Our Professional Staff

One way to ensure a timely error-free work product is through communication and teamwork developed over many years of professional service. Our corporate management team has been together a long time. This listed experience is solely in the field of subsurface utility engineering.  

Key Staff

Henry "Garon" Stutzman

H. Garon Stutzman is Chairman and founder of the So-Deep family of companies.  This family includes So-Deep, Inc., , So-Deep US, P.C., and So-Deep Michigan LLC.  Mr. Stutzman is a holder of a U.S. patent for sewer infiltration mitigation.  He is the founder of the Subsurface Utility Engineering profession.  Mr. Stutzman was selected the "1990 Entrepreneur of the Year" for the Washington D.C. area by the award sponsors, INC. Magazine, Merrill Lynch and Earnst & Young.  He is a lifetime inductee into the "Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame" located in Chapel Hill, NC and a 1993 inductee into Oxford's Who's Who.

Thomas R. Rock, President

Mr. Rock serves as President of the So-Deep Companies.  Tom has over 23 years of utility related work experience, with 17 of those years working in many capacities at So-Deep.  Before becoming So-Deep's fifth President in October of 2009, Tom served as a Vice President of the Company and in 2008 he was appointed its Executive Vice President.  In 2004, Tom became So-Deep's District Director of Southeast Operations responsible for all aspects of the Company's administrative, marketing and field operations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  For ten years prior to becoming a District Director, Tom was the Branch Manager of So-Deep's Raleigh, North Carolina, Branch Office.  Tom started his career with So-Deep as a Project Manager Trainee, successfully completing the PMT Program and becoming a Project Manager in 1994.  After graduating from East Carolina University, Tom spent five years installing underground utilities before coming to So-Deep.  In his career with So-Deep, Tom has either personally managed or actively administered every aspect of subsurface utility engineering with respect to many diverse projects involving highways, bridges, airports, industrial and chemical manufacturing plants, oil and gas refineries, military bases, and nuclear and conventional power plants.

Robert G. Humphreys 

Robert G. (Bob) Humphreys joined So-Deep in 1984. He has twenty-seven (27) years of engineering management experience. As Past President of So-Deep, Inc., he was responsible for all operations, accounting, financial planning, sales, marketing, and long-term planning.  Bob designed and fabricated four different generations of state-of-the-art vacuum excavation trucks during his tenure with So-Deep. As such, his knowledge of air\vacuum systems, an integral part of subsurface utility engineering's "locating" service, is unsurpassed. He was also responsible for the oversight of the development and implementation of So-Deep's training and certification program for the field positions necessary to accomplish utility mapping. Through this process, he has gained a high level of understanding the necessary field techniques for utility mapping. From 1979 - 1984 Bob was Mechanical Design Engineer for Value Systems and Engineering, Alexandria, Virginia. From 1972 - 1979, he was Mechanical Engineer for General Environments Corp., Alexandria, Virginia. During this time, he held many governmental security clearances.  Bob continues to serve the So-Deep President on a part-time basis providing management expertise.

Thuy-Anh Pham, C.P.A.

Mrs. Pham serves as So-Deep's Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.  She has more than twenty years in the accounting profession. She has worked in all areas of accounting. Her career has spanned manufacturing and service industries. Mrs. Pham has extensive experience with government contracts and price proposals following Federal Acquisition Regulations and Cost Accounting Standards. She has prepared many audits conducted by various state governmental agencies. Mrs. Pham joined So-Deep in 1986, and is one of the premier experts in the field of the financial aspects and operations of subsurface utility engineering.

Charles Weatherhead, Esq., C.P.A.

Chuck Weatherhead is So-Deep's Vice President General Counsel.  Our original corporate counsel in 1981-1984, he returned to So-Deep in 2005.  He has over 30 years experience in general business law, finance, and taxation with an emphasis in contract law, business and real property planning; and federal income, estate and gift taxation.

Michael E. Rice, Vice President Southwest Operations

Mike Rice is our Vice President Southwest Operations, Director - Special Projects.  There is no one person in the nation with more direct field experience in Designating and Locating than Mr. Rice.  He was So-Deep's first employee and developed much of So-Deep's training and certification program.  He consistently performs the most difficult utility mapping projects that our clients can produce.  Before joining So-Deep, he had a successful military career, culminating as a special liaison with the US Secret Service VIP Protective Detail.  

