Join us at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park for AGC’s Technology Conference
Tentative Agenda Is Subject to Change | All Times Are Listed in Central Daylight Time (CDT)
Click the “Learn More” Toggle For More Details On Each Session. Learn More About This Year’s Speakers By Clicking Their Name to Read More About Their Construction IT Background.
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Visit Oracle’s Industry Lab
In partnership with Oracle, AGC has organized a visit to Oracle’s Industry Lab in Deerfield, IL, just a quick trip from downtown Chicago.
This 30,000-square foot facility provides a job-site simulated environment to develop new ideas and create solutions leveraging technology from Oracle and more than 42 industry partners. This visit will be specific to Engineering and Construction and exclusive to registered conference attendees.
The bus for the Oracle Tour will depart at 9 AM from Level B-2 of the Fairmont. Upon exiting the elevator bank, turn right and proceed up a short ramp and through the revolving door to the Autolobby. Learn More.
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
IT Boot Camps – Part 1
Presented by Greg Smith, Yates Construction, Dwain Wood, Yates Construction & Will Sharp, HDR; Calvin Kam, Ian Howell
$99 to attend this year’s boot camps. Not sure which one you want to attend? Just register in advance for either boot camp and decide on-site how long you’d like to spend in each session!
Meet the Speaker: Greg Smith, Yates Construction
With over 30 years of technology experience in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction industry, Greg’s focus is on innovation in the design and construction process, helping project teams to deliver quality and efficiency on their projects. Greg has been an adjunct professor at Washington State University, teaching BIM and VDC courses, and has guest lectured at many other universities.
In his personal life, Greg lead a non-profit corporation, “Success Thru Sports”, dedicated to helping disadvantaged kids develop leadership and life skills through athletics. Focused around basketball, one of his youth teams was recognized as a top-25 team in the Pacific Northwest. An avid sailor, Greg has raced and cruised around the Pacific Northwest, at times floating along serenely on inland waters, or hanging on for dear life offshore in the mighty Pacific Ocean.
Meet the Speaker: Dwain Wood, Yates Construction
My Dad was a mechanical contractor, so I grew up in construction and have been involved in construction for the past 55 years. I’ve been a Project Executive with Yates with 23 years with Yates, and the last 10 years in the VDC/BIM Department. Currently semi-retired and continue to train staff at Yates.
Meet the Speaker: Will Sharp, HDR
Will is HDR’s Global Director of Highway’s and has 35 years of experience in highway planning and design. He is actively involved in many national BIM for Infrastructure industry efforts including the AASHTO Joint Technical Committee on Electronic Engineering Standards, buildingSMART USA Roadway and Bridges Industry Committee (co-chair), ACEC National Digital Delivery efforts, Transportation Research Board Digital Delivery efforts, American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) Innovation and Technology Forum (co-chair), and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) U.S. National BIM Program Steering Committee.
Construction firms and their IT direction are a perennial conversation. How do we lead tech? Who leads? Construction firms have far more reliance on good IT. Topics to deal with abound. How does today’s CIO, working with senior management, determine what to prioritize, how to staff, how to effectively deploy. What is the role of business in IT initiatives and how to create an effective partnership. Alignment of IT with the business is more important than ever. This boot camp will cover the concepts of IT Governance at a foundational level and then build into more intermediate and advanced topics from there. This will include:
- The Business/IT Partnership matrix
- IT decision making
- Measuring and reporting progress
- Developing and communicating an IT strategy
- How to manage innovation
- Role of a PMO
- Structure of today’s IT department
- Managing shadow IT intentionally
If you are trying to decide how IT fits in your organization and how to become a tech forward organization, this intensive workshop is for you.
Presented by: Christian Burger, Burger Consulting Group & Angus Frost, Burger Consulting Group
$99 to attend this year’s boot camps. Not sure which one you want to attend? Just register in advance for either boot camp and decide on-site how long you’d like to spend in each session!
Meet the Speaker: Christian Burger, Burger Consulting Group
Christian Burger is the President of Burger Consulting Group, an IT consulting firm based in Chicago. Christian has worked within the construction industry for 25 years, originally with FMI before starting his own firm in 1997. Much of his work at the firm is focusing on IT strategy and leadership for BCG clients. Christian is also involved in best practices process work during the implementation phase.
Christian publishes regularly for industry journals and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and trade shows. He also teaches a technology course at Northwestern University’s Masters in Project Management program.
