Robert Laakso

Robert  Laakso
  • BS Geological Engineering 1964

Bob is currently the Owner and President of a company called Shaft and Tunnel Engineering Services, operating out of Holland Landing, Ontario. In addition to his B.S. in Geological Engineering which he received from Michigan Tech in 1964, Bob earned a graduate diploma from the Haileybury School of Mines in Haileybury, Ontario.

After leaving Michigan Tech, Bob worked with a wide variety of projects in a few different companies, including Dravo in Australia and the U.S. and Vice President of Harrison Overseas Construction, headquartered in Toronto, but supervising projects in Brazil and Peru. Bob has led a number of other projects, but one of the most impressive is driving two tunnels through serpentine in Guatemala in 1982 with a budget of $45 million and 600 men. The safety record for one of his projects, the deepening of a mine, was such that the mine was declared the safest mine in Canada, and they were awarded the Ryan Trophy in 2004.

From 2006 Induction to the Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Academy