Non-Member Awardee

Martin Herrenkecht was born in Lahr, Germany on June 24, 1942. After grade and high school, he earned a Professional Engineer Degree from the University of Konstanz in 1964.

Upon graduation, Herrenknecht took jobs in Switzerland, Canada and Germany, designing road machinery and managing work sites. In 1971, he was hired to help direct a tunneling project in the central Alps, beneath Switzerland's Seelisberg, on which a tunnel boring machine (TBM) was being utilized for the tunneling work.

For five years, he spent almost every waking hour beneath the Seelisberg, developing and nursing along the TBM, "Big John".

When that project was completed in 1975, he returned to Germany, borrowed twenty thousand dollars and founded his own company, Engineering Service Company Martin Herrenknecht, in Lahr. Subsequently, in 1980, he moved the company to Schwanau and over the ensuing years, the company has become the world's leading TBM manufacturer, providing TBM's of every type and description, including micro-tunneling machines, hydro shields, earth pressure balance and slurry shields, hard rock TBM's and soft ground non-pressurized shields of every size from 3 feet to over 45 feet in diameter.

Herrenknecht tunneling machines have been used around the world, in Russia, India, China and many other countries. They are currently in use on the Gothard Tunnel in Switzerland, boring what will be the deepest and longest vehicular tunnel in the world. In the U.S., his machines have been used in Portland, Oregon; in Atlanta, Georgia; in Los Angeles; on the Table Rock Tunnel, in South Carolina; and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, among other places. They are currently in use on the Arrowhead Tunnel in California and on the No. 7 Line and Second Avenue Subway Extensions in New York City.

Martin Herrenknecht has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including an Honorable PhD/Dr.-Ing.E.h. by the Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina at Brunswick and the Distinguished Service Medal of the State Baden- Wuerttenberg. In 2002 he served as Guest Professor at the Colorado School of Mines.

This is the first time in the history of the Moles Awards that the Recipient is not of U.S. origin.

After an international courtship, he married his wife, Paulina, in 1982. They have two children, a daughter and a son, who is currently studying mechanical engineering.