Staff Spotlight: Patrick Stiegman, EI

This month's spotlight shines on Project Engineer, Patrick Stiegman. Patrick joined DE in 2016 and has since been a key figure in several of our state and municipal roadway design projects. Read below to learn more about Patrick outside the office including his love of hiking, discovery of pho, and some claim-to-fame state championships he won! We are so happy to have Patrick part of the DE Team!     

Hi Patrick! Tell us a little bit about where you’re from, where you reside now, and what you love about your current hometown.
I am born and raised in Metairie and still live in Metairie. I love being so close to the city of New Orleans. I love the cultural attitude that you don’t get anywhere else. I always enjoy going to all of the festivals around town. I’m looking forward to Voodoo Fest and other festivals this year.

What are some of the things you enjoy doing in your free time?
I started to get into riding my bike along the lakefront. When I lived in Houston for a year, I lived right next to a multi-use bike path that led right to downtown Houston, so biking became a great pastime. If I’m not biking, I’ll go drinking with my friends somewhere in New Orleans.

If you could travel anywhere where would you go and why?
I love backpacking and it is something I have put in the back-burner recently. I want to travel to South America and backpack in Patagonia and the Andes Mountains while I am still young. Seeing the epic mountain peaks, beautiful glacier lakes and hiking in untamed nature would be a highlight of my life.

Do you have any big plans outside the office in the next few months?
In upcoming March, I will be marrying my beautiful fiancé, Bridget Connick. I don’t think it gets any bigger of plans than that!

What would be impossible for you to give up?!
I can’t give up pizza. It’s just the perfect food. Everyone should eat pizza.

Favorite thing to eat for lunch during the week?
The coworkers at the office introduced me to Pho (Vietnamese Broth). Pho and the Vietnamese poboys make for a great lunch.

Tell us something people may not know about you.
Well, when I was growing up I played a lot of chess in elementary school. My friends and I in elementary school made a pretty awesome team with a great coach and we won a lot of state championships when I grew up. I only went and competed nationally once and I placed 25th overall individually for my age group. I’m proud of that accomplishment but if you asked me to play a chess game today, I’d probably lose because I forgot all of the strategies I used.

Thank you so much for your time!

Staff Spotlight: C.J. Boynes

C.J. and his family on their recent cruise to Mexico.

C.J. in a poker tournament in May.

Poker tournament action.

Our staff spotlight this month shines on C.J. Boynes, one of our Construction Inspectors who joined DE in 2017. C.J. has over fourteen years of experience working on infrastructure projects throughout Southeast Louisiana. We are so happy to have him as part of the DE Team!

Hi C.J.! Tell us a little bit about where you’re from, where you reside now, and what you love about your current hometown.
I am from St. Bernard but now reside in Madisonville, Lousiana. I moved to the Northshore and fell in love with country life after Katrina destroyed my hometown. Madisonville is small and I live on the outskirts of the city limits. My #1 thing I enjoy doing there is boating on any good weekend along the Tchefuncta River.

What are some of the things you enjoy doing in your free time?
First and foremost is spending time with family. I also enjoy the outdoors (hunting, fishing, camping and boating). I recently picked up hunting again so I can teach my son how to hunt. My dad taught me at an early age and I was hooked ever since. Life takes hold of you when you start a family and hunting was put on the back burner. I am glad I can get back into it after over 15 years.

If you could travel anywhere where would you go and why?
Hard question because of so many places to choose from. I would have to say backpacking through Europe just because I have never been across the pond and Europe seems easy to travel through and I would be able to see multiple countries in one trip.

Do you have any big summer plans outside the office?
Not too many. We recently went on a cruise out of New Orleans to Mexico and other than that I'll enjoy going to Destin for a weekend or two in August.

What would be impossible for you to give up?!
An ice-cold Miller Lite on any given Saturday/Sunday during football season would be hard to give up.

