Mike Linford, S.E., S.E.

President

After completing his master’s degree in Structural Engineering at the University of Utah (Go Utes!!), Mike joined a leading structural engineering consulting firm in Salt Lake City where he had the opportunity to work on many prominent projects throughout the intermountain west. After 10+ years in the consulting engineering world, Mike decided to try his hand at something new and joined CoreBrace in 2010 where he has worked in all aspects of the company as it has grown and developed. In his free time, Mike enjoys going as fast as possible off-road and spending time with his family. It is not uncommon to find them exploring a desert canyon or mountain peak and they relish being as far removed from civilization as possible.

Brandt Saxey, S.E.,

Vice President, Preconstruction Sales

Brandt received his master’s degree from the University of Utah and worked in the construction and consulting structural engineering fields before joining CoreBrace in 2010. At CoreBrace he is responsible for the Research and Development of Buckling-Restrained-Braces and participates in providing modelling information for complex and unique projects around the globe. He is a member of the AISC Seismic Systems Committee, the Connection Design Committee, and the Steel Manuals Committee where he participates in code development process for steel systems. He is also a member of the ASCE 41 and ASCE 7 seismic committees. Brandt has been involved in the publication of several journal articles, publications and presentations relating to BRB use in steel, concrete, and wood structures, as well as fatigue-life research, generalized connection design, multi-tiered braced frame design, and BRB global stability.
In his free time, Brandt enjoys spending time with his family including his wife and 4 children (and the kid’s dog, which he doesn’t claim). Together they enjoy anything outdoors and are avid skiers, hikers, backpackers and travelers – and a couple of them enjoy beekeeping with Dad.

Zac Vidmar, P.E., MBA,

Operations Manager

Growing up in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest, Zac gained a love for both earthquakes and steel design – making him a perfect fit for the CoreBrace team. Zac currently manages our Operations and Project Management teams. His work at CoreBrace has also included managing engineering teams on large-scale stadium and high-rise BRBF projects – including SoFi Stadium (site of Super Bowl LVI). Outside the office, Zac can often be found hiking, running, or playing in the mountains with family.

Zac has engineering degrees from Brigham Young University (BS – Civil Engineering) and the University of California – San Diego (MS – Structural Engineering and an MBA from Brigham Young University.

Maria Chumbita, P.E.,

Vice President of Engineering

Maria oversees the day-to-day operations of the Engineering Department at CoreBrace. She graduated with a BSc degree in Civil Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Buenos Aires and with a MEng degree from Trine University in Indiana. She holds a PE license in CA, WA, OR, NV, SC, AR, and VA.
Maria worked as a consulting engineer for five years before joining CoreBrace in 2011. In her personal time, she enjoys the arts in general, volunteer work, dancing, and traveling.

Matt Deamer, S.E.,

Senior Engineer

Matt Deamer graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah in 1997. He began working as a consulting engineering intern 1 year prior, where he continued to work for 20 years. During that time, he designed a wide variety of structures ranging from houses and modular buildings to concrete batch plants and bulk material handling facilities. Matt joined the CoreBrace team in 2016, bringing with him the experience that has helped him become a leader in connection designs within CoreBrace, especially challenging connections often found in seismic retrofit projects where creativity is a must.
Matt has a passion for all things 3 dimensional. He can often be found 3D modeling and 3D printing promotional objects and small-scale prototypes at work. At home, he likes to spend his time 3D modeling and 3D printing objects for around the house, and as any 3D printing nerd should, printing parts to improve his 3D printers. He also made holograms for his high school science fair project with his soon-to-be wife, whose loving patience has made raising 3 children to adulthood the most amazing experience imaginable. Matt is a true nerd, and we mean that in the best possible way. If you ever want to spend hours discussing the intricacies of stress and strain, or the best combinations of settings to get a great 3D print, this is your guy.

