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- Richard LaFond, P.E., Director, Technical Services Center
Richard LaFond, P.E.
Director, Technical Services Center
Richard (Dick) LaFond was named as the Director of the Technical Service Center for the Bureau of Reclamation on September 1, 2020. The Technical Service Center (TSC), located in Denver Colorado, provides innovative solutions to water and power resource issues. As Director, LaFond is responsible for providing direction for all functions within the TSC and coordinating Reclamation's technical capabilities to sustain its water and power facilities.
He started his Reclamation career in the Spillway and Outlet Works Section of the Assistant Commissioner Engineering and Research Center in 1979. After a couple of years, which included a memorable construction rotation assignment to Island Park Dam, he returned to the East Coast to work in the private sector on low head hydroelectric projects in Maine. In 1983, he rejoined the Assistant Commissioner Engineering and Research Center as a structural engineer in the Plant Structures Branch where he worked on several pumping plants in the Central Arizona and Oroville-Tonasket projects.
During the 1994 transition to the Technical Service Center, LaFond moved to the Structural Analysis Group to provide project management and technical support services for dam safety projects. Dick has worked on a broad variety of water resource projects ranging from pumping plants and powerplants, to dam safety evaluations and modifications, and temperature control devices. He was the TSC team leader and lead structural engineer for the Yakima Basin River Storage Study, Horse Mesa Dam Safety of Dams Modification, Upper Stillwater Dam Rehabilitation, and Shasta Temperature Control Device.
In 2004, Dick became Manager of the Plant Structures Group where he managed a group of civil, structural, and environmental engineers, architects, and technicians to develop designs and drawings for pumping plants, powerplants, water treatment facilities, and other structures.
LaFond has been a Civil Engineering Division Chief in the Technical Service Center since 2009 where he has provided leadership over a wide array of civil engineering services including: design and analysis of concrete dams, spillways and outlet works, water conveyance systems, roads and bridges, powerplants, pumping plants, water and wastewater treatment facilities; as well as cost estimating and construction management services, and materials engineering and research.
LaFond is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado. He was awarded the Superior Service Award in 2008.
Updated: September 1, 2020
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