Leadership
The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Educational Trust chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer serve as officers of the board and with the executive director, lead the volunteer board of trustees and strategize to elevate and expand the Trust’s programs.
Board of Trustees
The DFI Educational Trust’s Board of Trustees is comprised of volunteer trustees with chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer officer positions. Five core board members serve five-year terms and up to eight at-large trustees serve two-year terms. In addition, the president and treasurer of DFI serve as members of the Trust board during their terms at DFI. Emeritus and honorary trustees may be appointed as non-voting members of the board.
As part of their commitment to the Trust and its mission, all board members actively participate in fundraising by organizing events, spearheading annual drives, and leading other such efforts. In addition, all board members make personal financial contributions to the Trust.
Board Chair
Helen Robinson, P.E., is a vice president, senior project manager and branch manager at GEI Consultants near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Penn State University and has over 20 years of experience in design, analysis and construction of micropiles, tiebacks, soil nails, retaining walls, braced excavation support, grouting and ground improvement methods.
She is past president of the ASCE Geo-Institute Board of Governors for 2025-2026. She recently completed her term as co-chair of the DFI-ADSC joint Micropile Committee and was the first chair of the DFI Women in Deep Foundations Committee.
Robinson was named 2023 Geotechnical Engineer of the Year by the ASCE Philadelphia Section and was a recipient of a DFI President’s Award in 2023.
Other Board Leaders
Vice Chair
Zoran Curanovic, P.E.
Underpinning & Foundation Skanska, Inc.
Treasurer
Lori Simpson, P.E., G.E.
LANGAN
Secretary
Andrew Verity
Terracon Consultants
Immediate Past Chair
Rudolph P. Frizzi, P.E., G.E., D.GE
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Other Trustees
The Trust is managed by a volunteer board of trustees who carry out the mission of the Trust by actively participating in fundraising events, spearheading donation drives, managing the scholarship and grant programs, and serving as fiduciaries of the donated funds. Trustees, including the officers, serve five-year or two-year terms.
John Allen • Master Builders Solutions
Jonathan Huff • Richard Goettle, Inc.
James Johnson • Condon Johnson and Associates
Emma Migneault • Worldsensing, SL
Shawna Munn • Aecon Foundations
Seth Pearlman, P.E., D.GE • Menard USA
Howard Perko, Ph.D., P.E. •  Magnum Piering, Inc.
Monica Prezzi • Purdue University
Mark J. Rice, Esq. • McNeil, Silveira, Rice & Wiley
Emeritus and Honorary Trustees
Trustees may also be appointed as non-voting members to serve in an advisory capacity. Emeritus Trustees are former board chairs and Honorary Trustees are former trustees who either have a scholarship established in their name or have made an exceptionally generous contribution or rendered other extraordinary services to the Trust.
Tracy Brettmann, P.E., D.GE • A.H. Beck Foundation Co. Inc.
David B. Coleman • Underpinning & Foundation Skanska, Inc.
Dan Dragone • Bauer Equipment America
 Richard Short, P.E., D.GE • Consulting Geotechnical Engineer
 M. Byrl Williams, P.E. • Foundation Constructors, Inc.
Administration
The Trust has no paid employees as the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) donates their administrative staff’s time and expertise to manage its activities. The executive director of DFI is also the executive director of the Trust and is responsible for the effective administration and execution of all the Trust’s programs and policies.
Executive Director
Theresa Engler, executive director of DFI since 2006, also serves as the executive director of the DFI Educational Trust. From 1998-2006, she served as assistant director and operations manager. She is responsible for the operations, technical activities, regional chapters and marketing of DFI, and reports to the DFI Board of Trustees.
Working in collaboration with the DFI board, Engler has spearheaded significant growth at DFI including new members, technical committees, educational events, publications and regional chapters in Europe, India and the Middle East. She is actively involved in the deep foundations industry and represents DFI and the Trust at conferences and seminars worldwide. She attended Fairfield University and is a member of the American Society of Association Executives and the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC). In 2015, Theresa was unanimously elected to membership in The Moles, a fraternal organization of the heavy construction industry and in 2019 was named Outstanding Association Executive by the New York Society of Association Executives (NYSAE).