Meet the Northgate Team

Deni has over 30 years of engineering experience in environmental and water resources projects. Her diverse academic background in geology, hydrogeology, contaminant fate and transport, and civil engineering provides her with a solid academic base for directing large scale environmental projects throughout the United States. She has extensive experience directing large scale environmental projects throughout the United States. She is a specialist in assessing the requirements, feasibility, operation, and performance of restoration projects with a focus on client needs and sustainable long-term solutions. Deni’s understanding of the needs of stakeholders has been demonstrated in her skill as a liaison between regulatory agencies, clients, the academic community and other stakeholders and has been instrumental in achieving project goals. Her current focus on facilitating public-private partnerships and creative funding mechanisms allows for creation and enhancement of restoration projects.

Derrick has over 28 years of experience serving both public sector and private clients in the Western United States and Canada on a wide variety of environmental projects. He has designed and implemented numerous site investigations, feasibility studies, client portfolio due diligence evaluations and remedial cost scenarios, cleanup plans, and economic analyses involving contaminated soil, soil vapor, and groundwater as well as land reuse options. For the last several years, Derrick’s focus has been on formulating and facilitating closure and development strategies for large, complex, high profile, environmental projects for aerospace, industrial, and real estate development clients. He specializes in developing closure strategies that integrates remediation with redevelopment/land re-use. Derrick works with his loyal client base to streamline the regulatory and clean-up process and successfully transforms projects for his clients from liabilities to assets. His expertise in fate and transport of chemicals in the environment, risk evaluation, and remedial technologies, regulatory requirements, combined with a keen understanding of client business objectives results in creative, efficient, and successful remediation/revitalization projects.

Ana is an engineer with over 30 years of experience working with multi-disciplinary teams to complete remediation, restoration, and infrastructure projects. Her expertise is in geotechnical and environmental engineering, including geotechnical and hazardous materials investigations, alternative development and evaluation, design, and construction services. She has successfully managed and delivered a broad range of projects including remediation, restoration, flood control, transportation, solid waste, and facility upgrade projects. She also has extensive experience with agency negotiations and permitting associated with both environmental and infrastructure projects. Ana has a long history of integrating sustainability into remedial design and construction, including developing guidance for integrating sustainability into remedial planning through construction at former manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites. She is currently focusing on resiliency and restoration work, combining her expertise in civil and geotechnical engineering with soil/sediment characterization and beneficial reuse.

Axel has over 20 years of experience in environmental consulting, civil engineering, and construction management in the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, Nevada and internationally. He has managed projects including site investigations, soil and groundwater remediation, soil vapor extraction, air quality monitoring programs (Indoor Air, NOA ATCM), construction site dewatering and stormwater pollution prevention planning (SWPPP), permitting and environmental compliance, hazardous waste disposal (CCR Title 22, CERCLA and RCRA), Life Cycle Assessments (ISO 14040 LCA), Hazardous Management Business Plans (HMBP) and Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plans (SPCC). Axel is actively promoting a sustainable approach to environmental management and construction through his work with ports, municipalities, and educational institutions.

Nancy has over 30 years of experience as an environmental consultant for a wide range of projects and clients. She has led remediation, planning, compliance, litigation, and strategic planning projects for utility, industrial, municipal and state government clients throughout California. She currently leads Northgate’s CEQA and permitting projects for drinking water and groundwater resources and wastewater systems for disadvantaged communities in California. Her academic background in both geology and environmental engineering allows her to contribute on hazardous material investigations and remediation projects, as well as water quality and supply projects. She is a specialist in assessing liability and costs for remediation supporting both litigation and corporate reserve settings and has worked with large groups of stakeholders in finding mutually beneficial solutions to environmental challenges.

Dr. Merrill has held directorships in private sector, government, academic, and nonprofit settings including as founder of a climate adaptation consultancy and practice leader in a major engineering firm. He is a subject matter expert in environmental regulation, benefit-cost analysis, climate adaptation finance, compliance standards for brownfield redevelopment, and due diligence standards across sectors. Recent project experience includes economic leadership on the Conowingo Reservoir innovative reuse/beneficial use project (with the State of Maryland) and numerous efforts in sea level rise adaptation finance. He specializes in applied environmental compliance support in complex legal settings and has developed and overseen numerous innovations in sediment management and water quality credit mitigation banking. His international work includes lecturing and consulting for organizations in India and Belgium (in English) and in Mexico and Costa Rica (in Spanish). 

