Central Services Team

Richard Sumner

Principal / Manager / Director of Business Development

As a Co-founder and Managing Principal of SumCo, Chad continuously defines and advances the firm’s ecological construction niche. Chad collaborates with industry stakeholders throughout New England and the Northeast to improve best practices in ecological construction. This includes conceiving and executing high-level partnership development with industry leaders and regulatory agencies in the state and federal arenas.

Chad assembled and guides SumCo’s complementary construction leadership team to address the diverse ecological, environmental, and infrastructure challenges posed by our changing climate. He’s responsible for all aspects of SumCo’s financial and staffing operations and oversees project estimating, contracting, accounting, and business development.

A scientist by education and training, Chad has worked ‘in the field’ at numerous project sites for 20 years and oversaw ecological construction and revegetation projects during SumCo’s first decade. He’s an active member and frequent presenter at the Society of Wetland Scientists, the Association of Massachusetts Wetland Scientists, and the
Environmental Business Council of New England, for which he also serves as a member of the board of directors.

Chad managed the overall expansion of SumCo Eco from inception to its current multidisciplinary staff of over 100 people, serving coastal and inland ecological restoration markets across New England and the Northeast.
Beginning in 2019, Chad negotiated the acquisition of two respected ecological restoration firms – NETCO and The Dawson Corporation – managing their integration into SumCo Eco’s unique Project Team delivery model. Concurrently, Chad led the formation and rapid ramp-up of sister company, ResilientSeas, which is dedicated to environmental and navigational dredging.
Prior to founding SumCo, Chad was a senior manager and wetland scientist for Great Meadows LLC, managing over 60 major wetland and dune restoration projects, including plant sourcing and the cultivation and harvesting of salt marsh plants from the company nursery.

• MA in Conservation Biology, University of Pennsylvania
• BA in Geology & Biology, University of Pennsylvania (magna cum laude)
• Society of Wetland Scientists and Association of Massachusetts Wetland Scientists
• Member, Board of Directors and Co-chair, Dams Committee, Environmental Business Council of NE
• Environmental Business Council, Board of Directors and Vice Chair of the Dams Management Committee

Travis Sumner

Principal / Manager / Director of Operations

Travis is a Co-founder and Principal of SumCo and serves as the company’s Chief of Operations, leading the company’s overall project execution and the oversight of its 10 multidisciplinary construction teams in New England and the Northeast. This includes ensuring the needed personnel resources as well as the acquisition, coordination, and distribution of the latest specialized equipment required to perform state-of-the-art ecological restoration under a range of challenging environmental conditions. Travis also focuses on strategic growth, planning, client development, and building field staff leadership. He has spent his entire career in ecological restoration and comes at it from his engineering perspective – executing projects in the field and logging tens of thousands of hours constructing some of the most exciting and innovative restoration projects in the Northeast. Even as SumCo expands, Travis maintains a close connection and on-the-ground responsibility for company execution of the significant and complex site civil tasks, major earthwork, and plantings required to achieve successful ecological restoration and coastal resilience projects.

Travis identified and developed the crew, management, and equipment resources required to grow SumCo Eco from its inception to its current multidisciplinary staff of over 100 people, serving coastal and inland ecological restoration markets across New England and the Northeast.
As part of SumCo’s merger with NETCO and The Dawson Corporation, Travis directed the integration of the operations, and operating cultures, of the 3 distinct firms in a period of 2 years, while maintaining the expanding company’s successful delivery of project outcomes and assisting in the formation of SumCo’s sister company Resilient Seas.
Prior to founding SumCo, Travis directed field operations for Great Meadows LLC, including managing laborers, equipment operators, and the acquisition/operation of a specialized equipment fleet in order to implement over 60 major wetland and dune restoration projects.

• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Union College
• Licensed Rhode Island Hoisting Engineer
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Society of Automotive Engineers
• Order of the Engineer

Paul DeVirgilio,
General Superintendent

Paul DeVirgilio brings 25 years of heavy construction management experience to the SumCo Team as our General Superintendent. Working from our New England field headquarters in Bellingham, MA, Paul keeps our crews up and running along the coast and throughout New England. Paul oversees field operations and manages the work force, equipment, and materials. Paul has an eye for detail and deploys crews with a high productivity rate and an emphasis on safety, production, and quality. Paul has extensive experience overseeing projects that involve demolition, site work, utilities, dewatering, restoration, dredging, and remediation.

Paul’s commitment to excellent work and safety is at the heart of SumCo’s reputation. Up well before dawn each day, Paul is on everyone’s speed dial. He keeps us running when battling the elements or battling a broken-down piece of equipment.

Prior to his time at SumCo, Paul worked supervising large scale civil and environmental projects for several major construction companies. Paul graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in Business Administration with a Certificate in Construction Management.

Team Leads

Ron Ferraiuolo

Ron has over two decades of experience as a Project Manager with focus on site development, utilities and water & wastewater projects in the commercial, residential, educational, and municipal sectors. Clients include developers / owners, GCs, municipalities, state agencies, and engineers.

Heavy civil project experience includes the removal and replacement of Ramshorn Pond Dam including temporary  cofferdams, water bypass & control, new sheet pile wall, low level outlet pipe, gatehouse and road improvements in Ma-Town of Millbury.

Other civil site construction experience includes site development, Dune restoration, sound barrier, slope restoration, pond dredges, culverts roadway construction, dam removals/ maintenance, and management of utility subcontractors.

 

Stephen Fuller

Steve Fuller comes with over 35 years of experience in the heavy highway industry. Steve has worked almost exclusively on dams, dam removals and river restorations over the last 15 years of his career. Steve is considered a leader in the industry and has successfully managed and supervised some of the most important dam projects in New England. His  innovative approach to water control and diversion have resulted in the successful completion of all his projects. Steve also has extensive experience with concrete and earthwork and prides himself on his ability to problem solve with owners and engineers for the successful completion of his projects.

 

Jonathan Gawrys

Jonathan is an experienced team lead with over two decades of expertise in ecological construction and environmental restoration. He holds a leadership role in the successful restoration of salt marshes, freshwater wetlands, dune systems, and coastal banks. He also directly oversees all planting, bioengineering, and landscaping project scopes within his project team.

Sean G. McCann

Sean McCann has over a decade of experience as a Project Manager for a wide range of successful major construction projects, including marine construction, dredging and ecological restoration, and heavy highway (bridges & roads). He’s worked directly with private and public sectors project owners and stakeholders, such as the US Army Corps of Engineers, NJ Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Department of Transportation, NJ Department of Transportation, Government Services Administration, and Walt Disney World. As a Team Lead for SumCo Eco, Sean works to ensure projects are completed successfully in a safe and timely manner, and to the owner’s specifications and satisfaction.