Posted on November 18, 2024
Paul C. Schmall and Anthony J. Binsfeld have been selected to receive the Outstanding Achievement Awards by The Moles, a National Heavy Construction Industry Professional Organization. The awards will be presented at The Moles’ Annual Award Dinner at the New York Marriott Marquis on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. Paul Schmall will accept The Moles Member Award and Anthony Binsfeld will receive the Moles Non-Member Award.
Paul Schmall, Vice President at Keller Specialty Services, has built a reputation among his underground peers for his expertise in dewatering and tunnel grouting in urban settings. Paul’s knowledge is based on his civil engineering education, having received his BSCE from Bucknell University in 1988, and the experience gained in the thirty-six years since he started his career at Moretrench. Paul became its Chief Engineer in 1995, where he spearheaded the development of its grouting business, executing some very challenging permeation, compaction, jet and compensation grouting projects. Paul has worked on a significant number of tunnel blow-ins, underground emergency responses and the engineering and maintenance of complex groundwater control for projects throughout the country and internationally, including the recovery and reconstruction of the World Trade Center. Paul received his Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham in 2013, publishing his thesis on ground freezing. Since Keller purchased Moretrench in 2018, Paul’s unit is largely responsible for tunneling and big dam work in North America.
The Moles 2025 Non-Member Awardee for Outstanding Achievement in Construction is Mr. Anthony J. Binsfeld, Chairman of the Board of The Brennan Group, a heavy civil construction, dredging, commercial diving, and marine transportation company based in La Crosse, WI. Tony is a third-generation leader of the family business founded by his grandfather and great uncle in Lansing, Iowa in 1919. After receiving his civil engineering degree from Marquette University, Tony first worked at Milwaukee Road Railroad before combining his passion for marine work and his civil engineering degree, joining Construction Aggregates Corporation of Chicago, IL, working on marine infrastructure projects throughout the United States and the Caribbean.
Tony joined J.F. Brennan Company in 1976 and became its President in 1991. Under Tony’s leadership the company expanded into commercial maritime transportation, hydraulic dredging, and large-scale commercial dive work and became a key service provider to the United States Army Corps of Engineers for many of the major rehabilitations of their Mississippi River locks and dams. Tony’s leadership has fostered the company’s growth and innovation, securing more than a half dozen patents, two of which revolutionized thin layer removal and the subaqueous capping of impacted sediments. These two patents allowed for the economical cleanup and closeout of many impacted sites throughout the Great Lakes region, including the remediation of the Fox River, the largest domestic riverine cleanup project to date. The firm has built a reputation for solving complex water resource challenges throughout the Great Lakes, as well as along the East, Gulf, and West Coasts.
J.F. Brennan Company is listed on The Engineering News Record’s Top 400 and reflecting its commitment to safety, employee development and satisfaction, prides itself on being recognized as a Consistently Great Place to Work-Certified™ company. Tony received the Western Dredging Association (WEDA) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 and the Marquette University Alumni National Professional Achievement Award in 2021. In 2019, Tony passed the day-to-day operations to his four sons, allowing the fourth generation to take the helm.
Paul and Anthony exemplify the characteristics of dedication, ingenuity and expertise that are hallmarks of The Moles’ Outstanding Achievement in Construction Awards.
