We Approach Every Project As a Partnership

MICHAEL W. ST. PIERRE, P.E. President

Michael is Principal-in-Charge of the firm’s Geotechnical Services Group and is heavily involved in New York State Environmental projects. For over 35 years, he has been involved in all phases of geotechnical, environmental, civil engineering design, and cost estimating for residential subdivisions, low to high-rise multi-family residential buildings, office buildings, shopping centers, warehouses, parks/recreation facilities, and athletic fields.

Michael has designed, managed, and inspected fieldwork for all phases of site work and foundation construction— including dynamic compaction, piles, rigid inclusions, aggregate piers, pre-construction surveys, shallow foundations, compacted fills, pavement construction, retaining walls, artificial treatment of soils, controlled blasting, support of excavation, underpinning, environmental cleanups, monitoring of settlement points and surveying. He has extensive experience in surface and subsurface soil and groundwater investigations for site preparation, foundation design criteria, pavement design, settlement analysis, foundation challenges, and slope failures.

Michael is heavily involved in a project from initial client contact and project inception through project completion. His hands-on approach is invaluable as he works closely with the Owner and other design professionals to make a project successful. Michael is a practical engineer who uses his experience to keep projects on schedule and within budget. He often provides alternative cost-saving techniques to make projects economically viable, including dynamic compaction of industrial landfills and miscellaneous uncontrolled fills, treatment of unsuitable soils, compacted fills using available non-select materials, and surcharging.

Michael has both a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering & Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Florida, and Massachusetts. Michael also serves as the Firm’s President and Managing Director.

ANTHONY CASTILLO, P.E. Principal - Water Resources

Tony joined SESI in 2002 and brings extensive design experience from his work with Schoor DePalma, Inc., Andrew Marshall Consulting Engineers, and Thonet Associates, Inc. During his tenure with these firms, he provided engineering design services for numerous site plan and subdivision projects—including all aspects of layout, grading, and stormwater management. Tony also provided environmental design solutions for land use planning and water resources projects— including hydraulic and hydrologic modeling, flood insurance and floodplain studies, dam design and rehabilitation projects, and environmental permitting.

While at SESI, Tony has developed a multi-discipline design and drafting staff. He is responsible for the production and coordination of site planning projects including commercial developments, townhouse developments, office buildings, and warehouse facilities. Tony is also responsible for the production and coordination of water resource projects, such as Dam Hazard Classification Analyses, Floodplain Delineations, and Groundwater Mounding Analyses. In addition, he advises clients on FEMA Coastal Zone design regulations.

Tony has both a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering & Master of Science Degree in Environmental Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey and New York.

FUAD DAHAN, Ph.D., P.E., LSRP Principal

Dr. Fuad Dahan joined SESI in 2013 as a Senior Project Engineer. He has over 18 years of environmental engineering expertise and diverse experience — including environmental treatment system applications, design, research, and monitoring. He has worked on federal, state, and private projects. He managed multi-million-dollar projects and programs for large corporations including Fortune 500 companies.

At SESI, Dr. Dahan has managed several New York Brownfield Clean-up projects from initial site characterization through obtaining a Certificate of Completion (COC). He also managed New Jersey brownfield and landfill development projects.

During a previous role at Leidos (previously SAIC) Dr. Dahan was the company lead in green remediation. He was the lead environmental engineer on federal and private superfund sites, which included the implementation of several in-situ remediation technologies. He also managed a multi-million-dollar program to treat industrial wastewater at federal facilities.

While at URS Corp Dr. Dahan worked on the multiphase implementation of remedial action for a multi-million-dollar project, that included the construction of several remedial systems.

Dr. Dahan received his Bachelor’s Degree from the American University of Beirut, his Masters in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University, and his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Purdue University. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey and New York, as well as a Licensed Site Remediation Professional in New Jersey.

JOHN M. NEDERFIELD, P.E. Principal - Geotechnical Engineering

John joined SESI in 1998 and has over 20 years of experience performing and managing geotechnical engineering services. He has performed and managed geotechnical subsurface investigations and provided reports for retail buildings, commercial buildings, industrial buildings, transportation projects, stormwater utilities, office buildings, shopping centers, high-rise towers, warehouses, and residential buildings.

John manages construction observation services for retail, commercial, industrial, transportation, stormwater, dams, and residential projects. His project involvement includes retaining walls, shallow foundations, deep foundations (drilled and driven piles, helical piles, micro piles), and ground improvement projects—dynamic compaction, rigid inclusions, rammed aggregate piers, compaction grouting, soil cement, and lightweight fills.

