Nancy Alexander
principal, Lumenance Consulting LLC

As an organizational consultant, coach to leaders and teams, Certified Master FacilitatorTM, and catalyst for shared vision and collective change, Nancy Alexander is a long-time partner to architects and the building industry. She is co-author of the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice.

Through her consulting practice, Lumenance Consulting LLC, Nancy has served numerous building industry organizations, including AIA, AIA Connecticut, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Autodesk, BIMForum/Association of General Contractors, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Lean Construction Institute, Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (where she also served as vice chair and facilitated its first five annual Industry Leader Roundtables), The Architecture Lobby, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Yale School of Architecture, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, and Roger Williams University Department of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation. Nancy has presented at AIA national conventions and Women’s Leadership Summits, Autodesk University, SEAoNY and the EqxD (Equity by Design) symposium. She is a frequent guest lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture, where she serves on the Dean’s Council.

Phillip Bernstein, FAIA, RIBA, LEED AP
associate dean | senior lecturer, Yale School of Architecture

Phil Bernstein is an architect, technologist and educator who is Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture, where he received his B.A (honors) and M.Arch and has taught since 1988. He was formerly a Vice President at Autodesk where he was responsible for setting the company’s future vision and strategy for BIM technology as well as cultivating and sustaining the firm's relationships with strategic industry leaders and associations. Prior to Autodesk Phil was a principal at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects where he managed many of the firm’s most complex commissions. He is the author Architecture | Design | Data – Practice Competency in the Era of Computation (2018) and co-editor of Building (In) The Future: Recasting Labor in Architecture (2010 with Peggy Deamer), and speaks and writes extensively on technology, practice and project delivery. He is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council and former Chair of the AIA National Contract Documents Committee.

James Brogan, AIA
principal | CIO, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC (KPF)

James is principal/CIO with Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), responsible for the digital strategy in KPF’s 9 global offices. This oversight includes digital practice technologies—advanced parametric modeling and BIM, 3D printing and fabrication, immersive visualization technologies, information strategies, data visualization and analytics, global I+O strategies, and the KPF intranet.

Michael Brotherton, AIA
president, SITU

Michael is an architect and design specialist with expertise in digital fabrication and construction. As President of Fabrication at SITU, he has overseen the production of hundreds of complex projects across multiple scales—from a 500-ft-long pedestrian bridge in Providence, RI and a multistory art installation for James Turrell, to a mobile food kiosk launched in Times Square and numerous finely detailed sculptures.

Renée Cheng, FAIA
dean, University of Washington College of Built Environments

Renée Cheng joined the College of Built Environments as dean on January 1, 2019. Dean Cheng comes from the University of Minnesota where she was a professor, associate dean of research, head of the school of architecture, and directed an innovative graduate program linking research with practice and licensure. Prior to UMN, she taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Arizona. She is a graduate of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Harvard College.

A licensed architect, her professional experience includes work for Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners and Richard Meier and Partners before founding Cheng-Olson Design. Dean Cheng has been honored twice as one of the top 25 most admired design educators in the United States by DesignIntelligence. She has received numerous honors and awards including the 2017 Lean Construction Institute Faculty Award and was named to the American Institute of Architecture’s College of Fellows in 2017.

Cheng is a leader in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and advocates for equity in the field of architecture and in the practices related to the built environment. Recently, Cheng led the research effort for the AIA guides for equitable practice in the workplace. Cheng has pioneered research surrounding the intersection of design and emerging technologies, including work on industry adoption of Integrated Project Delivery, Building Information Modeling and Lean.

Patrick Crosby
principal, Crosby Group

Mr. Crosby established the Crosby Group in 1992 and serves as President and Managing Principal. With over 40 years of experience, he has been an innovator in the field of structural engineering, and stays abreast of structural and seismic design solutions from around the world and has introduced several of these cutting edge technologies to projects in the United States and abroad. Patrick has led the engineering community in the implementation of passive energy dissipation devices (dampers), buckling restrained brace frames, fiber reinforced composites, and shock transmission units.

Mr. Crosby has over 40 years of experience working on design-build projects and has led his firm in embracing this delivery method. With over $4 Billion in Design-Build projects, the Crosby Group has led the engineering community in developing new models for the successful completion of Design-Build projects based on trust, respect and professionalism to promote true value to the client. Patrick’s experience includes the structural design of large national award-winning multi-million dollar design-build projects for both the public and private sectors. This experience has led him to champion partnering and early team collaboration which leads to developing practical and efficient designs that expedite the construction process.

