Martin Walz III (Principal): Mr. Walz has been the lead installer and project manager on bridge projects around the United States, from Georgia to Washington state. His background in construction and project management, mechanical aptitude, and intuitive understanding of bridge installation made him a critical member of the Sahale bridge building team after he commenced work there in 2006. Previously, Mr. Walz spent six years with the Community Clinical Oncology Program at Virginia Mason Research Center and acquired a BA in Political Science from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. Bridges: 18.
Adam Peck (Principal): Mr. Peck began work in the field of bridge building as a fabricator in 2005 and by 2007 was responsible for purchasing, logistics, and inventory-control at Sahale LLC, including projects in Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Mr. Peck has participated in the design review, fabrication and installation of more than twenty bridges, performing site assessments on many more prospective projects. Previously, Mr. Peck spent six years at Amazon.com in program management, authored a travel guide about Turkey, worked as an editor and reporter, and graduated with a degree in Journalism from the University of Oregon Clark Honors College. Bridges: 22.
Ken Gilman (Principal): Mr. Gilman is an experienced metalsmith with a strong background in the practical application of steel fabrication. He has worked in the field of bridge building and installation since 2006, in capacities ranging from fabricator to installer and project manager. His background in art and his ownership of a small steel fabrication shop give Mr. Gilman valuable perspective on the challenges and possibilities offered by bridge projects. Mr. Gilman has participated in all phases of bridge design/build, including direction of fabrication for the Bellevue Botanical Garden Suspension Bridge and supervision of the installation process on the Dry River Suspension Bridge in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Bridges: 16.
Austin Thompson (Principal): Mr. Thompson comes from a family of bridge-builders, and participated in the assembly of his first cable bridge at Drift Creek in 1997 at the tender age of eight, earning a nickel per turnbuckle. His formative experiences participating in the installation of Sahale LLC. cable bridges around the Pacific Northwest helped mold him into an intuitive, resourceful rigger, bridge installer, and problem-solver. He has been a crucial member of installation teams in Georgia, Puerto Rico, Colorado, Hawaii, and around the Pacific Northwest. Bridges: 17.
Stephen Howell: Mr. Howell’s more than 25-years of experience in steel fabrication and testing includes offshore welding in the Gulf of Mexico and quality control and inspection of components for the B-2 Stealth Bomber, the F-22 fighter, and Abrams tanks. Today, Mr. Howell contributes to Seattle Bridge as a fabricator and WABO-certified welder, bringing five years of experience as director of production at Sahale LLC. to bear on Seattle Bridge projects. He has certifications in non-destructive testing, structural welding special inspecting, and structural steel and bolting special inspecting. Underscoring his personal affinity for metalworking, he has recreated a complete set of tools and processes for reintroducing the lost art of structural hot riveting. Bridges: 21.
Albert Highberger (PE): Mr. Highberger has over 45 years of structural engineering experience. His body of work encompasses structures, aircraft, and aerospace. Since 1990, Mr. Highberger has completed work on scores of cable bridge structures including analysis of live, dead, and dynamic loads on cables, towers, sway bracing, deck systems, and anchor mechanisms. He has comprehensive experience with load calculations, structural analysis, design of sub- and superstructure components including towers, footings, deadmen, deck and related hardware. Previously, he worked under sub contract for the Boeing Aircraft Company as Senior Stress Engineer on various projects involving structural problems associated with aircraft design. He has extensive experience with use of hand calculations and computer programs for finite element structure and fatigue analysis. Mr. Highberger is the author of several stress analysis documents submitted to the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and the Federal Aviation Administration, covering design loads and internal stresses for various projects. Bridges: 50+, we’ve lost count.
Mary Pat Mitton: We assume Ms. Mitton developed a tolerance for chaos and a gift for interacting with yahoos as a girl in Sitka, Alaska. These traits have served her well in years of service to Sahale LLC and, now, Seattle Bridge. Ms. Mitton earned her Bachelor of Education from Seattle University, was a Montessori educator, owned and worked as head chef of a catering company, and took over bookkeeping as a favor for Sahale in 2007. She has proven her worth time and time again, and has helped Seattle Bridge get its own affairs in order while pursuing a new degree in Accounting. She is married to Robert Mitton, one of Sahale’s original pair of employees, and has two daughters.
Keith Jellerson: Mr. Jellerson has been in the professional construction industry for over 25 years, working in carpentry, shipbuilding, masonry and landscape construction. In 1996, Mr. Jellerson became the founding partner and co-owner of Avalon Northwest Landscape, LLC, which he has co-owned since. He began the company from scratch, and built it to a $1.5 million company with 11 employees. The scope of Avalon projects is broad, including mid- to large-scale residential landscape renovations, education centers at elementary schools, and remote park construction projects. Mr. Jellerson became acquainted with remote-area bridge projects on the Drift Creek Bridge in Oregon in the 1990s, and worked with Sahale on a collaborative historic reconstruction of stone shelters at 10,000 foot elevation Camp Muir on Mount Rainier. Bridges and Special Projects: 3.