Peggy has over 35 years of experience in environmental consulting and management, specializing in the assessment of environmental liability for real estate due diligence and portfolio management. For the past decade, she has provided in-house environmental engineering consulting services to The JBG Companies/JBG Smith, one of the largest land developers and property managers in the DC-Metro Area with over 500 employees. Her experience also includes managing over 15 different sites enrolled in the Voluntary Cleanup Programs in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia, conducting numerous Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) compliance audits for industrial plants and other hazardous waste generating operations, and performing Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Studies (RI/FS) at multiple Department of Defense (DOD) facilities, NASA, and CERCLA sites.

With more than 30 years working on large complex environmental construction, remediation, and restoration projects, Steve has managed dozens of projects throughout the United States and Canada. He specializes in complex sites with challenging requirements including: regulatory interaction, planning and permitting, community relations, stake holder negotiations, limited construction schedules, complex technical design and construction, innovative technologies, restrictive contract requirements, and client reporting requirements. His experience includes large sediment characterization and reuse projects, agricultural fate and transport assessments, and industrial site remediation portfolio management. Steve has also served as a subject matter expert to the National Health Institute (NIH) on a long-term sampling program for environmental toxins in the assessment of human health exposures.

Joni has over 35 years of environmental consulting experience and project management under the regulatory oversight of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offices, and other regulatory agencies. She has conducted numerous soil, soil vapor, and groundwater investigations to characterize and remediate a wide variety of contaminants, installed, operated, and maintained remedial systems, maintained compliance with regulatory criteria, protocols, and reporting, performed numerous third-party technical reviews, and coordinated and participated in field activities at military installations. Joni has a reputation for building strong working relationships with agencies, clients, and communities and has successfully delivered thoughtful management solutions to utility, military, and industrial clients throughout California, Arizona, and Montana.

Ted has over 30 years of experience as a consulting engineer in the areas of geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering, and hazardous waste management. He has worked on hundreds of geotechnical and environmental engineering projects, ranging from small-to-large-scale. Having served as an expert witness on legal cases involving geotechnical and environmental engineering issues, Ted’s expert witness work includes cases involving landsliding, grading, soil erosion, expansive soils, site and building settlement, and foundation failures. He has served as an expert on cases involving former landfill sites containing hazardous materials and landfill gas, sites with petroleum constituents, and PCB and volatile organic compounds. Ted’s environmental experience includes sites with metals, PCB-affected soils, dioxin and furans, perchlorate, explosives, landfill gas migration issues, petroleum spills and cleanups and his expertise includes innovative design concepts that have helped resolve many geotechnical and environmental issues at complex sites.

Lee has over 22 years of consulting experience in environmental, geotechnical, and geophysical projects. She has led numerous subsurface investigations and remediation projects in all levels of regulatory oversight and hydrogeological environments across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Her areas of expertise include contaminant fate and transport in soil; soil vapor and groundwater; aquifer testing and analysis; soil and groundwater remediation; and litigation support and expert witness testimony. Lee successfully manages small to large scale projects, consistently exceeding clients’ expectations for scheduling, budget, quality, and health and safety. Principal responsibilities include providing project management and technical assistance on projects related to contaminant hydrogeology, modeling, remediation, and groundwater resource development.

Scott is a professional engineer with over 10 years of experience working in environmental engineering. He currently manages operations in site assessment, characterization, remediation, and risk management. He is experienced in utilizing data analysis, statistical analysis, and modeling to inform complex decisions related to remediation and contaminant fate and transport in the environment. Scott also has experience supporting litigation and expert witness testimony through defensible analyses of contaminant nature and extent, environmental liability, and responsible party allocation. With a wide-ranging background in subsurface engineering, remediation, and due diligence, Scott provides practical and technically sound solutions for acquisition, cleanup, redevelopment, and litigation support.

