Program Director, PMC, Site Operations

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Aaron Wagner is a seasoned industry leader with over 20 years of experience in the building lifecycle. Starting in architecture, he developed a passion for the master builder concept, which led him to work with owners, developers, design engineering firms and construction companies, including general contractors and specialty subcontractors. Since joining U.S. CAD in 2014, Aaron has led a team that successfully implemented Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) in over 400 firms worldwide. His expertise focuses on bridging the gap between architecture, engineering and construction, driving collaboration and efficiency through technology.

Vice President, Preconstruction

McCarthy Building Companies. Inc.

Director of Design and Construction

Bespoke Project Solutions

Director, Planning & Design

University of Arizona

The future is now, and no one knows that better than DBIA’s Director of Virtual Design & Construction, Brian Skripac. Brian has decades of experience leading the virtual design and construction process for diverse projects across the nation. Not only is he a practitioner, with a background in architecture, but he’s also an educator, having shared his BIM and VCD experiences with audiences eager to capture the power of the digital transformation now underway throughout our industry. Brian says design-build and VDC are naturals together and he’s working to help design-build teams embrace innovation and technology to superpower their project collaboration. As an alumni of The Ohio State University, Brian is a huge Buckeye football fan and shares Woody Hayes’ belief that, “Nothing that comes easy in this world is worth a damn.” He enjoys cooking, is a craft beer fan and coaches softball in his free time.

Principal and Project Manager, Rawlins Group

Dan  is a Principal and Project Manager with InterDesign, an architectural and planning firm located in Indianapolis, Indiana. An architect with over three decades of experience in planning educational facilities, Dan has developed expertise as Owner’s representative and Design Criteria Developer for Public Sector design-build projects. He is passionate about creating a collaborative environment among Owners, design-build teams, regulating agencies and other project stakeholders that bring out the best that design-build delivery can offer, resulting in win-win-win projects that achieve joy in the journey. Dan earned his Bachelor & Master’s degrees in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign. He is involved with The Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI), The Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) and Engineering Ministries, International (EMI).

Division Vice President/National Director of Design Management

The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company

Director, Construction

University of Arizona

David Varoli serves as the Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs and General Counsel for the New York City Department of Design and Construction. With over twenty years in the public and private sector, he’s distinguished himself as a leader in the construction space. During  his extensive career in government, he has served as Deputy Director and General Counsel for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Contract Services and Assistant General Counsel at the New York City Housing Authority.  He also works as an Adjunct Professor at Manhattan College and Fordham University. Mr. Varoli received his B.S. from Fordham University, an LLM from Quinnipiac University and his J.D. from Pace University.

Director of Field Operations

Bespoke Project Solutions

Senior Consultant, FMI Corporation 

Emily Beardall develops creative analytical tools that deliver powerful solutions for FMI’s clients as a senior consultant. She is committed to utilizing these strategic tools to improve company performance and profitability. 

In addition to leading client engagements, Emily is responsible for FMI’s quarterly construction activity forecast for Canada and other thought leadership pieces. She an expert in the design/build space and a sought after speaker.

Before joining FMI, Emily was a volunteer consultant for Entrepreneurship Empowerment in South Africa. In that position, she spent a summer working with a general contractor to improve day-to-day operations and to develop a strategic plan to manage Cape Town’s booming market. 

Geoffrey W. Neumayr, SE​, DBIA, recently retired as the Chief Development Officer for the San Francisco International Airport Planning, Design & Construction Division. He was responsible for the planning, design and construction of all the airport’s maintenance & capital projects. Geoff has over 30 years in design and construction and has been responsible for the Project Management of some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most prestigious projects including the San Francisco International Airport BART Station and the newly completed Terminal 2 project. He is a vocal advocate of the team concept for the design and construction of public infrastructure projects, and is a proponent of the use of Progressive Design Build as implementation approach for integrated project delivery. Geoff serves on the DBIA National Board of Directors

President

Stone Security Engineering, PC

Principal, ROPE Strategies, LLC

Jim is a former Senior Executive Service member with 30+ years of experience leading federal organizations in law, procurement, budget, audit resolution, human capital, design and construction, facilities management, and IT. He advises the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) on curriculum and resource development and teaches several DBIA courses. As Principal of ROPE Strategies, LLC, he consults on design-build, risk management, strategic planning, and alternative dispute resolution. He is also an Adjunct Professor at American University.

