Bill is a VP at AECOM where he focuses on energy, sustainability, cities & infrastructure. Prior to AECOM, he was a VP at Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure. He developed and led its Sustainability, Energy and Carbon Management National Practice and directed consulting projects for clients including Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy, Sustainable Chicago 2015 and the Lincoln Park Zoo Nature Boardwalk. He also served as Environment Commissioner, Dir. of the Office of Budget and Management and Chief of Management, Office of the Mayor, for the City of Chicago. He was responsible for developing Chicago’s strategy to become one of the greenest cities in the US. 

Tim is an architect with 25 years' experience gained from a range of roles, whose impact in small, specialized firms with deep, hands-on technological activity led to larger roles with broad, strategic reach and business and financial accountability at larger, multi-discipline AE, and global, multi-office architecture firms. As Perkins+Will DC's Director of Operations, Tim is responsible for business operations, including technological implementation for design and delivery of projects across all market sectors in the DC office, and connecting DC’s efforts with the broader, collaborative efforts firm wide. 

As an engaged and agile architect and design manager, Tim also leads teams to deliver complex, mixed-use urban repositioning projects, including multi-family, retail, hospitality, commercial and institutional projects of both renovation and new construction. 

He fosters an environment with frank, effective communication - at all levels - intent to create a culture rich with opportunity for inspired architecture. 

Born in Chicago, and passing through Memphis, Tim grew up mostly in upstate NY, and NJ before finding a home outside Washington DC, where he lives with his wife, Jen, daughter, Molly, son, Sebastian, and dog, Wrigley – all hapless Nats, Caps, United and Redskins fans – but distant Cubs fans, too (hapless no more)!

Charlie Catlett is a Senior Computer Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy scientific research laboratory. Catlett is also a Senior Fellow at the Computation Institute of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, and a Visiting Artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

He served as Argonne's Chief Information Officer from 2007-2011. From 2004 through 2007, he was director of the TeraGrid Initiative, a national-scale facility supported by the National Science Foundation. In 1999, Catlett co-founded the Global Grid Forum, (now Open Grid Forum), serving as its founding chair from October 1999 through September 2004. Concurrently, he directed the State of Illinois funded I-WIRE optical network project, deploying dark fiber and transport infrastructure to ten institutions in Illinois. I-WIRE today provides over 200 Gb/s of lambda and dark fiber resources to major projects, including TeraGrid, the Starlight international optical network hub, Optiputer, and ESnet.

Prior to joining Argonne in 2000, Catlett was Chief Technology Officer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). As part of the original team that established NCSA in 1985, he participated in design, deployment, and evolution of NSFNET, which was one of several early national networks that collectively evolved into today's Internet. Beginning in 1992, his team designed and operated NCSAs web infrastructure during the exponential growth of the web following NCSA's release of the Mosaic web browser.

Tiago first joined Zaha Hadid Architects in 2000, working on a wide range of projects from individual buildings to urban masterplans before leaving the practice in 2012 to continue his studies. After completing his MBA, Tiago worked for Tishman Speyer in New York, including rotations in their Debt Finance, Equity Capital Markets, and Development groups as part of the firm’s Leadership Development Program. He rejoined ZHA in 2015 to lead our New York office, with a focus on US projects and expanding the practice’s presence in North America. 

Education & Teaching 

Tiago studied architecture at the University of Lisbon’s School of Architecture, graduating with honors in 2001. He is a registered architect in both Portugal and the UK, a chartered member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and an international associate member of the American Institute of Architects. Tiago also holds an MBA with honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he double majored in Real Estate and Finance. 

Projects 

During his first period at ZHA, Tiago was a key team member on several major competitions, including the winning design teams for the One North masterplan in Singapore, the Ordrupgaard Museum extension in Denmark, and the BMW Central Building in Leipzig, Germany. He was also involved in the practice’s major exhibitions, including a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Venice Biennale. Tiago was the project architect for the award winning Maggie’s Centre in Fife, with responsibility for project delivery across all stages of the project. He was also project director for the Torre Espiral in Barcelona, a 27,000m2 office tower hosting a technology incubator facility. Tiago oversaw the design and delivery of the project including production of full construction documentation in Spanish. He subsequently led the early design stages of the Melco Crown Hotel in Macau, and the headquarters for the Central Bank of Iraq. Tiago also led the team responsible for our research into innovation in high-rise forms and structures. Currently, Tiago is leading the construction administration of 520 West 28th in New York, as well as working on several mixed-use high-rise and transportation schemes in the US.

