Sam Allen is the President of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), for a term running 2022 – 2026.

Mr. Allen is the Director of the TRI Environmental Group (TRI), a globally active, independent geosynthetic laboratory and research services provider. His work over the past 35 years has involved significant interaction with public and private entities around the world, giving him a strong understanding of the needs in world regions for geosynthetics, infrastructure, and sustainability.

Mr. Allen volunteers time to numerous industry-growing organizations. He has served as the Executive Chair of ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics and currently serves as the group’s Membership Secretary. He is the current WG 5 Convenor on Geosynthetic Durability on ISO Technical Committee 221 on Geosynthetics. And, he has served on the Board of Advisors for the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) for 20+ years.

Importantly, Mr. Allen has been inspired by and dedicated himself to the IGS. He has been elected to the IGS Council (2006, 2010, co-opted 2014, elected 2018), chaired the Education Committee (2008 – 2010), co-chaired the Pan-American Activities Committee (2010), helped launch the Educate the Educators (EtE) program (Argentina – 2013, United States – 2015), and chaired the Communications Committee (2014 – present).

He has also led or contributed substantially to major communications endeavours, such as the Two for a Few series, expanding the IGS’s digital and social media presence, helping manage the rebuild of the IGS Digital Library and IGS website, and working on the Did You Know sustainability campaign.

Mr. Allen strongly believes that the IGS sits at the precipice of a new time of critically important messaging to permanently establish our materials and applications as absolutely necessary to sustainable development and environmental protection, while differentiating them from harmful single use and polluting plastics. Success will require education, awareness and trust from the users of our materials. These are all missions that Mr. Allen brings to his work with the IGS. He combines his scientific background with his passion for growing geosynthetics in engineering around the world.