Speakers

Andy Myers – Superintendent
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company

Andy Meyers is a Superintendent for Whiting-Turner Contracting Company.  He has 17 years of experience in the building industry, primarily in hospitals.   Andy’s expertise is applied in occupied facilities, new construction, parking structures and renovations.

Dan Cook, LEED AP – Director of Critical Projects
Cornerstone Commissioning Inc.

Dan Cook is the Director of Critical Projects with Cornerstone Commissioning, he oversees all documentation and process for the firm, along with all aspects of commissioning biocontainment laboratories and mission critical facilities. Dan is a LEED-accredited professional with twenty two years of experience in the building controls and commissioning industry. He served six years in the US Navy working on shipboard weapon direction systems.

John Runkle, PE – Vice President
Intertek

John currently serves as President-Elect of the International Board. He is BCxA liaison to IIBEC and assisted with Exam Writing for the Certification of Building Enclosure Professionals. He is a former ATSM liaison for Building Enclosure Commissioning. He actively participates in the BCxA as a presenter for different chapters and teaches multiple Building Enclosure Commissioning (BECx) courses each year. He serves on the Education, Advocacy, Leadership, and International Committees. He has been active in the initial step for the formation of a new international BCxA chapter.

John is Vice President of Building Sciences Solutions for Architectural Testing, Inc., an Intertek company. He brings over 20 years of experience as a building enclosure consultant and enclosure commissioning provider and has been integral to the development of the practice area of building enclosure commissioning domestically and internationally. He has assisted in the development of new testing standards and techniques for the building enclosure. He manages offices throughout North America and staff in the Middle East and China. Mr. Runkle has worked on new construction and retrofit projects for commercial, industrial, and residential structures in most of the 50 states and several countries. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Michael Dooley – Partner
AKF

Michael Dooley has over 30 years of experience in engineering, commissioning, consulting, and related services for commercial, educational, cultural, healthcare and residential facilities.  Mr. Dooley is currently a Partner for AKF Group.  During his career, Mr. Dooley has led several prominent commissioning projects such as the United Nations, National September 11th Memorial and Museum, Yale University, Columbia University Medical Center & Columbia University and New York University Langone Medical Center.  Mr. Dooley is heavily involved in the commissioning industry, which is demonstrated by his involvement in the Building Commissioning Association (BCxA) where he is currently serving on the international board.  Prior to joining AKF Group, Mr. Dooley was the Regional Director for Horizon Engineering, LLP and he spent the beginning of his career with Carrier Corporation and New England Mechanical Services.

With a Bachelor of Engineering degree from SUNY Maritime College and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut, Mr. Dooley is a Professional Engineer in Connecticut, LEED Accredited Professional and is a Certified Energy Manager.

Nicole Imeson, P.L.(Eng),P.Tech.(Eng.) – Mechanical Engineer

Nicole Imeson is a mechanical engineer from Calgary, Alberta specializing in the design and contract administration of HVAC, plumbing and fire protection systems throughout Western Canada. In her spare time, she hosts a podcast about engineering failures called Failurology (www.failurology.ca). Nicole is a member of the board of directors for the Western Canada Chapter of the Building Commissioning Association and is president-elect for 2023. In addition, she has been an active member of the BCxA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion taskforce to promote DEI throughout the organization.

Guanjing Lin – Principal Scientific and Engineering Associate
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Dr. Guanjing Lin is a Principal Scientific Engineering Associate in the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division at LBNL. Her research interests include building energy performance monitoring, fault detection and diagnostic, and building operation and commissioning. She received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University, and her MS and BS in Building Science from Tsinghua University, China.

Brian Billman,PE, LEED AP, CCP – Director of Mid-Atlantic Commissioning Services
Cornerstone Commissioning Inc.

