Meet
Our Team
Meet Our Team
Crafting Success with Skilled Hands and Thoughtful Minds
John Gaona
President / Founder
jgaona@gtsconsultants.com
James Steere, PLS
Senior Vice President and Director of Survey
jsteere@gtsconsultants.com
Bio
James Steere oversees the firm’s Land Surveying division.
Well known in the industry, Mr. Steere brings 40 years of highly successful land surveying and management experience to the GTS team. With demonstrated technical abilities and leadership talent, Mr. Steere has displayed a consistently dependable approach in meeting clients’ objectives on even the most challenging of projects.
Jim’s technical expertise in all facets of land surveying, mapping, and right-of-way, have proven to be strongly leveraged when combined with his effective management and integrated team approach in meeting project scope, schedule and budget requirements.
Over the years, Mr. Steere has served a diverse range of clients, including Public Agencies at the Federal, State & County Level, private construction and development companies, A/E firms, and Fortune 500 corporations. With heavy experience in the infrastructure arena, including key roles on many of the most significant transportation projects of the last several decades, Jim has worked with nearly all the rail & highway agencies within the NJ/NYC Metro region. Mr. Steere has many years of experience working on large scale, multi team survey and mapping projects such as performed for the FEMA Region Il Jurisdiction and mega transportation projects such as the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit System, Second Avenue Subway, No.7 Line Extension, and the East Side Access Tunnel from Queens to Manhattan.
Richard "Rick" Merrill, PLS
Project Manager
rmerrill@gtsconsultants.com
Bio
Richard “Rick” Merrill, PLS has over 40 years of experience in the land surveying field. His experience includes but is not limited to boundary, topographic, highway and railroad route surveys, environmental and wetland mapping, construction layout, bathymetric surveys, rapid static and RTK GNSS for establishment of geodetic survey control and ALTA / ACSM land title surveys. Base mapping development includes aerial survey control, DTM surface modeling, contour generation and utility locations. His experience includes automated field to finish CAD platforms, adjustment of survey control networks, boundary analysis and preparation of right of way documents.
Rick has performed as project manager and project surveyor on many types of mapping projects with a solid record of client satisfaction. With nearly four decades of Land Surveying experience, Rick has the necessary field and office experience required to direct field and office personnel with a hands-on approach. Rick is directly applied in managing field to finish data collection and post processing task items. Rick has strong experience in the setup, execution, and adjustment of horizontal and vertical control networks and baselines. Rick provides working oversight and direction for office and field staff performance including – field survey procedures, public records research, generation of deed and right of way mosaics, resolution of record information with recovered physical boundary evidence, and the establishment of existing boundary and right of way lines. Rick is a strong leader who exemplifies daily the importance of teamwork and professional accountability in the manner with which he performs his duties.
Alejandro "Alex" Sandoval, CFM
Managing Director
asandoval@gtsconsultants.com
Bio
Mr. Alejandro H. Sandoval, CFM, has over 27 years of experience in the land surveying field on a diverse array of projects. His technical experience includes automated field-to-finish applications using the latest computer data collection and various software applications for site, tunnel, rail, hydrographic, highway, and aviation projects. Mr. Sandoval has demonstrated expertise in geodetic control surveys, rapid static and RTK, GPS for survey control and locations, the establishment of survey baselines, topographic/ planimetric base mapping, primary and secondary survey control, horizontal and vertical control for aerial mapping, planimetric field edit surveys. Additional experience includes surveys for utilities, drainage, waterway stream cross-sections, 3D scanning, bridge measurements, and detailed stream studies for DFIRM production for FEMA. Mr. Sandoval is responsible for supervision and coordination of field crews and office staff, including Quality Management. Alejandro has performed as Project Manager and Project Surveyor on practically every type of survey / mapping / right-of-way project assignment possible.
Mr. Sandoval’s applied technical experience includes direct large-scale project tasks:
- Topographic & Planimetric Survey / Mapping
- High-Definition Laser Scanning (HDS)
- Boundary & Topographic Surveys
- Construction Layout
- Property & Jurisdictional Surveys
- Project Horizontal & Vertical Control Networks
- Route / Transportation Surveys
- Right-of-Way / Easement Acquisition Plans / High Order Geodetic Control Network
- Coastal Surveys
- GPS Project Control / Networks
- Wetlands Mitigation Mapping
- FEMA Flood Map Studies
Oscar Sandoval, PLS
Project Manager
Bio
Mr. Oscar Sandoval, PE, has extensive experience in the Engineering Design Project Management and Construction Management fields. Oscar has over 40 years of progressive professional experience in the Design and Construction of numerous Rail Projects. Oscar has demonstrated successful management acumen on a diverse array of significant projects. Mar. Sandoval’s past experience includes duties as the Change Orders Engineer for the Erie-Lackawanna Re-Electrification Project (New Jersey DOT); Westside Storage Yard in Manhattan (Long Island RR); and the Meadows Maintenance Complex (MMC) in Kearny, NJ (NJ Transit).
During the first three years of his 20-year tenure at NJ Transit Oscar served as Contract Administrator with the Procurement Department. Mr. Sandoval’s role with NJ Transit graduated to Project Manager with the Rail System Development Department where his responsibilities included management oversight on rail line, rail yard, and rail passenger station projects.
After retiring from NJ Transit Oscar served as the Resident Engineer (Construction Manager) for the Connecticut DOT Component Change Out Shop (CCO) in New Haven, CT.
Throughout his career Oscar has been actively applied within the design phase of numerous rail & infrastructure projects. This experience included the coordination and management of various project design consultants to ascertain that the Agency’s/ Client’s needs and requirements were fulfilled. Oscar also performed detailed Quality Control reviews at various stages of the design phase, with a focus on minimizing the client’s exposure to construction change orders.
Cory Rellastab
Survey Technician and Senior CADD Manager
crellstab@gtsconsultants.com
Bio
Cory Rellstab oversees the GTS’s CADD personnel and performs technical calculations on field collected data.
Mr. Rellstab has 10 years of experience working in both the field and office. This has led him to working on many types of projects, such as ALTA Surveys, boundary surveys of both small and large scales, topographic surveys for small lots, highways, railroads, and tunnels. Cory also has experience in bathymetric surveys, construction layout, wetlands, and FEMA stream surveys. His technical abilities include post processing of field collected data in the forms of conventional collected field data, GPS/GNSS derived data, Level runs, and High Definition Laser Scanner data. Mr. Rellstab has experience working in AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Recap, MicroStation with Open Roads Designer, TopoDot, Starnet, and various Leica products (ex: Cyclone, Register360, Infinity). Cory prides himself on being able to find new ways or new programs to help give the client the best deliverable.
Mr. Rellstab is a student at the University of Maine where he is pursuing his degree in Surveying Technology with the goal to become a Professional Land Surveyor.