Lia is a licensed professional geologist with over 16 years of experience in environmental, health, and safety (EHS) consulting. She has managed upwards of 125 environmental cases, many of which involved active remediation in progress or at various stages of strategic development and implementation. Lia has completed courses on hazardous waste management and transport, hazard recognition, job safety analysis (JSA) or job hazard analysis (JHA), risk assessment and management, company and team leadership, personnel management, effective communication, and marketing and sales of service offerings within the company’s targeted industry segments and practice areas. She has designed and implemented numerous site environmental assessments, investigations and remedial strategies for underground storage tank retail sites and environmental cases associated with currently or formerly railroad-owned properties, at which environmental challenges encompass a wide range of contaminants from variety of aboveground and underground sources. Additionally, Lia is familiar with soil-vapor sampling and assessment, as well as an array of soil and groundwater field investigative/sampling and remedial techniques.

Nicky is a professional engineer with over 12 years of experience. Her areas of expertise include performing due diligence activities, stormwater sampling, methane survey and mitigation plans, conducting technical data review, remediation design, preparing technical summaries and closure reports, construction site oversight, and environmental field sampling and site inspection. Nicky also has considerable experience managing and performing environmental due diligence and property transfer projects. She regularly conducts Phase I and II ESAs for commercial, industrial and residential properties of various sizes and historic land uses.

Gabe has over 15 years of experience as a geologist working in environmental consulting services. He performs oversight and management of a wide range of projects and field activities, including: groundwater sampling; water level monitoring; transducer maintenance and installation; the installation, development, rehabilitation and abandonment of wells; groundwater treatment system operations and maintenance; soil excavation monitoring; soil boring installation; soil sampling and classification; sampling and monitoring of soils containing naturally occurring asbestos (NOA), geologic mapping of NOA-containing and non-NOA-containing formations; dust and ambient air monitoring, indoor air sampling, and soil vapor sampling. Gabe is also experienced with performing various evaluations and statistical analyses on soil, groundwater, and soil vapor data, and routinely prepares Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, work plans, and construction completion reports. He is familiar with regulatory agency standards and policies and has assisted in obtaining agency permits for new commercial, industrial, residential, and government construction projects.

Rob has over 10 years of experience serving both public and private sector clients in environmental assessment and managing environmental liability. His professional technical and management experience has been focused on Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments, air monitoring, waste characterization and disposal, construction oversight, remedial action design and implementation, technical data review, and screening-level ecological and human health risk assessments. Rob’s environmental field experience includes soil, air, stormwater, and groundwater sampling, soil vapor intrusion studies, indoor air quality studies, lead surveys in drinking water systems, dust monitoring including AQMD 1466 compliance, and site cleanups. He has considerable experience managing and executing high-profile projects involving multiple regulatory agencies and responsible parties.

Kevin has over 22 years of professional experience in the fields of Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA), Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, stormwater compliance, environmental impact assessment, toxicology, water and sediment quality, vapor intrusion, and ecology. He has conducted screening and baseline/predictive ERAs and supported Human Health Risk Assessments for numerous sites in California. He has performed all components of ERAs, including site and receptor characterization, exposure and bioaccumulation modeling, toxicity assessment, and analysis of risks and uncertainty. Kevin has conducted field studies of uptake and bioaccumulation of contaminants into plants and wildlife. He has also developed and applied risk-based cleanup goals in support of remedial decision making with state and federal regulators.

Jacob has over 18 years of professional experience working as an environmental program manager, scientist, and consultant. His experience includes an exceptional record of accomplishment in management and support of environmental projects and programs. Jacob also has special expertise in compliance auditing, risk mitigation, regulatory analysis/enforcement, RCRA, Phase I Environmental Site Assessments and site remediation.

Anya has over 16 years of professional experience working as an environmental scientist and project manager in environmental consulting and natural resource management industries. Her areas of expertise include performing due diligence activities on dynamic properties ranging from Brownfields to open space; erosion and sediment control; field construction management and oversight; soil and groundwater sampling; and data analysis. She has performed numerous Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments and remedial investigations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as worked with an array of rural and agricultural landowners in the North Bay to develop conservation farm plans and implement soil erosion control projects.

