Team EMI

Meet the people who make it all possible...

MEET OUR TEAM...

Hello, Anthony Fasano here. When I started EMI back in 2009, it was me, a laptop, and a dream of helping engineers. A lot has changed since then.

Over the years, I began working with more and more talented professionals to help me achieve our goals. I hired freelance designers, business coaches, specialized agencies, lawyers, accountants, web developers, event coordinators, and others. They all were and continue to be important in serving our audience of engineering professionals.

However, one day, I realized that if EMI was going to achieve its mission of providing engineering professionals with a path to become better leaders through learning transfer on large scale, I would need help. I would need a team!

I started by giving our first freelancer, Betty, a more prominent role, and from there found Angelique and continued building our team. Today, the team consists of our staff, plus a plethora of talented instructors and content creators.

Now, we are a growing team, which will help us to better serve you! Without further ado, here’s the team…

TEAM EMI

Anthony Fasano, P.E.

Founder, Engineer, Lead Trainer and Coach

Anthony is the man who started it all. After becoming successful as a civil engineer at a very young age, Fasano realized that his success was largely related to the development of his non-technical, or core skills. Since that time, he has decided to transition his career from designing to inspiring engineers in their soft skill development through coaching, speaking, and training. He has also co-authored a series of children’s books with his 11-year-old daughter, titled “Purpee the Purple Dragon.” They have delivered hundreds of books to pediatric cancer centers around the world.

In the past few years, Fasano has written a bestselling book titled, “Engineer Your Own Success: 7 Key Elements to Creating an Extraordinary Engineering Career,” which was recently updated with IEEE-Wiley Press. He has also created two top-rated iTunes podcasts for engineers. The Engineering Career Coach podcast was recently cited by Forbes as one of the top 15 most inspiring for professionals. The Civil Engineering Podcast, which is downloaded by thousands of civil engineers worldwide, has been downloaded over 1 million times since inception.

Fasano earned a B.S. and M.S. degree in civil engineering from Lafayette College and Columbia University, respectively, and his executive coaching certificate from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC).

SKILLS:

Entrepreneurship
Public speaking
Executive coaching
Training
Podcasting
Marketing and media

TEAM:

Growth
Innovation
Operations and finance
Content
Training

Betty Arellano

Learning & Development Coordinator

Betty Arellano is an engineer who supports the day-to-day activities of the Engineering Management Institute and is responsible for the ensuring the success of EMI’s training programs. She is responsible for coordinating with the trainers and clients, and overseeing the management and delivery of the training programs. She also assists in the development of training materials and evaluations.

Betty graduated from De La Salle University Philippines with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. She received her Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Philippines (UP). She and her other UP colleagues formed a consulting company to assist companies with their environmental compliance, permitting requirements and impact assessment. Shortly after, Betty was selected as one of the Philippine representatives for the Industrial Biotechnology and Technology Transfer in Germany, which lasted for 10 months. Betty moved to the United States in 2006 and joined our team in 2012.

SKILLS:

Customer experience
Business operations
Data analytics
Course Design

TEAM:

Operations/Finance
Training

Angelique Burns

Content and Social Media Manager

One of the main reasons our content division, Engineering Management Institute’s content was ranked the best in the world for engineering career related content by a third party is because of Angelique Burns. Angelique manages the production, scheduling, and publication of all of our content which amounts to close to 200 pieces of content each year between articles, podcast episodes, and videos. And once we create it, she is also a master at sharing it online through our various social media channels.

Angelique is a certified social media manager that manages the production, scheduling, and publication of all of our content which amounts to close to 200 pieces of content each year between articles, podcast episodes, and videos. And once we create it, she is also a master at sharing it online through our various social media channels.

Angelique is a hardworking professional that does whatever it takes to be successful, even if it means working long hours to ensure a job is completed. She has and will remain to be a critical component of the growth of The Engineering Management Institute and our ability to reach and help engineers around the world.

SKILLS:

Content Production
Content Co-ordination
Social Media Marketing

TEAM:

Growth
Content

Lizaan van der Bank

Finance & Sales Management Specialist

Lizaan Smit joined the EMI team in 2020 as sales increased to help both with sales and finance. Lizaan’s roles include assisting with sales reach out, invoicing and initial on-boarding of clients. Smit followed her love of numbers to become a qualified Accountant with experience in various industries and went on to obtain a Business Management qualification. The ability to solve problems came from her education, most notably in accounting. She found accounting to be the discipline that could help her help others and her interest intensified into a passion. Lizaan helps to manages EMI's Finance and Sales Departments and is always willing to go the extra mile no matter what the task.

