Board of Directors Positions

 You may vote for up to 2 candidates within each category.

Category 1 – Owners / Operators

Mike Freeman – Michael (Mike) Freeman is currently the Director of Bridge Standards and Assessment for the Union Pacific Railroad and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.  Mr. Freeman has worked 32 years in the field of bridge engineering.  Mr. Freeman is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a BS in Civil Engineering with emphasis on structures. The first 15 years of his career were spent working in the New Orleans office of Modjeski and Masters Consulting Engineers where he was an Associate with the firm.  In his role with Modjeski and Masters, Mike was involved with many movable bridge projects.  In November of 1997 Mr. Freeman began working at Union Pacific as the Director of Structures Design and 18 months later moved to the Director Bridge Maintenance position on the Railroad’s northern region.  Mr. Freeman became the Director of Bridge Standards and Assessment in July of 2008.  His current responsibilities include directing all assessment activities for the entire Union Pacific system, capital plan development and direction of the entire bridge inspection effort for the entire Union Pacific system.  During both the Modjeski and Masters and UPRR portions of Mr. Freeman’s career, he has worked heavily in all facets of bridge engineering including fixed and movable structures.  Mike has been a member of AREMA committees 9 and 15 since 1994 and is an active participant in both committees.  Mr. Freeman is a current member of HMS and has been a member for several of the past 10 years, having attended the three most recent HMS Symposiums.  Mr. Freeman is also a member of TRB and serves on the Committee on Steel Bridges (AFF 20).  Mr. Freeman is a Registered Professional Engineer in three states, Nebraska, Mississippi and Louisiana.  Mike resides in Omaha with his wife Amy.

Iqbal Biln – Iqbal Biln is a “hands-on” engineering professional with over 28 years varied engineering design, operations, maintenance and management experience with the heavy movable structures in the mining, processing, construction and ship canal operations. Currently as the Maintenance Manager, he is responsible for the day to day and long-term maintenance strategies for the 11 ship locks and 11 movable bridges in the Welland Canal. He has lead a team of engineers and technologists to successfully complete several multidiscipline projects including preparation of proposals; budgets; justifications; risk analysis; contract documents; equipment selection and procurement; and resources and construction management including safety management and pre-start safety reviews. He has also lead the design and implementation of infrastructure inspection and assessments programs and preparation of long term asset renewal and business plans. In addition, he has extensive experience in developing, managing and administering service agreements, professional services and construction contracts. His education includes a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from University of Central Queensland (AU) and an MBA from the University of Buffalo.  Iqbal participates on Canadian committees for developing standards and Highway Movable Bridge Design Codes.  For HMS, he has been a member since 2012, attended all symposiums since, and presented in 2016.

Category 2 – Contractor / Fabricator / Manufacturing

Redus W. Brooks III – Redus (Reid) Brooks is a Project Manager and Mechanical Engineer with Steward Machine Co., Inc. He is responsible for managing mechanical projects for the movable bridge industry, as well as serving as an engineer for Steward Machine’s EARLE® line of products.  Reid began his career as a contract engineer for the USDA Forest Service doing timber bridge design, construction, and inspection for backcountry bridges along the Florida National Scenic Trail where he inspected over 160 timber structures. In 2014 Mr. Brooks came to work as an engineer for Steward Machine where he started doing bridge inspection, product design for EARLE products, 3D drafting, and document control. In spring of 2015, Mr. Brooks spearheaded Steward Machine’s engineering department’s transition from 2D to 3D CADD. In February of 2017, Mr. Brooks added Project Management to his responsibilities, and in November of 2017 he moved into being a full time Project Manager. He has managed the fabrication of rehabilitation jobs and complete machinery packages for new construction.   In summer of 2016 Mr. Brooks also began teaching Engineering Graphics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as an Adjunct Professor, where he continues to teach the summer term. He has also served on the board of the Birmingham Section of ASME since 2015, currently serving as Treasurer. Having attended the HMS Biannual Symposium since 2014, Mr. Brooks presented Mechanical Details in Detail at the 2016 HMS symposium, and will be presenting his original paper Solid Modeling: the What, the How, the Why during the 2018 symposium.  Mr. Brooks holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is a registered Engineering Intern with the State of Alabama. Mr. Brooks sits for his Principals and Practice of Engineering Exam at the end of October, 2018.

Tim Klein – For the past 18 years Timothy W. Klein has been the Director of Engineered Fabrications for WireCo World Group. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Missouri where he is currently serving as the President of the Northwest Missouri Society of Professional Engineers chapter. He earned his Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri.  Tim has several published papers and has presented technical papers at the Heavy Movable Structures Symposium multiple times as well as the International Bridge Conference and NYC Bridge Conference. Tim currently serves on the ASCE Chapter 19 Committee for Cable Supported Structures, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers B30.9 Subcommittee, and Chairs the Wire Rope and Sling Subcommittee for the American Wire Rope Fabricators Association. Tim’s current involvement with HMS along with WireCo Worldgroup’s support began in 2006.

Category 3 – Designers / Specialists

Mickey Harrison – Mr. Harrison has 35 years of experience in the design, rehabilitation and construction of movable bridges currently managing Hardesty-Hanover’s office in Kansas City.   Mr. Harrison has been an active member of HMS for over 20 years and has served in a number of positions with HMS including the Board of Directors, Registrar, and Executive Officer and is currently the Web Master for the organization.  HMS is an important and valuable organization which Mr. Harrison continues to be deeply involved in and will continue to have that focus to the Board. 

