Superior Technical Achievement Recognition Awards Honor Seven Extraordinary Leaders

AUSTIN, Texas (April 24, 2015) – In conjunction with the 15^th Annual Technology Conference and Showcase, Fiatech hosted its annual CETI Awards Gala the evening of April 14^th at the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Florida. Seven capital construction industry professionals were honored with Superior Technical Achievement Recognition (STAR) Awards for their extraordinary efforts.

Fiatech members collaborate year round to lead global development and adoption of innovative practices and technologies to realize the highest business value throughout the life cycle of capital assets. The following honorees have gone above and beyond to drive the Fiatech mission forward:

Jim Kinter
With tireless energy and insight, Jim Kinter chaired the Fiatech Strategic Plan Strategy One Vision Implementation Team. Conducting monthly work sessions, the team succeeded in carrying out the charge of developing and establishing the Fiatech Horizon -360 Team to create a mechanism through which Fiatech can constantly scan the horizon across all segments of the global economy looking for incremental and game changing technologies and processes which may aid in the greater effectiveness and efficiency of the Capital Facilities industry and the life cycle of buildings. Jim has continued to provide leadership into 2015 as a member of the Fiatech Strategic Direction Committee and as an official advisor for the Technology Conference & Showcase. You may recognize his name from social media sites, as his posts in the Fiatech streams highlight innovations practically the instant they hit the global newswire.

Barbara Migl
Barbara Migl has contributed across nearly all aspects of Fiatech and demonstrated the value and relevance of Fiatech projects and activities widely within her company.  For the past two years, Barbara has chaired the Fiatech CETI Awards Jury, leading the arduous process of reviewing nominations from around the globe and selecting game-changing honorees from a record-breaking volume of submittals. As a participant, she helped direct meeting project deliverables and at the leadership level, she became the Roadmap Champion for Information Management. Barbara planned and led numerous sessions at the Technology Conference & Showcase, as well as at the highly interactive Membership Meeting, now known as the Leadership Forum.

Scott Bell 
Scott has lead his company’s involvement in the Fiatech game changing AutoCodes Project which completed phase two  by developing a matrix for development of BIM which can be reviewed for building code compliance for access and egress provisions.  Scott also participated in the U.S. Local Codes in the Cloud Project and supported work on the Best Practices Guide of Digital Signatures.  At Fiatech’s leadership level, Scott is a member of the Fiatech Board of Advisors, active leader on the Fiatech Membership Committee, and Board Liaison to the Fiatech Roadmap Element for Project Management.

William (Bill) O’Brien
Bill’s leadership at Fiatech stems back to its formative years and even contributed to the development of the official Tech Roadmap, a consensus vision for the capital projects industry and a unifying initiative to achieve the vision. The value he has contributed by incorporating exemplary graduate students and post-docs into Fiatech, like Fernando Mondragon, Li Wang and Justin Howe, are more than worthy of award recognition. Bill is a Roadmap leader with Gary and has actively supported projects including Real Time Field Reporting and Integrated Material Management. Bill is a member of the Board of Advisors and Board Liaison for the Workforce Roadmap Element. Additionally, Bill supported the Strategic Direction Committee and is currently on the Projects Committee. Bill’s leadership shapes Fiatech on such a regular basis that it’s impossible to imagine a day without this tremendous advisor.

Derek Murray 
As Membership Committee leadership volunteer, Derek has led the way for improving the orientation process for new members by matching colleagues by skill set to Fiatech Roadmap Elements, ensuring that his organization receives the full gamut of benefits that Fiatech provides. He also took the lead on creating a new member toolkit and the adoption of a site for streamlined committee communications. Derek is an active member of the Fiatech Strategy One Vision Implementation Team, and has helped grow the Horizon-360 group, which maintains the Future Scan Matrix on emerging technologies, by recruiting colleague Ron Sattan, of Hatch Mott MacDonald, to serve as co-chair. Derek joined Fiatech’s leadership level first in 2014 as a CETI Awards Jury member and has since become a member of the esteemed Board of Advisors.

Martin Swaine
Over the last year, Martin Swaine has contributed significant leadership and advocacy to Fiatech as a project lead and 'Executive Sponsor' of Fiatech’s Phase 1 Advanced Work Packaging Information Mapping (AIM) project.  Martin has been instrumental in raising industry awareness and motivating advancement of the tools and practices necessary for the realization of Advanced Work Packaging (AWP).  This industry initiative has shown to significantly increase capital project productivity performance by reducing TIC by over 10%.  To further advance this important initiative in 2015, Martin will be driving the Fiatech's AIM phase 2 project.  Among other things, this project will identify and develop linkages necessary to fully achieve Integrated Materials Management.  This additional awareness will enable more effective material flow streamlining and proactive workface planning.

Jennifer Garfield
Jen has led Fiatech efforts in numerous roles including the Fiatech Strategic Direction Committee and the Strategy One Implementation Team. Jen helped shape the Future Scan Matrix which is at the heart of the Horizon 360 Team efforts to provide Fiatech with a dynamic mechanism to scan and track, from across the global economy, game changing and incremental technologies and processes which can strengthen the capital facilities industry and improve the life cycle of buildings. Jen has been active in the Reference Data Library (RDL) Advancement Initiative, participating in the RLD Workshop as well as in the RDL Forum at Fiatech Member’s Meeting. Jen has helped identify top priorities and actively participates in the ongoing work of the RDL Advancement Group.

Visit fiatech.org or click here for more information about the current and past Fiatech STAR Award honorees.