Samford Elected IBP President - April 14, 2006

Silver Spring, MD:  W. Jerrold "Jerry" Samford, P.G. (Virginia Geotechnical Services, P.G.) has been elected president of the Institute of Brownfield Professionals (IBP).  He succeeds Gerald J. "Gerry" Salontai, P.E. (Kleinfelder, Inc.).  Established in 2004, the Institute is an educational organization whose mission is to:

• provide a forum for discussion of business, regulatory, and technical issues of common interest;
• represent members in regulatory matters;
• provide educational and training media and forums to advance members’ knowledge and capabilities;
• certify the apparent capabilities of environmental professionals; and
• promote members’ availability to serve those who need the services of environmental professionals.

Others elected to serve with Mr. Samford are:

• President-Elect Donald W. "Don" Richardson, P.G. (BEM Systems, Inc.),
• Secretary/Treasurer David E. Lourie, P.E. (Lourie Consultants),
• Directors-at-Large

James K. "Jim" Johnston, P.E. (PMK Group),

Kenneth H. Kastman (URS Corp.),

Coleen Kokas (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection/Site Remediation)

James W. "Jay" Martin P.E. (AMEC Earth & Environmental), and

Joni L. Powell (Powell~Harpstead, Inc.)

Mr. Samford joined Virginia Geotechnical Services in July 1987. He is the firm’s vice president and principal-in-charge of geoenvironmental services. Active in geotechnical consulting since 1977, he is a past president of ASFE/The Best People on Earth and currently chairs ASFE’s Project Risk Evaluation Process (PREP) Task Force. He also serves on the editorial board of GeoStrata, the bimonthly magazine published by the GeoInstitute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Mr. Samford was one of three ASFE delegates to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA’s) negotiated rulemaking process that generated USEPA’s definition of “all appropriate inquiry.” He is a member and former membership secretary of ASTM’s E50 Committee and was a member of the executive committee of ASTM subcommittee E50.02 during its development of standard E1527 for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments.

Before joining VGS, Mr. Samford was the senior geologist of the Virginia Department of Waste Management's solid waste/superfund programs and the chief regional geologist for the Virginia Water Control Board's Northern Regional Office.

Mr. Samford earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from the College of William and Mary and a Master of Science degree in geology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He is licensed as a professional geologist in Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky.

According to Mr. Samford, “We’ve been doing a tremendous amount of work to make the IBP a fully functioning organization before making its existence widely known. We’re very close to that goal. We have established means to accredit those brownfield professionals who have already garnered licensure as a professional engineer or professional geologist, and we’ll be working with allied organizations to develop effective criteria to accredit others. We also will be able to offer a variety of educational programs, publications, other materials, and services to help brownfield professionals and those members of the public who rely on brownfield professionals’ services.”

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