Rick Bradford is manager of construction for Bechtel Systems and Infrastructure in Frederick, Maryland. His position involves all Bechtel government work globally and all heavy civil and infrastructure work in North America. He has been with Bechtel for more than 30 years. He job experience includes many field managerial assignments, both domestically and internationally.

Rick chaired the CII-funded study on appropriate allocation of contract risk and presented the study’s findings at the 2006 CII Annual Conference. He is a past chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Management Association, Savannah River Chapter.

Paul Chinowsky is an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado–Boulder. He is currently conducting research in leadership and management of architect-engineer-construct organizations and the role of technology in engineering collaboration. His book, Strategic Corporate Management in Engineering, introduces civil engineering organizations to the concepts of strategic management. Paul, also a consultant to industry, is working with an international team to develop benchmarks for computer-based collaboration environments.

Paul has been recognized as CII’s Outstanding Researcher. He holds bachelor and master’s degrees in architecture from Cal Poly–San Luis Obispo and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Stanford University.

Maria DeIsasi has been an architect and project manager for over 20 years in both the public and private sectors. She joined the Smithsonian Institution in 2004 as a Design Manager, responsible for design project development, implementation, and evaluation. In November 2006, she was promoted to Best Practices Program Manager.

Maria earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology and a Masters of Business Administration from Rutgers University. She is a Registered Architect and a member of the American Institute of Architects.

Jim Ealy is President of Aker Kværner Industrial Constructors, Aker Kværner’s non-union, direct-hire construction company operating in the United States from offices in Houston and Tucson. Prior to his current role, Jim oversaw the commercial and legal aspects of the Aker Kværner E&C Construction business stream within North America. In this role he was responsible for contract negotiations, execution, and oversight thru project completion. Jim has also served in a variety of executive positions within the Aker Kværner organization which span his 20-year-plus career, including a six-year assignment as President of the group’s Canadian-based construction operation located just outside Toronto.

Jim holds degrees in Economics and business law including an Executive Program MBA from Harvard. He is a frequent participant in panel discussions on various construction-related topics. Jim is married with one adult daughter and a two-year-old Labradoddle. In his off time, Jim enjoys golf and wing shooting.

Mike Farley has over 25 years of experience in contract management and administration in the engineering and construction industry. He currently is Manager of Contracts for Mustang Engineering in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining Mustang in 1997, Mike spent 17 years at Brown & Root in various home office positions as well as project assignments both domestic and international.

Mike received a B.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and is a licensed CPA in the State of Texas.
 

Manuel A. Garcia, P.E., is Associate Director for Professional Development and Implementation Strategy at the Construction Industry Institute (CII) where he leads teams of industry professionals and academics in the development of traditional and web-based educational programs, workshops, and seminars. His professional efforts are focused on improving the life cycle performance of capital projects by achieving outstanding results in the areas of safety, quality, schedule, cost and operability.

Manuel has over 36 years of experience in the execution of worldwide projects on behalf of Fortune 500 owners and ENR 400 contractors. He has held key executive and senior management positions with constructor and owner organizations in engineering, construction, metal fabrication, and project management.

He is a Civil Engineering graduate from North Carolina State University, a registered professional engineer in Texas and Florida, and holds certified General and Mechanical Contracting Licenses in Florida. He is a member of the Project Management Institute.

Tracie Griffitt is a mechanical engineering graduate from the Colorado School of Mines experienced in mechanical engineering and quality engineering in the brewery, pharmaceutical, petroleum refining, and petrochemical industries. Tracie’s projects have represented a wide variety of grassroots and heavy revamp upgrades including brew line and can packaging line replacements, pharmaceutical lab complexes, refinery LSG and ULSD compliance projects, crude unit debottleneck, and compressor upgrade projects. She also has served as a quality engineer, involved with work process development and mapping, team building and best practices facilitation, employee training and measurement/evaluation metrics.

Dr. Jimmie Hinze is a leading researcher on CII-sponsored safety topics. He teaches at the University of Florida School of Building Construction and is the Director of the Fluor Program for Construction Safety at the university.

For the past 30 years, he has conducted research in a variety of construction-related topics, primarily in construction safety. The author of several textbooks on construction safety, contracts, and scheduling, Dr. Hinze is widely known throughout the engineering and construction industry and academia.

In 2003, the American Society of Civil Engineers recognized his research contributions with its Peurifoy Award and CII selected him as Outstanding Researcher, making him the only individual to receive both of these prestigious awards. Dr. Hinze earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architectural engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and a PhD from Stanford University.

Paul is a Manager of Project Development for Jacobs’ Charleston operations. Jacobs Charleston is one of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.’s modular design and construction centers. Paul has 16 years of experience in engineering and construction in a variety of positions, with the last 9 years specializing in the front-end development and coordination of modular projects, evaluating optimal modular execution strategies, schedules, and layout configurations.
 
 

For the past nine years, Allan has led the Capital Project Management Center of Expertise for Cargill, Inc. His employment includes over 30 years with Cargill, Inc. as a construction engineer, project engineer, and project manager in the U.S. and U.K.

