Microtunneling benchmarks of achievement 02 Feb 2017

An awards programme in the USA designed specifically to honor excellence in the microtunneling industry will recognize the achievements of four leading individuals of the industry for 2017. They are:

• Lester Bradshaw, Bradshaw Construction
• Paul Nicholas, AECOM
• Andreas Thiele, mts Perforator
• Paul Vadnais, Vadnais Trenchless

Paul Nicholas

Lester Bradshaw

Lester Bradshaw is a third-generation contractor with 48 years of experience in the underground construction industry. After starting his career with family firm Eastern Tunneling Corp, he co-founded Bradshaw Construction in 1982 and became its President in 1991. He has a Bachelor and Master degree of Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Harvard.

Paul Nicholas, with consulting engineering firm AECOM, has a background in geotechnical and civil engineering, and has 37 years of experience in the oil and heavy infrastructure and tunneling industries. Nicholas specializes in TBM engineering where he has been entrenched in machine design, manufacturing, and commissioning. He has operated both as a consultant and a contractor, giving him an understanding of all the elements it takes to construct and operate TBMs and manage tunneling projects effectively. Nicholas was recently project manager or director on several metro tunnel contracts in India and is an internationally recognized specialist in microtunneling, pipe jacking and trenchless technology.

Paul Vadnais

Andreas Thiele

Andreas Thiele, mts PERFORATOR, studied electrical engineering and acquired his professional experience working for Götsche & Schwarzelmüller GmbH, a producer of water treatment plants in Germany. He passed the state test to become a certified electrical engineer and was introduced to the microtunneling company Ingenieur-Tiefbaugesellschaft Dr Ing G Soltau GmbH. In 2000, Thiele joined LOVAT mts and worked there until 2004. Since 2004, he has been with mts Perforator GmbH. Thiele’s field of work has expanded considerably in recent years. After many international assignments, his focus now is on North America, where he has been able to renew many contacts from his day with Soltau.

Paul Vadnais has spent more than 40 years in the underground construction industry with Vadnais Corp and its affiliated companies V2 Trenching LLC in Oman and Vadnais Microtunneling Middle East. From 2014 to the present he has been the President of Vadnais Trenchless Services Inc (VTS) and manages Pipe Jacking Trenchless Inc (PJT), both of which are wholly owned operating units of Primoris Services Corp (PRIM). Vadnais has managed and supervised projects including hundreds of miles of rock trenching for oil and gas pipelines in the Middle East. In 1993, Vadnais entered the microtunneling industry and established the company as a leader in the field, completing several difficult microtunneling installations, including multiple river crossings, caisson shaft sinking, and working in congested urban environments. Today, Vadnais manages VTS and PJT, which are operating on a US national geographic footprint with projects in Florida, Colorado, Texas and the West Coast.

Levent Ozdemir

Tim Coss

The awards will be presented by organizers Tim Coss, Microtunneling Inc, Levent Ozdemir, Ozdemir Engineering, and Benjamin Media representatives at the Microtunneling Short Course being held on 6 to 9 February at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.