Meet the Speaker: Angus Frost, Burger Consulting Group
Angus Frost joined Burger Consulting Group in December 2005 to as a Senior IT Consultant; specializing in IT organizational and infrastructure planning and management. He also supports other consultants with software selections and implementations from a technical perspective. He regularly supports clients with CIO services, Data Integration and Data Management consulting. He has also had a significant role in build-out of Burger Consulting knowledge base and support systems. Angus has previously worked with the construction industry for over twenty years primarily as a Chief Technology Officer.
Angus has a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Management from Thames Valley University London, England and a Bachelor of Arts, Business and Finance from Kutztown University Kutztown, Pennsylvania/ Brunel University Gerrards Cross, England.
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
IT Boot Camps – Part 2
Take a deep dive into what drives a successful BIM/VDC practice while staying above the weeds with the expert guidance of Yates Construction’s Greg Smith. In this three-hour boot camp we will go over how to plan and implement VDC across an organization, applying digital workflows to construction projects, and discuss IT considerations for VDC.
Presented by Greg Smith, Yates Construction, Dwain Wood, Yates Construction & Will Sharp, HDR
$99 to attend this year’s boot camps. Not sure which one you want to attend? Just register in advance for either boot camp and decide on-site how long you’d like to spend in each session!
Construction firms and their IT direction are a perennial conversation. How do we lead tech? Who leads? Construction firms have far more reliance on good IT. Topics to deal with abound. How does today’s CIO, working with senior management, determine what to prioritize, how to staff, how to effectively deploy. What is the role of business in IT initiatives and how to create an effective partnership. Alignment of IT with the business is more important than ever. This boot camp will cover the concepts of IT Governance at a foundational level and then build into more intermediate and advanced topics from there. This will include:
- The Business/IT Partnership matrix
- IT decision making
- Measuring and reporting progress
- Developing and communicating an IT strategy
- How to manage innovation
- Role of a PMO
- Structure of today’s IT department
- Managing shadow IT intentionally
If you are trying to decide how IT fits in your organization and how to become a tech forward organization, this intensive workshop is for you.
Presented by: Christian Burger, Burger Consulting Group & Angus Frost, Burger Consulting Group
$99 to attend this year’s boot camps. Not sure which one you want to attend? Just register in advance for either boot camp and decide on-site how long you’d like to spend in each session!
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
8:45 AM – 9:00 AM
Kickoff Remarks
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Address from AGC Vice President Todd Roberts
9:15 AM – 10:15 AM
General Session | Leaning Into Construction Chaos
In this interactive session, Charlie Dunn, Project Story Teller DPR Construction, will introduce you to the chaos facing construction project teams. As you prepare for the preeminent IT Conference for construction, you must connect with the project teams we support. Through workshop-style exercises, storytelling, and audience participation you will learn about the influence of Lean practices and innovation transforming construction.
Presented by: Charlie Dunn, DPR Construction
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM
Tech Demo #1
This Tech Demo Will Be Presented by: Eveart M. Foster, Autodesk
Meet the Speaker: Eveart M. Foster, Autodesk
Eveart Foster is an Integrations Subject Matter Expert at Autodesk, Inc., a global leader in software for designers, builders, engineers, manufacturers, 3D artists, and production teams. Eveart leverages his experience in enterprise technology implementation, gap analysis, customer success and product management to advance digital transformations across people, processes, and solutions in the construction industry. He has strategically held positions as both a user and creator of various technologies to increase utilization and impact of construction technologies from preconstruction to handover.
He also serves as Associate Board President at Working in the Schools (WITS); Chicago’s largest literacy nonprofit, providing mentorship to public school students and professional development to teachers. To sharpen his communication skills, Eveart periodically performs improv, delivers speeches, and occasionally hops on podcasts to provide construction industry expertise. You can find him on the Contech Crew, Bricks and Bytes, and Work Done Right podcast episodes.
Eveart graduated from Indiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Notable achievements include the Best Overall Project at the Chicago AEC Hackathon 3.5, Building Design + Construction Magazine’s 40 under 40, and Chicago Crain’s Business Magazine 20 in their 20s.
