Speakers

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Mr. Mehta is an internationally recognized expert in implementing project controls best practices. He serves as a Vice President of Project Controls for AECOM, the largest design and project management firm in the globe. He also served as the past president of PMI – College of scheduling and successfully led its transition to the PMI-Scheduling Community of Practice. He has given more than 30 presentations at various professional venues in the area of project controls, earned value management, claims analysis and litigation, and enterprise wide systems. He has been a key player and a team member in successful execution of numerous multi-million projects in the Energy, Infrastructure and Environmental industry. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), a certified Cost Engineer (CCE), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), and a certified Earned Value Professional (EVP) and a Risk Management Professional (RMP). He holds a Master’s degree in Construction Management from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.

Michelle is the Global Director of Project Delivery System at Jacob’s with twenty years of experience in multiple sector including oil and gas, power, transportation, water, government facilities and environmental markets. Formal education includes the Bachelor of Business and Executive MBA from the University of Denver.

Ranjeet Gadhoke is Vice President for Project Controls at Zachry Construction. He is an experienced Project Controls and Enterprise Resources Planning Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the construction industry. Skilled in AutoCAD, Budgeting, Value Engineering, Cost Management, Schedule Management, Changes & Claims Management and Highway Construction. Strong program and project management professional with a Master's degree focused in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University.

Joshua is Director of Project Controls at Granite Construction Company, a diversified heavy civil contractor with $3B in annual revenue. Josh is responsible for building organizational capacity in Project Controls and related work processes in the projects portfolio. He leads a Center of Excellence model Project Controls Team of seasoned construction professionals supporting a diverse portfolio of construction projects nationwide with tools, training, and services that compliment market strategy. Joshua graduated summa cum laude from the University of Rhode Island with a BS in Civil Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer, and a member of Tau Beta Pi (the National Engineering Honor Society) and Chi Epsilon (the Civil Engineering Honor Society). He has served in key roles on large, self-performed heavy civil projects including marine bridge, heavy rail, and highways in Florida, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Maryland. For the past seven years, he has driven project controls improvements across the enterprise including standardization, cultural change, and the integration of major business acquisitions. He also directs the company’s ISO-based Integrated Management System of all policies, procedures, and related documents for all business processes.

John is Vice President and National Director of Project Controls for WSP USA. He has 25 years of experience in project controls, program and project management for large, CAPEX & OPEX construction projects and programs, in both the public and private sectors of the AEC/EPC industry. Currently, he is accountable for management oversight of Project Controls division covering five geographic areas and seven business markets. Accountable for control system development, implementation, recruitment, training and execution of all project/program controls staff (~250 staff), processes and systems within the division. John is a Certified Planning & Scheduling Professional (PSP) by the Association for Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE), and a Fellow in Project Management College of Scheduling.

Andy McCracken is the Vice President of Project Controls for Turner Industries Group, LLC, a national industrial contractor, and has been with the company for the last 8 years. Andy believes that his 28 years of construction project experience in Petrochemical, Energy and Power, Manufacturing, Entertainment market sectors have placed him perfectly in his current role at Turner. Andy received his Bachelors of Engineering from the University of Mississippi in 1990 and was hired as a Project Engineer for a large EPC. His assignments on international and domestic projects have provided Andy with the experience and ability to dive deep in to project data and come out with the appropriate solutions. Prior to joining Turner, he served as a project manager for over 15 years, and his teams have successfully executed roller coasters to complex petrochemical projects. Andy resides in Baton Rouge with his wife, Meghan of 22 years, son, Rory and daughter, Maeve.

In his twelve years at Alberici, Brooks has been responsible for developing and implementing the company’s enterprise-wide project controls program across North America. This program includes project management procedures, document and cost control procedures, and data management in the field. Since 2009, Brooks has been responsible for developing and implementing Alberici’s VDC program. Brooks has a passion for construction technology and it’s application to building projects smarter and faster.

Morgan Traynor, Director of Project Controls, strives to create operational excellence, spread best practices and spearhead initiatives across the Construction division at Ryan Companies US, Inc.

Danny has over 30 years experience in engineering, procurement and construction. His career has progressed through project controls, project management, operations management, business development, and currently Director of Project Controls and Procurement. Experience includes process, power, industrial, pulp & paper, and automotive industries including domestic and international projects. Danny received his BBA from the University of Montevallo and his MBA from Samford University. He has served as co-chair of the CII Benchmarking & Metrics Committee and also served on the CII Research Committee. He has also served as chairman of the Evangel Classical Christian School Board, Offensive Coordinator for the varsity football team, and assistant coach for the varsity baseball team. Danny is married to his wife Jennifer and has two children, Elizabeth and Nathan.

