Trenchless Industry Leaders Join SIPPTech Business Team, Board

SippTech CEO/CTO Kent Weisenberg, announced that the company has finalized the addition of three trenchless industry experts and champions as business team and board of director members.

Dr. Tom Iseley, has been appointed chief business development officer and is also serving on the board of directors; Joe Barsoom, is chief design officer and Robert “Bob” Affholder, has joined the board of directors.

This collaborative development of industry leaders is a galvanization of SippTech’s approach to the modernization of spray-in-place pipe (SIPP) lining systems. In consolidating their efforts, they have solved many of the major systemic problems found in current SIPP practices. As just one example of these efforts was the creation of SippSteel, the first reinforced composite SIPP liner system ever and the first SIPP system globally that is certifiable as a structurally independent lining.

As pipelines continue to deteriorate around our nation and beyond, the need for standard, next generation technologies in trenchless pipe solutions to advance is imperative. As the industry itself is also in demand of change, the SippTech team of engineers is leading the way.

“I was both honored and humbled when these gentlemen demonstrated such a sincere interest in becoming a part of SippTech’s senior management team. They will all play a critical role in advancing SippTech’s technologies as well as integrity of the SIPP industry,” Weisenberg said.

Iseley has more than 40 years of experience in the planning, design and construction of underground infrastructure systems and has maintained an international leadership position in trenchless technology and buried infrastructure asset management. In 1989, Iseley established the Trenchless Technology Center (TTC) at Louisiana Tech and is also a founding director of the North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT). Iseley’s trenchless industry awards include 1993 Trenchless Technology Person of the Year, the ASCE John O. Bickel Award (1995), the Stephen D. Bechtel Pipeline Engineering Award (1999), NASTT’s Life Time Achievement Award (2001) and 2017 NASTT Hall of Fame inductee.

Barsoom, has had a decorated career in civil engineering, planning, design and construction management of public works projects for the past 53 years. As director of the Municipal Forum Program and chairman of the Advisory Board for the Trenchless Technology Center and as chairman of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F-17 Committee, Barsoom is considered one of the leading experts in the trenchless technology field. Among his accolades are 2000 Trenchless Technology Person of the Year and the 2010 ASCE Stephen D. Bechtel Pipeline Engineering Award, recognizing his contributions to the advancement of pipeline engineering, development of engineering standards and practices for trenchless rehabilitation.

As vice chairman of SAK Construction, Affholder joining as a SippTech board member will bring a wealth of experience, having helped SAK solve the toughest, complicated tunneling and pipeline rehabilitation dilemmas. Having been the 1996 Trenchless Technology Person of the Year, Affholder is known as “a living legend in the U.S. tunneling and trenchless rehab industries.” He built both Affholder Inc. and Insituform Mid-America into national leaders in the pipeline rehabilitation and tunneling markets.