Louis F. Ostendorff, III, P.E., Vice President

Louis F. Ostendorff, III, P.E. joined So-Deep in 1988.  He serves as Vice President of So-Deep US, P.C.  Lou has 27 years experience as an engineer, 22 years experience as a professional engineer, and 21 years specializing in subsurface utility engineering.  His responsibilities have included resolving utility conflicts, design and routing of proposed or existing utility facilities, managing drafting, mapping, and design functions, project management, field construction and supervision, and conducting utility field inspections.  Mr. Ostendorff is the resident professional and principal of So-Deep's Raleigh office. His current responsibilities also include coordinating and conducting utility field inspections, providing preliminary cost estimates, utility relocation and design, optimization of work methods through automation and computers and review and endorsement of So-Deep's work.  Mr. Ostendorff assisted in the successful automation of Company procedures/ practices, and wrote computer programs to improve cost effectiveness and accuracy of work product.  From 1975 - 1988, he was Mining Engineer at the Consolidation Coal Company, Bluefield, VA.  He oversaw the engineering requirements for twelve (12) underground coal mines, and he was responsible for new mine design and construction.  Mr. Ostendorff designed and supervised construction of Maitland Mine's twin ventilation shafts.

Cary A. Skahn, P.E., Vice President

Cary A. Skahn, P.E. joined So-Deep in 1990.  Cary Skahn has 19 years of experience in the engineering profession.  During his career, Mr. Skahn's responsibilities have included drainage design, specifications writing, field inspections and site evaluations, bridge/pipe structural analysis and design, soil analysis/hydraulic analysis, project management, and estimating.  At So-Deep, he has served in many capacities and is currently our Vice President of Professional Services.  He has sealed over $10,000,000 of SUE mapping deliverables in his tenure with So-Deep.  He has extensive experience with most common CADD and survey platforms, including Microstation.  Cary has served as Professional-in-Responsible Charge of subsurface utility engineering contracts in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, and Pennsylvania.  He has also served as Professional-in-Responsible Charge of subsurface utility engineering select projects in 6 other states.  Cary has trained many of our professionals in our other offices in subsurface utility engineering issues. Cary is registered as a professional engineer in 34 states.  He has extensive utility relocation design experience.  From 1989 - 1990, he was Regional Engineer for Unistrut Corporation, Ann Arbor, MI.  From 1982 - 1988, Mr. Skahn was Regional Engineer for Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Company, Waltham, MA.  From 1979-1980, he was an estimator for McBro Planning & Development Company, St. Louis, MO.

David R. Cole, P.L.S., Senior Vice President

David R. Cole, P.S. has been our Manager in Ohio from the time he joined So-Deep in 1995.  Since that time, he has professionally managed, reviewed, and sealed numerous subsurface utility engineering projects for the Ohio Department of Transportation and other clients.  This has included the designating, surveying, and mapping of over 1,500,000 linear feet of underground utilities and 900 test holes.  An additional 550,000 linear feet and 700 test holes were completed for other clients within the State.  Mr. Cole has developed an excellent professional relationship with the Department's personnel, area utility owners, permit agencies, and engineering firms.  Mr. Cole was promoted to Senior Vice President Midwest in 2008.

William D. Pickering, P.E.

Bill is the former Chief of Right of Way and Utilities for the Pennsylvania DOT.  He served in this capacity for eight years.  Previous to that, he served in various positions including assistant District Engineer.  Bill has a total of 40 years experience in utility issues, including a stint as AASHTO's author of its Best Utility Practices Manual in 2000.  He has vast experience overseeing urban and rural municipal water and sewer design, special provisions, reimbursement issues and so forth.

Steve Harsanyi, Jr., Vice President

Mr. Harsanyi was So-Deep's first employee to be hired under its Project Manager Trainee Program in 1988.  He serves as our Vice President of Operations, responsible for the operations of four branch offices.  He has managed well over 1,000 separate DOT mapping projects.  He has responsibility for the quality, accuracy, and completeness of all data obtained/recorded by multiple designating, locating, and survey crews.  His duties include personnel recruitment and training, equipment care and maintenance, project scheduling and control, quality assurance, project review, customer relations, and safety for equipment, employees and the public.  Mr. Harsanyi is thoroughly familiar with the MUTCD and has designed and implemented traffic control plans for literally hundreds of urban, suburban, and rural projects.  He has 40 Hour OSHA HAZWOPER training and OSHA confined space training.

Mark A. Warden, Vice President Business Development

Mark joined So-Deep in 1984 and spent his first several years obtaining invaluable experience in designating, locating, and surveying functions.  Mr. Warden was promoted to Manager-Customer Service in 1990, and again to Corporate Contracts Administrator in 1996. Mr. Warden's responsibilities include managing and assignment scheduling of Area Representatives; utility owner coordination and record review; coordination and work assignment with Disadvantaged Business Enterprise partners; presentations and information briefings of the use of subsurface utility engineering services; and acting as a liaison between So-Deep clients and operations departments.  He is also responsible for permit acquisition, project evaluation, development and scheduling.

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