Ed Gauvreau, FAIA, is Chief, Planning Branch, Installation Readiness Division, HQ US Army Corps of Engineers. He oversees the Corps’ work in master planning, facility requirements, and other areas totaling $200 million annually. Ed has over 39 years of federal service, 26 with the Corps of Engineers. He is the current chair of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Architecture Practice Community of Interest. Ed was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2017, and is a recipient of the SAME Urbahn Medal for excellence in architecture.

Nancy Greenwald, Executive Director, Construction Institute, Arbitrator & Mediator: Nancy Greenwald has experience as a lawyer and business executive in the AEC industry, dealing with projects ranging from $50,000 to $5 billion. She founded an award-winning design-build firm in the Washington, DC area and served as its CFO and General Counsel for 30 years. She is currently the Executive Director of the Construction Institute, a non-partisan association of diverse professionals working to improve the construction industry by exchanging innovative ideas, building relationships, and developing leaders. Ms. Greenwald serves as an arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association's Commercial and Construction Industry Panels of Arbitrators and Mediators as well as numerous private clients and courts. She speaks frequently on best practices in construction project communication, dispute systems design, and best practices incorporating construction technology. Ms. Greenwald is a fellow elect of the American College of Construction Lawyers, a member of the American Bar Association Forum on Construction Law, serving on the steering committee of its Project Delivery and Technology Division. Ms. Greenwald is passionate about the right use of technology to improve efficiency and solve recurring problems in the industry. 

Grace, former chair of AIA Project Delivery Knowledge Community, is an Owner’s advisor. As a senior project manager at CBRE, she sets out procurement strategies, project delivery blueprints, supports clients’ businesses and operational requirements. She provides customized services from project inception to completion that minimize risks optimizing project outcomes. She is responsible for timely reporting ensuring client goals are achieved. She orchestrates the integration of project delivery systems, multifaceted business functions, and directs project implementation. Her multi-market experiences foster innovation and drive efficiency. Her experience is complemented by a B.S. degree in Architecture, two M.S. degrees – in Construction Administration and in Sustainability Management – both from Columbia University. After working for global architectural firms, she transitioned into the Owner’s side. Her previous roles from “both sides of the fence”, being an Owner and a consultant, cultivated her talents at big picture ideas, executing details, and qualified her the perspectives to purvey strategic master planning. Her broad-based knowledge benefits real estate development, design, construction, capital facility programs, and sustainability management. Grace serves on the PDKC, Urban Land Institute, Association of Medical Facilities Professionals steering committees. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia University, School of Professional Studies, teaching graduate-level students.

Dr. Pishdad-Bozorgi is an Associate Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology. She holds a PhD degree in Environmental Design and Planning (Virginia Tech), three Master’s degrees in the fields of Civil Engineering (Virginia Tech), Project Management (Harvard), Architecture (University of Tehran), and a Bachelor degree in Architectural Engineering (I.A. University of Shiraz). Her scholarly efforts target two intertwined tracks, namely: (1) integrating project delivery and trust-building, and (2) integrating technologies for promoting trust and multi-disciplinary collaboration, and for creating and operating a smart built-environment. She has over 50 peer-reviewed journal, conference, and book chapter publications on topics such as Integrated Project Delivery, Trust-building, BIM, IoT, Life-cycle cost prediction, and Blockchain. Her industry experience includes past employment with Turner Construction Company and Tishman Construction Corporation, and AGC faculty residency with Beam consulting. Dr. Pishdad had served as the Sole Academic Advisor to CMAA from 2016-2018. She is currently the Vice Chair of BuildingSMART BIM Forum Estimating Task Force, and the Academic Advisor to the Construction Industry Institute (CII) Supply Chain Management (SCM) Community of Business Advancement (CBA). Dr. Pishdad has been frequently acknowledged with numerous national awards, such as 2018 Engineering News Record, and 2018 CMAA Educator of the Year.

Alireza Shojaei is an Assistant Professor of Building Construction in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech. Dr. Shojaei has a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and received his Master’s degree in construction management with distinction from the University of Reading in the UK. He then went on to receive his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. While there, he also received his Master of Science in management. His research program is focused on digital engineering, construction automation, digital twin and smart cities, construction informatics, computer-based modeling and simulation, artificial intelligence, and project management and economics. He is invested in the challenge of revolutionizing the architecture, engineering, and construction industry toward a more resilient built environment, specifically through digital innovations.