SKILLS:

Accounting
Business & Customer Growth
Sales Development
Data Analysis

TEAM:

Growth
Finance

Ann M.Tomalavage, P.E., PMP

EMI Instructor for PMA - PM Skills Course

Ann Tomalavage has walked in the shoes of the project manager. As a civil engineer, she has worked as a project manager for over 35 years in top-levelfirms. Ann developed a solid understanding of what it takes to become world-class. Typically, project management training ignores several key areas that contribute to the overall success and profitability of firms. They are:

Understanding profit drivers: deadlines, reporting, billing for additional work, team efficiencies
Advanced communication skills: negotiation, relationship building, communication with the team, clients, and the company.
Practice and support: accountability, metrics, mentoring and PM Scorecard

It’s not enough to merely understand project management at a basic level. Profitability must be maintained throughout every project.

Ann is the sole provider of in-person project management foundations training for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) nationwide (www.asce.org). Of more than 200 ASCE professionals teaching nearly 100 civil engineering topics, Ann is consistently rated among the top four of all ASCE instructors. Ann led the team who prepared and released the 2014 Report Card for Pennsylvania’s Infrastructure, which involved over 55 experts across the four Pennsylvania sections of ASCE. The Report Card evaluated sixteen infrastructure categories and assigned grades on an A to F scale.

SKILLS:

Project Management
Entrepreneurship
Public Speaking
Training

TEAM:

Training

Erica Lee Garcia, P.Eng.

EMI Instructor for EMA - People Skills Course

Lee Garcia is a professional engineer with over 15 years’ experience in automotive manufacturing, mining, non-profit management and entrepreneurship. She is a Six Sigma Black Belt, professional change agent, innovator and big-picture thinker, as well as an enthusiastic mentor and coach.

Since 2011, Lee Garcia has led Erica Lee Consulting which assists companies in embracing leaner and more cost-efficient ways of working. Erica has a great track record in achieving operational and company cultural improvements through the application of Six Sigma, Lean and Continuous Improvement tools. She has significant cross-cultural work experience and fluency in English and Spanish. In the fall of 2018, she founded Engineers of Tomorrow, a non-profit organization that inspires the next generation of engineers through effective, strategic youth outreach.

SKILLS:

Six Sigma Black Belt
Entrepreneurship
Public Speaking
Executive Coaching
Training

TEAM:

Training

Dax Hoff, P.E.

EMI Instructor for EMA - People Skills Course

Hoff is the founder and owner of Dax Consulting, a California based civil engineering consulting firm that has participated in a wide range of projects, from land development, residential, parks & recreation, commercial, industrial, and aviation assignments.

Hoff has worked personally on projects for residential developments, commercial, industrial, aviation, schools, parks, public roads, water districts, and solid waste districts. He is currently working on industrial and commercial land development projects, water resource projects and related consulting. He has expertise in business development and sales and is actively utilizing personal contacts gained throughout his career to attain engineering contracts throughout Southern California for land development projects.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering
Entrepreneurship
Training
Relationship Building

TEAM:

Training

Justin Edenbaum, P.E., P.Eng.

EMI Instructor for PMA - PM Skills Course

Justin Edenbaum has worked on multi-billion-dollar projects at a large engineering firm and smaller projects through his boutique engineering firm. If you can manage projects at these extremes, you can manage all projects in-between.

During the first half of his career at a 10,000+ employee firm, Justin worked on tunnel projects in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. While there, he received best-in-class formal training from experienced project managers. He became familiar with policies, procedures, and standardized tools for managing projects. In addition to learning the philosophy behind project management, he also learned corporate budgeting using Oracle and scheduling in Primavera.

As the Founder of a boutique engineering firm specialized in tunnel ventilation and fire life safety, Justin regularly uses his project management skillset. Although the projects are smaller than those at a multi-national firm, the stakes are now higher. Keeping his clients happy through on-time delivery and within budget is paramount to his reputation and income.

In addition to advising on large-scale engineering projects, Justin facilitates workshops, presents at conferences, and develops training courses. Justin is known in the industry for communicating complicated ideas in a simplified manner, with humor thrown in. Participants have quoted his delivery style as “professionally personable”.

Justin is a registered professional engineer in Canada and the United States. He has a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Binghamton University and a master’s degree from Stevens Institute of Technology.

SKILLS:

Mechanical Engineering
Project Management
Public Speaking
Leadership

TEAM:

Training
Content

Patrick Sweet, P.Eng., MBA, CSEP, PMP

EMI Instructor for EMA - People Skills Course

Pat Sweet is an internationally recognized engineer and thought leader in engineering management, leadership, and productivity from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

In 2012, Patrick Sweet started the EngineeringAndLeadership.com blog and podcast to help engineers and engineering teams thrive. He has spoken at universities and conferences internationally and has been featured in global publications such as CBS News, the Financial Times, and Engineering.com.

