Tunnel and Shaft Design Services

Arthur “AJ” McGinn, PhD, PE

President and CEO

Syracuse, NY

AJ is our hands-on President and CEO. He is known for his enthusiasm for mentoring others in underground construction, both at Brierley Associates and elsewhere, by speaking at conferences or serving as a guest lecturer at Cornell University in the areas of excavation support design, rock mechanics, and advanced soil behavior.

AJ has a unique ability to develop innovative, cost-effective, and constructable designs for tunnels, support excavation systems, and provide real-time solutions that manage challenging ground conditions, contractor logistics, and construction phasing issues. He completed his undergraduate studies at Purdue University and earned his PhD in civil engineering with a concentration in geotechnical engineering from Cornell University.

Jon “Ike” Isaacson, GE, CEG, PE, PG

Tunnel Sector Leader

Milwaukee, WI; Chicago, IL

Ike, our Tunnel Sector Leader, is a true renaissance man. He is licensed as a professional engineer and a professional geologist, in addition to being a licensed aircraft pilot. His interdisciplinary knowledge of engineering and geology, experience as a consultant, owner’s representative, and tunnel contractor is truly unique.

Ike’s tunnel experience includes design review, constructability, grouting, ground improvement, ground freezing, geotechnical instrumentation, rehabilitation, construction logistics, hyperbaric interventions, ground loss mapping and remediation. Mr. Isaacson’s broad knowledge, skill sets, experiences, and keen multi-perspective insight provide him with a well-rounded, pragmatic approach that promotes project success.

Sean Harvey, PG, CEG

Tunnel Sector Leader, Western Region

Leawood, KS

Sean is a licensed professional engineering geologist with more than 20 years of progressive experience in geotechnical and geologic engineering applications for underground design and construction, trenchless and tunnel design and construction, mining, and commercial construction. He routinely manages projects for underground design and construction, underground feasibility and design evaluation, initial support design and evaluation, rock mechanics, geotechnical investigations, geologic interpretation, and construction observation. He completed a Master of Science degree in Mining and Earth Systems Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and is a Certified Engineering Geologist and registered Professional Geologist.

Bill Zietlow, PE

Geostructural Consultant

Denver, CO

Bill has worked in geotechnical engineering for more than 25 years and specializes in design of earth support systems for tunnels, shafts, road cuts, and temporary excavations such as soil nail, tieback, sheet pile, soldier pile, and micropile walls. He has also designed deep foundations and landslide stabilizations. He primarily provides design services for specialty contractors on design-build projects but has also provided geotechnical designs for public and private owners, primarily on transportation and utility works. He has design, construction observation, geotechnical investigation, and project management experience on a wide variety of projects and ground conditions across the Western and Midwestern United States. His responsibilities include engineering design, project management, and claim support services. He completed a Master of Science in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.

Jeremiah Jezerski, PE

Tunnel and Advanced Geotechnical Design Engineer

Syracuse, NY

Jeremiah’s knowledge and adaptability makes him an indispensable team member on many tunnel, shaft and advanced geotechnical design and construction projects. Jeremiah has served as Design Manager on some of our most challenging projects including Northeast Boundary Tunnel, a $580 million CSO design/build project in our nation’s Capital, and the award winning Twin Box Vehicle Tunnels at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, which featured an innovative “box pulling operation” beneath three Norfolk Southern railway lines. Jeremiah knows how to get things done by building the right team for the job.

Anna Crockford, PEng

Geological Engineer / Denver Office Leader

Denver, CO

Anna has a technical background in rock mechanics, underground design, geotechnical design, and dams and levees design. She has worked on a wide range of projects in the mining and heavy civil industries, including conveyance and water storage projects. Her background in Geological Engineering has enabled her to incorporate regional structural geology, geological features and historical land use in the geotechnical characterization of complex rock masses, including domain delineation and structural analyses for individual project sites. Anna’s design experience includes embankment construction and slope protection, seepage analyses, trenchless installations, underground excavation and support, pillar stability analyses, calibration and interpretation of numerical models, engineered slope design, and slope stability and hazard mitigation.

Tom Pullen, PG

Engineering Geologist

Cottage Grove, MN

Tom leads Brierley’s Upper Mid-West project efforts. He is another of Brierley’s project leaders who bring real-life perspective to design and troubleshooting, as he was a foreman for a utility contractor specializing in trenchless construction prior to his academic education. Tom’s experience includes underground design; geotechnical site characterization; trenchless design and construction; grouting programs and tunnel rehabilitation; and claims analysis and evaluation for both owners and contractors.

Russell Berends, PE

Geostructural Engineer

Denver, CO

Russell specializes in support of excavations, tunnels, and deep foundations. His geostructural design capabilities encompass foundation engineering, slope stability analysis, shoring, earth dams, and landfills. Russell’s design projects include 7,500-feet of trench shoring for the BART metro line extension in the San Francisco Bay Area and  pre-cast tunnel liner segment design for over 10,000-ft of 10-ft diameter EPB-TBM tunnel in Los Angeles. He has co-authored several papers including: “Tunnel Lining Design: Seven Things You Need to Know,” and “A Measurement of Filtration Effects on the Transmissivity of Geocomposite Drains for Phosphogypsum.”

Danny Maine, PE

Geotechnical Engineer

Austin, TX

Danny specializes in Geotechnical and Civil Engineering. His career encompasses a wide variety of projects ranging from large scale Design-Build and P3 projects to smaller scale on-call contracts with local municipalities. He has designed in a wide range of challenging geologic environments ranging from soft soils in alluvial and marine environments to stiff residual soils and rock. In addition to design, Danny has a solid foundation in geotechnical investigations, planning and executing site work, managing drilling and testing subcontractors, as well as a good working knowledge of heavy civil construction practices.

Brent Lindeloff, PE

Trenchless Engineer

Weaverville, NC

Brent has acquired a very broad base of civil engineering experience, focusing primarily on water and wastewater infrastructure. He has developed significant expertise in trenchless construction, planning and design in mid to large diameter water, wastewater, and storm applications. Brent’s interests include horizontal directional drilling, pilot tube guided boring, conventional auger boring, Microtunneling, shield tunneling and tunnel shaft construction and design.