Paul Nelson, S.E.,

Senior Engineer

Before joining CoreBrace in 2016, Paul worked for 22 years in commercial design and 4 years in industrial design as a structural engineer. His commercial design experience includes many buildings constructed mostly in the Intermountain West and a few industrial structures around the world. He enjoys his work at CoreBrace and has designed thousands of braces for many different types of structures. He loves programming in Excel and creating different useful tools that assist in the brace designs. He enjoys being elbow deep in spreadsheets all day long.
When he’s not working, Paul enjoys being with his family and hanging out with his grandsons. Over the years he has enjoyed doing home improvements and projects in the yard.

Bryant Cunningham,

Project Engineer

Bryant graduated from Utah State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in CEE in 2012, along with a Master of Engineering degree in 2013. His first job out of college was as a Nuclear Engineer for the Navy. Now at CoreBrace since 2015, Bryant leads the engineering group with the highest number of projects that come through the office, with some notable projects like the Climate Pledge Arena retrofit in Seattle, and the UC Irvine Hospital through HCAI, along with DSA projects, massive data centers, and many (many!) warehouses. And since 2020, he has been invited back each year to teach about BRBs to the graduate students of Advanced Steel Design at Utah State University.
After work and on days off, he finds many great pleasures in the outdoors with camping, hiking, backpacking, snowboarding, skiing, boating, traveling, and doing 1 or 2 Olympic-length triathlons each summer.

David Ochoa,

Project Engineer

David was born and raised in Lima, Peru. He came to US to study at Brigham Young University (BYU) where he graduated with a B.S. and a M.S. with an emphasis on Structures.
Since starting at CoreBrace in 2017, David has been working closely with design professionals to assist with the implementation of the BRBF system during the design development phase and assisting the steel fabricator to ensure that the BRBs will erect successfully. Within his duties at CoreBrace, David enjoys serving the young engineers.
He met his wife while attending BYU, they now have four young, bilingual, and very energetic children. In his free time, David enjoys hiking, working on home improvements, and playing video games.

Terry Okahashi,

Sr. Estimator- Engineer

Renata Flores-Decker,

Project Engineer

Renata Flores-Decker grew up in Brazil, where she acquired her first construction experience. In 2021 she graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho in Civil Engineering.
She enjoys biking, and swimming and loves traveling. Her goal is to visit many other countries with the family she and her husband are establishing.

Brad Cottle,

Project Engineer

Brad graduated with his master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Utah in 2022. He has previous experience in residential structural design as well as concrete materials research and development. He enjoys spending time with his wife and dog and being active through activities such as hiking, running, and rock climbing.

Chao-Hsien Li,

Sr. Research Engineer

Franco Huacoto,

Project Engineer

Franco was born and raised in Puno, Peru. He came to the US to study at Brigham Young University where he graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2020. He previously worked as a consulting engineer for a residential structural design firm. At CoreBrace, Franco has been working closely with senior design engineers to assist with the implementation of the BRBF systems. He enjoys spending time outdoors and being active through activities such as hiking, running and swimming.

Troy Carsey,

Senior Project Manager

Troy has been with CoreBrace for 6 years as a Senior Project Manager. He has worked in the steel fabrication industry for over 32 years in various positions from shop helper, welder, fitter, ironworker, shop manager to project management.
In his free time away from work he enjoys spending time with his two amazing sons. He also loves training every day in Muay Thai and Boxing.

Thomas Garvin,

Senior Project Manager

Graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor’s degree in Technology Systems, with an emphasis in Business Leadership and Management. While attending Utah State Eastern he served as Student Body President and was also hired as the Director of the Intramurals Program.
Thomas has over 10 years of experience in Project management and has handled multiple multimillion dollar projects in the Steel, Electrical, Oil & Gas, and Information Technology industries.
He enjoys all sports including triathlons, loves entertainment and technology, and enjoys spending time with his family.
“Working for Corebrace is and has been a great experience. I love working for this company because they always put the customer first and strive to make their life easier. I truly feel that CoreBrace is the best ever seismic bracing company in the industry and enjoy working for them!”

