program, and Director of
the University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC). He is Principal
Investigator for the Caltrans-sponsored Partnered Pavement Research Center
for research, development and implementation for a wide range of pavement
technology, management, cost and environmental topics, and co-PI for a Federal
Highway Administration project developing guidelines for pavement
sustainability. Harvey teaches classes in pavement engineering and construction
management. He is a registered civil engineer in California.
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Carolina Rodezno, Ph.D, Assistant Research Professor, National Center for Asphaalt Technology
(NCAT) at Auburn University.
Carolina Rodezno is an assistant research professor with the National Center for
Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University. Rodezno got her Ph.D from
Arizona State University in 2010. She joined NCAT in 2011. She is currently the
principal investigator for the NCHRP 9-56 projects that deals with Identifying
factors that may cause variability of Ignition Furnace Correction Factors. She was
previously involved in the following NCHRP projects: NCHRP 9-47 A and
NCHRP 9-52 that dealt with different aspects of warm mix asphalt technologies
and short term laboratory conditions of asphalt mixtures. She teaches
undergraduate courses at Auburn University and assists NCAT as an instructor
for different asphalt mixture-related courses. She is a member of the
Transportation Research Board (TRB) committee AHD20 (Pavement Maintenance) and AFK20
(Bituminous Materials).
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