Meet the Wi-Skies Team

Our Philosophy

Wi-Skies, LLC's philosophy is to deliver top of the line designs as efficiently as possible, providing exemplary customer satisfaction without compromising quality. We believe maintaining satisfied clients is our top priority and compliments from past or current references has helped us continue to expand our client base.  

Our quality staff specializes in all DOT electrical applications, such as roadway lighting, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), tolling, traffic signal design, electric vehicle (EV), solar and wind applications, construction inspection, commissioning, maintenance and operation.  We bring over a hundred years of superior experience to any design team and enjoy taking on new challenges as well.  In addition to DOT work, we have also done electrical design work for airports, water treatment plants, substation and distribution design as well as building construction and site development. In short, we are willing to take on any challenge to make sure the project is done completely and correctly.  We take pride that our staff routinely exceeds the client's expectations in any design challenge or project demand.

wi-skies team members group photo

While our knowledgeable staff always references and adheres to current design policies and recommendations, we do not settle on the status quo, often pushing the industry forward to ensure the most prudent and practical solution and design criteria is being considered.  Our staff is heavily involved with several industry organizations, including the IES, ANSI and AASHTO.  This experience enables us to bring all options to the table for the client to make a fully informed decision in the event of special circumstances. We understand that our client’s needs are unique and a project may present special design challenges which cannot always be addressed by general practice. We take pride in putting client first, even if the resulting decision is not necessarily in our own best interest.

Wi-Skies, LLC currently holds on-call lighting contracts with Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, South Carolina, Tennessee Departments of Transportation, as well as several municipalities.  In these roles, we have staff which serve as an extension of their organizations, assisting the Department in many of their daily activities, such as developing cost estimates, standards, modifying specifications, reviewing other designs, developing policy as well as addressing a host of problems and questions which arise.  We are always looking for new clients to work with across the nation as we continue to grow!

About our Team:

Joseph D. Marsh, P.E. - President

The President of Wi-Skies, LLC, Joe brings over nineteen years of diverse engineering experience, with a focus on roadway lighting.  Mr. Marsh is heavily involved with the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), which sets the lighting design criteria most agencies adopt and is currently Chair of the Roadway Lighting Committee and is leading the international effort to change the existing policy regarding daytime lighting in tunnels. His strengths are in management, where he has consistently overseen many projects simultaneously while delivering superior quality work to the client. In addition to his robust lighting background, Joe has worked on several cutting-edge ITS projects, ranging from design to installation to integration, debugging and maintenance.  Mr. Marsh has demonstrated his engineering diversity by his willingness to delve into new design areas, such as structural design, pavement marking, signage or traffic signals and is licensed in over twenty states.

Mark Seppelt, P.E. - Lead Lighting Engineer

The Lead Lighting Engineer of Wi-Skies, Mark is responsible for quality oversight and management of all lighting projects to the client. He is also heavily involved with other high-level activities for our various clients, such as the development and revisions of standard drawings and specifications. Prior to joining Wi-Skies LLC, Mark served as the Electrical and Mechanical Unit Chief in the Bureau of Design and Environment at the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) for 21 years. In this position, Mark oversaw the design of hundreds of lighting projects on state, federal, and local highway systems. His daily responsibilities included creating, updating, coordinating, interpreting and maintaining the Department’s policy on roadway lighting. Mark was responsible for providing responses for the Secretary of Transportation’s office on roadway lighting related questions from the general public. He also provided position statements for the Secretary’s office on legislative bills passing through the state legislature impacting IDOT policies on lighting. He was responsible for the design and review of all roadway lighting projects in Illinois with exception of Chicago. His duties also included addressing all RFI’s and approving shop drawings during construction and ultimately inspected all roadway lighting projects during final acceptance. A practical engineer, Mark ensured all factors were carefully considered, specifically hosting an annual meeting with all District operation personnel to discuss lighting operation and maintenance issues. He oversaw a design team consisting of multiple consulting firms and sub-consulting firms over the span of his tenure in addition to an internal staff of electrical engineers and lighting designers and was in charge of reviewing all consultant submissions requiring prequalification in roadway lighting for the Department.

Michael J. Jorgensen, PE - Lead Traffic Signal Engineer

Prior to joining Wi-Skies as Lead Traffic Signal Engineer, Mike served as a Traffic Engineer Specialist with the Iowa Department of Transportation (IADOT) in the Office of Traffic and Safety for 25 years. In this position, Mike oversaw the design of hundreds of roadway signing, lighting and traffic signal projects. His daily responsibilities included reviewing plans, and shop drawings as well as maintaining signage, traffic signal and lighting standards and specifications. He was responsible for coordinating field staff and outside consultants and was called upon to prepare and present on traffic related topics to management, staff and at industry conferences.