Kaushal leads DPR Construction’s Corporate Innovation Group which helps drive the “Ever Forward” culture at DPR into actions of continuous improvement. Kaushal has also led DPR’s corporate BIM training program and supported project teams across the nation with technology implementation. Additionally, Kaushal currently serves as adjunct faculty at UC Berkeley teaching the “Introduction to BIM: Virtual Design and Construction Technology” course (since 2015). Kaushal’s eleven years of experience in the industry consists of project technology implementation and cost estimation for complex healthcare, higher education, life science, advanced technology and commercial building projects. He is actively involved in national and local technology groups and has also been a popular speaker at Autodesk University, local colleges and universities, and within the Sacramento Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Community.

Michael Ellch is vice president of development at Related Midwest, leading the acquisition and financing for several of the firm's market-rate and luxury properties. Since joining the firm in 2011, Mr. Ellch has played a key role in a number of high-profile projects, including 500 Lake Shore Drive, which represents Chicago's first Related Rentals building and continues to command some of the city's highest rents. Most recently, he led the acquisition of the former ParkView development, now known as 451 E. Grand, which is a planned hybrid residential tower designed by Robert A.M. Stern. Mr. Ellch was also instrumental in assembling the partnership for 1035 W. Van Buren, a planned luxury rental tower in Chicago's fast-growing West Loop neighborhood.

Mr. Ellch came to Related Midwest from New York City-based real estate developer Property Markets Group. He is a board member of City of Hope Future Leaders; a member of the Urban Land Institute, where he sits on the members-only Events Planning Committee; and  the co-director of Mentors for Minds Matter Chicago. Mr. Ellch earned his undergraduate degree from Arizona State University and holds a master's in real estate development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Foil is a technology guru in the startup world. Her current focus at Kiddar Capital is investing in built world tech startups, wielding her experience to bridge the construction and tech industries. With smart cities on the rise, Foil hopes to make the world a more connected place through investment in these budding startups. And she is widely-revered as the right person for the job.

As a self-described “serial CTO turned venture capitalist,” Foil has made significant impacts on a wide range of businesses and industries. While she has held the role for a number of companies and consulted with many others, Foil’s crowning achievement has to be the creation of the first Emmy nominated AI software. She helped SocialSamba get nominated for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media for their work on USA Network’s show Psych HashTag Killer.

Since joining Kiddar Capital, Foil has set up a specific investment fund through the firm to raise capital for startups in highly regulated industries through 1776, a global incubator in Washington DC. Foil’s focus on Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds in real estate, hospitality, construction, and smart cities startups will help launch a new generation of innovative ideas.

Visualization futurist and award-winning artist, Lon Grohs oversees customer strategy as Chaos Group CCO and is founder of Chaos Group Labs – a collaborative research and development hub, exploring the next generation of rendering technology and virtual reality. 

Grohs was Principal and Creative Director at renowned architectural visualization studio Neoscape, and led projects with top architecture firms Foster+Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects, SOM, Gensler, Perkins + Will, HOK and KPF. He taught at Boston Architectural College, studied at the Ecole d’Architecture de Versailles, and holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

A lifetime advocate of the art and science of architectural visualization, Grohs serves as Vice President of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators.

As Chief Operating Officer and co-founder, Alan provides strategic, hands-on involvement and has been instrumental in driving company growth (463 percent revenue growth year over year). He is directly responsible for budgeting, strategic planning, estimating, P&L, contract negotiations, and overall operations for large-scale public and private infrastructure projects throughout the West Coast, including underground and aboveground construction. He is also on the board of the Construction Millennials of America (CMA).

Ken Hepburn is Managing Partner at Next Dimension Technology Partners, and is leveraging the best of Wearables, Augmented Reality, BIM, Smart Tools and IOT to deliver measurable benefits to an organization’s P&L.  Previously, Ken was Executive Director of Strategic Alliances at DAQRI, a company that specializes in advanced wearable human computer interface products and technologies.  At DAQRI, Ken focused his deep construction industry experience to forging groundbreaking partnerships with trade groups and unions and he is passionate about revitalizing workforce opportunities in the trades through emerging technologies.

Ken is a lifelong entrepreneur whose first career as a sculptor lead to deep experience in heavy steel fabrication and various CNC manufacturing processes as well as managing clients like Charles Schwab Inc. and the City of San Jose CA. Subsequently, Ken founded and operated a design and fabrication services company that served the AEC industries with custom projects with multi-million dollar budgets for clients including, Banana Republic, Houston’s Restaurants, GAP Inc.  Ken was then founder and CEO of Neoporte Inc, which he grew from concept to an enterprise value of over $20M with an international client base, and he spearheaded an automated product configurator using Solidworks as an engine that provided customer to manufacturing direct generation of DXF files.  Ken was also founder and CEO of LivnGiv, a mobile app for customized lead generation for local SMBs. 