Pat’s technical work has spanned more than a decade in the rail and defense industries. He has worked in various management and leadership positions on complex systems engineering projects across three continents.

Today, he offers coaching, consulting and training services dedicated to help engineers and technical organizations do their very best work.

Patrick earned is B.Eng. from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and his MBA from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. He’s a licensed professional engineer in Nova Scotia, Canada, a Certified Systems Engineering Professional with the International Council of Systems Engineering, and a certified Project Management Professional with Project Management International.

SKILLS:

Leadership
Management
Public Speaking
Training

TEAM:

Training
Content

Christian Knutson, CEng, P.E., PgMP, PMP

EMI Creator - Co-Host The Civil Engineering Podcast

Chris Knutson, CEng, P.E., PgMP, F.SAME is a program manager/civil engineer with over twenty-seven years of program and project management experience in the defense infrastructure sector. This includes deep experience in executing and delivering infrastructure programs, as well as project planning, feasibility and requirements assessment, and controls in complex and international stakeholder environments.

He’s an expert communicator skilled at working with both government and private sector organizations and has substantial international experience in Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S.

Most recently he was the Major Program Director for a $400 million defense infrastructure program in the UK and currently manages a diverse infrastructure planning and delivery portfolio for Stanley Consultants in the UK and Europe. He is a retired U.S. Air Force civil engineer officer, is a Chartered Engineer in the UK and Professional Engineer in the US, and holds both the Program and Project Management Certificates from Project Management International.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering
Project Management
Program Management
Engineering Leadership

TEAM:

Content

Mathew Picardal, P.E.

EMI Creator - Co-Host The Structural Engineering Channel

Picardal is a licensed engineer practicing on structural engineering projects in California with an undergraduate degree from Cal Poly Pomona and an M.S. in Structural Engineering from UC San Diego. He has designed and managed various types of building structures including residential wood apartment buildings, commercial steel buildings, and concrete parking structures and towers.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering
Video Creation

TEAM:

Content

Cara Green, E.I.T

EMI Creator - Co-Host The Structural Engineering Channel

Cara Green, EIT, works in Hilti’s North American headquarters as the Structural Engineering Trade Manager for the U.S. and Canada. She is currently an EIT in Texas and received her bachelor’s in civil engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering
STEM Engagement

TEAM:

Content

Jared M. Green, PE, D.GE

EMI Creator - Host The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast

Jared, originally from southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduated from Syracuse University’s College of Engineering in 2001 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. He later went on to attain his M.S in Civil Engineering (Geotechnical Focus) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Campaign in 2002. In 2003, he began working in the New York City office of Langan.

SKILLS:

Geotechnical Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Jeff Perry, MBA

EMI Creator - Host The Engineering Career Coach Podcast

Jeff has an uncommon ability to grow people in technical organizations as well as the engineering skills to align culture and teams with innovative, high-tech initiatives. He eagerly shares his passions for culture, creativity, engineering, technology, and good business.

After years spent as a technical contributor/leader in software, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering environments, Jeff decided to become an entrepreneur and started More Than Engineering. His passion is to help technical individuals and leaders use the fundamental principles of science and engineering and apply them to their own leadership and personal growth. To do this, they need to be more than just engineers — they need to be humans who create. Jeff started More Than Engineering, a service to coach and grow engineers beyond their technical skills and increase their positive impact in their organizations and communities.

SKILLS:

Mechanical Engineering
Master of Business Administration

TEAM:

Content

Khamini H. Fennelly

EMI Creator - Co-Host This Week in Civil Engineering (TWiCE)

Khamini H. Fennelly is from Queens, New York. She graduated from Syracuse University’s College of Engineering in 2015 with a B.S in Civil Engineering.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Geoff Smith, PE, LEED AP

EMI Creator - Co-Host This Week in Civil Engineering (TWiCE)

Geoff Smith joined Silmanin 2004. As an Associate co-managing a studio, he oversees renovations, adaptive reuse, and new construction projects for building types including sports facilities, single-and multi-family private residences, K-12 and higher education facilities, museums, and places of worship.

Notable projects that Geoff has been involved with include the multi-phase implementation of the Brooklyn Museum’s master plan, the redevelopment of Kearny Point in Kearny, NJ, the major renovation of the Edward Durell Stone building on Columbus Circle to create a dynamic new home for the Museum of Arts and Design, the renovation of Cheel Arena at Clarkson University, and the renovation of AppletonArena at St. Lawrence University. His work also includes the award-winning renovation and restoration of the Yale University Art Gallery’s Swartout and Street Halls, completed in 1928 and 1864 respectively.