John received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Drexel University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

JUSTIN M. PROTASIEWICZ, P.E. Principal

Justin has been with SESI since 2008 and became a partner in 2017. He has over 18 years of experience in the construction industry, with 13 years of engineering experience. Justin offers value-engineering by creating a partnership with owners, developers, other engineers, contractors, and the construction industry in the geotechnical, environmental, and site civil engineering disciplines.

Justin has designed, managed, and performed hundreds of geotechnical and environmental due diligence evaluations, investigations, full-scale remediations, landfill closures, and post-closure maintenance and monitoring programs. In addition, he has completed a wide array of geotechnical, environmental, geostructural, and water management designs. Furthermore, he has managed construction inspections for hundreds of projects ranging from residential developments through commercial/industrial buildings.

Justin prides himself in his ability to manage challenging development projects from concept through completion. He has become well-known, and highly sought after, in the industry for his develop-centric and common-sense approaches to development challenges. In addition, SESI’s Clients continually rely upon his expertise in assembling complex development deals.

Justin received his Bachelor of SciencedDegree in Civil Engineering Technology from Farleigh Dickinson University. He is a Professional Engineer in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Missouri, and Virginia.

FRANZ W. LAKI, P.E. Principal

Franz joined SESI in 2015 as an Assistant Project Engineer. He brings extensive knowledge of civil engineering, specifically in site design and construction, from his previous role in heavy civil construction. His experience prior to joining SESI includes public and private projects, such as the Second Avenue Subway, Newark Airport Flood Study, Route 9A Reconstruction, Columbia University Foundations, and various smaller rehabilitation jobs.

Since joining SESI, his focus has been to advance the firm’s Site Civil Group. As a leader of the Site Civil Group, he has helped to advance the group’s skill set. He has also been involved in creating an all-inclusive design group with SESI’s civil, geotechnical, and environmental design groups.

Franz has a Masters’ Degree in Construction Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York.

JOSE M. RODRIGUEZ, P.E. Principal

Jose joined SESI in 2021 as a senior project engineer, bringing to the role his leadership experience on construction projects honed at a company he founded and managed. During his tenure at SESI, Jose expanded the company’s Geostructural engineering group. In addition, he has worked extensively with the Geotechnical engineering group, overseeing projects in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He has coordinated, designed and inspected projects throughout the tri-state area involving support of excavations, underpinning, deep foundations, and he has overseen subsurface investigations for low rise to “supertall” structures, sports arenas, and storage facilities.

While overseeing interdisciplinary projects, Jose has coordinated and collaborated with site and environmental departments and worked with various government agencies, including the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New York City Transit Authority.

MEG BERGHAUSEN ST. PIERRE, CFA Director of Finance

Meg joined SESI in 2013 and has been instrumental in supporting the company’s growth and brings strategic financial planning to the team. She has over 27 years of experience in the financial industry. Some of Meg’s greatest skills are financial analysis and reporting, managing financial functions, and driving change to accommodate rapid business growth and systems. In 2019, she was named CFO of the Year: Best Growth Manager by NJ Biz magazine.

Over the last five years, SESI has grown consistently at 20-30% each year while tripling its number of projects and employees. Meg enables clear communication and alignment between SESI’s revenue-generating professionals, administrative support, and partners. Her main focuses within the company are overseeing all bookkeeping and tax planning, implementing technology systems, budgeting, and liquidity monitoring. In addition, she also takes on Human Resources processes including hiring, compensation, and more.

Meg received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics at Colgate University, and is certified Chartered Financial Analyst and Bookkeeper.

PAM TEAGARDEN, MAPP Director of Operations

​Pam has been with SESI since 2021 and brings over 22 years of experience. She has worked for companies of all sizes and industries helping teams move beyond their biases to develop inclusive relationships that link measurable engagement in performance directly to business results. She specializes in helping teams to find contextual diversity and implicit biases that have the potential to break down business and disengage teams. The simultaneous and fair ways in which SESI builds operational wellbeing, without sacrificing any individual’s path to personal wellbeing is key to our strategic priorities and comes from her findings.

As Director of Operations, Pam works at the intersection of business and psychology. Her research on ‘Authentic Cultures’ validated new measures to model operational excellence inclusive of individuals’ authentic strengths, at all levels, to engage themselves uniquely in the success of our firm - even in times of rising pressure and through change.

Outside of her work with SESI, she works with the UN to improve the global sustainability goals for gender equity, and she was chosen to serve on the Wall Street Journal Task Force on Women in the Economy. She also serves as faculty to the Thought Leadership Institute for Fortune 100 Talent Acquisition and Management, along with other positions serving other organizations that advocate Inclusive Diversity and Wellbeing.

Pam received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Texas Tech University, an additional Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Moorhead University, and a Masters in Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is also certified in over 35 psychometric tools.