Representatives

Recommendation – Education – Networking

The DCA as a European association of the HDD industry has set itself the goal to appoint representatives to support its presence in the individual European countries.

As a representative the following is in the focus:

Contact person between the DCA and the domestic HDD industry.
Creation and maintenance of a country-specific register of HDD companies (and suppliers and clients, if applicable)
Advising the association on promotional activities, participation in interesting events, congresses, etc.
Supporting the public relations work of the association at domestic congresses, conferences and industry events, in which the DCA cannot actively participate (giving lectures, displaying promotional materials, contacting potential members, etc.)
Informing and advising the DCA on specific requirements, reservations, difficulties of local HDD companies in relation to the quality requirements and/or orientation of the DCA

Representatives of the DCA

Renzo Chirulli, Vermeer – Representative Italy

Renzo Chirulli from Vermeer has served as DCA’s representative in Italy since 2018. He has over 25 years of experience in the development, application and training of HDD and trenchless technologies as Application Specialist Pipeline – Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Brian Jorgensen, Ditch Witch EMEA – Representative Iberian Peninsula

Brian Jorgensen of Ditch Witch also joined DCA in 2018 as a representative on the Iberian Peninsula. He works as a European Sales Manager specializing in sales management, distribution networks and general management.

Scott Stone, Michels Corp. – Representative UK

Since the beginning of 2020, DCA’s interests have also been sustainably represented in the United Kingdom by board member Scott Stone as the new DCA representative.

Scott Stone began his career in HDD engineering in 1988 at Visser & Smit Reading & Bates (VSRB), where he worked as an engineer in HDD well control engineering. In 1991 he became project manager for HDD Maxi Rigs at VSRB before moving to Visser & Smit Hanab b.v. in 1995. From 1995 to 2015 he was involved in major HDD projects around the world. In 2015, Scott Stone moved from operations to commercial at Visser & Smit Hanab b.v. with a strong focus on the UK market (Volker Trenchless Solutions). He joined DCA member Michels Corp. in 2022. Scott Stone has served as a board member on the association’s board since the 2019 members’ meeting.

François Gandard, OPTIMUM – Representative France

During the annual congress 2021 in Bonn/Königswinter, it was decided that François Gandard from OPTIMUM would become the representative for France.

After studying Geotechnical & Civil Engineering, François began his career in trenchless technologies in 1998 at S.R.B.G. (Groupe Jean Lefebvre). From there, he joined Horizontal Drilling International (HDI Entrepose), where he successively held the positions of Project Leader, Design Office Manager, Project Director and finally Head of French Operations. In 2018, François and Alexandre Cambier founded OPTIMUM, a specialist trenchless engineering consultancy. As a senior geotechnical engineer, François has over 20 years’ experience working on trenchless jobsites and projects and is well versed in trenchless techniques, landfall projects and technical & geotechnical feasibility studies.

Benny Jensen, Dantonit A/S – DCA Representative for Scandinavia

Benny Jensen from DCA member Dantonit A/S has represented the association in Scandinavia since the end of January 2022. He started his professional career as a site manager at Superfos A/S. Subsequently, he founded and managed branch offices for various companies, such as Rask GmbH in Berlin in 1991 for Superfos A/S, Pankas A/S and Colas DK, where he worked as site manager/branch manager for five years. This was followed by the founding and management of the company MicroFalt for the former company StraSa AG and Börner AG (Bad Hersfeld), and then establishing the distribution of synthetic ester oils for the concrete industry (formwork oils) in the German-speaking part of Europe for the company Castrol Bricks & Cement (subsidiary of the company BP). Afterwards he started his own business with anti-graffiti products (removers and protection systems) of an Australian company and took over the distribution in Europe in the German-speaking and Scandinavian area, until he finally took over the complete product range with a partner in 2016, which he now produces himself and distributes worldwide under his own label.

Since 2000, he has continued to expand the distribution of the DANTONIT A/S product range. Dantonit A/S owns a large bentonite deposit in Denmark, mines and produces various products itself, including sealing products for landfill construction (base and top membranes), well construction, thermal products for geothermal energy and for heat dissipation from high-voltage cables, laid in protective pipes (HDD process).

Bartek Fratczak, Subsite Electronics – Representative for Eastern Europe

With Bartek Fratzcak, the DCA has gained the long-awaited representative for Eastern Europe. Bartek Fratzcak comes from Subsite Electronics, which has also been a member of the DCA since January 2024. After studying at the Warsaw University of Technology and the AGH University in Krakow, he was initially Sales Manager at American Augers from 2003 to 2006. He then worked for Parker Hannifin for six years. Since 2012 he has also been working for Subsite Electronics, a subdivision of Ditch Witch EMEA, as Sales Manager.

The DCA is also continuing its efforts to install DCA representatives in other European countries.