Since 2010, Geoff has served as Commissioner for the Bayonne Historic Preservation Committee in Bayonne, NJ. He is also an active member of BIMForum.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering
Structural Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Danny Luu MEng (Hons) CEng MICE

EMI Creator - Co-Host This Week in Civil Engineering (TWiCE)

Danny Luu is a Chartered Civil Engineer from London with over 20 years of experience in highways and infrastructure and has worked on large high profile schemes such as London 2012 and Southall Waterside. He graduated from the University of Bristol in 2000 with an MEng in Civil Engineering.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Luis Duque, EIT, A.M. ASCE, SEI

EMI Creator - Co-Host This Week in Civil Engineering (TWiCE)

Luis is currently working as a Bridge Engineer at Foothills Bridge Co. Foothills provides engineered solutions for the erection, retrofitting, and dismantling of bridges. He also hosts a podcast, the Engineering our Future Podcast, where he shares his experience as a young engineer in the industry to help other young professionals and students succeed in their careers.

During his graduate studies, he worked on a project entitled "Evaluation of UAV as a Bridge InspectionTool". His research was conducted to promote and develop new and innovative techniques to inspect bridges to decrease costs and risks involved with current inspection practices. Luis is currently involved with ASCE, SEI, EWB, and SHPE in a variety of volunteering opportunities as well as being a mentor for a South Dakota State University capstone team for the past 2 years.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering
Structural Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Nick Heim, EIT

Content Contributor and Coordinator

Nick is a structural, building envelope, and restoration project engineer working with THP Limited in Cleveland, Ohio. Professional interests include development and use of technology for field/construction operations, retrofit/restoration of existing structures, and large projects that allow me to apply my interests in data and technology to the built world.

SKILLS:

Structural Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Dr. Emil G. Bautista

Content Contributor

Dr. Emil G. Bautista is a Civil Engineer with over 10 years of experience in research construction materials with a special interest dealing with highways design and construction and the use of sustainable materials such as Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Coal Combustion Products (CCP) in pavement structures. He is currently working as one of MnROAD Project Engineer for the Department of Transportation of Minnesota (MnDOT).

He is responsible for working on contracted research with major pavement research partnerships that MnDOT is leading or participating in. These research efforts include many research partners national, regional, and Minnesota research efforts going on in MnDOT’s Road Research Section at the Maplewood Lab. These partnerships include current National Road Research Alliance (NRRA), National Center of Asphalt Technologies (NCAT), Minnesota DOT, and the Minnesota Local Road Research Board (LRRB) and new partnerships in the future. He provides support to research contracts with NCAT related to asphalt mix and pavement preservation and takes an active role in the leadership and support of these initiatives. He also provides an expert level of knowledge on concrete/asphalt mixtures, performance testing, construction, and pavement performance as it relates to the research efforts going on with each partnership that typically relates to the MnROAD research facility and assist in the review of MnROAD database, providing input on future development and implementation of data quality checks to insure the data being shared with research partners is of the research quality expected from the MnROAD facility.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Jacob W. Valentien, PE

Content Contributor

Jacob is a Senior Project Manager with Pacheco Koch Consulting Engineers, Inc. and has over 9 years of engineering experience in municipal infrastructure with a focus on water & wastewater treatment design and construction. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

He has designed projects and managed teams on local and state public & private sector projects. He is responsible for project management and delivery, business development in the public works sector in Central Texas, and client success. He previously completed the 2019-2020 Emerging Leaders program through ACEC Houston, has presented on topics such as pre-chlorinated pipe bursting to the Association of Water Board Directors, and has co-authored a technical article on Wastewater Treatment Plant Design. He also has developed curriculum, organized programming, and led project management and professional development training courses for his teams.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Jese H. Vance, P.E.

Content Contributor

Jese H. Vance, P.E. graduated from Marshall University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and received a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He began working towards a Ph.D. in Geological Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2020.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Jon Earle, PE, ENV SP

Content Contributor

Jon Earle graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering and has completed graduate coursework at the University of Southern Maine in Public Administration. He currently serves as the Supervisor of Engineering Services for Maine Water Company.

SKILLS:

Civil Engineering

TEAM:

Content

Where We Work

At EMI, we are very team focused and embrace the ideas of diversity and flexibility, as well as the benefits of remote working because we believe that distributed workforces are important to work-life balance and our society overall. Here are the locations of our current team members with our headquarters being in northern New Jersey...

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