Team | Roaring Fork Engineering

Richard Goulding, P.E., M.B.A.

President, Owner and Principal

Richard Goulding has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley for over 18 years and founded RFE in 2012. In addition to a broad base of engineering knowledge and expertise, Richard brings with him a solid reputation in the area and established relationships within the Aspen development community. Richard earned his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at University Cork College and has been a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado since 2005. Richard also completed his Masters of Business Administration through the University of Wyoming.

In his role as the Founder and a Principal at RFE he has led the design of multiple infrastructure projects for the City of Aspen Engineering & Water Departments, Pitkin County, the Town of Carbondale, Aspen Consolidated Sanitation District and the Aspen Skiing Company. He oversaw the construction of many of these projects and provided inspection oversight on a number of projects designed by other engineers.

In addition to his RFE work, Richard has five years of experience with the City of Aspen Engineering Department and seven years at one of the largest engineering firms on the Western Slope. Richard gained considerable experience in municipal work during those years and represented several municipalities within the Western Slope. While at the City of Aspen, Richard’s primary focus was on capital improvement projects and right-of-way management. During his time at another engineering firm, Richard was the deputy Town Engineer for Palisade, Snowmass and Starwood. He undertook and completed several important design projects for the Mid Valley Metro District, the City of Glenwood Springs, and historic Redstone.

During his career in the Roaring Fork Valley, Richard has formed excellent professional and personal relationships with colleagues at municipal and state government agencies. He also maintains strong working relationships with local utility providers. Richard’s areas of expertise include water, utility, storm water design, and construction administration.

Civil and Environmental Engineering, University College Cork (1999)
Master of Business Administration, University of Wyoming (2013)
Professional Engineer, Colorado (2005)

Adam Racette, P.E.

Vice President, Owner and Principal

adamr@rfeng.biz

Adam has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley for over 11 years and has over 15 years of experience. His diverse background includes planning, engineering design, and construction management. Adam earned his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at Michigan State University and has been a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado since 2009.

His projects include lift stations, water distribution systems, collection system design, rehabilitation projects, pump stations, water treatment systems, irrigation systems, wastewater treatment plants, storm water, utility infrastructure, grading, hydraulics and development projects. Adam excels at problem-solving and providing innovative designs for unique engineering challenges. Adam’s experience as a consultant and city engineer provides him with a well-rounded perspective.

Adam gained considerable design experience working on projects for the City of Aspen, City of Rifle, Town of Silt, Town of New Castle, City of Glenwood Springs, Roaring Fork Water and Sanitation District, Mid Valley Metropolitan District, Town of Carbondale, City of Grand Junction, Town of Salida and many more. Adam’s main focus is water and wastewater distribution, conveyance and treatment. Adam also has an extensive background in construction administration and observation.

Adam’s time at the City of Aspen and City of East Lansing gave him a greater understanding of the competing municipal challenges that face client’s today. Not only are there shrinking budgets and constantly changing political climates, but also the need to balance the responsibility of maintaining existing infrastructure and effectively planning for the future. Adam’s focus is meeting the current and future needs of a community within their budget.

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Michigan State University (2002)
Professional Engineer, Colorado (2009)

Danny Stewart, P.E.

Vice President, Owner and Principal

dannys@rfeng.biz

Danny is a lifelong Western Colorado Native and has practiced as a consulting engineer in the Roaring Fork Valley for over a decade. Danny and his family live the culture of the community every day and value the opportunities it provides both in business and recreation. When Danny joined RFE in early 2017, he saw a great opportunity to work more efficiently and creatively on projects. “The relationships with my clients and the quality of my designs are what I value most about my career.” Danny strives to build a successful business and use his knowledge in civil engineering to better the communities of the Roaring Fork Valley.

Danny has designed and managed a variety of projects for municipalities, districts, private developers, and state and county governments. His expertise covers a wide range of civil engineering from streets and highways to utility infrastructure to hydraulics and flood routing. Project management training and years of project management experience has given him the skills needed to keep his projects on budget and on schedule. Danny has served as a field engineering inspector and provided construction support and inspection for many projects. Danny’s past construction experience prior to his engineering career provides unique knowledge he uses in constructability reviews and material selections in his designs.

“The relationships with my clients and the quality of my designs are what I value most about my career.”

