Microtunneling Achievement Awards Bestowed

Each year, outstanding individuals who have made a lasting impact on the market in the United States are recognized with the presentation of the Microtunneling Achievement Awards. These awards are presented by course organizers at the annual Microtunneling Short Course, which was held May 7-9 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

During the course’s banquet dinner on May 8, industry stalwarts Craig Camp, Evaristo “Evarett” Cruz, and John Fowler were recognized for their contributions.

Craig Camp

Born and raised in North Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene mining district, Camp graduated from Coeur d’Alene Sr. High in 1974 and from the University of Idaho, College of Mining and Earth Resources (COMER), in 1979 with a BS in Mining Engineering. He started in the trenchless field working for Iseki Inc. in January 1994. There he spent a lot of time learning the details of microtunneling from Tom Kusumoto from Iseki Polytechnical of Japan. Other co-workers and long-term friends from Iseki Inc. include Phil Coller, Steve Caneen, and Ray Post.

Since January 2000, Camp has worked with consulting engineering firms including Jacobs Associates (now Delve) Mott MacDonald, and GHD as a trenchless specialist with expert knowledge of microtunneling equipment means, methods, and capabilities. Over the years he has worked in design, construction, and as an expert witness. 

His expertise includes other trenchless new construction methods and rehabilitation methods. This knowledge allows him to better evaluate projects and perform alternative analysis that include other trenchless methods and routing selection.

Camp has served as a co-author for the ASCE Standard Design and Construction Guidelines for Microtunneling, ASCE/CI 36-15m and co-authored several trenchless references for ASCE and NASTT, and technical papers for ASCE, NASTT, and RETC.

Evaristo (Evarett) Cruz, Jr. P.E.

Evaristo Cruz Jr. was born in the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey, to Portuguese immigrant parents in the same year, 1951, that his father Evaristo, Sr. founded Cruz Construction Co. At a young age Evaristo Jr., or Evarett as he has become known, began working in the family business.

Working in various capacities during high school and college Evarett honed his skills as a supervisor, estimator and project manager. In 1976 he graduated from NJIT with a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering Technology eventually becoming a Professional Engineer with registrations in New Jersey, Connecticut and New York.   

In 1984 Evarett became the managing member of Cruz Construction Co. steering the company into different fields of work while expanding the company’s reach. In 1990 under Evarett’s direction the company began performing microtunneling in the New York City market, becoming one of the first in the country to employ this technology. During this time the company also pioneered the use of sunken caissons for the construction of deep shafts used for microtunneling in the U.S.

In 1995 Evarett was named President of the company, before founding JRCRUZ Corp. in 2001. JRCRUZ Corp. has gone on to become a major contractor in the New York City underground construction market with projects in all the five boroughs.

John Fowler

John Fowler, President of JW Fowler Co., began his career with the company sitting beside his dad Jim as he conducted the day-to-day business of running a civil construction company. Now over 50 years in business, the company has grown under John’s leadership to four regional offices constructing utility infrastructure throughout the western United States.

John’s passion for tunneling and construction in general has helped the company gain a reputation for undertaking challenging projects and completing them successfully. Several of these projects have been highlighted in technical papers that offer insight into the challenges and achievements of the trenchless technology industry.

John graduated from George Fox University with a BS degree in Business and Economics. He is married with two sons, both of whom work for the company. John and his wife just welcomed their first grandchild to the family.

Overall, the 2024 Microtunneling Short Course drew over 175 attendees, the highest attendance in the 31-year history of the course. The course was founded in 1993 by Tim Coss (Microtunneling Inc.), Levent Ozdemir (Ozdemir Associates) and Bernie Krzys (Benjamin Media/Trenchless Technology magazine) as the only event focused on the then-emerging installation technology. It continues to be the largest gathering of microtunneling professionals globally, and has welcomed over 4,000 registrants from across the world.

The course itself covers all aspects of tunneling from leading experts in the field, covering design, construction, equipment, case histories and more. In addition to the technical program, there are networking events including receptions and the banquet dinner. In addition, the North American Microtunneling Association hosts its annual meeting in conjunction with the course.

Microtunneling Achievement Award Winners

The Microtunneling Achievement Award winners were established in 2002 to recognize individuals who have made a lasting impact on the microtunneling market in the United States are worldwide. Below are the recipients of the awards:

• Northwest Boring (2002)
• Franco Coluccio, Frank Coluccio Construction Co. (2004)
• Glenn Boyce, Jacobs Associates (2006)
• James Kwong, Yogi Kwong Engineers (2007, 2013)
• Stefan Trumpi-Althaus, Jack Control Inc. (2008)
• Matt Roberts, Kiewit (2009)
• Dennis Molvik, Northwest Boring (2011)
• Gary Huber, Permalok (2012)
• Rick Turkopp, Hobas (2012)
• James W. Fowler Co. (2014)
• Rene Inosanto, Frank Coluccio Construction Co. (2015)
• Greg Raines, MWH (2015)
• John Grennan, Ward and Burke (2015)
• Julian O’Connell, Herrenknecht (2016)
• Dan Schitea, Vadnais Trenchless Services (2016)
• Troy Stokes, Akkerman Inc. (2016)
• Grahame Turnbull, Consultant (2016)
• Lester Bradshaw, Bradshaw Construction (2017)
• Paul Nicholas, AECOM (2017)
• Andreas Thiele, mts PERFORATOR (2017)
• Paul Vadnais, Vadnais Trenchless (2017)
• Lee Abramson, Kleinfelder (2018)
• Steve Caneen, Huxted Tunneling (2018)
• Ingo Justen, Tunnel Service Group (2018)
• Mike Ellis, TEC (Trenchless Equipment Co.) (2018)
• Gerhard Lang, Herrenknecht (2019)
• Steve Leius, SECA Underground (2019)
• Rich Palmer, Northeast Remsco (2019)
• Brenden Tippets, Michels (2019)
• Don Bergman, Frank Coluccio Construction (2020)
• Ed Chwist, Bradshaw Construction (retired) (2020)
• Frank Lorenzen, Nada Pacific (2020)
• Barry Sorteberg, Clean Slurry Technology (2020)
• Michael Ward, Ward and Burke (2020)
• Maynard Akkerman, Akkerman (2022)
• Mike Garver, BRH Garver (2022)
• Don Gonzalez, Northwest Boring (2022)
• Gilbert Kimpel, mts (2022)
• Dawn Lowers Davis, Lowers Welding (2022)
• Buck Bergstrom, BTrenchless (2023)
• Bijan Khamanian, Hobas Pipe USA (2023)
• Ray Post, Huxted Trenchless (2023)
• Craig Camp, GHD (2024)
• Evaristo “Evarett” Cruz, JRCRUZ Corp. (2024)
• John Fowler, James W. Fowler Co. (2024)