Modern Construction

Syed Ab Razak Bin Sy Ali is currently Principal for Construction & Decommissioning Delivery at Petronas. He has almost 30 years old experience in construction management in various sectors including Oil & Gas, Refinery, Petrochemical and Power plants. He joined Petronas in 2001, during a JV with DOW chemicals in Petrochemical plant construction, maintenance and operation.

Throughout his career, he has had various involvement in construction including as contractor, sub-contractor, third-parties, consultant, owner in both greenfield and brownfield environments.

Syed holds a Diploma in Marine Engineering from Ungku Omar Polytechnic in Malaysia.

Roberto Arbulu has more than twenty years of experience in the delivery and optimization of energy, industrial, technology, and infrastructure capital projects and has worked with numerous owner operators and service providers across North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. He is the author of technical publications in journals and conference proceedings that focus on project production system optimization, control, and project supply chains including the application of methods such as Project Production Management and Virtual Design & Construction (VDC).

For many years, Roberto has participated as a VDC instructor and technical advisor at Stanford University’s Center for Integrated Facility Engineering. He is a member of the Gulf Downstream Association (GDA)’s Project Management Technical Committee and also supports Project Production Institute (PPI) as an Instructor for professional certification programs.

Roberto earned a Civil Engineering Degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. He has a Master of Engineering Degree in Construction Engineering & Management and a Certificate in Management of Technology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dick Bayer is the Vice President of Colliers Project Leaders. He is a licensed attorney, having practiced construction law in Colorado, California and Idaho for the past 45 years. He is internationally recognized as an IPD and Lean leader for his work with The ReAlignment Group Canada and is presently Vice President with Colliers Project Leaders’ IPD and Lean services team. Dick was the first Executive Director of the Lean Construction Institute, and has served on various boards in diverse industries such as the National Conflict Resolution Center, the California Independent Petroleum Association, ADR-San Diego and the California Dispute Resolution Council (CDRC). He is also an adjunct professor at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. 

H.J. James Choo, Ph.D is Chief Technical Officer of Strategic Project Solutions, Inc. and a member of the Technical Committee for Project Production Institute (PPI).

He has been leading research and development of project production management and its underlying framework of Operations Science knowledge, processes, and systems to support implementation of large capital projects globally since 2001.

James has worked with high profile organizations in oil & gas, life sciences, heavy industrial, civil infrastructure, aerospace & defense and other industries.  He has also worked with many manufacturing companies to improve their service levels by reducing lead times and optimizing inventory through the use of Operations Science.

James is a frequent contributor to research and curriculum for Texas A&M University, University of California at Berkeley, and California Polytechnic State University.

Prior to joining SPS, his experience included roles as a construction site engineer, research associate at research institutes, teaching assistant at universities, and software developer. He has been developing computer systems for implementation of Lean Construction since 1997 during his Ph.D. studies at UC Berkeley.

James has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Yonsei University, Korea.  He holds a Ph.D. in Construction Engineering & Management from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of University of California at Berkeley.  He is also certified as a Master Factory Physicist from Factory Physics, Inc.

Dave Connell is a Project Execution Consultant at Chevron working to modernize Chevron’s project system to encompass Operations Science, digital systems and standardization as well as supporting ongoing projects. He has extensive experience in process engineering and project development, execution and management. He has worked in the Oil & Gas industry for over 40 years in a wide variety of roles working on projects across all phases of development in the US, Kazakhstan, Angola, Australia, the Partitioned Zone and other areas. Project areas include upstream, downstream, fertilizers and chemicals.

James (Jim) E. Craig manages Chevron Corporation’s Project Resources Company (PRC) Project Production Management and Innovation Team located in Houston, TX. In this position, Craig is responsible for providing functional expertise/support to projects, deploying Chevron Project Production Management across the corporation’s worldwide major capital project portfolio and exploring innovative ways to execute projects.

