Meet Our Team

MEI’s staff currently totals approximately 40 people, including two licensed professional geotechnical engineers (P.E.’s), one licensed professional structural engineer (P.E.) and Special Inspector (S.I.) and two licensed professional geologists (P.G.’s).  Our staff includes geologists, environmental scientists, and other safety-trained geological, technical and drilling personnel; ACI and nuclear gauge certified construction materials testing technicians; and FDOT Earthwork and Asphalt-certified construction materials testing technicians. We also have trained/experienced drillers, and a SWFWMD licensed water well contractor for well permitting, installation and abandonment. 

Michael T. Gagne, P.E. - President

Mr. Gagne holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Civil Engineering (Geotechnical/Structural Engineering) from the University of South Florida in 2000. He began his professional career with MEI in 2000 and obtained his Professional Engineering license in 2005. Working directly with Richard A. Mortensen, P.E. (founder of MEI) in all aspects of the business, he obtained invaluable guidance and experience for nearly 17 years. Mr. Gagne has both management and technical responsibilities in all types of geotechnical projects in central and western Florida.  He has been a member of project teams in both the public and private sectors involving land application of shallow and deep subsoil hydrogeologic investigations, shallow and deep foundation analyses and systems, residential and collector roadways, stormwater retention/detention pond systems, subsidence settlement and sinkhole evaluations. Mr. Gagne has been involved in projects where specific tasks included determination of aquifer characteristics, measurement of coefficient of permeability, and analysis of stormwater exfiltration or seepage. Mr. Gagne has been the responsible engineer for the design and analysis of highway and reservoir embankments, in addition to building foundation investigations for residential, commercial and industrial facilities, elevated and ground storage tanks, multi-story commercial and office structures, and major roadway bridges. Mr. Gagne has significant experience and has been in the responsible charge of many small and large scale land development projects from the DRI phase through construction.  These generally include all different aspects of geotechnical engineering in support of the project owner, planner, civil engineer, and contractor.

Kevin D. Mathewson, P.E. - Vice President

Mr. Mathewson holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Civil Engineering (Geotechnical/Transportation Engineering) from the University of South Florida in 2004. He began his professional career with MEI in 2004, after a year-long internship with MEI, and obtained his Professional Engineering license in 2008.  Mr. Mathewson manages the daily operations of the Construction Materials Testing Department.  He has significant experience in concrete, various types of road base, asphalt and all aspects of soils testing. Mr. Mathewson has been involved in and completed the construction materials testing services for numerous large-scale residential communities and commercial developments throughout the Tampa Bay area. These projects included extensive roadway/pavement and utility construction materials testing, reporting and coordination with governing agencies. Mr. Mathewson has been involved in several major roadway projects throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Manatee Counties. He also coordinates all testing related to residential building pads and prepares reports in accordance with F.H.A. Data Sheet 79G. Through his employment with MEI, he has gained extensive knowledge of FDOT and county/city standards and specifications. Mr. Mathewson is also MEI’s network administrator.

ROBERT VAN WAGNER, p.E., S.I. - SENIOR PROJECT ENGINEER

Mr. Wagner holds a Bachelors of Science (B.S.) in Civil Engineering (Structural Engineering) from the University of South Florida in 2000.  In 2005 he received his Professional Engineering (P.E.) License for the State of Florida and in 2019 he received his Special Inspectors (S.I.) License for the State of Florida.  He began his work as an Engineer at the University of South Florida researching Concrete Materials and Deep Foundation Design/Testing.  Subsequently he has gone on to do Structural Engineering work on new Ground Up and Renovations of Residential Plan Communities, Residential Custom Homes, Residential Apartments, Stand Alone Commercial, Commercial Retail Plazas, Low Rise Structures, Mid Rise Structures, and Government Buildings.  He has worked on Structural Design Projects throughout most of the Southern States in addition to North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Utah and Virginia.  Mr. Wagner has been involved with performing Special Inspections/Threshold Inspections through out the State of Florida since 2008.  His design and inspection experience includes wood framed, masonry, concrete, post-tensioned concrete, steel, aluminum, pre-engineered steel, pre-engineered concrete, pre-engineered wood, cold-formed metal stud and other materials.

Theodore R. Fussell, P.G. - Vice President

Mr. Fussell has been with MEI since 1988. He holds a B.S. degree in Geology from the University of South Florida. He has worked mostly as a field geologist, but has also written geological reports and drafted and prepared geological maps and profiles.  In addition, he has experience in general building construction.  His duties include supervision of the drilling and sampling operations of exploration crews.  He has been responsible for maintaining field drilling logs including drilling data, sample description, pertinent site data and sampling techniques of the crew under his charge.  He has worked closely with project engineers on site geology for the preparation of engineering reports.  Throughout his employment history, Mr. Fussell has compiled extensive experience in subsurface exploration on numerous projects throughout the southeastern United States.  This experience has been gained on over 300 job sites, both in conventional land drilling and offshore in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. As a Senior Geologist, Mr. Fussell is responsible for coordinating the field activities for each environmental/contamination assessment project.  His responsibilities include performing initial site reconnaissance, coordinating drilling operations in the field, supervising well installations, permitting all wells and assessing geology and hydrogeology of each site.  Mr. Fussell also has the responsibility of site safety supervisor on contamination assessment projects.

