Albany, NY (January, 2011) – CHA's Management Committee is pleased to announce that Matthew B. Abatto, P.E.; Daniel Foth; R. Lawrence Hoffman; and Gregory T. Topping, P.E.& have been named Vice Presidents within the firm.
Matthew Abatto, P.E. is CHA's Water Market Segment Vice President and a Project Manager within in CHA's Environmental Market Team. He has over fifteen years of experience in the water and wastewater industry. Mr. Abatto has specialized experience in drinking water supply, treatment, transmission, distribution and storage including water treatment facilities planning, design and treatment process evaluations, water system hydraulic modeling, and water storage tank rehabilitation. A fifteen-year CHA employee, he is located in the firm's Albany, New York office.
Mr. Abatto is a licensed Professional Engineer in the states of New York, South Carolina and Virginia as well as a member of the American Water Works Association. He earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University.
Daniel Foth is a Project Manager within CHA's Transportation Market team in the firm's Atlanta, Georgia office. He has over 27 years of association, construction and project management experience in a wide variety of transportation disciplines. Mr. Foth's entire career has been focused on transportation infrastructure, including highways, airports, transit (bus, trolley, heavy/light rail transit and commuter/passenger rail service) freight railroads and airports.
Mr. Foth received his B.A. degree from Illinois College and his Juris Doctor from the Hamline University School of Law. He is an active member of the Georgia Transit Association.
R. Lawrence Hoffman is the Technical Leader of CHA's Environmental/Planning Technical Group. His responsibilities include overseeing 30 scientists, planners and engineers; providing a permitting and regulatory compliance support services; conducting and participating in negotiations with regulatory agencies; and managing specialized environmental studies. In addition, Mr. Hoffman develops and implements environmental management systems, collection system programs, and environmental compliance planning and reporting programs.
Mr. Hoffman earned his M.S and B.S. in Biology from the University of Louisville, KY and Virginia Tech, respectively. He is the Office Leader for CHA's Blacksburg, Virginia; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Charlotte, North Carolina offices.
Gregory Topping, P.E. is CHA's Aviation Design Market Segment Director. He has over 24 years of civil engineering and management experience. He is responsible for aviation design and construction projects including runways, taxiways, aprons, airfield lighting, deicing facilities, fuel farms, and structures. He oversees 10 aviation designers and performs QA/QC of all aviation design projects. Mr. Topping has overseen aviation design projects with construction values totaling over $150 million in Rochester, Albany, Syracuse, Westchester and Buffalo, New York; as well as projects in Texas and Florida.
Mr. Topping, who has been with CHA since 1997, received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Clarkson University and is a registered Professional Engineer in New York State. Prior to commencing his engineering consulting career, he was an Airborne Ranger with the 10th Mountain Division, who led the engineering platoon responsible for training light infantry engineers.
In addition to naming the four new Vice Presidents noted above, CHA's Management Committee promoted 18 individuals to Associates and another 16 individuals to Senior Associates for 2011.
"Each of these individuals has demonstrated a high degree of leadership, professionalism, accountability and personal integrity," said Raymond J. Kinley, CHA's President and CEO. "On behalf of all of us on CHA's Management Committee, I'm proud to congratulate all our new Vice Presidents, Senior Associates, and Associates as they advance upward through the management structure of the firm."
CHA is a highly diversified, full service engineering firm providing planning and design services to public and private clients throughout the United States. The firm employs a staff of 700 people distributed across 31 offices from Maine to Texas. CHA is ranked 97th on the Engineering News-Record's (ENR) list of 2010's top 500 engineering firms according to 2009 gross revenues.