President
Ajay Sehgal, P.E., M.ASCE
Vice President
Eric Sekulski, P.E., M.ASCE
Treasurer
Randall Block, M.ASCE
Director of the Board
Kamal Gautam, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE
Jim Small, M.ASCE
Secretary
Edward Wang, D.Sc., P.E., F.ASCE
PRESIDENT
Mr. Ajay Sehgal is a current President of ASCE, Golden Gate Branch. Mr. Sehgal is a retired Branch Chief from the Office of Encroachment Permits within California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Prior to this assignment he was a Senior Bridge Engineer, (Temporary Structures Subject Matter Expert) in the Office of Structure Construction (Bridge Dept.) at Caltrans. Mr. Sehgal provided guidance in the design & construction of temporary structure required for the construction of bridges such as falsework, scaffolding, bridge trestles, trenching, shoring, and demolition of bridges. He updated the Caltrans Falsework and Trenching & Shoring Manual, and he was the point person working with the railroad (RR) companies to obtain approval of temporary structures for Caltrans projects within or adjacent to the RR.
Mr. Sehgal started his career with Caltrans in 1988 when he worked on the rehabilitation of Schulyer Heim Bridge, a vertical Draw Bridge in Los Angeles. It was recently replaced in 2020. In 1995, he worked on the seismic retrofit of the Presidio Viaduct in SF, a Southern Approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. This bridge has been replaced under the Doyle Drive project in 2016. Then, in 1996 he worked in San Francisco on the Eastern Approach to the Bay Bridge. In 2008, he worked on the new Self-Anchored Suspension Bay Bridge. He went to China, and later to South Korea, on special assignments related to the inspection of the custom made Shear Keys and Bearings for this Bay Bridge over the navigation channel going to Port of Oakland.
Mr. Sehgal has prepared multiple rehabilitation & emergency projects’ bid documents for long-span toll bridges in the SF Bay Area and Southern California as Design Engineer in the Caltrans Toll Program Bridge Maintenance & Investigations. Mr. Sehgal has designed seismic retrofit of buildings early in his career therefore brings a wealth of knowledge in the field of design and construction of buildings and bridges.
- Sehgal was the Chairman of the Caltrans Temporary Structures Committee.
- Co-chair of the 2013 & 2019 International OBG (Orthotropic Box Girder) Conference, Sacramento, CA.
- VP (Education) ASCE Capitol Branch: 2011 – 2014
- VP ASCE (Golden Gate Branch): 2018-Current
- Keynote speaker and presenter at the 4th OBG Conference, September 2015 in Tianjin, China. ASCE partnered with China Bridge Magazine who hosted this international conference.
Award Received: Thomas E. Stanton Award for Best Event for OBG Conference 2013
Hobbies: Reading, travelling, dancing and promoting unity in diversity.
VICE PRESIDENT
Eric has been an active GGB board member fort over 5 years and has served in the past as President and Director. He is a professional Geotechnical Engineer with 20 years of experience, and Associate Principal based in Arup’s San Francisco office. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil and geotechnical engineering from The Albert Nerkin School of Engineering at The Cooper Union in New York City. After beginning his career with Arup in New York, Eric spent several years practicing abroad in Australia and the last decade in the Bay Area, working on local and regional projects. His experience in civil and geotechnical design, temporary works, construction sequencing, and multidisciplinary coordination, for both large and small building and infrastructure projects—with recent specialization in large tunnel projects. Eric is a strong advocate of the industry, promoting knowledge sharing, digital skills, and diversity.
DIRECTOR
Kamal Gautam is a Fellow of ASCE and currently serves as director of GGB. He was president of GGB during 2020-21 and provided a leadership role navigating through the challenging times of COVID-19. During the pandemic’s early stage, he organized a global professional virtual platform, Khimti Forum – monthly talk programs with volunteering world-class professionals and subject matter experts on the theme of “Energy, Infrastructure, Environment and Economics.”
Kamal is a licensed professional engineer in California and Hawaii, and a certified project management professional (PMP). His doctoral degree in civil engineering is from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Master of Science in hydraulic engineering (hydropower and dams engineering) from IHE in Delft (2002), and his Bachelor of Science (with honors) in civil engineering from the Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Ukraine (1992). He has published about 12 peer-reviewed research papers and technical articles in journals, and conferences proceedings.
Kamal has 30 years of hydropower industry experience, primarily from consulting engineering practice. He began his professional career in 1993 as a design engineer for a 60 MW Khimti I Hydropower Project, where he played a vital role in planning and execution of the project leading all the way to its commissioning in 2000. Currently Gautam serves as the director of engineering with rPlus Energies, a national renewable energy developer company, and provides strategic leadership role in the engineering of multiple pumped storage hydro projects currently being developed across the US. He also serves as deputy chair of the Pumped Storage Council of National Hydropower Association (NHA) of USA, and in this capacity he advocates for long duration energy storage with pumped storage hydro to better utilize internment renewable energy resources such as solar and wind.
BOARD MEMBER
James C. Small is a retired Civil Engineer.
Jim attended and graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a bachelor degree in Civil Engineering. Later in life, he obtained a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of San Francisco. He obtained his professional Civil Engineering license from the State of California in 1971.
He obtained his officer’s commission and served in the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps. Mobile Construction Battalion Ten as a junior officer. He was deployed with his battalion to Vietnam, where he led efforts to build military facilities in the I Corps Area.
Jim worked his entire professional life as a civil engineer. He spent most of his career with Kaiser Engineers. He worked on industrial, transportation, and infrastructure projects throughout the United States.
He has been a long-time member and officer in the American Society of Civil Engineers Golden Gate Branch Board. He received the award as branch officer of the year from ASCE San Francisco Section and Region 9 (California). He was also recognized by the San Francisco Section with the H.J. Brunnier Award for Outstanding Service in 2021.
SECRETARY
Dr. Wang boasts over 25 years of engineering, consulting, management, and research experience across private, government, and academic sectors. He has held diverse roles including design engineer, discipline manager, professor, and associate dean of academic affairs. Ed embarked on his engineering journey in 1996 within the private industry, focusing initially on routine building and bridge inspection as well as building code compliance review.
One of his primary research focuses has been seismic retrofit of infrastructure, employing life cycle cost techniques. His contributions led to significant advancements in this field. In 2016, Dr. Wang achieved the esteemed status of Fellow, following his tenure as President of the ASCE Taiwan International Group and Deputy Secretary General of the Asian Civil Engineering Coordinate Council (ACECC).
Dr. Wang holds a Doctoral of Science Degree in Structural Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. He is a registered Professional Engineer in California and a Structural Engineer in Illinois. His scholarly achievements include the publication of 9 books and over 150 journal and conference papers, solidifying his reputation as a thought leader in his field.