Jason Bowen, PE is the Director of Engineering & Project Controls for Southland Holdings. Southland Holdings is ranked 22 in ENR for Top Domestic Heavy Contractors and 117 in ENR Top 400 for 2017 revenue. Mr. Bowen has a BSCE from the University of Texas at Arlington, is a licensed PE, and is a member of AACEi, ASCE, WEF, and WEAT. He has completed over $500mm in design and construction projects primarily focused in water treatment, conveyance, and diversion. He has a diverse background of design, estimating, operations, and controls for heavy civil construction projects ranging from $50k to over $200mm in contract value. His primary focus for Southland Holdings is to mentor and lead project managers, project engineers, and controls engineers across the country ensuring safe, timely, and efficient construction of all projects.

Gregory Whiteside, PE, has 10 years of experience managing critical project cost information on a wide variety of projects, including a $3.2B Mega-Project. He has been involved in collecting and reporting information regarding engineering and construction progress, procurement status, change management, scheduling, and risk management. He has worked for both contractors and owners in the energy and chemical industry. Gregory is a Certified Cost Professional through AACE, and has published several papers through the association.

John Hale is a Risk /Project Controls / Project Management professional with over 30 years of experience. He has a BA from California State University, Chico and an MBA from Texas A&M University College Station, as well as numerous other university level courses – including the Advanced Management Program for Oil and Gas Executives at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He holds a PMP designation from the Project Management Institute and has contributed to PMI and AACE publications over the years. His area of expertise is assisting in the effective and predictable completion of complex energy projects throughout the world by understanding, in depth, the elements and mechanisms of delivery and the complex interactions that can lead to both project success and failure.

Adam is Project Management/Cost Engineering/Risk Professional with over 20 years’ experience in commercial & industrial construction. He maintains a PMP and an RMP certification from the Project Management Institute and previously served as the Director of Finance and President of the PMI Tulsa Chapter. Adam has worked a representative for both owners and contractors across diverse industries. He has managed and guided teams to develop, plan, construct, execute and/or control a variety of projects including: multibillion dollar gas transmission pipeline projects, coal-fired and nuclear power station outages, luxury high-rise condominium projects, municipal facilities and award winning LEED Gold Certified projects. His area of expertise is in project development and planning, risk analysis, cost management and general project management.

Eric Brantner has 15 years of experience in Finance, Project Controls, and Operations in the Aviation and Oil & Gas (Midstream) industries. Most of this time was spent providing senior leadership with highly impactful analysis of key initiatives including major capital program spend, business unit performance, and joint cost reduction programs. Throughout his career he has developed KPI’s, Metrics, and Benchmarking that helped to measure performance and expose trends that provide senior leadership with the visibility needed to make impactful decisions. He is currently responsible for the expansion capital project portfolio, capital project risk management, benchmarking, and KPI’s for the Engineering and Construction group at Enable Midstream Partners.

Nicole Waits leads the efforts in bringing analytical and technology based process improvements to Ryan Company’s preconstruction, estimating and pricing efforts. As an agent of change within the industry, Waits deals firsthand with the disruptive nature of innovation within the tried and true nature of preconstruction. Awareness, education, training, and passion have been the keys to Nicole’s grassroots adoption of data driven cost intelligence and virtual construction. Nicole has 13 years’ experience in construction and development. She is a 2017 Advancing Building Estimation speaker, and a 2015 AGC National Conference speaker.

Brad Robinson is Associate Vice President and National Director of Project Controls at HDR. Brad brings project controls expertise to challenging infrastructure and building projects. As director, he leads a practice of skilled professionals in scheduling, cost estimating and management, document management, contract and risk management, and forensic delay analysis. With more than 30 years of experience, Brad has worked on projects of more than $10B in constructed value. He works in vast markets — highways, tunnels, bridges, transit, power, telecommunications and oil and gas. Project locations include large U.S. cities, the United Kingdom and the Middle East.

Project Control professional with over 30 years’ experience in schedule development and schedule management, contracts, cost control, management and over-site of engineering and construction project work, and project development. Keith is currently the Power Utility Project Controls Lead for Duke Energy, and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mr. Harrison is the Project Controls Director for CCC Group, a nationally ranked, self-perform industrial contractor based in San Antonio, Texas with operations throughout the U.S. as well as two international offices.  His expertise and unique perspective has been developed through his fifteen years’ experience in holding various key project roles on large CAPEX projects in multiple sectors including oil and gas, energy and power, water, mining, chemical and cement.  He drives and oversees the development and implementation of the use of planning, scheduling and cost engineering for the company’s diverse portfolio of projects both domestically and abroad.  He also leads the development and facilitation of executive project summary review and reporting.  Formal education includes a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from Michigan State University.