Describe your current job.
I’m the director of sales, parts and service support for all BAUER products (Bauer, RTG, Klemm, MAT, Pileco and Fambo Products) in Western Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories).
How did you get to where you are now?
I took the Trans-Canada from New Brunswick via Quebec and Ontario, etc. On a serious note… I started with Ingersoll-Rand after graduating from Mount Allison as a sales trainee. I spent the better part of my first year working out of Montreal and traveling to our various factories around North America, as well as spending four months in Northern Ontario working on the Trans-Canada Pipeline.
From there I moved to Winnipeg for two years, where my primary focus was on rock drilling and air compressors. We also tested the very first 42-inch cluster drill just east of Winnipeg in the Whiteshell.
Then I moved to Edmonton as regional manager for all Ingersoll-Rand products in the prairies and northern Canada. I remember flying in to Diavik when there was only a runway and they were just starting the open pit mine. After eight years in Edmonton, I moved to North Carolina and became marketing manager for Asia Pacific with the air compressor division as well as industry manager for oil and gas and product manager for the high-pressure compressor line of air compressors.
Then, on to Milwaukee as vice president and branch manager of our upper Midwest operation. The Milwaukee operation had North American responsibilities for our down-hole hammer operation, which focused on large diameter drilled holes, primarily within the foundation market. We also administered our corporate military spare parts contract out of Milwaukee for all of Ingersoll-Rand.
When Ingersoll-Rand divested of its construction equipment business, I moved back to Canada and ran the newly acquired Atlantic Rentals operation for United Rentals. In 2010, I was offered a fantastic opportunity with BAUER-Pileco and moved to Houston where I worked with Dan Dragone to grow BAUER’s presence in Western Canada. The Western Canadian market had changed considerably since I left in 2000, and one market that had expanded greatly was the foundation sector. The opportunities for BAUER and BAUER-Pileco have been exciting. The diverse geology and expansive geography are challenging, but also allow for some exciting opportunities, which have allowed BAUER to work with various companies to provide some very interesting solutions for some of the challenges that have been presented over the past several years.
What do you love about your job?
Every project is different, with different challenges on each and you have to work with the engineers and contractors to determine what is the best method to complete their project using the most productive and cost-effective equipment available.
What are the challenges you experience in your job?
Time – contractors don’t seem to have sufficient time to prepare for the projects once they have received their award notice. But with many of the challenges of western and northern Canada, we adapt and persevere to get the job done in some of the harshest conditions and remote locations.
What are your future goals?
I want to work so that BAUER remains number one in the industry.
What are your predictions for the future of deep foundation construction in Canada?
The project requirements are getting more challenging with larger, deeper drilled shafts as well as an increased use of new methodology, such as soil mixing, cutter soil mixing, slurry method, cased Kelly drilling, diaphragm walls and much larger driven piles in some of toughest conditions. 