Detroit, Mich. – July 16, 2006 – Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc. (SDA), an employee-owned civil engineering and land surveying firm headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, recently elected the following team members to their Board of Directors.
Chairman of the Board – Paul C. Wade, P.E.
President – David A. Lakin, P.E.
Vice President and Treasurer – David L. Potter, P.E.
Vice President and Secretary – George M. Platz, P.S.
Vice President – Thomas J. Sovel, P.E,
Vice President – Catherine M. DeDecker, P.S.
Paul C. Wade, P.E., Chairman of the Board
Paul Wade, P.E., has more than 32 years of experience in the design, project management, inspection, and construction supervision of transportation and other projects. Wade has been with SDA for more than 21 years. He was formerly a Senior Vice President with the Board with responsibilities that included the management and operation of the firm’s Detroit office. Wade is very active in the American Council of Engineering Companies, Michigan, currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors and chair of the Scholarship Committee. He also recently completed his 17th year on the City of St. Clair’s Zoning Board of Appeals and serves as a Director of the City’s Downtown Development Authority.
David A. Lakin, P.E., President
Lakin has been Vice President and the Municipal Engineering Department Manager at SDA since joining the firm in 1994. He has also served as the Corporation Secretary since 1998. Lakin has more than 29 years of practical experience in Municipal Engineering with experience in both the consulting engineering field and as a Project Manager for the Oakland County Drain Commission. Lakin graduated from Michigan State University in 1976 and gained his Professional Engineering License in 1980. He is very active in professional societies, serving on the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Southeastern Michigan Branch Board of Directors as President from 1984 to 1991. In 2002, ASCE named him Civil Engineer of the Year. Lakin graduated just recently (February 2006) from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Senior Executive Institute and is also active in several charity and volunteer civic initiatives such as Riverday and City of Troy Futures.
David L. Potter, P.E., Vice President and Treasurer
Potter has led the SDA Construction Engineering Department since 2001. He has a wealth of planning, design, project management, construction engineering and construction experience from his 25 years experience in the private and public sectors. Mr. Potter earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from New Mexico State University in 1985 and his Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Wayne State University in 1993. As a member of ASCE, he co-founded the Younger Engineer’s Forum for the Southeastern Branch of ASCE. As an ASCE government member, Mr. Potter was awarded the Young Government Civil Engineer of the Year Award for Zone 2.
George M. Platz, P.S., Vice President and Secretary
Platz, a professional surveyor, has been with SDA since 1990, and was appointed an SDA Associate in 1994. He has been elected annually as a member of the SDA Board of Directors from 1999 to present. He graduated from Michigan Tech University in 1984, with a BS in Land Surveying and an Associates degree in Civil Engineering.
Platz is a member of the Michigan Society of Professional Surveyors (MSPS), and is a Past Director and Vice President of its’ Southeast Chapter. He is also a member of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS), and the Michigan Society of Planning. He is currently the Chairman for his community’s Zoning Board of Appeals, and serves as an advisory member of their Master Plan Zoning Committee.
Thomas J. Sovel, P.E., Vice President
Sovel joined SDA in 1988 as an engineer after graduating from Michigan State University. He has worked his way up from the Engineer level and is now the Department Manager for the Land Development Department. He is also and Associate of the Company. Sovel is responsible for overseeing site planning and engineering for municipal, institutional, and private development projects. He has demonstrated diverse capabilities that include the design of water mains, sanitary sewers, storm drains, site grading and paving, structural design, and environmental engineering.
Catherine M. DeDecker, P.S., Vice President
DeDecker is the Office Manager for SDA’s Regional Office in Trenton, Michigan, overseeing the operations in the downriver area. She is also an Associate.
As a daughter of one of the founding members of Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc., she started work at SDA in 1985. Cathy graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelors Degree in Land Surveying in 1998. In 1999, she successfully passed the licensing exam and became the twelfth female to become a professionally licensed surveyor in the State of Michigan. She is a member of the Michigan Society of Professional Surveyors (MSPS) and has served as Vice President of the Southeast Chapter and a member of the Blue Ribbon Education Committee of MSPS. She also serves on the Act 299 exam committee as a Subject Matter Expert (SME), and has served as a member of the Advisory committee to the MTU Land Surveying Program and to the Macomb Community College Surveying Program.
About Spalding DeDecker Associates
SDA is an employee-owned civil engineering and land surveying company specializing in providing solution-based services in infrastructure engineering (transportation, municipal engineering, water and waste water engineering, urban infrastructure, security engineering and more,) land development, (site planning, utility planning, construction engineering,) and land surveying and mapping. Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, with additional offices in Rochester Hills and Trenton Michigan and Cleveland Ohio, SDA serves both public and private clients throughout Michigan and Ohio.