At the 2007 CII Annual Conference, Allan was recognized as CII’s Outstanding Implementer for 2007. He serves as Cargill’s representative on the CII Board of Advisors, is an Implementation Champion, a Benchmark Associate, and a member of the IC Steering Committee. He received a bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Greg Kanteres, a chemical engineer with a Masters in Business Administration, is an Engineering Fellow II with Solutia. He is a major project manager with over 28 years of experience in this line of work. Greg just completed managing a $40M grassroots chemical construction project in Suzhou, China — overseeing the building design and construction, hiring and training of employees, finances, and the fabrication, checkout, and commissioning of the processing equipment. He is currently the Project Director for implementing Bio-diesel manufacturing sites through many of Solutia’s worldwide manufacturing sites.

Greg resides in the St. Louis area with his wife and two sons. He has been a CII Implementation Champion for Solutia since 2000, and also is on the Implementation Strategy Committee.

Erwin Kiess is the QA/QC Director at CSA Group in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His experience includes roles as Electrical Engineering designer, Field Engineering Supervisor (at construction sites), Professor, Facilities Engineer, Plant Engineer, Staff Engineer, Production Manager, Engineering Manager, and Quality Manager in manufacturing segments of Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, Cosmetics, Consumer Products, Electronics, and Electromechanical devices. He actively promotes the application of Lean concepts (add value, eliminate waste) in business processes.

Erwin was appointed in 2007 as a Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner. The Baldrige sets forth a framework for organizational excellence and improvement, and sets the standard for many state-sponsored Quality and Organizational Excellence awards. More recently, Erwin was appointed to the CII Research Team 254, which has been chartered to study how Quality philosophies, methodologies, and practices have evolved since the late ’80s as applied to Capital Infrastructure projects, and which are currently being implemented and can be classified best practices.

Erwin holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, and a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. He holds registrations as a Registered Engineer (PE) and a Real Estate Broker in Puerto Rico. He is a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) with which he holds active status as a Certified Quality Engineer and Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence. As an ASQ member, Erwin served in various leadership positions in Section 1500 (PR), including Section Chair 1996-1997. Erwin attended Black Belt training at Johnson & Johnson (Process Excellence) and General Electric, obtaining his certification as a Six Sigma Black Belt at GE. He was also trained as Six Sigma Green Belt Trainer at J&J.

He is an active member of the College of Engineers and Land Surveyors of Puerto Rico and of PR2000, a non profit organization that promotes the competitiveness of Puerto Rico and which sponsored the PR Excellence Award, modeled after the MBNQA, in which Erwin served as an examiner and judge. With PR2000 he also served as a training resource for Quality Management under the “Transformation Process for Puerto Rican Enterprises.”

Thad Konopnicki has 28 years of experience in the areas of project management and cost and schedule estimating and control. He has 17 years of Federal Government experience in the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, including nine years at the Senior Executive Service (SES) level. He also has 11 years of experience in the private sector in systems engineering, cost estimating and cost research, and Architect/Engineer firms.

Thad currently serves as the Director of the Office of Project Management and Systems Support (NA-54). Previously, he headed a similar office in the Office of Environmental Management (EM-6) and also managed the EM Privatization Program, a $1 billion a year program.

Thad has worked in DOE in the Science, Environmental Management, and NNSA programs, as well as in Field Management, Procurement, and Management & Administration. He has helped to author several revisions to DOE O 4700.1, DOE O 430.1, and DOE O 413.3, the three iterations of the DOE Project Management Order. He has developed cost estimates for programs ranging in size up to $230 Billion. He has developed cost and schedule estimates and cost models for projects ranging from nuclear power plants, to Star Wars (Strategic Defense Initiative), to High-Level Radioactive Waste Treatment, to complex military electronic systems for aircraft, ground, and shipboard application. Mr. Konopnicki has extensive experience in independent project reviews, government contracting, cost and schedule estimating, earned value management systems, and project management systems and is considered an expert in those areas. He also has developed the most comprehensive Project Management Career Development Program in existence in the Federal Government. Mr. Konopnicki has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, as well as an MBA. He is a member of the NASA Academy of Program/Project Leadership Management and Operations Advisory Group, and is a member of the Project Management Institute’s (PMI’s) Education & Development Member Advisory Group. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer, and he is certified by PMI as a Project Management Professional (PMP). He holds a certificate in Strategic Planning from the American Management Association and is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute.

Doug is Manager of Engineering Services within General Motors Worldwide Facilities Group. In this position, he has responsibility for providing architectural and engineering services for infrastructure and building projects.

In addition to Doug’s responsibility to procure and manage A/E design and testing services, he also leads GM’s global initiatives in virtual design and construction, design for safety and maintainability, value engineering, life cycle cost analyses, and commissioning.

In his 27 years with General Motors, Doug has gained experience in manufacturing engineering, plant engineering, quality engineering, production, process and facilities maintenance, and capital project management.