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Breakout Sessions
Meet the Speaker: Patrick Hennessy, Harkins Builders
Patrick Hennessy is currently the Director of Scheduling and Analytics for Harkins Builders, Inc., a general contractor based in the DC Metro area. In his role at Harkins, Patrick leads project controls efforts for all projects in preconstruction and construction, including planning and scheduling, scheduling and cost risk analysis, and delay impact analysis and mitigation. Additionally, Patrick is leading the data and analytics efforts at Harkins including data extraction, transformation, visualization and analysis to provide the right information, at the right time, for data driven decision making to take place throughout every facet of the organization. Part of his role is also continually improving organizational processes through the use of emerging technology and software solutions.
In addition to his role with Harkins, Patrick is a Director with Construction Intelligence Solutions, LLC, a professional services firm specializing in project controls and construction technology. Patrick’s role as a Director includes assisting clients with construction schedule management and analysis, data analytics and business intelligence implementation, and digital transformation through emerging technology.
Patrick received his undergraduate degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2014, and his master’s degree from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in 2021. Before joining Harkins in 2018, Patrick worked for both Aegis Project Controls and Deloitte as a Project Controls Consultant assisting Owners and General Contractors across the country with schedule management, forensic schedule and cost analysis, and schedule delay analysis. Patrick is a member of AACE International, the Project Management Institute (PMI), and the Association of General Contractors (AGC), where he holds the certifications of PSP, PMI-SP, and CM-Lean from each organization respectively.
Managing/PM Track
Ready to join us again on a wild ride through Miller-Davis Company’s digital transformation journey? In this exciting session, we’ll be sharing the latest updates as we continue to shake up the way we do business and interact within the construction industry.
Over the past year, we’ve made some incredible progress, from reimagining our preconstruction department to embracing the power of cloud infrastructure. We’ve even implemented a brand-new prequalification system and hosted some amazing team-building sessions that have brought our team closer than ever before.
But that’s not all – we’ve also learned some valuable, and hard, lessons along the way. We’ll be sharing our ups and downs while developing our strategies for making better innovation decisions. You won’t want to miss this incredible opportunity to learn from our implementation experiences, as Warren Buffet said, “It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.” Therefore, come and learn from ours!
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a digital newcomer, you’ll come away inspired and energized to take your own digital transformation to the next level.
Presented by: Ariel Castillo, Miller-Davis, & Jack Abate, Miller-Davis
Meet the Speaker: Ariel Castillo, Miller-Davis
Ariel Castillo is an innovation manager at Miller-Davis Company. His focus is on aligning people, processes, and technology to create new capabilities, improve project delivery, and optimize resources, whether designing, building, maintaining, or selling a project. Working in the industry since 2010, he has become an authority on BIM and emerging technologies in Latin America. He’s an approved CM-BIM Instructor and has spoken at many industry conferences, including AGC IT, Autodesk University among others. He creates content for the industry through his SocialTek podcast, and is a co-host of the ConTech Crew podcast. Ariel was featured in 40 Under 40: Construction Champions of 2019.
Meet the Speaker: Jack Abate, Miller-Davis
Jack Abate is Vice President – Construction Operations at Miller-Davis Company in based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. With over 30 years in the construction industry, he has guided dozens of high-profile projects through the preconstruction phase to successful project completion. He is a member of the AGC of Michigan Continuing Education Committee and is a LEED Green Associate, and a featured presenter at national conferences and on industry podcasts. Today, Jack lends his expertise to drive Miller-Davis’ ambitious approach to meeting the demands of 21st-century construction and enhance its level of service.
Security Track
Jeff DeRamus started his career at Shook Construction after graduating college. Over the past (26) years, he has helped the organization build a best-in-class technology infrastructure. He was introduced to the current cybersecurity landscape the hard way, survived the ordeal & now hopes to help others avoid the catastrophic impact of cybercrime.
Presented by: Jeff DeRamus, Shook Construction
Meet the Speaker: Jeff DeRamus, Shook Construction
Jeff DeRamus started his career at Shook Construction after graduating college. Over the past (26) years, he has helped the organization build a best-in-class technology infrastructure. He was introduced to the current cybersecurity landscape the hard way, survived the ordeal & now hopes to help others avoid the catastrophic impact of cybercrime.
ConTech Track
Today, many construction companies across their entire enterprise are striving to align the production efficiency with scheduled activities through the use of reality capture and BIM-enabled workflows. The exponential growth in data acquisition and application of BIM, paired with ever more aggressive delivery schedules, calls for introduction of solutions that transcend the current algorithmic capabilities and venture into AI territory with the goal of achieving better control and higher level of predictability through the real time analysis of production, resources and jobsite conditions.