Jerry Johnson,

Project Manager

Patrick Wokurka,

Project Manager

Patrick Wokurka has a long history in manufacturing in many different motorsport and outdoor industries. This experience has given him a storied background in large-scale production and project management. He has managed many products in the sports industry from conception to mass production and all the steps in between. Acquiring this background gave him the opportunity to travel the world to sporting events and trade shows as a team manager and product development manager. This dedication to development brought many of the common products in those industries to life. He is happy to bring his manufacturing experience to CoreBrace with the goal of always being the best in class. He also enjoys the Utah outdoors and sporting ethos.

Tim Larisch,

Project Manager

Gloria Dearden,

Estimate Coordinator

Gloria joined the CoreBrace family in March 2016 as the Administrative Assistant, bringing with her 12 years of experience working in a structural engineering firm and as the Executive Director of SEAU. Since starting at CoreBrace, she has worked her way into her current role as the Estimate Coordinator, where she oversees all budgets, estimates and project setups. In her role, she interacts with clients daily which she feels is the best part of her career.
In her free time, you will find her enjoying the outdoors with her family whether it’s traveling, “glamping” (no rugged camping for her), hiking, exploring caves, boating, and or just taking random road trips. She’s also a NASCAR fan!

Bob Pollock,

Estimator

Bob started in the structural steel business in 1975.
He has experience as a steel detailer, checker, squad leader, project manager and estimator.
In 1981 he took a 3-year hiatus from the steel industry, returned in 1984 and has seen many changes over the years.
In his spare time, he enjoys family, fishing and is an avid golfer.

Tanner Knowles,

Purchasing

Tanner graduated from BYUI in 2022 with a degree in Business Administration
He joined the CoreBrace team as a Project Manager in November of 2020 and moved to Purchasing in June of 2021.
Tanner was born and raised in Logan, Utah, and is now raising his own family in Herriman. He grew up playing multiple sports, volleyball, football, basketball, and golf, and still loves to play as often as he can. He and his family spend lots of time outdoors in the summer and fall, camping, hunting, and fishing.

Vanessa Graham,

Material Coordinator Purchasing Support

Ginger Nelson,

Administrative Assistant

Ginger has a background in office management and insurance. She joined CoreBrace in 2017, and has enjoyed compiling, organizing and streamlining the administrative duties and functions presented to her, and working between multiple departments to find solutions.
She is a steady force in the workplace and uses her positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Ginger is inspired daily by her husband, their daughter and three sons. In her free time, she enjoys being with family, working/playing outdoors, organizing and baking.

Veronica Pinto,

Project Manager Assistant

Kasey Raymond,

Production Assistant

Kasey was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She has a degree in visual communications and a certification in full stack web development from Denver University. Kasey moved to Utah and joined CoreBrace in 2021. She brings her 25 plus years of graphic design, art direction, and computer skills to the CNC nesting department. Kasey helps out with the marketing and website as well. She has worked in a vast array of industries including motorsports, tool manufacturing, trade show design, sign companies, and advertising agencies.
In her spare time, she is the web developer for several ecommerce websites and enjoys freelance art projects.
She grew up being very “sporty” and enjoys skiing, snowboarding, riding mountain bikes, and looks forward to exploring everything Utah has to offer.

Kristin Ridges,

Document Control

Kristin started with Core Brace in 2022. She is new to the industry after working in medical field for over a decade. CoreBrace has brought many opportunities to learn new things and form valuable working relationships which helps her thrive. Day to day she enjoys being a part of a hard-working team.
Kristin is originally from Moab, UT and moved to the Salt Lake Valley in 2007. She enjoys spending time with her 6-year-old daughter and going home to Moab to enjoy the weather and go on adventures. She also enjoys cooking, music, comedies, concerts, NFL football, and spending time with family and friends. Her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, and she likes true crime.
This year she hopes to travel more and get on the golf course.