Craig joined Chevron in 2004 and has executed Major Capital Projects globally including: Lobito Tomboco and Tombua Landana projects in Angola and FGP/WPMP project in Kazakhstan.

A native of Houston, Craig graduated in 1989 from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and later completed his MBA from Rice University in 2004. After graduating Texas A&M, he joined Brown & Root as a Design Engineer in Houston, TX. He has held numerous technical and leadership positions across the industry including: Project Engineer / Manager at Brown & Root, Assistant Chief Engineer at WFI International, Project Engineering / Manager Enron Engineering & Construction Company and Systems Engineer / Project Manager at FMC Corporation. Craig has worked and/or lived in Central America, Brazil, Angola, France, Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom.

Craig is married and has three children and two dogs.

Gary Fischer is the Executive Director of the Project Production Institute (PPI) and Chair of the PPI Energy Working Group.  He has over 40 years of experience in all aspects of capital project development and execution across downstream, chemicals and upstream in Chevron.  As GM of Chevron’s Project Resources Company, he was responsible for Chevron’s project management system, a supporting team of subject matter experts, an early concept development group, and Chevron’s decision analysis function.  Before retiring he took a special assignment to deploy Project Production Management and digital transformation across Chevron’s global portfolio of capital projects.  Gary’s prior experience includes project leadership roles in engineering, construction, and project management spanning across all segments and many locations. He also served as the upstream director of capital projects for Eurasia, Europe, and a gas to liquids venture with Sasol.

Gary holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Colorado State University and is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Martin Fischer is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and (by Courtesy) Computer Science at Stanford University. He is also the Director of the Center for Integrated Facility Engineering, a Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy, and the Coordinator of the Building Energy Efficiency Research at the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center.

His research focuses on modeling, predicting, measuring, and improving the life-cycle performance of the built environment. He is known globally for his work and leadership in developing virtual 4D modeling methods to improve project planning, enhance facility performance, increase the productivity of project teams, and further the sustainability of the built environment. His award winning research results have been used by many small and large industrial and government organizations around the world. He has published over 100 refereed journal articles and book chapters and given over 50 keynote lectures on his research.

He has lived, worked, consulted, and taught in Europe, South America, North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. His consulting work includes building owners, architecture and engineering firms, construction firms, government and research organizations, and software companies.

He holds a Diplôme d’Ingénieur in Civil Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, a MS in Industrial Engineering – Engineering Management and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering – Construction Engineering from Stanford. He received the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 1996, was named a top 25 Newsmaker by Engineering News Record in 1996, won the best paper award from the ASCE Journal on Computing in Civil Engineering in 2002, and was elected as a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 2012.

Efrem Haile is a Principal at Microsoft and is responsible for Microsoft’s implementation of Project Production Management for Global Data Center build and lease.

Efrem has a broad experience including leadership positions in Engineering, manufacturing footprint strategy, design for manufacturability, and Supply Chain. Prior to Microsoft Efrem worked for a worldwide manufacturer of lifting, material handling and cranes, for a variety of industries, including construction.

Efrem is an expert of Lean Production System and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Saskatchewan.

Randy Kelley has recently led operations at multiple mass vaccinations sites throughout North Carolina. The lack of fundamental operations knowledge in government and private sector health care provided Randy the chance to implement Operations Science to the process. With a speedy adoption of these principles the resultant turnaround had profound results in customers served, increased throughput and much higher revenues.

Prior to that, Randy worked on one the largest construction project in the world providing Operations and Supply Chain science consulting to managers at Chevron and Exxon.

In 2017, he co-authored a book with his psychologist business partner titled Driven, which focuses on the genetics and psychological factors of “highly-driven” people such as entrepreneurs, Special Operations Forces, and elite athletes .

Randy spend 11 years as a US Navy SEAL sniper, with combat tours in Iraq and other hotspots. In 2005, he had founded Red Tail Corporation, a specialized defense company providing training and surveillance equipment to US and international Special Operations units. As CEO, he built the company to over $6M in revenue by 2010. Since 2010, Randy has started 7 more companies, selling several of them to move on to other ventures.

