Our Team – Northern Geotechnical Engineering, Inc. – Tera Firma Testing

Our Team

Northern Geotechnical Engineering, Inc. Terra Firma Testing

Meet the Experts Behind Our Success

At NGE-TFT, our team is dedicated to providing high-quality engineering and geotechnical services throughout Alaska and beyond. Our diverse staff brings a wealth of expertise, experience, and passion to every project we take on. Meet the professionals who lead our engineering team:

Engineering

CEO

Keith Mobley P.E., G.E.

President

Andrew Smith, P.E., C.P.G

Project Engineer / Lab Director

Andrew Fortt, P.E., Ph.D.

Senior Project Engineer

Clinton J. Banzhaf, P.E

Project Engineer

Josselynn Schneider-Curry, P.E

Project Engineer

Daniel Light, P.E

Materials Testing & Inspection

Senior Vice President, bidding

Ron J.P. Caron, C.E.T.

Field Manager, scheduling

Mark Dean

Welding Inspector

Colton Hutchins

TECHNICAL TRAINER, CoMET

Nic Cropper

SPECIAL INSPECTOR / RSO, CoMET

Justin Andryjowicz

Lab Manager

Aaron Kaiser

Administrative & Accounting

Office Manager / Billing

Sierra Gray

Administrative Assistant

Jazlene Operana

Keith Mobley P.E., G.E.

President

Hello, my name is Keith Mobley and I am the President and Senior Geotechnical Engineer at NGE-TFT. I am licensed as a Professional Civil Engineer in the State of Alaska, as well as in California, where I am licensed as both a civil and geotechnical engineer. Since junior high school, I have known I would be an engineer. After graduating high school in Idaho Falls, Idaho, I earned degrees in Civil Engineering and Anthropology at Montana State University in 1976.

After undergraduate school, I lived in San Diego for four years working as a soils technician, laboratory manager, and junior civil engineer. During that time, I sat for the PE exam in California and passed. Although San Diego was nice, I missed the cold and snow, so I took a vacation to Alaska in February. In between skiing and climbing, I interviewed for a job in Anchorage and was offered a position before leaving to return to California. Two months later I was at my new home in Alaska.

Woodward-Clyde, Shannon & Wilson, and Golder Associates were all good to me, and for me, as I developed my engineering prowess. They all provided me with many exciting design and field projects all across Alaska (and one in Malaysia) that gave me tremendous experience. However, by the turn of the new millennium, I had decided that it was time to do my own thing. Over the years I developed core ideals regarding work quality, treating employees properly, and being properly rewarded for hard work. Northern Geotechnical Engineering was born in 2000 from these ideals. I met my current business partner, Ron Caron (owner and founder of Terra Firma Testing), in 2004, and after working together on several projects, we realized that we had similar business goals, and that our services could be mutually beneficial to both of our companies as well as our client base. As a result, we merged Northern Geotechnical Engineering and Terra Firma Testing in the summer of 2004, forming NGE-TFT.

My professional activities outside of NGE-TFT include serving as the Vice Chair of the Geoprofessional Business Council within the Geoprofessional Business Association (GBA), and serving on the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) Geotechnical Advisory Commission.

My passions outside of work include backpacking and dutch oven cooking, which I actively participate in through my involvement with the Boy Scouts of America. I am an active member of the Order of the Arrow and an Eagle Scout (1968). I also enjoy traveling (both for work and pleasure).

Andrew Smith, P.E., C.P.G

Engineering Department Head

Hello, my name is Andrew Smith, and I am the Senior Geologist at NGE-TFT. I am a Certified Professional Geologist, licensed by the State of Alaska, and I have built my entire professional career in Alaska. I received a B.S. in Geology from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1999 and a M.S. in Geology from Idaho State University in 2002. I joined NGE-TFT in 2005, shortly after the company’s merger, and I feel that I have played a key role in the development of our company and the professional service that we provide. I have filled a number of roles during my tenure with NGE-TFT, but my primary responsibilities currently center on project management and the development, coordination, and execution of our varied subsurface exploration and field testing programs.

I have served on remote projects all across Alaska, and I have developed a widespread understanding of the unique demands and limitations of conducting exploration and construction projects in rural Alaska; as well as in areas with harsh climates, difficult terrain, and limited access. My specific project experiences span a range of geotechnical, geological, and environmental disciplines including the support of civil infrastructure projects, commercial/residential construction, natural resource development, oil/gas production, energy generation and distribution, and commercial fishing/processing. I also have a strong technical writing background and I have extensive experience compiling technical documents and providing peer review. I am an active member of the Geoprofessional Business Association(GBA) and am a graduate of GBA’s Fundamentals of Professional Practice program. I am also a member of the Board of Directors for NGE-TFT.

I was raised in the Hill Country around Austin, Texas; and despite all of the good things that the Great State of Texas has to offer, I have always been attracted to more mountainous terrain and cooler climes. This attraction was fostered during my youth through my involvement with the Boy Scouts, and during my early collegiate years through my participation in various geologic field studies across the southwestern US. After undergraduate school, I explored the Rockies and Intermountain West while living in Idaho and working on my graduate degree. My curiosities eventually brought me to Alaska, where I now live with my lovely lady and our black lab in the Chugach Mountains along the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet. While not at work, I try to spend as much time as possible in pursuit of my recreational passions which hinge around fishing, hunting, snow sports, and various other outdoor activities. I a man avid sport and music fan, and I often travel in pursuit of both. I try to complement my recreational and enthusiast pursuits with life’s more simple pleasures like good food and good drink, and I enjoy sharing them all with my friends and family who are scattered all across the country.

