WHAT CAREER MILESTONES ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF HAVING ACHIEVED?
Working in underground and surface mines in engineering, maintenance and operations for both base minerals and coal has provided me with a diverse background. My early achievements included being the youngest superintendent for AMAX Molybdenum. Later, installing the first patented Super Portable® mobile stacking
system that created the largest multiple-lift, heap leach mine in the world was a proud moment. Most recently, the completion of the primary gyratory crusher station and overland conveyor for BHP’s Spence SGO project in Chile was a fine crescendo.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE IN YOUR CURRENT ROLE?
Making sure we utilise these times to develop initiatives, build systems and create innovation to be more prepared when the market returns. Our engineers at Terra Nova Technologies (TNT) created the Super Portable® system in the 1999 down market, and we will use this time to innovate.

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT THE FUTURE IN YOUR INDUSTRY?
Mining has always been an industry based on high volumes, where incremental improvements can really add to the bottom line. In almost every aspect of the mineral process, the importance of bulk material handling can only grow and expand. TNT’s equipment designs and our hands-on technical experience enable us to be leaders in developing and innovating many of these material handling solutions, including IPCC (In Pit Crush Convey), long-distance overland conveyors, and in particular, stacking systems for waste, ore and tailings. Perhaps the biggest of these opportunities is the Dry Stack area, where the safety, risk, water and stability of traditional slurry tailings impoundments have reached a “perfect storm” and a paradigm shift is required for the sustainability of the entire industry.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE?
In addition to spending time with my family, I currently enjoy bicycling, hunting, fishing, shooting, ocean swimming, camping and a good microbrewery. My kids call me Mr. Hobby, so this list will expand as time permits and the body holds out.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE?
There are two pieces of advice I received from my dad, who was a farmer during the first half of his life: “You plow your field, and I’ll plow mine” and “Plan your work, and work your plan.”

WHAT WOULD PEOPLE BE SURPRISED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?
For a time, I managed both TNT and another company called Dynamic Structures, which designs and builds theme park rides and observatories. At Dynamic Structures, we built Soarin’ Over California, rebuilt Space Mountain and rebuilt the Monorail for Disneyland. We also built Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the first robotic ride for Universal, and the ACT telescope for Princeton/NASA.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
I started my career in underground mining on the Development Engineering Crew at the Climax Mine for AMAX, a great company that believed in cross training. My early, varied experiences gained from moving to and from different departments allowed me a greater perspective on my career and life.

HOW DID YOUR CAREER JOURNEY TAKE YOU TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
After working in mine operations and maintenance for 20 years, I switched careers and entered the equipment-manufacturing field. This led to my gathering a diverse team of enthusiastic and driven individuals who’ve built and grown TNT into a successful and
innovative material handling company over the last 26 years.

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
I was born on a farm in Iowa. We moved to Southern California when I was 10 after a hailstorm wiped out the crop, forcing the farm to be auctioned off. My formative years were concentrated on the ocean, but I always yearned to be in the mountains.

WHAT CAREER MILESTONES ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF HAVING ACHIEVED?
When I was 31, I became the Latin American subsidiary manager for FLSmidth’s minerals business, transitioning from a support role to a managerial role. That inflection point set the course for the rest of my career.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE IN YOUR CURRENT ROLE?
From humble beginnings less than 25 years ago, TNT is fast establishing itself as a serious contender in the global material handling arena, pitted against the most dominant, well established competitors in the industry. While we are still an underdog, we are also more agile, accessible and responsive. Maintaining
a customer-centric culture, and having the right combination of people and business systems as we grow even more, is fundamental to our long-term success.

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT THE FUTURE IN YOUR INDUSTRY?
While many see mining as an old-world economy, yet at the same time as an essential industry with little room for innovation, I believe the opposite. For decades, most companies in mining have been too conservative and slow to adopt new technologies and are now literally paying the price with high operating costs. With TNT’s
proven record of innovation, we see enormous potential in the future.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE?
Most of my time these days is devoted to my family which, in addition to my wife and two teenage boys, now includes an Australian Cattle Dog puppy who seems to be training us instead of us training her. In the garage, there’s an old Miata convertible undergoing a snail’s pace restomod and an ever-growing stockpile of parts hoping to someday undergo a miraculous transformation into a Lotus 7-style race car.

WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF CAREER ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED?
Don’t become complacent… never stop learning and growing.

WHAT WOULD PEOPLE BE SURPRISED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?
I seriously considered pursuing a career as a writer of fiction novels instead of as an engineer.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
In high school, I took a summer job as a customer service representative at a marine terminal in Elizabeth, New Jersey (infamously known for being the home of the DeCavalcante crime family). My job entailed fixing problems between shipping companies, freight forwarders and US Customs for frustrated and often very angry truck drivers dropping off and picking up cargo in the sweltering summer heat. In retrospect, they were supremely patient with an utterly lost 16-year-old, but I am still
comforted by the fact that there was 50mm thick bulletproof glass between me and them!

WHAT WAS YOUR CAREER JOURNEY TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
I joined the Danish company FLSmidth straight out of university as a mechanical engineer and spent the next 22 years working in various roles in engineering, research and development, business development, operations, general management and business group management. I was lucky enough to travel extensively internationally during that time and lived in Chile for almost a decade. For the last six years, my focus has been to help grow TNT into a world-class material handling company in mining.

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
I was born in Chicago and spent my childhood in Maryland in the suburbs of Washington, DC. When I was 11, my family moved to the town of Summit in New Jersey, near New York City.