March/April 2024 - 7

GIANFRANCO DI CICCO
PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
2024: A Year of Expectation and Planning
for the Future
It's going to be a very
interesting year for our
organization and our
industry, as well as seeing
how the future develops
for the wider construction
industry in North America
and worldwide.
Incredibly, as I am writing, it's already
the end of February and a lot of
activities have happened and even
more have been planned for DFI. It's
going to be a very interesting year for
our organization and our industry, as
well as seeing how the future develops
for the wider construction industry in
North America and worldwide.
A major discussion is the challenge
of having enough specialized personnel
and resources for the workload and the
demand we are expecting while
ensuring that whatever we do, safety,
quality and, whenever possible,
sustainability are maintained.
Meanwhile, for our organization,
the challenge is to define what DFI
should do to improve our visibility and
that of other connected industries. How
can we provide more services to our
members and how should we expand?
Or should we remain as we are?
The above premises were at the
forefront of our annual winter planning
meeting where the DFI Educational
Trust, Board of Trustees and committee
chairs discussed the planning and
strategy for the future of DFI.
The first issue addressed was
ensuring that we receive not just an
approval from the board and the chairs,
but also a real endorsement of the
strategies that the executive committee
developed last November, which I
mentioned in my previous article " 2023:
A Brief Review of a Challenging Year. "
Endorsement, not just approval,
because we now have to start delivering
on what we have suggested are the most
pressing matters for continuing to build
our organization.
The three main strategic points
discussed by the DFI " dream team "
were:
1. Developing new initiatives to
increase our membership numbers
by making it more attractive to join
DFI and remain a longstanding
member.
2. Defining the planning for themed
conferences in order to connect with
more industries and possible
partners.
3. Par t i c ipat ing in solving the
industry's challenge of attracting
people (in particular, site personnel)
to enter our industry and, possibly,
join DFI.
It will be crucial for DFI and the
Trust to improve communication and
work together in implementing the
above. For this reason, representatives
of the Trust participated in the discussion
and will be included in the
strategy development.
To develop the approved strategy, we
have requested our trustees and committee
chairs increase their involvement
in working with the DFI team and
the executive committee.
However, we want to extend the
invitation to all our members, including
international members, who want to
support these challenging endeavors
and be part of the task forces we are
starting for each of the above-listed
points.
Before heading to the winter
planning meeting, we attended the
always interesting George Fox tunnelling
conference in New York. Listening
to the various and very interesting
presentations it was clear that DFI and
our specialized members will more than
ever be a very important part of the
construction industry's future and its
mega-infrastructure projects.
Our organization, representing the
entire geo-foundation industry, can
provide support starting from the
feasibility and planning of all the future
megaprojects, as we have cooperated
for years with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineer and other organizations.
As always, we welcome your input
and suggestions. DFI is your organization,
and we are here to serve you!
Contact Gianfranco Di Cicco at GDCons2015@gmail.com
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAR/APR 2024 * 7
March/April 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March/April 2024