Tell us something people may know about you.
I enjoy playing in a good poker game from time to time. Every once in a while my wife lets me venture off to the local casino to play tournaments. This past May I was fortunate enough to go deep in a tournament and placed 2nd out of 1340 people for a nice payday.

Thank you so much for your time!

Staff Spotlight: John Stein, P.E.

John, his wife Paula, and her first blue marlin in Mazatlan

At the coin toss for last year's Western Southern Open men's final

At the Western Southern Open

John's new house

Paula and John

Our staff spotlight this month shines on John Stein, P.E., our Mississippi Manager of Engineering Operations and Senior Project Manager. John joined the DE team in 2009 when he relocated from Southern California and has since managed planning, design, and construction of water and wastewater facilities along coastal Mississippi and the North Shore.  

Hi John! Tell us a little bit about where you’re from, where you reside now, and what you love about your current hometown.
I was born and raised in Southern California. At age 45 (2009), I married my wife and moved from San Diego, California to Mandeville. It's definitely not the weather!

A birdie told us you bought a new home recently. What’s your favorite part about the new place?
The location. It's 6 blocks from the lakefront in Old Mandeville, 2 blocks from the Trailhead, across the street from the Trace, and we can walk to numerous bars and restaurants.

If you could travel anywhere where would you go and why?
Either the South Pacific or Azores to go fishing and catch big blue marlin.

Do you have any big summer plans outside the office?
We will be going to Cincinnati in August for our annual trip to the Western Southern Open (ATP & WTA Master 1000 professional tennis tournament). While there we will visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. In October we're planning to go to East Cape near Cabo to fish in a tournament, but now that depends on how fast my house sells!

What would be impossible for you to give up?!
Wine!

Tell us something people may not know about you.
I am first generation American. My parents immigrated to the United States in 1957 as war refugees from Germany and Austria. I met my wife in 2005 in Panama on a fishing trip. The largest marlin I have caught weighed 746 pounds and the largest tuna I have caught weighed 279 lbs. I grew up on a chicken ranch in Redlands, California where we had 210,000 layers (egg producers).

Thank you so much for your time!

Staff Spotlight: Burgundy Hebert

Burgundy Hebert
Senior Office Manager

Our staff spotlight this month shines on Burgundy Hebert, DE's Senior Office Manager who joined our team in 2001. Burg is instrumental in our team's success and is always eager to step in and help out her teammates. Learn more about Burg, her family, and her fur babies below!

Hi Burg! Tell us a little bit about where you’re from, where you reside now, and what you love about your hometown. I am originally from the area they call the WEST BANK in Jefferson Parish. I currently still reside on the West Bank but in St. Charles Parish in a little town called Luling. I am glad to call Luling home because living in a small town where everyone knows everyone, a trip to Walmart is actually fun. It can take hours for a five minute shopping trip because you see everyone you know.

What’s your favorite place to eat at in the local area? Hebert Seafood of course!!! HAHA. We enjoy eating at Avocado’s Mexican Grill for the 2-for-1 margaritas and Taco Tuesday deal. You can’t beat spending $15.00 on a meal (including tip) for two!

We know you and your husband own a seafood business (shout out to Hebert Seafood in Luling) and work hard year ‘round, but what do you two enjoy in your free time? Free time, what is that?!  All jokes aside, when we have a couple hours to ourselves we love spending time with our 4 dogs taking them for a walk, lounging on the sofa (with the dogs of course) catching up on Netflix, or if we can get away we love to go to the race track since my husband Willie races motor bikes.

Do you have any big summer plans outside the office?  For our annual vacation this year we are keeping it low key and going to the Caribe in Orange Beach to celebrate my son Zack turning the big “21."

What would be impossible for you to give up?!  Chocolate!

Tell us something people may not know about you. I studied to be a Medical Assistant before coming to work for Digital and I would love to have a farm to house stray dogs when I retire.

Thank you so much for your time!