Diana has over 13 years of experience in the field of geology, GIS, and data management. Her work regularly includes the application of ArcGIS, EVS, MAROS, EQuIS and statistical evaluations for data management, interpretation and presentation of environmental investigations on a variety of projects, including: military sites, industrial sites, diverse water resources programs, and geological mining investigations. Most recently, she has been working with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) for remote sensing applications. Utilizing her geology background and as a data analyst and GIS specialist, Diana is continually developing and leveraging technology to optimize and expand data management at Northgate.

Lempi has over 16 years of data management service line consulting. She has managed the workloads and training of international teams of chemists, data processors and data managers in the use of major data management systems. Her expertise is implementing and maintaining major data management systems, regulatory compliance, and the reporting of environmental data. She develops and streamlines work processes for enhanced efficiency, quality and completeness. She is an expert in GeoTracker, Locus EIM and EarthSoft EQuIS database systems.

Frank has over 40 years of consulting experience working for private industry, government and individual clients on environmental, hydrogeologic, and mining projects. He specializes in collecting and managing environmental and geologic data and the integration, application and analysis of that data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), statistical and geostatistical data evaluations and modeling to support the visualization, analysis and presentation of subsurface information. He has been applying Earth Volumetric Studio and its predecessors to environmental characterization, remediation and operational projects since 1995. Many of the visualizations are animated over time and include 4-DIM renderings allowing clients to control the view. The estimations and visualizations have been used to characterize sites, develop and optimize remedial alternatives and provide ongoing operational monitoring.

Josh is a project geologist with extensive experience performing Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments for various property types ranging from multi-family residential to heavy industrial. His environmental experience includes on-site remediation performing soil vapor extraction and soil excavation/hauling. Josh serves as field lead supervisor for various excavation and redevelopment projects and is responsible for the management of all field activities. His experience also includes coordinating with drillers, contractors, laboratories, clients, tenants, and staff, while upholding health and safety protocols. Josh routinely engages in regulatory agency interaction on behalf of his clients.

Thomas is a staff geologist supporting a variety of projects, including site reconnaissance, soil sampling, groundwater monitoring, and compliance monitoring. He has a strong health and safety background from his experience at the Hunter’s Point Naval Station Superfund Site, where he performed air and soil sampling, soil logging and characterization, drilling oversight and soil boring, equipment calibration, maintenance, and repair in proximity of chemical and radiological hazards. He has performed post-treatment air and soil vapor sampling and conducted maintenance and upkeep of soil vapor and groundwater treatment systems. Thomas has experience writing work plans, SOPs, training guidelines and reports, in addition to field and data management tasks. Thomas maintains professional mentorships and routinely communicates with subcontractors, clients, laboratories, and regulatory agencies.

Anthony is a project geologist with 6 years of professional experience, including specialization in environmental remediation and environmental assessment. His project experience includes working with both the private and public sector on investigations for groundwater, soil, soil vapor and indoor air testing, and remediation and waste characterization profiling. Example clients include the Port of Long Beach, Southern California Edison, Caltrans, various public works departments, and several public school systems including Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Anaheim. Anthony regularly develops Phase II ESAs, Aerially Deposited Lead Survey Investigation reports, Methane Risk Assessment reports, Supplemental Site Investigation Workplans and reports, Remedial Action Workplans, Remedial Action Completion reports, and land-use covenants for the DTSC.

Scott is an experienced field technician with a focus in waste characterization, site assessment, and geotechnical sampling. He has over ten years of soil technician and ACI (field grade one) experience. His typical duties include coordinating and scheduling projects with project management and site personnel; attending and documenting job walks and construction meetings; conducting field activities such as environmental sampling and soil inspections; maintaining and distributing required project documentation; and coordinating sample delivery and collection in order to meet deadlines and specific engineering tolerances. His areas of construction expertise include mass grading projects in excess of 1,000,00 cubic yards, trenching backfills, key way inspections, footing bottoms inspections, pier/caissons inspections, density testing, and percolation testing.

Ricardo is a staff geologist with extensive experience performing Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments, Environmental Impact Assessment, and Environmental Remediation. He routinely supports in the development of work plans, drilling and sampling soil borings, vapor well installation and sampling, research and review of regulatory and historical land use records, data evaluation, technical report preparation, and drafting. His field experience includes directing subcontractors such as drillers and laboratories, and ensuring detailed field note documentation. Ricardo is dedicated to field health and safety for himself and his field team members.