Randy has an MBA in Global Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Jan Koeleman is a Partner in McKinsey’s Capital Excellence practice. He is part of the global leadership team driving excellence in major project development and delivery. He has broad topical experience (design optimization, lean construction, digital transformation) across multiple sectors including energy, shipbuilding and chemicals, serving both owners and contractors.

Jan holds a MSc in Aerospace Engineering (in Design and Production of Composite Structures) from Delft University (2006) and a MBA from INSEAD (2009).

Keith Magowan is the central subsea unit leader for bp, responsible for the delivery, installation and life of field service for all of bp’s subsea production systems globally. Prior to his current role, Keith has held numerous major capital project leadership positions predominantly in the North Sea, Egypt and Angola.

Keith is a Fellow of the IMechE and is a graduate from The University of Edinburgh with an honours degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

Amy Marks, VP, Industrialized Construction Strategy and Evangelism at Autodesk is known throughout the world as the “Queen of Prefab.” At Autodesk, she informs product strategy, thought leadership and convergence consulting for customers incorporating industrialized construction methodologies. Prior to joining Autodesk, she defined the language, process and frameworks that are adopted by companies, universities and countries around the world reflecting the convergence of Design-Make-Operate models. Notably, Amy was appointed by the Singapore government’s Building & Construction Authority as an international expert to advise its design and construction productivity roadmap. Her thought leadership and tenacity, leading alongside the government and industry, resulted in unprecedented change and innovation – catapulting Singapore to worldwide recognition in the Industrialized Construction space. She is a graduate of the University of Florida and an alumna of the Harvard Business School.

David “Dave” McKay recently retired as Vice President, Well Factory Execution– Bakken, for Hess Corporation, a global independent energy company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas.

In this role, McKay applied lean philosophy to develop a well factory assembly line, from the initial scoping of wells through drilling and hydraulic fracturing to the final handover to production.

McKay joined Hess in 2010 as Director, Bakken Project, with primary responsibility for managing Hess’ operations in North Dakota.

Prior to joining Hess, McKay spent 13 years at Aera Energy LLC with the company’s Belridge asset as Vice President of Operations, Engineering Manager, and Development Manager. He was responsible for building the capabilities of the asset’s leadership and employees, and applying lean operating principles at all levels of the organization to reduce waste and improve productivity. Early in his career, he spent 16 years in various production and operations roles with Mobil Oil Corporation in Oklahoma and California.

McKay holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Colorado, Denver.

Dougie McMichael is Vice President of Hess’ global onshore production business. In this role, he is responsible for upstream activity related to Hess’ North Dakota Asset and the company’s business operations in Libya.  Immediately prior to this role, Dougie led the Hess Bakken Well Factory team in North Dakota, which was accountable for reservoir development of Hess’ acreage.

Dougie has 28 years of E&P industry experience in technical, planning and leadership roles. He has worked in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Malaysia and the United States. Dougie also led Hess’ business activities in West Africa.

He began his professional career as a reservoir engineer with Chevron in the UK and following roles with Edinburgh Petroleum Services, and ExxonMobil he joined Hess in 2006.

Dougie holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.  He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and an associate member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Bridget Proulx has joined the Customer Success Team in Consulting Delivery -Amer as a Principal Business Consultant in Industrialized Construction.  Bridget is based in Los Angeles and will be tackling client strategy, engagement, and implementation of Industrialized Methods of construction across a project lifecycle.

Bridget joins Autodesk from a General Contractor, Kitchell Contractors, where she spent 6 years working across disciplines including designer, trade partner, manufacturer, and general contractor to leverage BIM and Industrialized Methods of Construction. She received a Bachelors in Architecture and was hired by Kitchell Contractors to help define and implement their industrialized construction initiative and challenge industry norms. She helped found and scale the company’s manufacturing facilities where she spear-headed the design, visualization, and BIM technology workflows for industrialized construction. She helped design and coordinate multiple components including multi trade wall panels, pods, and exterior fully finished panels.

