Engineers / Jon Heintz

Currently the Executive Director at the Applied Technology Council (ATC), Jon Heintz has more than 30 years of experience in earthquake engineering practice and research, seismic evaluation and retrofit, natural hazard mitigation and policy development, and strategic planning on structural engineering research needs at the national level. Throughout his career, he has been actively involved in the development of guidelines, codes, and standards for new and existing buildings.  At ATC, he has been in charge of major technical development projects for seismic, wind, tsunami, and coastal inundation hazards.

Jon grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, playing sports in the fog belt of the north peninsula (Daly City and South San Franciso). He attended UC Berkeley, where he was taught structural engineering by Alexander Scordelis, Vitelmo Bertero, Ed Wilson, Anil Chopra, Jack Moehle, and Fillip Fillipou. He spent the first 16 years of his career at Degenkolb Engineers in San Francisco, where he was trained on how to be a consultant and an engineer by the likes of Tom Wosser, Loring Wyllie, Chris Poland, David Bonneville, Jim Malley, David Cocke, and Maryann Phipps. In 2005, he joined ATC, leading applied research and technology development projects with Chris Rojahn, Ron Hamburger, Bill Holmes, Jim Harris, Charlie Kircher, John Hooper, Greg Deierlein, and Helmut Krawinkler.

Jon’s career reached a defining point early on when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit on October 17, 1989, only six months after beginning work at Degenkolb. After that, he spent the next several years crawling around damaged unreinforced masonry buildings with Loring Wyllie. That was followed by damaged hospital inspections with Jim Malley after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, and damage versus ground motion correlation studies with Chris Poland following the 1999 Chi-Chi Taiwan earthquake. Jon also performed post-hurricane damage assessments following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Jon’s engagement with outside organizations started early in his career, largely influenced and encouraged by his mentors and peers at Degenkolb. Jon started with SEAONC’s Public Affairs and Membership Committee, where he initiated a local chapter of the community outreach program then known as Christmas in April. The partnership between SEAONC and the program, now known as Rebuilding Together, continues to give SEAONC members an opportunity to participate in community rebuilding efforts each year.

Jon’s eventual career arc was initiated by Degenkolb’s adoption and use of ATC-14, Evaluating the Seismic Resistance of Existing Buildings, which introduced him to the work of ATC and ignited an interest in the development of new technologies. He became involved in the FEMA 318 Prestandard for evaluation of existing buildings, was the editor and lead author of the FEMA 356 Prestandard for retrofit of existing buildings, and joined the ASCE Standards Committee on Seismic Rehabilitation for the development of the first ASCE 41 standard. Because of this work, he was on the committee that developed the first International Existing Building Code (IEBC), specifying the use of FEMA 318 (ASCE 31) and FEMA 356 (ASCE 41) as the structural seismic criteria.

The arc was completed when Jon joined ATC as Director of Projects. Hiring Jon brought structural engineering expertise in-house for ATC, where previously all such expertise was provided externally by consultants. There he led major projects such as ATC-58 (FEMA P-58 Performance-Based Seismic Design), ATC-63 (FEMA P-695 Quantification of Seismic Performance Factors), ATC-64 (Tsunami Design), ATC-78 (Evaluation of Non-Ductile Concrete Buildings), ATC-83 (Soil-Structure Interaction), ATC-136 (Seismic Code Support Committee), and ATC-138 (Performance-Based Design for Functional Recovery). Living in the world between research and practice is where Jon thrives. In his 10 years as Director of Projects and his subsequent years as Executive Director, Jon has substantially increased the consultant pool and impact of ATC. He has managed more than 100 projects and produced more than 200 reports at ATC, and his work has contributed to the advancement and evolution of engineering practice.

Under Jon’s leadership, ATC continues its mission to maintain the highest standard of integrity in all their practices, and Jon values the dedication and commitment that he sees in the structural engineering community in SEAONC and around the globe. Jon sees structural engineering as a highly altruistic profession and is honored by all the efforts of volunteers and collaborators who contribute their time and effort to the advancement of the practice.

Teaching and mentoring have been a passion for Jon. His favorite activities include sharing the results of ATC project work through presentations at workshops, conferences, code committees, and association meetings. Early in his career, he was fortunate to have been taught and mentored by some of the brightest minds in engineering. The skills that they fostered in speaking, writing, and client care were critical in the development of his career, and he hopes that all young engineers have an opportunity to get similar training beyond the technical aspects of our work. In working with younger engineers at Degenkolb, his style was to work closely alongside his team, sharing his knowledge and experience, but also the reasons behind the requirements. His former reports (Robert Pekelnicky, Roger Parra, Laurie Johnston, Kent Yu, Darrick Hom) have all gone on to become leaders at Degenkolb or other firms.

Jon is happily married to Catherine, who was the girl next door in Daly City, and his eventual college sweetheart. They live in San Mateo with their three adult children (Veronica, Amanda, Joseph) nearby. They currently have one grandchild (Tristan), with the hope for many more.

This entry was written in 2024.

• SEAOC Fellow (2016)
• SEAONC Fellow (2012)
• SEAONC Helmut Krawinkler Award (2015)
• SEAOC Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, FEMA P-58 Report (2014)
• SEAOC Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, FEMA P-695 Report (2011)
• ACEC California Engineering Excellence Honor Award, FEMA P-695 Report (2010)
• EERI Outstanding Paper Award, “Update to ASCE/SEI 41 Concrete Provisions” (2007)

• Thomas Wosser
• Loring Wyllie
• Chris Poland
• David Bonneville
• David Cocke
• Maryann Phipps
• Ronald O. Hamburger
• William Holmes
• James Harris
• Charles Kircher
• John Hooper
• Christopher Rojahn
• Gregory Deierlein
• Helmut Krawinkler
• Janiele Maffei
• James O. Malley
• Ray Pugliesi
• Jorn Halle
• Bret Lizundia
• Mason Walters
• David Hutchinson
• Ryan Kersting
• Kelly Cobeen
• Peter Somers
• Michael Valley
• Russell Berkowitz
• Dominic Kelly
• Kevin Moore
• Mark A. Moore
• Colin Blaney
• Robert Pekelnicky
• Roger Parra
• Laurie Johnston
• Kent Yu
• Darrick Hom
• Ayse Hortacsu
• Justin Moresco

• Applied Technology Council
• Degenkolb Engineers
• University of California, Berkeley
• Advanced National Seismic System
• American Institute of Steel Construction
• American Society of Civil Engineers
• Building Seismic Safety Council
• Consortium of Organizations for Strong Motion Observation Systems
• Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
• New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering
• Structural Engineers Assocation of California
• Structural Engineers Association of Northern California

• San Francisco Airport BART and Light Rail Station
• VA Palo Alto Replacement Hospital
• HP Aviation Hangar
• HP Cupertino Seismic Retrofit
• 50 Green Street Seismic Retrofit
• Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory Seismic Retrofit
• SF Ferry Building Earthquake Repairs

• 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake
• 1994 Northridge Earthquake
• 1999 Chi-Chi Taiwan Earthquake
• 2004 Hurricane Katrina
• 2005 Hurricane Rita
• 2010 Maule Chile Earthquake
• 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquake

• Applied Technology Council