Key People

Steve Sanders, P.E., G.E. – President, Principal Engineer

MS, Civil Engineering (Geotechnical), U.C. Berkeley
BS, Civil Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
BS, Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines

Mr. Sanders is the founder and principal engineer at SAGE. He has over 23 years of professional geotechnical, civil, and structural engineering experience, with an emphasis on water resources and infrastructure projects. Mr. Sanders has performed numerous geotechnical investigations and provided engineering design services and/or principal oversight for dams, levees, water storage/conveyance structures, landslide stabilization systems, shoreline protection structures, earth retaining structures, and shallow/deep foundations. He has directed numerous water-related engineering projects for public agencies, including Placer County Water Agency, Contra Costa Water District, County of Sacramento Department of Water Resources, Turlock Irrigation District, and others. Mr. Sanders has acted as an expert technical reviewer, and has provided expert testimony for soil-related disputes and litigation. He is a registered professional engineer in California, Nevada, Washington, Colorado, and Arizona.

Darren Mack, P.E., G.E. – Associate Engineer, Geotechnical Lead

MS, Civil Engineering (Geotechnical), U.C. Berkeley
BS, Civil Engineering, U.C. Davis

Mr. Mack has 12 years of professional experience in the geotechnical engineering field. He has provided geotechnical investigation, construction review and oversight, and project management for hundreds of public and private sector projects, including new/existing levee segments, hydropower facilities, roadway expansions, canal reconstruction, and single to multi-story building foundations. Mr. Mack is highly experienced in a wide variety of difficult ground conditions, from hard and strong rock to weak liquefiable soils. His technical areas of expertise includes geotechnical exploration program management; soil movement potential, including consolidation and expansive/compressible soil conditions; slope stability analysis; seepage analysis; capacity and estimated settlement for shallow and deep foundation systems; and evaluation of liquefaction and other seismic hazards.

Bill Millhone, P.E. – Associate Engineer, Structural-Civil Lead

BS, Civil Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Mr. Millhone has 11 years of professional experience in geotechnical and structural engineering on projects throughout California and Nevada. He has acted as lead structural designer on numerous hydraulic structures, slope stabilization, earth retention, shoreline protection, and temporary/permanent shoring projects. His project experience includes geostructural design of soil nail and tieback walls, temporary shoring, sheet pile cofferdams, mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls, culverts, jacking slabs, flexible debris flow barriers, landslide stabilization systems, erosion mitigation walls, and shoreline protection walls.

Drew Kennedy, P.G., C.E.G. – Associate Engineering Geologist, Geology Lead

MS, Applied Geosciences, San Francisco State University
BA, Earth Sciences, U.C. Santa Cruz

Mr. Kennedy has 19 years of professional experience in engineering geology, and has evaluated geologic and seismic hazards for hundreds of public and private sector projects throughout California. These projects have required detailed geologic mapping, rock mass characterization, rockfall assessment, landslide evaluation, and/or earthquake fault study. Mr. Kennedy has been involved with numerous water resources projects, ranging from fault studies for proposed dams to borrow site assessments, outlet tunnel evaluations, and dam foundation investigations. In addition, Mr. Kennedy has extensive project management experience and has successfully guided numerous projects through site characterization, preparation of plans and specifications, and construction.

Tom Sell, P.E. – Senior Engineer & Engineering Manager

MS, Engineering Management, Drexel University
BS, Civil Engineering, California State University, Sacramento

Mr. Sell has 11 years of professional experience in civil/structural engineering design, project management, and construction observation for roadways, foundations, pipelines, earth retention structures, slope stabilization systems, and bridge abutments throughout California and Nevada. He has worked effectively with clientele in both the public and private sectors, including federal, state, and county agencies; commercial and residential developers; architectural and engineering consultants; general and specialty contractors; insurance agencies; and individual homeowners. Mr. Sell’s structural design experience includes environmental structures (wastewater treatment plant concrete basins, concrete fish ladders, and sheet pile weirs), retaining walls, slope stabilization systems, concrete storm drain structures, bridge abutments, and landscape features.

Nate Manley, P.G. – Project Geologist

MS, Geology, California State University, Sacramento
BS, Geology, Humboldt State University

Mr. Manley has over eight years of experience in geologic mapping, slope stability analysis, rockfall hazard mitigation, and environmental hazard assessments. He has completed multiple geologic research projects with special emphasis on structural geology, slope instability, and fluvial geomorphology in dissected mountain and coastal terrains. His technical experience includes extensive field mapping across northern California and Nevada, geotechnical field investigations and assessments, fault trench mapping, stability analysis of rock slopes, and geologic assessment of structural trends utilizing GIS technology. Mr. Manley is also a nationally certified rope access technician with abundant experience in accessing and investigating geologic conditions in steep and/or vertical terrain.

Travis Koch, P.E. – Project Engineer