Her portfolio grew from healthcare to hospitality to higher education with client partnerships that helped refine and push the industry though industrialized methods of design and construction. She has spoken at several events including Women in Construction, ENR Build Tech, and the Festival of BIM and Digital Construction. She left her latest project with the University of Southern California San Diego where she was leveraging her expertise on a Progressive Design Build Project.

Bio coming soon.

Al-Azahary is currently leading a team to drive transformation in PETRONAS Group Project Delivery. He has seventeen years of working experience in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry. He was involved in plant operations and maintenance before assuming a Project Manager role overseeing various plant change and rejuvenation projects. He is currently spearheading Project Production Management (PPM) implementation within PETRONAS projects, and also playing the role to shape Malaysia’s Oil & Gas industry players to adopt the methodology for improved project delivery performance.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering and a Master’s degree in Process Plant Management from University of Technology Malaysia.

Sauvir Sarkar is responsible for Construction and Infrastructure activities at Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (ASRY). This includes ship constructions, offshore constructions, pressure vessel building and construction of ASRY’s first indigenously designed multirole landing craft. He has also implemented various infrastructure projects, which have improved energy efficiency in ASRY.

Sauvir joined ASRY in August 2012 and heads the new construction and engineering division within ASRY, through which various engineering services are provided to owners for ship and rig repair. These are for clients meeting statutory requirements, fuel efficiencies and charterer requirements, such as ballast water treatment systems, scrubber systems, use of low sulphur fuel oil, waste heat recovery from boilers, conversions of dredgers and pipe laying barges, conversion of tankers as FSO etc.

In his working career of 36 years, Sauvir has spent over 12 years with the Classification Society Lloyd’s Register and 24 years in Shipbuilding and Ship Repair yards. He has been involved in the design, production engineering and construction of various ship types, including 60 vessels during the boom period of 2005-2010, many of them being the first of its class, such as LNG fueled vessels with integrally safe concept, offshore support vessels with electrically propelled cycloidal propulsion, diesel electric vessels and jack up rigs, all with a view to being a part of client innovation and improving client operational efficiency.

He is a graduate Naval Architect and received a post graduate diploma in Business Management.

Mark Spearman is the Technical Director of the Project Production Institute and Director of Technical Solutions for Strategic Project Solutions.

Before joining SPS, Spearman was associate professor industrial engineering and management sciences at Northwestern University, professor of industrial and systems engineering at Georgia Tech, and Department Head of industrial engineering and systems engineering at Texas A&M University.

After leaving academia in 2001, he formed Factory Physics, Inc., a consulting and software company dedicated to helping manufacturing companies improve their operations. In 2018, FPI was acquired by SPS and he joined the team.

Spearman is coauthor with Wallace J. Hopp of the book, Factory Physics, named the Institute of Industrial Engineers Book of the Year.

Todd is the Founder and President of Strategic Project Solutions, Inc (SPS). Zabelle has more than thirty years of experience in the delivery of complex and critical capital projects ranging in size from $500K to $55 billion. He is the Founder & CEO of Strategic Project Solutions, Inc. is the Founder & CEO of Pacific Contracting, a founder and equity partner in the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) (prior to making it a not for profit), and founder of the Project Production Institute (PPI). He is also a Forbes Featured Author.

Prior to founding SPS, Todd founded Pacific Contracting. Established in 1993, Pacific Contracting was recognized in the mid 90’s for its use of various innovations including Lean Construction and Virtual Design & Construction. In July 1998, these efforts were acknowledged in the UK Government’s Re-Thinking Construction report.

Over the past two decades, Todd has authored numerous papers on the topic of optimizing engineering, fabrication and construction. These papers have been published various in technical journals, presented at numerous conferences around the world and cited by several other authors.