Bachelor’s of Science Civil Engineering, University of Wyoming (2007)
Professional Engineer, Colorado (2012)

Leslie Fischbeck

Chief Operations Officer

leslief@rfeng.biz

With over 15 years’ experience with national and international energy and development projects and over a decade in operations management, Leslie joined the RFE team in 2017 as the Chief Operations Officer. She leads the operations and organizational aspects of RFE, ensuring proper resource allocation for the successful and timely completion of RFE’s engineering projects in water resources, environmental, development, and construction management & inspection. Under her leadership, she coordinates with the company principals to establish systems and processes, identify efficiencies, ensure quality control, and develop strategic plans to support the growth of RFE as one of the premier and most experienced civil engineering firms in the Valley. In addition, Leslie’s financial management of RFE’s operations ensures accurate and timely invoicing as well as the preparation of monthly reports and oversight of project budgeting.

Leslie oversees the RFE office in Carbondale, including a full suite of P.E.s and E.I.T.s. to ensure that clients’ projects are properly staffed. With prior operations and project management experience in her previous consulting job for an international environmental consulting firm, Leslie completed dozens of projects on time and within budget, managing staff to assemble the best teams and resources available to meet project-specific needs; coordinating directly with clients, their attorneys, and local, state, and federal agencies, including designated lead and cooperating agencies. She develops project schedules; tracks permitting efforts; and ensures QA/QC reviews for various documents. Her contract management experience, ranging from small to large complex projects, allows her to work directly with the RFE project managers and staff to ensure that budgets, schedules, reporting, and any other contractual obligations are adhered to. As needed to successfully complete task assignments, Leslie secures specialty or local subcontractors through a competitive bid process and manages/oversees their work to ensure timely and cost-effective performance. By providing hands-on subcontractor management and efficient team coordination, she ensures that each client receives the “best value” project team with minimal scheduling and task concerns.

Leslie has over 15 years’ of project management experience providing consulting support for domestic and international projects, including utility and energy projects (pipelines, electric transmission, and solar), stormwater and wastewater projects, hazardous waste assessments, and remedial investigations. Her experience encompasses federal and state certification, permitting, natural resource evaluation, field surveys, contamination assessments, environmental compliance monitoring during construction, agency coordination and consultation, and public/stakeholder involvement.

Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies in Geology, Washington & Lee University (2002)

Tyler Stevens, P.E.

Project Engineer

tylers@rfeng.biz

Tyler grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley and joined RFE in 2013. He graduated from Colorado University with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering, specializing in Water Resources. Tyler is a Professional Engineer has designed residential, commercial and government developments within the City of Aspen. Tyler has worked on designs for the City of Aspen replacing, relocating and upgrading their water infrastructure.

Tyler has designed and inspected water line installations per the request of the City of Aspen. Tyler spent a significant number of hours designing, inspecting, observing, and documenting water main installations for Roaring Fork Road, American Lane, Main Street, South Aspen Street and Aspen Club developments. Some highlights include the relocation of a 20-inch water feed line for the City and numerous pressure tests and disinfection procedures. The Main Street water line installation for the new Police Department took place within the Highway 82 CDOT Right of Way, adding more scrutiny to the accuracy of the design and installation.

Prior to joining RFE, Tyler worked as a Project Coordinator and is very familiar with modern contracting and construction techniques. He spent time in the field laboring and operating, experiencing civil development first hand. He is also highly skilled in the use of engineering software including Excel, VBA, MatLab, EPANET, ArugusOne and AutoCad.

Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Engineering Specializing in Water Resource Management and Treatment, University of Colorado, Boulder (2012)
Professional Engineer, Colorado
CDOT Storm Water Inspector

Vince Tomczak, P.E.

Design Engineer

vincentt@rfeng.biz

Vince joined RFE in 2016 as a design engineer and is a graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Civil Engineering. As a Professional Engineer his expertise in the Roaring Fork Valley lies in private development projects (residential and recreational sites), and includes roadway, extensive irrigation, drainage, and all associated utility design. Implementing the Aspen URMP, Vince has coordinated with Architects, Landscape Architects, and Contractors to apply low impact designs from conceptual through construction level drawings.

Prior to joining RFE, Vince worked for a large international design firm focusing his design work on public transit, roadway, and drainage for many state DOT projects (including California, Colorado, Michigan, Montana, Utah, and Washington). Vince designed horizontal alignments, vertical profiles, and other cross-sectional improvements along these roadways following the strict rules, regulations, and standards set by each state DOT and has familiarity with AASHTO standards for highway and street design. Additionally, Vince specialized in bus rapid transit design (BRT) for growing urban areas of the country for projects that included implementation of “complete streets” in order to provide a safe method of transportation for pedestrians, bicyclists, vehicles, and public transit services.

Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering, Michigan State University (2014)
Professional Engineer, Utah

Maggie McHugh, P.E.

Project Engineer

maggiem@rfeng.biz

Maggie McHugh has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley since 2017 working as a consultant engineer. Maggie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering at Ohio State University and her Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from University of Colorado Boulder. Maggie is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado.

