Michael b. phipps

Principal Engineering Geologist

Registration

Registered Geologist in California, RG 5748

Registered Engineering Geologist in California, CEG 1832

Education

B.S. Geological Sciences: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 1987

Graduate-level coursework in Hydrology, California State University, Northridge, 1988-1989, 1992

Professional History

Principal Engineering Geologist, October, 2008-Present; Cotton, Shires & Associates, Inc., Camarillo, California.

Principal Geologist, 2004-2008; Geolabs-Westlake Village, Westlake Village, California.

Principal Geologist to Vice President of Operations and Branch Manager, 1998-2004; Bing Yen & Associates, Inc. (subsidiary of ATC Group Services Inc.), Camarillo and Irvine Offices, California.

Senior Project Geologist, 1996-1997; Leighton and Associates, Inc., Westlake Village, California.

Senior Project Geologist and Manager of Geolgical Services, 1993-1996; Bing Yen & Associates, Inc., Irvine, California.

Staff to Project Geologist, 1986-1993; Slosson & Associates, Van Nuys, California.

Professional Experience

Mr. Phipps has over 22 years of diverse technical, project management, operations management and executive experience in the geotechnical industry in southern California. His technical expertise includes engineering geological site characterization studies, technical/peer review for municipalities, geotechnical construction observation and monitoring, litigation support and expert witness testimony, and geotechnical evaluation and remediation of landslides and other geologic hazards.

In 1998 Mr. Phipps opened the Camarillo (Ventura County) Office of Bing Yen & Associates, Inc., a subsidiary of ATC Group Services Inc., with 3 employees and a handful of existing clients. Through implementation of strategic marketing and business development, growth of niche service sectors, and selective hiring, the operation steadily grew under his leadership to its peak level of approximately $2 million/year in revenue in 2003, with approximately 20 employees and a full-service geotechnical laboratory. He expanded the company’s municipal/public works services to approximately 75% of revenues, with the remainder coming from a variety of private sector clients and expert witness work. As Branch Manager, he was responsible for operational profit/loss, productivity, and business development, while maintaining his own chargeability with technical work at approximately 20%. At the executive level he has overseen operations at multiple branch offices, inclusive of fiscal, business development, and technical oversight responsibilities.

Mr. Phipps’ representative technical experience includes geotechnical investigation and construction monitoring of earthfill dams; investigation of tunnel outfall alignments and water storage facilities; geologic mapping, assessment and grading/construction observation for mass-graded residential, commercial and industrial developments in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties; fault hazard investigations; landslide and embankment failure investigation, instrumentation, and remediation; geotechnical investigations for numerous types of structures involving both shallow and deep foundations; geotechnical distress evaluations and litigation-related forensic studies, including expert witness testimony; geotechnical due-diligence, development siting and feasibility studies; groundwater development studies; water quality evaluations; Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments; oil well abandonment; and preparation of geotechnical sections of Environmental Impact Reports. He has successfully managed projects with budgets exceeding $500,000.

Mr. Phipps has performed as City Geologist or Engineering Geological Reviewer for a large number of southern California cities. He is well-versed in excavation, grading, and building code practices, principles and regulations, especially as they relate to engineering geology and hillside development. He has assisted in the development and review of geotechnical guidelines and proposed code changes for several municipalities, and has also assisted several cities with obtaining disaster-related FEMA funding.

Professional Affiliations

American Society of Civil Engineer

Association of Engineering and Environmental Geologists

Coast Geological Society

Selected Publications

Inverse Condemnation: How to Win; How to Keep the Damages Down, co-presented with G. Fisher, C. Schweikhard, and L. Sommer, Public Agency Risk Managers Association Annual Meeting, Monterey, California, 2001, and six other venues.

The City of Agoura Hills Review Process: A Case History of the Establishment of Guidelines to Expedite the Preparation and Review Process of Engineering Geology Reports, co-authored with T.L. Slosson in Proceedings of the Association of Engineering Geologists 35th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, California, 1992.

An Example of Sequential Land Use Necessitating Mitigation: Well Abandonment in the Kraemer Oil Field, Yorba Linda, California, co-authored with J. E. Slosson and E.C. Sprotte, in Proceedings of the Association of Engineering Geologists 34th Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, 1991.

Use of Multiple Working Hypotheses and Multiple Geologic/Geophysical Technologies to Analyze a Complex Landslide, co-authored with D.D. Crowther, T.L. Slosson and J.E. Slosson in Proceedings of the 27th Symposium on Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Engineering, Logan, Utah, 1991.

Application of Oil Well Technology and Continuous Coring to Landslide Investigation, co-authored with A.B. Esmilla and J.E. Slosson in Geology of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and San Pedro Bay, Volume and Guidebook, Pacific Section AAPG and SEPM, 1987.