McMillen Jacobs Associates Promotes Three Associates to Principal

McMillen Jacobs Associates has announced the promotions of Mark Lawrence, Jan Van Greunen and John Waggoner to the position of Principal.

---

Mark Lawrence, P.E., specializes in the design of permanent and temporary excavation support systems. With over 35 years of experience, he leads the excavation support design group in the San Francisco office. In 2011, Mark was the first recipient of the James Wilton award—an employee award honoring the memory of James Wilton, former principal and president of Jacobs Associates. Lawrence’s experience spans a multitude of significant projects. Notably, he provided design of slurry wall shaft excavation support systems for the Nicolai and Pump Station shafts for the Willamette River CSO Project and the Pump Station shaft for the Brightwater Conveyance System. The Willamette Pump Station is still the largest diameter slurry wall shaft constructed in soft ground in North America. Lawrence’s more recent work includes a dual cell slurry wall shaft for the Watercare project’s Mangere Pump Station, a 110-ft diameter by 94-ft deep CSM shaft for the Humboldt Bay Power Plant decommissioning, several deep excavations in San Francisco for new underground space, and assistance with the declines in Sydney. His dedication to the company and open approach to training and helping others learn are unique among most in our industry.

---

Jan Van Greunen, Ph.D., P.E., has more than 40 years of experience in conceiving, planning, managing, and coordinating analysis, design, and construction of civil engineering works and complex steel and concrete structures and is based out of the San Francisco. Van Greunen has provided structural design expertise and leadership on some of the firm’s largest and most complicated projects, from a structural perspective. This includes the Rondout-West Branch Bypass Tunnel, where the lining must resist an external water head ranging from 600 to 900 ft; the Caldecott Fourth Bore, which is close to the Hayward Fault, resulting in high seismic demands; the Claremont Bypass Tunnel, which crosses the Hayward Fault and includes a vault to accommodate the anticipated 8 ft of fault offset; and the Airport Link Caverns, which required span widths of up to 85 ft in plain concrete. Van Greunen’s willingness to always make things work embodies the company’s approach to solving problems. This, combined with his calm yet confident demeanor, has endeared him to staff and clients from nearly every region the company works in.

---

John Waggoner, P.G., C.E.G., has over 35 years of experience in the application of engineering geology to a diverse array of both public and private sector civil engineering projects — including underground construction projects, dams and reservoirs, pipelines, highways and bridges, dewatering systems, and hazardous waste sites. Based in the Pasadena office, he understands the significance of geologic factors to the permitting, design, and construction process and has used this expertise to avoid or minimize complications during construction on many signature California projects. These include the San Jose to Merced leg of the California High Speed Rail Project, the Arrowhead Tunnels, and numerous assignments for LA Metro and MWD that “fly below” the radar. Waggoner’s work on the Newhope-Placentia Truck Sewer Replacement design project in Orange County and the Chevy Chase Sewer construction management project in Glendale helps maintain his market understanding across Southern California. This understanding of the market, and his effort to stay in touch with our clients, have helped the firm expand the construction management group into a new era of growth.