Steve Greulich
assoc. vice president of Capital Projects, North Carolina State University

Steve Greulich is associate vice president, Capital Projects for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. For the past 5 years, Steve has been leading the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) team on the new hospital project at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Steve has 36 years of experience in the design and construction industry, both as Owner and Builder. He spent approximately 10 years in preconstruction which rounds out his career experience in the design, construction and building owner industry. Steve received a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering degree from Penn State University.

Ed Hanzel
sr. project executive, LF Driscoll

Ed began his career in the construction industry in 1987. Ed’s project experience includes multi-phased complex additions to existing healthcare facilities and ground-up construction. Ed’s strong communication skills, leadership, and technical expertise are currently guiding the Penn Medicine Pavilion, a 1.5 million sq ft integrated project delivery (IPD) project.

Ryan Johnson, AIA, LEED AP
architect | computational designer, Clark Nexsen

A licensed Architect with more than 12 years of experience, Ryan believes that technology and the tools available in the industry are reflected in the buildings that we create. Throughout his career he has used technology to not only transform the design process, but also transform the built environment. He created and led Clark Nexsen’s Tech Studio, which leverages current and future technology to facilitate design, collaboration, exploration, and workflow. He is now leading the computational design effort in his firm. Pushing the use of computational thinking and computational tools such as automation, parametric design, data, and simulation Ryan works to transform design. He has been serving on The American Institute of Architects Technology in Architecture Practice (TAP) Knowledge Community since 2017 and is the 2020 chair.

Stephen Jones
senior director of Industry Insights Research, Dodge Data and Analytics

At Dodge, Steve Jones focuses on how emerging economic, practice and technology trends are transforming the global design and construction industry. In addition to hundreds of global speaking engagements and numerous articles in industry publications, he produces Dodge Data & Analytics’ SmartMarket Reports on key industry trends, which are frequently cited as authoritative references.

Jason Lukes, LEED AP
associate principal | HVAC, BR+A Consulting Engineers

How do we deliver challenging healthcare projects in today’s fast-paced, results-oriented marketplace? “Collaboration is key,” according to Jason Lukes, Associate Principal and HVAC Engineer with BR+A Consulting Engineers. Over 21 years of engineering building systems for intensive academic research, technology, laboratory, and healthcare buildings, Jason has delivered successful projects across a broad range of size and complexity utilizing a variety of delivery methods.

Examples include small, single-room design-build pharmaceutical projects all the way up to a mammoth 1.5 million square foot acute care hospital executed using the integrated project delivery approach. Jason’s experience with conceptual planning, HVAC design, design-assist, lean-design practices, building simulation modeling, life cycle analysis, and building automation compliment his drive to provide truly innovative, integrated, and high-performance building systems. These tools secure positive outcomes for his team, his clients, and users of buildings they create together.

Spiro Pollalis, PhD
research professor of design, technology and management, Harvard University

Prof. Pollalis has been professor of design, technology and management at the Harvard Design School since 1986. Now, he focuses exclusively on research in sustainability and management. He is the Director of the Zofnass Program for the Sustainability of Infrastructure, which has developed the Envision® rating system. He has taught as a visiting professor at Uni-Stuttgart, Germany; TU-Delft, Holland; ETH-Zurich, Switzerland. He has published several books and articles in journals and has given many lectures in conferences in his field.

In his private practice, Prof. Pollalis is a contractor to GSA in the “Learning from our Legacy” Program; he has planned sustainable cities in Asia and consults on sustainability and management. Two of his signature bridges have been constructed: in Columbus Ohio, and in Athens, Greece, and played a central role in the design and construction of the iconic Zakim bridge, the new symbol of Boston.

Prof. Pollalis received his first degree from the University in Athens (EMP) and his Master’s and PhD from MIT. His MBA in high technology is from Northeastern University. He has an honorary Master’s degree in Architecture from Harvard.

