Interested in a career where you can make a difference?

Click here to view our open positions.

Leadership

PRACTICE LEADERS

BRIAN BEACH, PE, CCM
BRIAN BEACH, PE, CCM
Construction Management Services
Practice Leader

Brian heads Plummer’s team of construction managers, project managers, cost estimators, engineers, and project representatives on various design and construction projects spanning from traditional to alternative delivery methods. He leads cost estimating efforts and provides quality control on opinions of probable construction cost. With a background in civil engineering, his experience includes site work such as underground utilities, water and wastewater treatment facilities, pump stations and lift stations, tunnel and boring operations, roadways, and landscaping features.

Jeff Caffey, PE
Jeff Caffey, PE
Chief Wastewater Engineer

Jeff has over 35 years of experience in wastewater system planning and design. His areas of expertise include hydraulics, treatment processes, engineering design, and construction support. His has designed pioneering treatment technologies such as cloth filters and UV disinfection. Jeff served previously as President of the Water Environment Association of Texas.

SHAWN DANKENBRING, PE, D.WRE, CFM
SHAWN DANKENBRING, PE, D.WRE, CFM
Stormwater Team Leader

Shawn has over two decades of expertise in water resource engineering and roadway design. His project experience includes storm drainage, detention and water quality facilities, stormwater management plans, outfall system planning, hydrology and hydraulics modeling, and design of waterlines and sanitary sewer lines. He has prepared plans for local agencies, CDOT, and utility companies. Shawn leads Plummer’s stormwater team to provide a full range of stormwater and flood management services.

GEORGE FARAH, PE
GEORGE FARAH, PE
Conveyance
Practice Leader

As Conveyance Practice Leader, George has extensive experience designing water and wastewater pipelines. His recent projects have included large diameter sanitary sewer gravity pipelines, force mains and distribution pipelines. George is experienced in bank slope stabilization and channel embankment design, and he has managed several large projects with multi-discipline design teams. George works on numerous fast-track conveyance projects reviewing easement documents; preparing permit applications for federal, state, and local agencies; and coordinating with public and private utility owners.

DAVID GUDAL, PE
DAVID GUDAL, PE
Water Treatment
Senior Engineer

David and his team have solid, strong experience in addressing a range of treatment-related issues. His background is in water treatment activities ranging from project planning to pilot testing, process and facility design, and construction. He has worked on more than 50 design projects for treatment plants with capacities ranging from less than 1 MGD to more than 800 MGD.  Many of these projects included modifications to disinfection facilities (both liquid and gas chlorine systems), storage tanks, and high service pump stations.

Haylee LaTorre, PE
Haylee LaTorre, PE
Senior Stormwater Specialist

Haylee has a diverse background in environmental and civil engineering for municipal and state governments, developers, industrial clients, and regulatory agencies. Her expertise includes drainage design, watershed evaluations, hydraulic modeling, stormwater treatment, flood evaluations, and FEMA coordination. Haylee has worked on over 50 stormwater design projects and is an expert modeler with HCSWMM5 and ICPR.

ELLEN MCDONALD, PHD, PE
ELLEN MCDONALD, PHD, PE
Water Planning
Practice Leader

Serving as Vice President of Operations, Chief Technical Officer and Water Planning Practice Leader, Ellen is responsible for managing corporate operations, driving technical excellence, and overseeing Plummer’s water planning services. Ellen is a nationally recognized expert in water reuse. She has served on numerous state and national committees, as well as professional organizations, relating to the implementation of both nonpotable and potable reuse programs.

ANA PEÑA-TIJERINA, PHD, PE, BCEE
ANA PEÑA-TIJERINA, PHD, PE, BCEE
Wastewater Practice Leader

A wastewater leader and strategic visionary, Ana has over 20 years of experience having served in wastewater engineering roles in academic, public, and private sectors. Her expansive list of experience includes designing wastewater improvement projects, leading cross-functional teams, overseeing more than 50 projects at a large water reclamation facility, directing the development of capital improvement plans, and implementing asset management programs. Ana’s passion for working in the wastewater field is evident through her many accomplishments including winning the Winfield S. Mahlie award presented by WEAT for her contributions to the art and science of wastewater treatment and water pollution control. Along with authoring and presenting numerous technical papers, Ana is a contributing author to several WEF Manuals of Practice including No. 31 – An Introduction to Process Modeling for Designers, No. 8 – Design of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants, 5th Edition, and No. 11 – Operation of Water Resource Recovery Facilities, 7th Edition.