Gregory Harrell – Gregory Harrell, PE is a Senior Structural Engineer in the complex and movable bridge group at HNTB. His responsibilities include planning, design, inspection, post-design support and interdisciplinary (structural, mechanical, electrical and architectural) coordination for both rail and highway movable bridges.  Greg has been working for HNTB for almost 18 years, the last 11 of which have focused primarily on movable bridges and accelerated bridge construction. He is based in Florida, and his experience includes a wide variety of projects in Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington.  When approaching a project, one of Greg’s primary objectives is to understand the intricate dependencies between design elements within the bridge machine, as well as how the bridge fits within the larger project. Only in understanding the role that a movable bridge plays within the overall context and how discipline-specific design decisions internally and externally impact other elements of the project can a design be tailored to satisfying safety, economic, maintainability, and reliability goals of the owner as well as aesthetic, functionality and overall environmental objectives of various stakeholders. Heavy Movable Symposium goes a long way in providing tools and information to designers to that end. Having attended the last three conferences and actively participated in the last two as a presenter and session moderator, Greg believes the benefits of HMS are too numerous to quantify and he is keenly interested in helping foster the industry-wide collaboration made possible through HMS.  Greg received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 1999 and a Master of Engineering in Structures in 2001, both from the University of Florida. He is currently registered as a Professional Engineer in Florida and New York.

Raymond Lopez – Raymond Lopez, PE currently serves as an Associate Engineer in the Electrical Engineering Department at Hardesty & Hanover, LLC. He is responsible for the design, inspection, construction and project management of heavy movable structures.  Ray began his heavy movable structures electrical engineering career in 2008 as an intern at Hardesty and Hanover and then as a full-time engineer in 2010. He has spent the majority of his career at Hardesty & Hanover, and during that time has been involved in a wide variety of movable structure projects across the country.  Ray’s experience includes power distribution systems, roadway lighting design, control systems, programmable logic controllers(PLCs), advanced security systems, instrumentation, data acquisition systems, CCTV, access control, remote control operation and fiber optic communication transmission systems for movable bridges and stadium roofs.  Comprehensive understanding of the interrelationship of structural, mechanical, and electrical systems is critical to the success of all movable structure projects, no matter the size. Ray believes that HMS helps to cultivate and reinforce this ideology. He believes that sharing information under the aegis of HMS helps all individuals who work in the heavy movable structures community to gain a better understanding of these complex systems, and assists the industry in improving the safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of these structures.  Ray holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering and Master of Engineering in Systems Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.  He is a registered professional engineer (PE) in New Jersey, Florida, Louisiana and Washington.  He is also an active member of AREMA.

Stephen A.  Mikucki –  Mr. Mikucki, a Mechanical Engineer at Hardesty & Hanover since 1991, has devoted his 27-year career to the inspection, design and construction of movable bridges as well as the design of heavy movable structures such as ferry slips, cranes and movable roofs.  He currently holds the title of Chief Mechanical Engineer at the company.  At the 1998 HMS Symposium, he authored and presented “Considerations when Rehabilitating a 1906 Scherzer Rolling Lift”.  Between that year, and 2008, Stephen was very active as a Technical Committee Chair, room monitor and presenter of several technical papers.  In 2008, Stephen was elected as Vice President of HMS, and served the complete organization leadership path until his term as Vice Chair of the BOD end at December 31, 2018.  Stephen would like to continue serving the organization as part of the Board of Directors, and provide insight to the leaders and future leaders of our great organization.

Category 4 – Suppliers / Service / Distributors

Bob Frawley – Robert (Bob) Frawley has been with Cmi-Promex, Inc. for the past 15 years. He has been the Vice President of Sales for the last 10 years. Bob works closely with all the Class I, Regional and Short Line Railroads, Transit agencies and design engineering firms in advancing the use of the Cmi-Promex Inc. Ridex® Miter Rail system for movable bridges. In addition to Ridex®, he also sells rail expansion joints and other rail machining and general machine shop and fabrication services for movable bridges. He is a member of AREMA, AREMA Committee 15: Steel Structures, Heavy Movable Structures, North American Railway Maintenance Club and the Chicago Maintenance of Way Club. Bob has 35 years of industrial and manufacturing sales experience. Bob earned a BA in Public Administration from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Bob resides with his wife (Dee Ann) and has lived in Greensboro, NC for 25 years. They have two daughters who graduated from UNC Charlotte and love living there. In Bob and Dee Ann’s spare time, they enjoy spending time in the Great Smokey Mountains and the beaches of North Carolina.

Rich Marchetti – Rich Marchetti is an engineer and principal of Total Control Systems, LLC who specializes in electrical drive and control systems for heavy movable structures. Since joining Total Control Systems in 2014, Rich has led several conceptual designs and peer reviews for movable bridge and ferry slip rehabilitations and has performed over 20 movable bridge and ferry slip electrical inspections. He also has considerable experience in emergency troubleshooting of operational issues and hands-on repair of power and control systems of movable bridges and ferry slips. In addition to his work in design, peer review, supervision of construction, inspection, troubleshooting and repair, Rich has created training programs and instructed classes on the theory, operation, maintenance and troubleshooting of electrical drive and control systems. He has also written detailed operation and maintenance manuals for movable bridges and ferry slips.   Rich graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York in 2010 with a dual Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering. Prior to working for Total Control Systems, Rich was a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force and was the lead project engineer for the GPS IIF Satellite Program at Los Angeles Air Force Base Space and Missile Center. In this role, he provided key leaders with engineering analysis in design and troubleshooting of satellite subsystems during integration, pre-launch, launch, and operation of GPS satellites.  In mid-2014, Rich was deployed under International Security Forces Afghanistan, where he advised Afghan National Army General Staff on the procurement and employment of U.S. weapon systems. He was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal for meritorious service in Afghanistan.