Chad Hollingsworth is President of Triax Technologies, Inc. Prior to joining the start-up world and founding Triax, he worked as an Equity Product Specialist at Bloomberg LP. Chad holds a B.S. in Business Management with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from Babson College.

Sean Iacobone is the CPO and Co-Founder of Pillar Technologies, a high growth company focused on building the connected construction site. In this role, he is leading the creation of a singular platform that delivers data-driven insights which help companies make more informed decisions, avoid project setbacks, and build more efficiently.

Sean holds a Bachelor of Science in Electromechanical Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Josh Kanner is Founder & CEO of Smartvid.io. Most recently he was co-founder of Vela Systems, a pioneer in the use of web and tablet workflows for construction and capital projects. The company was successfully acquired by Autodesk in 2012 and has been rebranded as BIM360 Field. Prior to founding Vela Systems, Josh was responsible for product management and strategy at Emptoris (now part of IBM), a web-based strategic sourcing software company. Kanner graduated from Brown University and earned an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He enjoys hiking, skiing, travel and being a dad to his two boys.

Tim Kelly is the Product Manager at Assemble Systems, responsible for working closely with customers to develop the product strategy and roadmap. Tim has a wealth of experience within the construction industry, having spent the last 7 years innovating with BIM in design and construction from the general contractor and construction management perspective. Tim earned his BS in Construction Science from Texas A&M University and prior to joining Assemble Systems served as BIM Manager at Satterfield & Pontikes Construction.

Aaron Koch serves as the Chief Resilience Officer in the City of Chicago under Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In this role, he is leading the creation of Chicago’s resilience strategy through the City’s participation in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities program. Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office,Aaron served as the Deputy Commissioner for Sustainability in Chicago’s Department of Water Management. Before moving to Chicago, Aaron served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the New York City Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and as the Director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in Washington, DC. 

Aaron holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. He was previously a faculty member in Columbia University’s Master of Sustainability Management program.

Brian Lakamp is the Founder and CEO of Totem Power, a startup tackling the future of connected cities and distributed energy through product and design innovation. Previously, as President of Technology and Digital Ventures at iHeartMedia, Brian was key to the mass digitization of radio, growing iHeartRadio to over 65 million listeners, making it the fastest growing digital music platform in history. At Sony Pictures, Brian developed MovieLink, one of Hollywood’s first Internet movie services.  Brian is a graduate of UCLA with degrees in Mathematics and Business Economics.

Robert Mankowski leads the development team responsible for Bentley’s AssetWise capabilities and services. AssetWise connects people, processes, and technology with a common data environment to enable infrastructure owner operators to intelligently plan and implement asset performance and reliability strategies. Mr. Mankowski has over 20 years’ experience in software development and is a co-inventor of seven patented technologies. He joined Bentley Systems in 2004 as part of Bentley’s acquisition of Haestad Methods, a pioneer in object-oriented hydraulic analysis software, where he served as chief technology officer. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Drexel University and is a licensed professional engineer in California.

20+ Years of experience building enterprise perimeter and cyber security products and writing biometric / identification algorithms around IoT, 3D Facial & Iris recognition, Retina & Palm Vein verification, Mobile Proximity, Blockchain Tokens, Software defined RFID, Military Grade secure QR Codes and Beacons.

Chris Mayer is the Executive Vice President & Chief Innovation Officer at Suffolk Construction. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the company’s innovation initiatives, managing their execution, and measuring their results to achieve safer and more affordable building. In addition, Chris heads up Suffolk’s Innovation Committee, which is focused on identifying new innovations and testing them for feasibility. 

Prior to joining Suffolk, Chris was a consultant in the digital media and online education industries where his focus was on developing strategic technology plans that align with, and enable, successful business growth. Chris also worked as the Publisher of the Boston Globe newspaper and websites for four years and worked at the news organization for nearly 30 years. He oversaw the Globe’s two-brand online strategy, developed new technologies that allowed subscribers to access Globe content on smartphones and tablets, and launched RadioBDC which introduced the Globe to a new digital radio audience. 

Chris currently serves on the board of Community Servings, a not-for-profit food and nutrition program that provides services throughout Massachusetts to individuals and families living with critical and chronic illnesses.

Chris received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Yale University.