Simpson Gumpertz & Heger launches Marine Engineering practice

WALTHAM, Mass. – National engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. (SGH) announces a new Marine Engineering practice area headed by Gayle Johnson and Bill Bruin. Both recently joined SGH’s San Francisco office as senior principals.

“Marine Engineering is an exciting growth opportunity, and it complements our existing skill sets well,” CEO Glenn Bell said. “We will engineer structures in or near waterways, including piers and wharves, dolphins, mooring and berthing systems, and topsides, as well as industrial facilities associated with marine terminals. In this new practice area, we particularly seek to apply our already established expertise in condition assessment, repair and rehabilitation and structural engineering to help clients extend the life cycles of their existing marine facilities nationwide.”

Gayle Johnson received a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and M.S. in structural engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He has more than 30 years of experience as a project engineer, project manager, and senior leader for engineering consulting firms. In addition to extensive experience in the design and evaluation of port faciltiies, he has particular expertise in seismic engineering, especially in the oil and gas industry. In addition to client work, he has been active in code writing activities and criteria development. He was the Committee Chairman and primary editor of American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) “Guidelines for Seismic Evaluation and Design of Petrochemical Facilities,” and is Chairman of the ASCE Standards Committee on Seismic Design of Piers and Wharves.

Bill Bruin received his B.S. in structural engineering from the University of California at San Diego, and then completed his M.S. degree at Lehigh University. He is a registered Professional Engineer with more than 16 years of risk consulting, structural engineering, and project management experience applied over a variety of industrial, offshore, and marine projects, primarily in the oil and gas industry. His career has focused on condition assessment, response evaluation, risk identification, and hazard mitigation, as well as design for a wide variety of structures. He is also an active member of the ASCE-TCLEE (Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering) Ports and Harbors Committee and was part of the TCLEE team that investigated the recent Chile, Haiti and Sendai, Japan earthquakes.