Andrew Fortt, P.E., Ph.D.

Project Engineer/Lab Manager

My name is Andrew Fortt and I’ve had the fortune to work at NGE-TFT since 2012. At that time, I managed to convince my wife and one-year old daughter that it was in our best interests to pack up our belongings into the back of a truck and drive across the country from Vermont, to fill a job posting for a geotechnical engineering position that I had found advertised on Craigslist.

It turned out to be a great decision, and I have found my position at NGE-TFT to be enjoyable and rewarding. I serve as a project engineer at NGE-TFT and I am the manager of our materials testing laboratory. I’ve worked on a wide variety of geotechnical engineering projects including shallow and deep foundations, foundations on permafrost, liquefaction analyses, concrete mix designs, and passive refrigeration systems. I’ve conducted geotechnical field explorations for a variety of projects ranging from single family homes to gravel borrow mines, and I have travelled across Alaska to locations ranging from Point Hope to Unalaska. As laboratory manager, I am also responsible for the day-to-day operations and quality control of the laboratory. I also established our advanced testing laboratory which has enabled us to provide high-level material strength testing services.

Prior to working at NGE-TFT, I spent several years at Dartmouth College conducting research and advanced materials testing, specifically pertaining to the low temperature properties of materials. My experience included designing and fabricating laboratory equipment to measure the strength, friction, and thermal properties of materials. I served as a consultant for NASA’s return to flight program from 2004 to 2005. I am also the primary author of several peer reviewed papers on the mechanical behavior of ice.

I hold a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering Design from the University of Glasgow which I obtained in 2001. I subsequently moved to the United States to pursue a Doctoral Degree in Materials Science at Dartmouth College, which I received in 2006. Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my wife and two young daughters, and we try to take advantage of all the great outdoor experiences that Alaska has to offer. I enjoy hunting and fishing and I am currently working on my recreational pilot’s license.

Clinton J. Banzhaf, P.E.

Senior Project Engineer

Hello everyone, my name is Clinton J. Banzhaf. I am licensed as a Professional Civil Engineer in the State of Alaska and have been working with NGE-TFT since 2011, but let me start from the beginning of my life in Alaska. In 2000, my parents and I moved to this amazing state from Wyoming. Upon graduating from high school, I started on a path to become a mechanical engineer at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), but I always had an interest in civil engineering. After my first year of school at CSM (and after receiving motivation and guidance from my college advisors) I decided to embark on the strenuous task of becoming both a mechanical and civil engineer. I graduated from CSM in December 2010 with Bachelor of Science degrees in both mechanical and civil engineering. I also completed the Master of Science program at the University of Alaska – Anchorage with an MS in Arctic Engineering. The Arctic Engineering program, along with my varied experiences at NGE-TFT, has armed me with many unique arctic engineering skills.

Over the course of my life I have worked in almost every facet of construction there is, including: operating heavy equipment for various earthworks projects, pouring concrete, and wood/steel framing and roofing. During my college years, I returned to Alaska every summer to work for a geotechnical and environmental drilling company located in Anchorage. The drilling company that I worked for supports NGE-TFT on the majority of their geotechnical exploration projects, and one of these projects led to my eventual employment at NGE-TFT. I have felt at home ever since. Since beginning my tenure with NGE-TFT, I have had the opportunity to hone my engineering skills with the construction skills that I developed in my younger years. I have had the privilege to work on and manage several challenging projects including pavement/road design; residential and commercial building foundations; tower foundations; permafrost foundations (North Slope); shallow and deep foundations; foundation repairs; pile design (pipe, pin, helical, freeze-back); offshore platform foundation; weigh stations; dam safety inspections; dam repair and enlargement; along with drilling for geotechnical explorations and environmental testing, just to name a few.

I thrive on outdoor actives including: hiking, hunting, camping, fishing, kayaking, and off-roading.

Ron J.P. Caron, C.E.T.

Senior Vice President, bidding

Greetings, I am Ron Caron, and I am a co-founder and Vice President of NGE-TFT. I am registered as a Certified Engineering Technician by the Alberta Society of Engineering Technologists and I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of our materials testing and special inspection departments. Some key words that define who I am are: integrity; commitment; and devotion to detail. One of my favorite sayings is “You only get one chance to make a first impression”, and I reinforce this mantra with all of our employees at NGE-TFT. I use my professional experiences and foresight to proactively address issues before they become real problems, which has – in part, led to the success that our company has enjoyed over the years.

I grew up in Eastern Canada, and after graduating from Dawson College with an associate degree in civil engineering, I launched my professional career in Edmonton, Alberta; where I began my specialization in the field of advanced soil strength testing. Over the years I honed my technical skills in the laboratory environment (which is my true passion to date) and developed a mastery of my field, which eventually led to my first position in Alaska with EBA Engineering Consultants (now Tetra Tech). Upon arrival in Alaska, I quickly fell in love with all “The Last Frontier” had to offer and eventually learned how to hunt, fish, and prospect from the local Sourdoughs. I founded Terra Firma Testing in Anchorage, Alaska in 1998 in an attempt to offer quality, value-based materials testing services to a thriving construction industry which (at the time) had limited and underperforming CoMET provider options. I subsequently merged Terra Firma Testing with Northern Geotechnical Engineering in 2004 to form NGE-TFT.

In my free time, I enjoy landscaping, home remodeling, live auctions, spending quality time with Charlie and Jezzy (my two prized Shelties), and of course, following my life-long hockey team the Montreal Canadiens (Go Habs!).