(HOUSTON) — Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. (GLDD) announced Thursday that Chief Operating Officer David Simonelli will retire effective Sept. 16. After his retirement, he will provide consulting services to the company.
Simonelli, who has spent 44 years with GLDD, became the president of the company’s Dredging Division in 2010 and chief operating officer in 2018. His commitment to project and employee safety, environmental protection and successful project completion has contributed significantly to the company’s record years of profitability and project successes.
In addition to his contributions to the achievements of GLDD, he has been recognized for his leadership, innovation and extensive contributions to the dredging industry. The incident- and injury-free journey Simonelli and former CEO Doug Mackie began in 2005 transformed the safety culture of the company and elevated the bar for safe operations.
“Dave Simonelli’s rise through the company’s ranks has demonstrated his dedication to Great Lakes and all of our employees,” said Lasse Petterson, president and CEO. “He is well known for tackling the toughest projects, the most challenging issues, and doing so with great success. One of Simonelli’s key passions has been to assure that the bull’s-eye culture remains a key foundation of the company and as such, he has been a mentor and advisor to several generations of colleagues at Great Lakes who will now build on his legacy for the future.
“We thank him for his many years of service and know that his retirement is well deserved,” Petterson continued. “We look forward to our continued association with Dave in a different capacity as we complete the transition plan which has been in progress and which will entail an operating structure that best maximizes our growth in the market and in the dredging and offshore wind industries.”
– Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp.