Maggie has three and half a years of experience as a consultant engineer designing potable water systems ranging in size and complexity from small rural homeowner associations to large municipal plants. Maggie’s projects include designing booster pump stations, water treatment facilities, chemical feed systems, and water distribution systems. Maggie actively works with clients to procure funding for projects, and has developed professional relationships across several major state funding agencies to assure success for her clients.

Maggie’s experience in the Roaring Fork Valley has given her an understanding of the challenges our rural communities face with increased regulations, limited budgets, and rapidly changing population and utility demands. Maggie is committed to finding practical solutions for all her clients to meet their needs now and in the future.

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering, Ohio State University (2015)
Master of Science in Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder (2017)
Professional Engineer, Colorado (2020)

Drew Wharton, E.I.T.

Design Engineer

dreww@rfeng.biz

Drew joined RFE in 2017 and is registered in Colorado as an Engineer in Training (E.I.T.). Drew’s work focuses on large scale commercial, industrial, and residential projects within the Roaring Fork Valley for Habitat for Humanity, the City of Aspen, and the Town of Carbondale.

Since joining RFE, Drew has been the design engineer for the Basalt Vista Housing with Habitat for Humanity, Aspen Affordable Housing, Rio Grande Place Utilities and City Hall, including roadway and utility design, with construction commencing in the summer of 2018. Within the City of Aspen, Drew has designed improvements for major sanitary sewer lines within the city as well as three separate housing projects ranging from eight to sixteen units, each involving roadway and utility design to accommodate the new construction. Drew has conducted hydraulic studies for each site and designed drainage systems to accommodate the new development while meeting city standards.

Prior to joining the RFE team, Drew spent two years working for a large civil engineering and surveying firm located in Atlanta, Georgia. Working with state and local governing bodies, Drew designed new development and redevelopment projects across the Southeast for large scale commercial, industrial, and residential sites. He coordinated with private developers and architects to create functional and cost-effective designs.

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Kennesaw State University (2015) (formerly Southern Polytechnic State University)
Engineer-in-Training

Maverick Woodworth, E.I.T.

Design Engineer

maverickw@rfeng.biz

Maverick joined the RFE team in 2020 as a Design Engineer. He grew up in Loveland, Colorado and graduated from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, receiving a degree in Civil Engineering. With Roaring Fork Engineering, Maverick has worked on land development projects in Aspen and Pitkin County for private developers as well as public works projects for the Town of Vail.

Prior to joining RFE, Maverick spent a year and a half working in heavy civil construction with Kiewit throughout the Midwestern USA in both downtown St. Louis, Missouri and Paducah, Kentucky. Maverick worked both as an Office Engineer estimating a tunnel rehabilitation project serving a light rail alignment as well as a Civil Field Engineer during the construction of a new water treatment facility for an existing coal plant. This experience has familiarized Maverick with the world of construction and estimating and has been an aid to his work as a Design Engineer. He also has experience engineering and surveying in the Estes Valley in and surrounding Estes Park, Colorado, working with a variety of clients including local contractors, governments, and private developers. Maverick has performed structural inspections and developed site plans and elevation certificates for properties at risk of flooding from waterways. He is familiar with a wide range of engineering/construction software including AutoCAD Civil 3D, Bluebeam, Trimble and more.

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Colorado State University (2017)
Engineer-in-Training

Jacqui Gossard

Design Engineer

jacquig@rfeng.biz

Jacqui joined the RFE team in 2020 and is a graduate of Cornell University, receiving degrees in Environmental Engineering (Master of Engineering) and Biological Engineering (Bachelor of Science). Jacqui’s passions are in stormwater, groundwater, and wastewater management as well as land management. For homes in the Roaring Fork Valley, Jacqui has performed grading and drainage, fire truck turnarounds, and road assemblies related to ditch designs. Her experience also includes the development of a stormwater infrastructure evaluation model using ArcGIS and TR-55 to calculate culvert capacity. In addition, she has extracted and analyzed soil samples (soil borings) as well as created surface water and soil sampling plans with remediation strategies for agricultural sites. Jacqui is trained in invasive species removal, forest and garden management practices, identification and removal of diseased trees, and prepared sustainability report and designs (including solar, HVAC, and location needs) for self-sustaining “tiny homes”.

Masters of Engineering in Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering, Cornell University

Kona

Office Pup and Treats-E-O

Kona has enjoyed roaming the Valley for over a decade, seeking adventures in the snow each winter and relaxing in the rivers during the summer. She’s on clean-up crew at the office, sure to find any stray crumb or snack that was forgotten. She enjoys lounging in the sun by the door, ready to greet any RFE visitor with a wagging tail.