Council members and Executive board
Composition of the Foundation Council
Eng. Abdullah Al-Mogbel
ITACET Foundation Founder President
H.E. Eng. Abdullah Al-Mogbel graduated from the Saudi University of Petroleum and Minerals in 1978, with a degree in civil engineering. He began his prestigious career in the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Communication. From 2012-2014 he was the Mayor of Riyadh and from 2014 to 2016 was the Minister of Transport, working on some of Saudi Arabia’s largest infrastructure projects.
Michel Deffayet
ITACET Foundation President
Michel Deffayet is an engineer graduate from the French National School of Public Works and the French National School of Bridges and Roads. He started his career in the field of underground works with an involvement in many French road tunnel projects. In 1995, he became the Head of the Environment and Infrastructure Engineering Department of […]
Martin Herrenknecht
ITACET Foundation Vice President
Martin Herrenknecht is the founder of Herrenknecht AG. After completing his degree, he began his career as a design engineer in Switzerland. This was followed by several positions as project and design engineering manager in Canada and Germany. In 1971 he moved back Switzerland and became director of the mechanical engineering service at the Seelisberg Tunnel. In 1975 he founded the Martin Herrenknecht Engineering Service Company, then in 1977 the limited company Herrenknecht GmbH, where he remained Managing Director until it became a stock
Arnold Dix
ITA President
He initiated and then Tutored the New FIDIC - ITA Underground Works form of Contract, conducts or appears on Alternative Dispute Resolution Boards, Mediations and Arbitrations and investigates tunnel disasters around the world. He is a member of the British Institute of Investigators. Arnold has served on the committees and working groups of the ITA, FIDIC, PIARC and NFPA for decades. He is active on all continents, a member of the specialist Underground Works Chambers, a member of the Victorian Bar and is a visiting Professor of Engineering (tunnels) Tokyo City University.
Felix Amberg
ITACET Foundation Secretary and Treasurer
Felix Amberg (born 1957) is president and founder of the CUC Foundation and CUC Ltd - International Centre for Geotechnics and Underground Construction.
After completing his degree, Felix Amberg began his career as assistant in the Institute for Hydrology and Water Resources at the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland. This was followed by several positions, some lasting several years, as construction site manager and project engineer.
Piergiorgio Grasso
ITACET Foundation Council Member
Piergiorgio Grasso is the ITACET Foundation Vice President. He graduated from the ‘Politecnico di Torino’ in Italy with a degree in civil engineering. He began his engineering career in 1975 and is the founder and president of Geodata, a consultancy firm specialised in the design and management of underground works, both in urban environments and […]
Danny Elias Aoun
ITACET Foundation Council Member
Danny Aoun A graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with Bachelor and Master of Engineering degrees in civil engineering, Danny Aoun is a prominent member of international design consultancy Dar Al-Handasah (Shair and Partners), serving as the firm’s Director of Operations for Saudi Arabia and Senegal. In this capacity, he is responsible for building […]
Executive Board
Robert Galler
ITA-CET Committee Chairman
Robert Galler is a Professor at the Montanuniversity Leoben in Austria and head of the large scale underground research-, development-, training- and education center ZaB – Zentrum am Berg. He worked as a consulting engineer in several international large scale projects and became project leader for the tender design of several tunnel projects along the […]