Doug holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Barry Rittberg has over 25 years of Quality Management experience. He has completed foreign and domestic assignments with major firms in the areas of engineering, procurement, manufacturing and construction. His experience includes nuclear and fossil power projects, automotive OEM, DOE projects, supplier quality, nondestructive testing, and manufacturing quality control.

Barry has been with Fluor for the past 18 years. For the past three years he has filled the role of quality assurance functional leader. In that capacity he is responsible for maintaining Fluor’s world-wide network of quality assurance managers and for maintaining the company’s global ISO9001 quality system, practices, and computer systems. Fluor currently holds 20 ISO9001 registrations worldwide.

Barry holds a California PE registration in Quality Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Quality Assurance from Cal State–Dominguez Hills.

Kevin Smith is Vice President of Corporate Safety Operations for Pittsburgh-based Dick Corporation overseeing operations throughout the U.S. Mainland, Caribbean, Pacific, and Micronesia. After receiving a BS Degree in Safety Management, Kevin has spent the last 28 years in construction safety with experience across the commercial, power, highway, and environmental markets.

Kevin was a member of CII’s Target Safety Research Team and currently participates in the newly formed Safety Community of Practice.

Justin is a Civil Field Engineer for Bechtel Systems and Infrastructure, Inc. He is currently assigned to a project where Bechtel has been contracted by the Department of Defense’s Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program to build, systemize, test, operate, and close a facility to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky.

Justin holds a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Construction Engineering and Management Emphasis) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Justin served as the graduate researcher for the CII-funded study “Contracting to Appropriately Allocate Risk.” Justin’s advising professor, Dr. Awad Hanna, was named CII Outstanding Researcher of 2006 for his work on that project.

Greg Thomas is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Fisk Acquisition, the parent company of Fisk Electric. Fisk Electric is one of the largest electrical contractors in the United States, operating from its headquarters in Houston, where it was founded in 1913, and from six regional offices including New York, Miami, and Las Vegas.

Greg has worked on two CII studies: Cumulative Change Order Impacts and the just-completed Contracting to Appropriately Allocate Risk, which presented at the 2006 CII Annual Conference in San Diego in July. Fisk was part of the database in the research for each study. The Change Order Study has proved to be an excellent tool for negotiation on major projects.

Greg received B.A. and J.D. degrees from Tulane University and was in private practice in New Orleans for more than a dozen years. He then was counsel for the Construction Division of Blount, Inc. (a founding member of CII) leaving in 1997 to join Fisk.

Sam Thurman is currently Regional Safety, Health, and Environmental Coordinator at Southern Company. He has over 28 years of experience in the construction industry. Prior to joining Southern Company, he was the Corporate Environmental, Safety, and Health Director–Power at Washington Group International.

Sam was a member of CII’s Target Safety Research Team and presented that team’s findings to the 2006 CII Annual Conference. He has been involved as a safety professional across a broad spectrum of industries: chemical, petro-chemical, pharmaceutical, infrastructure, nuclear, and fossil power generation. He has developed many EH&S programs while working to promote a zero injury culture in the work place.

Speedy Warner is the recipient of CII’s 2006 Outstanding Implementer award. He has been with Anheuser-Busch since 1996 in the engineering project management group of Brewing, Operation and Technology. During that period he has worked with various business units within Anheuser-Busch (Packaging, Brewing, Entertainment, and Agriculture), focusing his attention on planning, scheduling, and cost control of capital projects. Speedy’s previous experience includes 25 years of engineering, procurement, and construction in the gas processing industry and the commercial building business.

Speedy has been involved in CII as an Implementation Champion for the past four years and is a member of the Implementation Strategy Committee. He is actively involved in the St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers (SLCCC), where he serves as Chairman of the Training and Education Committee. He also serves the SLCCC as a member of the Strategy Committee and the Best Practices & Awards Committee. Speedy has a degree in business administration from Southwest University.

Nuria Ayala is Senior Program Coordinator, providing support for Professional Development and Implementation programs at the Construction Industry Institute (CII). Prior to joining CII, Nuria worked for Gateway Computers. Nuria earned a bachelor’s degree in American Literature and culture with a minor in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1999 and a master’s degree in Education with a concentration in Instructional Technologies from San Francisco State University in 2002.

 

As CII’s webmaster, Michael Burns supports most CII efforts. Michael has worked at CII since 1990, expanding his role as CII has embraced new technologies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Rice University and a master’s degree in Eastern European history from Columbia University.
 
 
 
 

Joining the CII Team last July, Cathleen (Kelly) Lenig supports the CII Board of Advisors and Member Support Team. Prior to CII, Kelly worked with the Austin Technology Incubator and the Microelectronics Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. She holds a B.B.A. degree from Texas A&M University.

 

 
 

Donna Rinehart provides support for Professional Development, Implementation, and Knowledge Management programs at CII. Additional responsibilities include the Strategic Planning Committee and the CII Executive Leadership Program. She previously worked at The University of Texas at Austin, College of Engineering (Bureau of Engineering Research).