Annual Gala Fundraising Dinner
Each year, since 2006, the DFI Educational Trust hosts a Gala Fundraising Dinner. From 2010 until 2015, the event benefited the now fully-endowed DFI Educational Trust Stanley Merjan CCNY Civil Engineering Scholarship Fund. The scholarship is named for Stanley Merjan, senior consultant with Underpinning & Foundation Skanska (UFS) — an inspiration and mentor to young engineers throughout the construction industry. In 2014 and 2015, the proceeds also benefitted the DFI Educational Trust General Fund and the Women in Deep Foundations Scholarship Fund.
Proceeds from this event will be distributed equally to benefit two funds: the Clyde N. Baker, Jr. Foundation Engineering Scholarship Fund and the DFI Educational Trust General Fund. The following funds were fully endowed thanks to the support of past gala dinner sponsors, donors and attendees: Stanley Merjan CCNY Civil Engineering Scholarship Fund and George J. Tamaro Manhattan College Civil Engineering Scholarship Fund.
Past Gala Speakers
| 2017 | |
| Francis J. Lombardi, P.E., DIST. M. ASCE, F. SAME, (Retired) | Chief Engineer of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey |
| 2016 | |
| George J. Tamaro, P.E., Consultant | Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers |
| 2015 | |
| Michael McHugh, Executive Vice President | Moretrench |
| 2014 | |
| Dan Brown, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE, President | Dan Brown and Associates |
| 2013 | |
| Theodore P. Zoli, III, P.E., Senior Vice President, National Bridge Chief Engineer | HTNB |
| 2012 | |
| Clyde N. Baker, Jr., P.E., S.E., Senior Principal Engineer | AECOM |
| 2011 | |
| Dr. Fred H. Kulhawy, P.E., G.E., Distinguished Member ASCE Professor Emeritus of Civil/Geotechnical Engineering | Cornell University Consulting Geotechnical Engineer, Ithaca, NY |
| 2010 | |
| Arthur D. Silber, Chief of NJ Transit’s ARC Tunnel Project and an Assistant Executive Director | NJ Transit |
| 2009 | |
| Richard T. Anderson, President | New York Building Congress |
| 2008 | |
| Christopher O. Ward, Executive Director | Port Authority of New York and New Jersey |
| 2007 | |
| James Michael Duncan, University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus and Associate Director of the Center for Geotechnical Practice and Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |