MELBOURNE GARBER, MSc, CSEng, FIStructE, FSLIE, MASCE

Mr. Garber has over 35 years’ experience as a professional structural engineer. His projects have ranged from large residential buildings to stand-alone homes, new and renovated offices to memorials and museums, schools and airport terminal construction. He is currently the Director of Building for Gedeon GRC Consulting, a black owned multi-disciplinary consulting and construction management firm. Mr. Garber is responsible for managing his staff of engineers, procuring work, managing client expectations and relationships, tracking project financing and ensuring QA/QC procedures are adhered to.

Mr. Garber was raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He obtained a combined B.Sc honors degree in Civil Engineering and Mathematics in 1981 and a Master’s degree in Construction Engineering (Concrete Structures) in 1983 from Leeds University. He joined the structural engineering firm Arup, renowned for the construction of the Sydney Opera House, in London in 1982. He joined the New York office of Arup in 1992, where he worked until 2000. He then joined Robert Silman Associates in January 2001 and was made an Associate in 2003. His responsibilities as an Associate included overall management of staff and fees for projects, marketing the firm and seeking new projects. Mr. Garber joined Gedeon GRC Consulting as Director of Building in 2015 and continues to work on exciting and challenging projects with a dedicated team of engineers and support staff.

Mr. Garber is a Fellow of both the Institution of Structural Engineers, UK and the Sierra Leone Institute of Engineers, and a member the American Society of Civil Engineers. He has been involved with the design of numerous projects, notably The British Library in London; the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey; the John F. Kennedy International Arrivals Terminal; the African Burial Ground National Monument; and the United Nations Permanent Memorial to the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade in New York City. After the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center on 9/11, he was among the first group of engineers to assist with search and rescue operations. He was the Historical Archivist of the Krio Descendants Union Global Leadership. He is a member and former chair of the Board of the National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in North America (NOSLINA) and a member of the Sierra Leone Community of New Jersey (SLCNJ) organization. He is also part of the editorial staff for the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies. Mr. Garber is a former chair of the Bunce Island Coalition and was actively involved in the recent efforts to preserve the Bunce Island Slave Castle and an advocate for raising the awareness of preserving Sierra Leone’s historic sites and artifacts. Apart from the Bunce Island Slave Fort, Mr. Garber has been involved in other preservation projects mainly in the United.