2019 Annual Meeting

Deputy Secretary for Highway Administration

George McAuley was appointed to the position of Deputy Secretary for Highway Administration for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on December 5, 2016. His 30-plus-year career includes engineering position progression in PennDOT’s District 10 in Indiana, Pa., holding the title of Assistant District Executive for Construction, and for the past 10 years as Assistant District Executive for Maintenance. McAuley also served briefly as Assistant District Executive for Design in District 10, and Acting Director of PennDOT’s Bureau of Project Delivery.

McAuley evolved as an ISO 9001 Quality Management System in District 10’s construction unit; developed an ISO-like Quality Management System in the district’s maintenance unit; and led an effort in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Asphalt Pavement Association and the Federal Highway Administration to pilot a similar approach to quality management for asphalt paving labeled Pasin. He has also been a long-standing member of the Asphalt Pavement and the Concrete Pavement Quality Improvement Committees.

Additionally, McAuley aided in the advancement of Pennsylvania’s Rapid Bridge Replacement Public Private Partnership (P3) contract, intended to deliver 558 bridges statewide. The Design, Build, Finance, Maintain Contract requires complete replacement of the assigned structures, an availability payment structure and includes a 25-year maintenance term. This first large P3 transportation contract for Pennsylvania is the first to provide such a scope in the United States.

A Pennsylvania State University graduate of civil engineering, McAuley spent his early career as a construction project manager for Texas DOT in Houston, and then for GAI Consultants on I-78 in Bethlehem, before signing on with PennDOT District 10.

Assistant Professor, Departments of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering

Dr. Armen Amirkhanian’s research interests are broadly based in infrastructure materials characterization with a primary focus on cementitious materials. Past research has been on emerging concrete pavement topics such as two-lift paving and internal curing. Current research topics are exploring the areas of alkali-silica degradation characterization, atomic-scale characterization of alkali-activated materials, and durability issues associated with concrete pavement rehabilitation.

Amirkhanian has worked with the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, the O’Hare Modernization Program, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and the Alabama Department of Transportation. Amirkhanian is a professional engineer registered in Oregon, Alabama and South Carolina. He is an associate member of American Concrete Institute committees 214, 242, and 325 and is on the board of directors of the International Society of Concrete Pavements (ISCP).

Professor of Political Science & Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion

Dr. Christopher P. Borick is a Professor of Political Science and Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. He is a nationally recognized public opinion researcher who has conducted over 300 large-scale public opinion surveys during the past two decades. The results of these surveys have appeared in numerous periodicals including The Wall St Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. He has also provided analysis for the BBC, National Public Radio, PBS, MSNBC, CBS News and NBC Nightly News and had his survey results aired on, CNN, FOX News and C-Span. During his career he has conducted surveys for a variety of government agencies and organizations including the Center for Disease Control, PBS, The Wisconsin Department of Commerce, the Oneida Indian Nation, The U.S. Department of Labor, and Habitat for Humanity. He is co director of the National Surveys on Energy and the Environment (NSEE) and currently conducts surveys for the Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He has served as President of both the Wisconsin Political Science Association and the Pennsylvania Political Science Association.

Professor Borick received his undergraduate education at The Pennsylvania State University and a Masters Degree from East Stroudsburg University. He completed his doctoral work at The State University of New York at Binghamton in the area of public policy. He has government experience at both the federal and local levels, including positions with the Internal Revenue Service and Monroe County Pennsylvania Planning Commission. He has published over thirty articles and four books in the area of public policy, public opinion and environmental policy, and has held teaching positions at The State University of New York at Cortland, St. Norbert College, Lehigh University and currently at Muhlenberg College. He has won numerous teaching and advising awards during his career, most recently receiving The Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award at Muhlenberg College. He and his wife Lisa reside in Nazareth, Pennsylvania with their two children: Sam who is nineteen and John who is fifteen.

President

Adele L. Abrams is an attorney and Certified Mine Safety Professional who is president of the Law Office of Adele L. Abrams P.C. in Beltsville, MD, Denver, CO, and Charleston, WV. It is a multi-attorney firm that represents employers in OSHA and MSHA litigation nationwide, and handles employment law matters in multiple states across the U.S. Adele also provides consultation, safety audits and training services to regulated companies. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Catholic University of America and the University of Colorado-Boulder.

She is a member of the Maryland, DC and PA Bars; the U.S. District Courts of Maryland, DC, and TN; the U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit 3^rd Circuit, and 4^th Circuit; and the United States Supreme Court. She is a graduate of the George Washington University’s National Law Center, and earned her B.S. in Journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Adele is an active member of the American Society of Safety Professionals, and serves on the Board of Delegates of the National Safety Council. Adele is member of the ASTM E34 Committee, and is co-author of three safety and health textbooks: the Safety Professional’s Handbook, Construction Safety Management and Engineering, and Consultants Business Development Guide.

For more information, contact her at [email protected]. The Law Office of Adele L. Abrams’ website is www.safety-law.com.

