2023-2025 Board Nominees

Treasurer:

Maria Mohammad, SE - Structural Focus 

Maria Mohammed joined Structural Focus in 2013 after graduating from the University of Southern California with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2012 and an M.S. in Structural Engineering in 2013. Maria is a licensed Structural Engineer in California and has extensive experience working on the retrofit and renovation of historic structures and existing buildings, as well as the design of new buildings. She has worked on significant projects at Structural Focus, including Google LA HQ, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, CBRE Masonic Temple, and several projects on the Paramount Studios lot, among others. Maria has been involved with the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California for many years. She was the co-chair of the Young Members Committee from 2016-2018 and has been the chair of the Communications Committee since 2018.

Directors:

Araceli Abanilla, PE - STV

Araceli is a Senior Engineer working for STV, Inc.’s Los Angeles office, with over 15 years of experience in the design and construction of various building and infrastructure projects. Araceli has worked on a broad range of projects, including bus, light rail, heavy rail, airports, consulates, embassies, municipal buildings, schools, libraries, medical facilities, and roadway and bridges.

Araceli began as an intern at Caltrans, before for working as a bridge design engineer. She had a brief stint doing FRP and structural design in the Antiterrorism Force Protection industry. She then transitioned to focus on structural design of buildings for the commercial, residential, educational, and medical sectors, before transitioning again to working on infrastructure projects in rail, mass transit, highways and bridges.

She is currently the Structural Design lead on the Newhall Yard and Maintenance Facility, which consists of 12 structures that include a Train Maintenance Facility, Fueling Stations, Maintenance platforms and the Yard Control Tower for Valley Transit (VTA) and Bay Area rapid transit (BART).

Jamie Garza, SE - Belcastro & Associates

Jaime Garza has over 16 years of experience in structural and earthquake engineering design. She has led the structural design on project in Education, Civic, Aviation, Residential, Hospitality, Fin Arts, Performing Arts, Health-care, and Commercial sectors.

Ms. Garza utilized performance-based engineering for the design of new buildings, the retrofit of existing buildings, and the evaluation of existing building of over 40 buildings. She led the innovative retrofit of the LAX Theme Building using a mass damper on top of the building to counteract earthquake shaking. Jaime managed the structural design and collaborated closely with the architects and contractor for the new Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Beverly Hills. She also managed the design coordination and structural design for four 10-story precast student housing towers at Stanford University, adding over 2,400 bed for graduate housing.

She recently co-authored the paper “Should We Rely on Existing Building Lateral Systems when Retrofitting Building?” and presented the findings during the 2018 Structural Engineering Association of California Convention. The research provides an overview of building codes and analysis tools, as well as a complete picture of what earthquake resiliency requires. She is committed to collaborating with clients and architects to truly implement resilient structural design.

Jillian Van Enckevort, SE - FTF Engineering (Tri-Counties)

Jillian graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2002 and has spent her career as a structural engineer on the central coast. She is currently a principal and head of the San Luis Obispo office of FTF Engineering, INC. The breadth of her work encompasses residential, single and multi-family, commercial and hospitality projects along with numerous industrial and military based projects and includes new construction as well as seismic retrofits. She is licensed in California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. Outside of work, Jillian enjoys spending time with her family, taking her dogs on walks, and watching the numerous sporting events her daughter is involved in. She is a volunteer with Girl Scouts, serving as the product sales chair for Northern San Luis Obispo County, and is the Affiliate Membership director with AIA-Central Coast.