MEG PIERCE-WALSH, M.S.
MEG PIERCE-WALSH, M.S.
Water Quality / Permitting
Practice Leader

Meg manages Plummer’s experienced team of environmental scientists and permitting specialists. With experience as a water resource scientist and project manager, Meg's expertise includes the Clean Water Act, water discharge permitting, and developing strategic permitting solutions for municipal, industrial, and private clients. Her expertise is in developing complex alternative administrative water permitting strategies, planning and implementing watershed-scale baseline studies, managing water permitting and compliance projects, environmental review, and cross-subject matter collaboration. Meg's passion lies at the intersection of facilitating spaces for teams and clients to develop solutions using collaborative multi-layered problem-solving.

NICK TOUSSAINT, PE, PMP
NICK TOUSSAINT, PE, PMP
Electrical, Instrumentation, and Controls Discipline Leader

Nick’s experience includes addressing thousands of electrical and control systems in service worldwide. He has provided complete services from initial concept and master planning, through design, implementation, startup, and commissioning. His “hands-on” experience in the configuration of SCADA, telemetry and PLC-based systems gives him the unique ability to assist owners and systems integrators in solving difficult control systems problems.

RUBEN VASQUEZ, PE
RUBEN VASQUEZ, PE
Telecommunications
Practice Leader

Ruben oversees our project engineers, CAD technicians, and field technicians. He is responsible for the operation, strategic business development, quality control, and team development for telecommunications projects. With a background in mechanical engineering, he seeks to combine traditional methods with out-of-the-box solutions. Ruben has a thirst for knowledge and unlimited interests, from IT networking, to programming; he strives to learn daily, adding one more skill to his toolbox.

EDDIE WILCUT
EDDIE WILCUT
Water & Energy Efficiency Services
Practice Leader

Eddie is the Water & Energy Efficiency Services (WEES) Practice Leader for Plummer. With extensive experience in the areas of water resources planning, water reuse, water conservation, and planning, he helps clients achieve their objectives with regards to water and energy optimization and savings.

His most notable experience includes helping San Antonio Water System (SAWS) develop one of the most effective and aggressive water conservation programs in the United States. He was also instrumental in helping companies such as Frito Lay, Coca-Cola, Sea World, and Philips Semiconductor in reducing collective water use by more than 200 million gallons per year.

AREA LEADERS

STEVE COONAN, PE
STEVE COONAN, PE
Central Texas Area Leader

Steve is responsible for overseeing Plummer’s financial operations including financial planning, analysis, and reporting.  He also serves as the Central Texas Area Leader.

With a civil engineering background, Steve has spent much of his career with Plummer. His most notable experience includes a variety of projects with the City of Austin including large booster pump station designs, flood control improvement planning and hydraulic modeling, wastewater interceptor designs, and alternate source water development and drought planning.

Alan Davis, PE, PMP
Alan Davis, PE, PMP
North Texas Area Leader

Alan leads design teams in the areas of water and reuse treatment and wastewater treatment. His professional engineering experience includes planning, process design, detailed design, and construction administration of water and wastewater treatment facilities and pump stations. Water treatment design projects have included hydraulic analysis, conventional and high-rate clarification, low pressure membrane design, ion exchange for groundwater treatment, UV advanced oxidation, conventional disinfection, hypochlorite generation, and taste and odor design. Wastewater designs have included preliminary treatment design with fine screening and grit removal, various activated sludge configurations, filtration, disinfection facilities, and odor control designs.

Alan is also a member of the AWWA Taste and Odor Committee and the Water Environment Federation Air Quality and Odor Control Committee.