General Counsel & Secretary

Mr. Oyler is General Counsel and Secretary for the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which regulates the withdrawal, consumptive use and diversion of water into and out of the Susquehanna River Basin in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Mr. Oyler authored an article, Regulating Water Use for Energy Development in the Susquehanna River Basin, for Natural Resources & Environment, a publication of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (Winter 2017). Mr. Oyler also co-authored the chapter on “Interstate Water Rights” in Water Rights and Environmental Regulation: A Lawyer’s Guide (ABA 2018). Prior to joining the SRBC, Mr. Oyler was Assistant Counsel with the Pa Department of Environmental Protection where he counseled the NPDES program, the sewage facilities planning and permitting program, and the water obstruction and encroachments program, as well as, 401 water quality certifications under the Clean Water Act and endangered and threatened species. Mr. Oyler was also Assistant Counsel for the Pa Fish and Boat Commission where he counseled on a variety of administrative, regulatory, environmental and real estate matters. Mr. Oyler received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was Publication Director of the State and Local Tax Lawyer, and his B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College. Mr. Oyler lives in Camp Hill, PA with his wife Rebecca and two children.

​Deputy Secretary for Active and Abandoned Mine Operations​

John J. Stefanko is the Deputy Secretary for Active and Abandoned Mine Operations at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. As Deputy Secretary, Mr. Stefanko oversees the Active and Abandoned Mining Operations Deputate, which includes the Bureaus of Mining Programs, Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Mine Safety, and District Mining Operations.

Mr. Stefanko has been with the Department since 1987 and has served in a number of roles in the Deputate including Deputy Secretary, Executive Assistant, and Senior Advisor. He has also served as the Executive Deputy Secretary for Programs, and as Chief of DEP’s Divison of Contracts, Procurement and Bonding within the Bureau of Office Services, where he managed bidding, awarding and management of the activities of all construction contracts and the procurement of goods and services for the Department. Prior to that, John was a Project Designer for the Department’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Division of Acid Mine Drainage Abatement, where he reviewed and created engineering designs for departmental mine reclamation, water supply replacements, mine fire control, subsidence control, abandoned mine lands projects, and other associated facilities.

Mr. Stefanko holds an Associate Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, Altoona Campus, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineer Technology from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

Executive Director

Dr. Gregory studies the economic and environmental implications of engineering and system design decisions, particularly in the area of materials production and recovery systems. Research topics include product and firm environmental footprinting, manufacturing and life-cycle cost analysis, and characterization of sustainable material systems. He has applied these methods, often with industry partners, to a range of different products and industries including pavements, buildings, automobiles, electronics, consumer goods, and waste treatment and recovery.

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Anirban Basu is Chairman & CEO of Sage Policy Group, Inc., an economic and policy consulting firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland with offices in Pennsylvania and Cambodia. The firm provides strategic analytical services to energy suppliers, law firms, medical systems, government agencies, and real estate developers among others.

In 2014, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan appointed him Chair of the Maryland Economic Development Commission. He also serves as chairman of the Baltimore County Economic Advisory Committee. He is also the Chief Economist to Associated Builders and Contractors and Chief Economic Advisor to the Construction Financial Management Association. He serves or has served similar functions for Visit Baltimore, Maryland Realtors, and Marcum, LLC.

He lectures at Johns Hopkins University in Global Strategy and has also taught international economics, urban economics, micro- and macroeconomics at Hopkins. His radio show can be heard weekdays on 88.1FM, WYPR, Baltimore.

In both 2007 and 2016, the Daily Record newspaper selected Mr. Basu as one of Maryland’s 50 most influential people. The Baltimore Business Journal named him one of the region’s 20 most powerful business leaders in 2010.

Mr. Basu has been on many boards over time, including First Mariner Bank, the Baltimore City Public School System, Port Discovery, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and Union Memorial Hospital. He is currently on the boards of St. Mary’s College, the University System of Maryland Foundation, the Center for Emerging Media, the Lyric Opera House and the Archdiocese of Baltimore School System.

Mr. Basu earned his B.S. in Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1990. He earned his Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his Master’s in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. His Juris Doctor was earned at the University Of Maryland School of Law. His doctoral work is in health economics and has taken place at UMBC.

Associate

Tad Macfarlan is an associate in the firm’s environment, land and natural resources practice group. Mr. Macfarlan advises the firm’s energy, industrial, utility and commercial sector clients on compliance with federal, state and local environmental and land use laws. He has extensive experience working with the regulatory regimes governing wastewater and stormwater discharges, wetland and stream protection, air emissions, solid and hazardous waste management, water withdrawals, chemical and toxic substance controls, release reporting and response, and preservation of endangered species, cultural resources and historic properties. His practice includes project development, transactional, litigation, enforcement defense and regulatory compliance matters.

Prior to joining K&L Gates, Mr. Macfarlan was a law clerk for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region III Office of Regional Counsel. He also worked as a legal intern for the National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center.