John V. Falcone - Lead Field Manager

Prior to joining Wi-Skies, John gained extensive experience in project management, installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance for tolling and ITS. John directed the activities of subcontractors and vendors to ensure the proper installation of Open Road Tolling, manual and I-Pass only lanes, and coin machines for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA). He has comprehensive experience in staff management, workforce planning and employee performance management, as well as budget management, analysis, and forecasting. John is highly skilled in team leadership, project management, evaluation of technical and project requirements, process improvement, cost reduction and vendor management. John has expert knowledge and experience in the installation and maintenance of toll collection systems as well as extensive experience in construction and installation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

Rick W. Kauffman - Senior Lighting Designer

Rick brings over thirty years of high level experience in the lighting industry, where he serves on several of the most critical organizations in the lighting industry. He served as IES’ Roadway Lighting Committee Chairman of Standard Practice IESNA, leading the effort in the development of RP-8-14, which is the document which is the authority on how roadway lighting calculations are performed and measured. Additionally, Rick is a chair or member of several other key IES committee and is a very respected voice within the organization. Mr. Kauffman is also a key member of ANSI C136, which develops many of the specifications for roadway and area fixtures. In that, he prepared the original draft of a number of the organization’s standards such as SSL luminaires, vibration, glass lenses and is currently developing one for both luminaire cleaning as well as for polymeric lenses in luminaires. While an Executive Committee member with the US Department of Energy Municipal Solid-state Street Lighting Consortium, Rick prepared the initial draft of the Model LED Roadway Luminaire Specification. Many DOT’s and municipalities look to this document when developing their own LED fixture specification. Rick formerly served as NEMA’s Chairman of the Luminaire section for three years during the development of the Luminaire Efficacy Rating standards.

Larry M. Oliver, P.E. - Lead Structural Engineer

As a Civil-Structural-Coastal Engineer, Larry brings over thirty-nine years of diverse engineering experience, with a focus on bridge design in various environments.  His strengths are in bridge design, where he has consistently excelled in designing and analyzing bridges in unusual environments.  Mr. Oliver has demonstrated his diversity in designing both concrete and steel bridges, straight or curved, precast prestressed concrete or steel or boxed girders.  He has designed bridges in various environments such as over swamps, deep gorges, high traffic, coastal, and seismic zones.  Mr. Oliver is proficient with the following software: MDX, Descus I & II, Leap Conspan, RC-Pier, FB – Mulitplier and Virtus.  He has performed design utilizing various state DOT requirements.

Scott M. Younghouse - Electrical Engineer

Scott currently works out of GDOT Headquarters as a consultant within the Office of Design Policy and Support in the Lighting Group. Responsibilities include reviewing photometric submittals, lighting plans, design layouts, etc along with design support, maintains GDOT lighting specifications including Chapter 14 of the Design Policy Manual and any of the lighting specifications related to Electrical/Lighting.

Floyd L. Potter - Project Manager

Project Manager of Wi-Skies, LLC, Floyd brings over 33 years of diverse engineering experience, with a focus on Georgia DOT roadway design and engineering. His strengths are hydrology and storm water engineering, horizontal and vertical profile design, erosion and sedimentation, signage and striping, utility plan and coordination, cost estimating and bid document preparation. Mr. Potter is extremely proficient with Microstation V8i and other various design software and has worked directly with Georgia DOT and Local Governments in designing Streetscape projects consisting of sidewalk design, decorative pavers/crosswalks, drainage design, curb & gutter design, landscaping, irrigation, decorative street lighting, and utility design. Floyd is very familiar with all aspects of Georgia DOT specification and standards as well as AASHTO’s Green Book (Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets) for design and construction.

Aaron Keil, LC - Lighting Engineer

Aaron brings over 10 years of lighting experience, primarily from his time in electrical distribution and being a lighting manufactures rep. In addition, he is an instructor for Lighting Analysts AGi32 software. Aaron has completed a wide range of lighting projects in his career including residential, commercial, industrial, educational, healthcare, sports lighting, agricultural, government, and roadway projects. The role in those projects have included initial site visits, client scope meetings, photometric plans, product selection and submittals, ROI reports, utility rate case analysis, sales, and project management.

David Kane, LC - Lighting Designer

David brings 38 years of diverse lighting experience, ranging from designing PoE control systems for large commercial applications to creating streetscapes to enhance a commercial theme, David has been designing lighting for his entire career and is an expert at design continuity, lighting roadways, highways, intersections, and everything in between. He also has designed lighting in commercial applications such as multi-story office towers and high-end multimillion dollar residential projects. In addition, David takes pride in his customer relations and is adept at project management and education.

Pam Rhyder - CAD Designer

Mrs. Rhyder is extremely proficient with Microstation V8i, Geopak and other various design software and has worked extensively on FDOT and with various other Local Governments, Clients and Railroad Companies in designing Roadway and Railroad projects consisting of roadway/railway design plans, drainage design, signing and pavement marking design, TCP Phasing Plans, landscaping, irrigation, street lighting, Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans, and utility design. Pamela is very familiar with all aspects of FDOT specification and standards as well as AASHTO’s Green Book (Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets) for design and construction.