Brian Pratt, AIA, DBIA, LEED AP
assistant vice chancellor | campus architect, University of California, Irvine

Brian Pratt is the campus architect and assistant vice chancellor for Design & Construction Services at the University of California, Irvine. Currently overseeing major academic building projects, research facilities, and housing projects, he leads the Design and Construction efforts for the campus delivering highly complex projects via design build. Brian has served in the private and public sectors, formerly leading the Orange County Architecture Discipline as a principal with AECOM. Having served on the Board of Directors and as President of the American Institute of Architects, Orange County, he is accustomed to working with complex projects and multiple user groups. Brian has recently led a variety of project types, including laboratories, sports facilities, retail, cultural, and civic, both new and renovation. Past clients include UCSD, UCLA, CSUF, UCSB, UCR, the Arizona Cardinals, University of Arkansas, and Pomona College. Brian’s work has been recognized with several awards and recognitions, and many projects have achieved LEED Platinum certification.

Warren Rosebraugh, MSA
director of solution architects, Schneider Electric

Warren Rosebraugh is the director of solution architects for Schneider Electric Buildings North America, specializing in the healthcare market. His approach is to simplify the healthcare environment by utilizing an integrated control platform. He designs customer solutions based on their unique needs and supports sales efforts by integrating Schneider Electric products with other best-in-class offers. His extensive experience has been global in nature, working for Andover Controls as the Far East Training and Operations manager and then as the Director of Operations for Strategic Accounts. He formed and was the Director of Operations for the Security Center of Excellence in North Andover, Massachusetts before taking on his current role. Warren brings more than 25 years of experience in building solutions and security, joining Schneider Electric in 1996. Warren received a Masters in Solution/System Architecture in 2012 from C.E.S.A.M.E.S. Institute in Paris France.

Mark Sands
president, Agile Integrated Solutions

Mark Sands is president of Agile Integrated Solutions (AGILIS), and general manager of its software company, Building Catalyst, LLC. Mark holds a BS in Civil Engineering, Masters in Business Administration, and a Professional Engineer license. Mark managed commercial and institutional projects across much of the US for the first half of his career.

In 1999 Mark began the transition from traditional construction toward aggressive automation and manufacturing-inspired building development. This led Mark, and his team, to develop a reliable predictive modeling and big data analysis system - Building Catalyst. This system enables the transformation toward a fully-integrated, highly automated process for advancing facility planning, design, budgeting and production.

Deborah Sheehan, DBIA
managing director, BDO USA, LLP

Deb is a managing director of BDO USA, LLP’s Advisory Practice, a team that is devoted to helping organizations achieve optimal operational and financial performance outcomes in deploying their processes and real estate assets. BDO’s practice brings together leaders with deep experience across financial, clinical, design, construction, operations, data analytics, and legal disciplines committed to a collaborative culture to create robust organizational change.

Dennis Shelden, PhD, AIA
associate professor of architecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Dennis Shelden is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Director of the Center for Architecture, Science, and Ecology (CASE) in New York City. An expert in applications of digital technology to building design, construction and operations, he has worked in professional practice, technology entrepreneurship and academia across architectural, building engineering and computing disciplines. He has lectured and written widely on topics of computational applications to architecture and building industry transformation. He previously held faculty positions at Georgia Tech, MIT, UCLA, the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

Dr. Shelden has been an entrepreneur and innovation leader in several professional organizations. He led the development of architect Frank Gehry’s digital practice as Director of R&D and Director of Computing. He then co-founded Gehry Technologies, serving as Chief Technology Officer on the development of several software products and Project Executive on numerous ground breaking building projects. He has previously worked with diverse architecture, engineering and technology firms including Arup, Trimble, Cyra Systems and Consultant’s Computation Bureau. He holds a BS in Architectural Design, an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and a PhD in Design Computation from MIT, and is a licenced architect in the State of California.

James Vandezande, AIA
chief technology officer, HOK

James is a Senior Principal and Chief Technology Officer at HOK—a global design, engineering, planning and consulting firm. He is considered a pioneer in the field of BIM and has lectured at many industry events including Autodesk University, CMAA, ENR FutureTech, Urban Land Institute and the AIA National Convention. He is a co-founder of the NYC Revit Users Group and has served as chair of the BIMForum board of directors.

James has also authored the book series, “Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture” in addition to serving as an adjunct lecturing professor at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He also serves as HOK’s designated representative for buildingSMART International and has held leadership roles in the development of the US National BIM Standard and the Level of Development (LOD) Specification.

Kenneth Webb, AIA, ACHA, LEED AP BD+C
Washington, DC director of health, HKS