JOHN KEANE, PE, PMP, ENV SP
JOHN KEANE, PE, PMP, ENV SP
Florida Area Leader

John has 15 years of national experience in the water industry. As the Florida Area Leader for Plummer, he leads business development and operations activities in support of Plummer’s strategic initiatives.

John’s passion for helping communities secure clean water has taken across North America, allowing him to gain national experience successfully implementing a variety of challenging water projects. He has worked as a design engineer, program manager, and construction manager.

PATRICK O’BRIEN, PE, PMP
PATRICK O’BRIEN, PE, PMP
Mountain West Area Leader

Patrick is responsible for strategic pursuits within the Rocky Mountain Region, including expanding Plummer’s service offerings in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Wyoming.  With a background in civil engineering, he has worked on projects ranging from conventional design-bid-build to multidiscipline design-build projects serving as principal-in-charge, project manager, project engineer, and construction manager.

His most notable experience includes serving as Principal-in-Charge for the Elbert Creek Water Company Water Treatment Plant which was the first gravity operational mode membrane filtration plant in Colorado; serving as Project Manager for the ACEC award-winning  Mesa Verde National Park Waterline Replacement Project; and designing approximately 20 water treatment plants across Colorado and New Mexico.

Mary Portillo, PE, PMP
Mary Portillo, PE, PMP
South Texas Area Leader

Mary is responsible for establishing and promoting positive working relationships with clients, contractors, and government representatives across south Texas. Over the course of her career she has focused on water and wastewater engineering evaluations, design, construction management, and project management. She offers strong communication, interpersonal, and collaborative talents; she has the experience to communicate knowledgably with stakeholders about design decisions, and she can also dive into design details with the technical team.

ALAN SWARTZ, PE
ALAN SWARTZ, PE
Oklahoma Area Leader

Alan is responsible for the quality and delivery of water, wastewater, and conveyance projects for Oklahoma clients in addition to some clients in Texas. With a civil/mechanical engineering background, he is experienced in project management, project delivery, design, construction management and on-site construction observation of infrastructure projects. His expertise includes water lines, sewer mains, pump stations, and lift stations.

CORPORATE LEADERSHIP

ELLEN MCDONALD, PHD, PE
ELLEN MCDONALD, PHD, PE
Chief Technical Officer & Vice President of Operations

Serving as Vice President of Operations, Chief Technical Officer and Water Planning Practice Leader, Ellen is responsible for managing corporate operations, driving technical excellence, and overseeing Plummer’s water planning services. Ellen is a nationally recognized expert in water reuse. She has served on numerous state and national committees, as well as professional organizations, relating to the implementation of both nonpotable and potable reuse programs.

ALAN TUCKER, PE
ALAN TUCKER, PE
Director of Marketing

Alan is responsible for key strategic priorities and company-wide initiatives, including expanding Plummer’s service offerings throughout the United States. With a background in civil and mechanical engineering, much of his project experience has included fast-track water and wastewater conveyance projects.

His most notable experience includes serving as Principal-in-Charge for the award-winning East Fork Raw Water Supply Project with North Texas Municipal Water District.  This project diverts up to 165 MGD of return flows from the East Fork of the Trinity River to one of the largest constructed wetlands in the country (2,000 acres).

CHRIS YOUNG
CHRIS YOUNG
President & CEO

As Chief Executive Officer, Chris is responsible for providing leadership for Plummer initiatives and focusing on strategic growth. With a civil engineering background, Chris has spent much of his career on large conveyance projects in the southern U.S.

Some of his most notable experience includes serving as Project Manager on a $618 Million Capital Improvement Program for the East Baton Rouge Sewerage Commission, serving as Principal-in-Charge for a 119 MGD pump station and large diameter steel pipeline, serving on the core leadership team for the Kansas City Capital Improvements Management Office, focusing on Sanitary Sewer Overflow Remediation Planning for the City of Atlanta’s $3.9 Billion program, and serving as Principal-in-Charge for the relocation of over 40,000 linear feet of large diameter wastewater interceptor for Dallas Water Utilities.

Careers With Plummer

We design solutions for the world’s greatest water and telecommunications challenges. We’re always looking for great talent to join our teams.