Panel – Digitalization Of Construction

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.

Todd is the author of Built to Fail: Why Construction Projects Take So Long, Cost Too Much, And How to Fix It, published by Forbes Books in 2024. He is also Founder and President of Strategic Project Solutions, Inc (SPS)., as well as founder of the Project Production Institute. 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.

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 in various technical journals, presented at numerous conferences around the world and cited by several other authors.

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.

Bio coming soon.

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.

Gary Allen is Vice President of Supply Chain Excellence for Ryder System, Inc., an industry-leading FORTUNE 500 ® commercial transportation, logistics, and supply chain management solutions company. In this position, he is responsible for overseeing Product Development, Solution Design, Continuous Improvement, Business Analytics and Automation to support business development and existing operations for the overall Supply Chain & Dedicated Transportation organizations.

Mr. Allen has more than 30 years of experience in supply chain services. His areas of expertise range from process improvement, logistics outsourcing, new product development, business transformation, systems selection/implementation, operational due diligence, business performance improvement and overall supply chain strategy.

Prior to this position at Ryder, he led Ernst & Young LLP’s logistics consulting practice. He also spent seven years with Exel and ten years with FedEx, where he had various leadership roles in product development, solution design, operational excellence, sustainability, business development, operations and partner innovation.

Mr. Allen helped launch and co-author the “Annual Third Party Logistics Study” with Dr. John Langley from Pennsylvania State University, and has been recognized throughout the industry in both publications and public speaking engagements.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in Materials and Logistics Management from Michigan State University.

One of the foremost thought leaders in supply chain management, Natarajan has held leadership roles with major corporations such as Walmart, Target, The Walt Disney Company, Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo and Coca Cola.

Natarajan has not only led operations for these corporations but was instrumental in creating digital supply chain capabilities. He is credited with creating game-changing capabilities like the Scalable Grocery Home shopping model, “Magic Band”, Coolift, DSD Innovation, Digital Supply Chains, industry’s first control tower. Natarajan is responsible for bringing emerging sciences to companies and has led teams that have generated over 1800 filed patents. He also personally has filed 300 patents and 50 of those have been issued.

His efforts have not only won organizational praise, but his industry accomplishments have also been recognized by 14 international Awards.  The most prominent ones include the Non-Resident Indian of the year by Govt of India, the Medallion Award by IIE, Visionary by Consumer Goods Technology, Pioneering Executive by Asian American Business Development Group.

Natarajan is the author of 3 books and his work has featured in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox, CNBC, Supply Chain Quarterly and Harvard Business School. Natarajan also sits on numerous for-profit and non-profit boards.

Natarajan holds a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He also holds advanced certificates in Supply Chain from MIT and an Advanced Management Degree from Harvard Business School.