This talk will present how contractors and owners from different industries have leveraged Reconstruct’s visual production management system for achieving production efficiency on their construction project. We will present how images and videos from 360 cameras, drones and smartphone cameras are used within computer vision algorithms to automatically generate 3D reality models over project timeline. Integrated with BIM and schedule, we will also show AI algorithms compare reality models with 4D BIM to track progress and identify risk for potential delays. We will share insights on the underlying work processes, and will share lessons-learned that will pave the way for achieving real time analysis of production, resources and jobsite conditions.
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
General Session | A Tale of Two Projects: How Gaylor Electric is Leveraging Analytics to Eliminate Fade
Data Track
As the VP of Business Intelligence at Gaylor Electric, my mission is to empower our users to measurement-focused accountability by uncovering and communicating the stories in our data through intuitive visuals to eliminate emotion from the decision making process.
In this presentation, I will illustrate some of the stories that we have found in our data that have empowered our teams to make significant changes. A large portion of the presentation will be around our Labor Curve which tells the story of a project. I will also dive into some of our historical results and how I have converted these lagging indicators into leading Indicators.
Presented by: Jack Hineman, Gaylor Electric
Meet the Speaker: Jack Hineman, Gaylor Electric
Jack Hineman serves as the Vice President of Business Intelligence at Gaylor Electric. An IT professional of nearly 20 years, he spent the first 12 years of his career working as an IT Consultant. Jack joined Gaylor as the Network Administrator in 2016, and soon after his role evolved into a sole focus on Business Intelligence. With the ability to develop leading-edge reports and visualizations, Jack was able to reveal a story within Gaylor’s data that reinforced existing theories or helped to cultivate new insights regarding Gaylor Electric’s future.
In Construction, decisions are often made based on anecdotal evidence. Jack’s mission is to empower users to make data-driven decisions by analyzing data and creating intuitive visualizations to mitigate emotion from the decision-making process.
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM
Tech Demo #2
This Tech Demo Will Be Presented by: Ryan Mays, HCSS
Meet the Speaker: Ryan Mays, HCSS
Ryan Mays is a Director of Sales at HCSS. Ryan has been with HCSS for 9 years and helps construction companies all across the country identify and solve business problems using the HCSS suite of software and hardware. Ryan received his undergraduate from Texas A&M University and his MBA from University of Houston. He is a truck and heavy equipment enthusiast. Additionally, he is passionate about achieving operational and business efficiency in Construction.
Thursday, August 8, 2024
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Visit Oracle’s Industry Lab
In partnership with Oracle, AGC has organized a visit to Oracle’s Industry Lab in Deerfield, IL, just a quick trip from downtown Chicago.
This 30,000-square foot facility provides a job-site simulated environment to develop new ideas and create solutions leveraging technology from Oracle and more than 42 industry partners. This visit will be specific to Engineering and Construction and exclusive to registered conference attendees.
The bus for the Oracle Tour will depart at 9 AM from Level B-2 of the Fairmont. Upon exiting the elevator bank, turn right and proceed up a short ramp and through the revolving door to the Autolobby. Learn More.
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM
Tech Demo #1
This Tech Demo Will Be Presented by: Eveart M. Foster, Autodesk
Meet the Speaker: Eveart M. Foster, Autodesk
Eveart Foster is an Integrations Subject Matter Expert at Autodesk, Inc., a global leader in software for designers, builders, engineers, manufacturers, 3D artists, and production teams. Eveart leverages his experience in enterprise technology implementation, gap analysis, customer success and product management to advance digital transformations across people, processes, and solutions in the construction industry. He has strategically held positions as both a user and creator of various technologies to increase utilization and impact of construction technologies from preconstruction to handover.
He also serves as Associate Board President at Working in the Schools (WITS); Chicago’s largest literacy nonprofit, providing mentorship to public school students and professional development to teachers. To sharpen his communication skills, Eveart periodically performs improv, delivers speeches, and occasionally hops on podcasts to provide construction industry expertise. You can find him on the Contech Crew, Bricks and Bytes, and Work Done Right podcast episodes.
Eveart graduated from Indiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Notable achievements include the Best Overall Project at the Chicago AEC Hackathon 3.5, Building Design + Construction Magazine’s 40 under 40, and Chicago Crain’s Business Magazine 20 in their 20s.