Dean Iwasa, PE, GE, Principal
When he joined what was once a small firm with one office on 353 Sacramento Street in San Francisco back in March 1990, Dean Iwasa, PE, GE, Principal, was the eighth employee at Treadwell & Rollo. Frank L. Rollo, Co-Founder and Principal Engineer, is the only person who has been with the firm longer than him. Consequently, Dean has been an integral part of the many successes of the firm as it has grown over the years including the opening of our Sacramento office.
“I grew up in Sacramento, so I’ve always had an interest in providing our services there,” Dean said. “It was an area that meshed well with us due to our engineering expertise and existing relationships with developers and architects.”
Now, more than five years after he opened the Sacramento location in 2005, Dean is still actively involved in ongoing business development efforts and he continues to manage the daily operations of the office.
As one of the eight principals in our geotechnical group, Dean’s project-related experience is based largely on geotechnical investigation, design, consultation, and construction observation services for high-rises, laboratories, industrial and residential buildings, roadways, landfills, bridge foundations and approaches, land and marina developments, and the seismic upgrade and repair of historic structures and earthquake-damaged buildings. Some of Dean’s most noteworthy projects have included engineering analyses and consultation related to the Treasure Island development in San Francisco, the America Center office development in San Jose, the Visa International buildings in Foster City, and the Towers on Capitol Mall in Sacramento.
Towers on Capitol Mall Rendering Courtesy of MulvannyG2 Architecture
With recent changes in the economy, Dean admits that unique challenges have certainly been presented—especially in Sacramento. The focus has shifted from predominantly performing geotechnical and earthquake engineering studies for high-rise buildings to diversifying and seeking out more challenging and complex projects that distinguish our firm amongst the competition. Dean attributes his recent achievements in Sacramento to the firm’s long-time reputation for excellence, and our ability to tap into markets for new developments with interesting and complex subsurface conditions, such as old landfills and quarries.
“Treadwell & Rollo has always been a great place to work with fun people, innovative engineers, good clients, and interesting projects,” Dean said.
Once voted by our staff as ‘most likely to be found in the office working on a weekend,’ Dean confesses that he doesn’t have much free time. But, outside of work, he does enjoy fixing up his house, spending time with his wife Lily, or playing on the Treadwell & Rollo employee softball team.