Jim spent 16+ years with the U.S. Department of Justice in legal and senior management roles, including Deputy General Counsel and Chief of Construction Contracting, where he established DOJ’s design-build program. He later held leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Education and retired as Assistant Inspector General at OPM. 

Project Leader

Hensel Phelps 

Kabri is an accomplished construction program leader known for her integrated approach to technical risk assessment, effective communication, and values stewardship. Her expertise in bringing clarity to team objectives is grounded in her experience across all phases of complex projects in the aviation and higher education sectors. Kabri applies a superintendent’s strategic knowledge of field operations to program-level management of contracts sized $100M to $1B. 

Recognized as one of Construction Business Owner's 2019 Outstanding Women in Construction, Kabri is also the recipient of AGC of Washington's 2022 inaugural Rising Star award, Washington Women in Trades' 2019 Workplace Leader award and is a proud member of Building Design+Construction Media's 2023 class of 40 Under 40. 

Senior Principal, Senior Project Manager

SmithGroup

As senior project manager and architectural discipline lead for Phoenix and Denver, Katie views her position as "leading a team of professionals to push the boundaries of our clients’ expectations." That team, she notes, includes the client, the contractor and the range of integrated disciplines from SmithGroup. Katie works in the higher education, science and technology and workplace practices, on from science labs to performing arts centers. "We create environments for people to explore and shape the future," she says. Katie names The Tale of Three Trees as a favorite read, which left her with the message that "Life rarely turns out the way we think it should. In many cases, our hopes and dreams are achieved in more grand ways than we ever imagined." For a grand adventure, Katie dreams of scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Lisa came to DBIA in 2004 as its Vice President of Education & Conferences Education Director. Since becoming DBIA’s Executive Director/CEO in 2009, the organization has seen record growth in its education and certification programs. Membership among Owners, practitioners and young professionals continues to grow and the Design-Build Institute of America has earned the reputation as the nation’s #1 resource for design-build research, thought-leadership, advocacy and training.

Lisa has more than 20 years of association management experience, with a Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential, a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s in Nonprofit Management from the University of Maryland. In 2012, she was named one of Engineering News-Record’s (ENR’s) Top 25 Newsmakers of the Year.

Neetha Puthran serves as Director of the Architecture & Engineering Business Unit at ARKANCE USA. Neetha’s role combines strategy with her passion for business and digital transformation of the AEC industry. Early on, Neetha studied Architecture, Business and Sustainability and used it to focus her early career on project management at an integrated A&E firm focusing on healthcare and laboratory work, then at a GC, managing the design-build scopes. Using her background in multiple project delivery models and passion for digital transformation, Neetha transitioned into an industry solutions SME at Autodesk, where she worked with every side of the OAC triad to further their business goals through the strategic use of technology. Today, she and her team work with strategic clients to realize their business goals through a combination of consultation, education and solution delivery. 

Director of BIM Production Services - Central Region

U.S. CAD, An ARKANCE Company

Richard is DBIA’s “fixer.” Since 2009, he’s been traveling the nation helping state legislatures throughout our 14 Regions pass new design-build legislation, expand existing laws and defeat efforts to roll back design-build progress. He’ll tell you the best of part of his job is all the people he meets from coast to coast, but the downside is the partisan politics.

Richard is a Minnesota native, served in the Navy and worked with Ames for 17 years before coming to D.C. He enjoys kayaking, horseback riding and coaching basketball. In fact, one little-known tidbit is that Richard holds the highest winning percentage of any coach in the history of Loudoun County’s Basketball League.

General Manager/Senior Vice President

Turner Engineering Group

Managing Principal

AC Martin

Tom Foley currently manages the overall direction of New York City’s Department of Design & Construction (DDC) Public Buildings Division, supported by almost 450 executives, managerial, professional and administrative staff with over 711 active projects, serving 26 client agencies with portfolios valued at over $10 billion dollars. He is responsible for the management of the design and construction of the Public Buildings Capital Program including Civic, Uniform Structures and Project Controls such as Cultural Institutions, Libraries, Public Safety, Health & Human Services within the City’s five (5) Boroughs. Tom has guided DDC towards an integrated design-build project delivery approach with an emphasis on Design-Build Done Right® for New York City’s DB projects.

Director Of Innovation

U.S. CAD, An ARKANCE Company