Cary M. Richardson, P.G. - Project Manager

Mr. Richardson holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of South Florida in 2000 with a minor in Geology. He began his career with MEI in 2000 after working as an intern while studying at USF. He obtained his Professional Geologist license in 2016. He is a Florida licensed water well contractor since 2005. Mr. Richardson manages and coordinates all MEI field activities for the drilling department. He has coordinated and conducted: numerous groundwater studies, related to both shallow aquifer groundwater and deep Floridian aquifer groundwater, for large tracts of land;  numerous double ring infiltration (DRIT) tests per ASTM standards; slug tests in shallow piezometers; numerous soil borings using Standard Penetration Test (SPT) procedures per ASTM standards; deep solid rock/limestone coring using standard core barrel methods; numerous soil boring programs for various roadway projects using FDOT standards/protocols; numerous field operations for ground subsidence/sinkhole studies. Mr. Richardson has also collected numerous soil samples using a variety of techniques (hand augers, split spoons, solid flight augers, hollow stem augers, Shelby tubes, and test pits). He is trained in and used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) equipment to investigate subsurface anomalies. He has utilized and interpreted GPR data for the purpose of determining potential subsurface anomalies, and utilized and evaluated available topographic maps, historical aerial photographs, hydrologic maps, and local soil maps for the purpose of determining historical uses of the site, historical filling/dredging/excavating of the site, historical wetlands, and historical alterations of the site topography/surface features. He has analyzed and used down-hole geophysical logs (caliper and gamma logs) to develop proper plans to abandon large diameter deep agricultural wells per Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) rules and regulations. He has designed, coordinated and conducted plans to properly abandon numerous large diameter deep agricultural wells per SWFMWD rules and regulations, and drilled numerous shallow and deep aquifer monitoring wells using available geologic data (soil boring logs).

Patrick W. Vincent - Project Manager/Safety Coordinator

Mr. Vincent has been employed by MEI since 1989. Since 2003, he has managed the daily operations for all Ground Subsidence Studies and Subsurface Compaction Grouting/Ground Modification activities, and has also managed all Water Use Permitting (WUP) services since 2006.  Mr. Vincent has experience and is knowledgeable in all aspects of the company’s business, including geotechnical services, hydrogeologic services and construction materials testing services.  Mr. Vincent, while working under the direction of the Professional Engineer, provides services including coordination and providing updates to the client, coordination and scheduling projects with the contractor, coordination with the project engineer/geologist, classification of soil samples, assigning laboratory testing on recovered soil samples, reviewing drafting data (soil profiles, site plans, maps, etc.). preparing draft of summary report for review by the Professional Engineer. Mr. Vincent is also MEI’s safety coordinator.

James I. Beyea - Construction Materials Testing Laboratory Manager

Mr. Beyea began his career with MEI in 2004 as a construction materials testing technician, performing County and FDOT required field testing for numerous residential and roadway projects. He quickly proved his abilities in the construction materials testing field and was promoted to project manager and CMT lab manager. Since 2005, Mr. Beyea has managed the daily operations of our in-house full service construction materials testing laboratory. He supervises and trains all laboratory technicians, and performs/coordinates calibrations, in-house and 3rd party verification, maintenance, and repair of laboratory equipment. Mr. Beyea reviews all laboratory testing results and prepares all reports for review by project engineers. He has extensive knowledge of construction materials and ASTM standards for laboratory testing.

Greg K. Kosanke - Project Manager

Mr. Kosanke began his career with MEI in 2001, starting as a construction materials testing technician and quickly advancing to a senior technician role. Mr. Kosanke is well versed in all aspects of residential, commercial, and major roadway construction materials testing. He has extensive knowledge of soils and construction materials including asphalt, various types of road base, and concrete. Mr. Kosanke is fluent in ASTM standards, as well as FDOT/county requirements and specifications, and holds FDOT/ACI accreditations in soils, asphalt and concrete testing. Mr. Kosanke coordinates construction materials testing field work and schedules field technicians for numerous projects.

Donnie Hausey - Drafting Manager

Mr. Hausey began his career with MEI in 2001 as a drafting technician. He is a graduate of ITT Technical Institute and was formerly in the United States Air Force. He currently manages MEI’s drafting department. Mr. Hausey is highly skilled in CAD and experienced in the latest version of AutoCAD; he provides an essential role in our report preparation and quality.

sabra winning - Office Manager

Ms. Winning began with MEI in 2017 as an administrative assistant. She quickly proved her organizational skills and has been responsible for MEI’s office administration, human resources and bookkeeping since 2018. Ms. Winning also negotiates all of MEI's communication contracts and insurance programs.