Brian Billman is the Director of Mid-Atlantic Commissioning Services with Cornerstone Commissioning, a firm dedicated to transforming the delivery of high performance facilities through its hands-on commissioning process. Brian is a licensed professional engineer, Certified Commissioning Professional, and LEED-accredited professional with eighteen years of experience specializing in the design, commissioning, and operation of diverse MEP systems for complex high performance healthcare, laboratory, and pharmaceutical facilities. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University.

Don Kelly – Analytics Group Leader
Engineering Economics, Inc

With over 35 years of experience in the building automation and technologist in all things smart buildings, Don promotes the use of technology to provide efficiencies in operation and sharing of data among dissimilar systems. He is currently the leader of EEI’s analytic group, where we have developed an automated functional testing platform.

Nick Wiley – Vice President, Technical Principal
Casne Engineering

Nick serves as Corporate Officer and Manager of Casne Engineering’s Technology Services division. His duties include business development, contract negotiation, staffing, resource allocation, scheduling, project management, and quality assurance for projects involving information technology.

Carlos Londono – Partner
AKF

James Anderton – Director of Commissioning
Salas O' Brien

James Anderton has a combined total of 32 years of diversified experience in the Building AEC Industry, in Project Management, Engineering Design, Construction Administration, and Commissioning Services. Additionally, he is an experienced journeyman and certified HVAC technician, having provided HVAC, electrical and plumbing system installations earlier in his career. He has demonstrated leadership and expertise in the construction and commissioning industry, including development of Cx Process standards, serving on technical committees, providing technical training seminars and presentations globally. He has also served as past President and secretary for the California Building Commissioning Association (BCA). Having worked for national commissioning providers and MEP consulting firms ranked in the top 100 by ENR magazine, and Mechanical and General Contractors ranked in the top 500 throughout his career, he has dedicated the later part of his career to improving and promoting the quality of commissioning services offered to building owners and facilities operators.

Elliot Alverez – Associate Principal
Altura

Elliot Alvarez is an Associate Principal with Altura Associates and has been in the MEP design and consultancy sector for over a decade advising clients on how to create, use, and manage their building energy. Building off a background in MEP design and energy modeling, Elliot has grown into an industry leader in building commissioning with an acute focus on analytics and building management systems that support continuous commissioning. 

Philip Wright – Chief Operating Officer/ Director of Engineering
Advanced Building Performance, Inc.

Philip Wright serves as Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Engineering for ABP. Philip is a professional licensed mechanical engineer and Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP), with over 20 years of Mechanical engineering experience. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional, Building Enclosure Commissioning Process Provider (BECxP), and Commissioning Authority + Building Enclosure (CxA+BE). Philip is passionate about providing practical energy efficient solutions that will serve the needs of his clients. 

David J. LeBlanc, PE, FSFPE – Vice President
Jesen Hughes

Dave LeBlanc is a Vice President at JENSEN HUGHES, as a Service Leader for Commissioning and Integrated Testing. He has over 30 years of experience in fire protection engineering and is a registered fire protection engineer. He holds a BS in electrical engineering and a MS in fire protection engineering. Dave is also a Fellow in the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. He is also a member of BCxA, NFPA 3 Cx and NFPA 4 Integrated Testing of Fire Protection and Life Safety Systems, and NFPA 72. He has written numerous articles related to fire protection systems in various publications.

Travis McDaniel, PE, BCxP – Associate, Commissioning
Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers

Travis McDaniel has provided consulting and engineering design for education, cultural, municipal, healthcare, and commercial buildings since 2014. He began designing high-performance and zero net energy buildings and soon developed a passion for commissioning, driven by a desire to optimize the designs early and see them through to occupancy and beyond. Travis is Vice President of the California Chapter of the BCxA; a voting member on ASHRAE Subcommittees for Guideline 0, Guideline 1.2, and Standard 202; a member of ASHRAE’s Task Force for Building Decarbonization; and an adjunct professor at Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo’s Mechanical Engineering Department.

Andrew J. Peden MBA,B.Sc.,CPP – CEO
L5L Solutions

Andrew is the CEO of L5L Solutions.  L5L delivers industry specific risk management strategies demonstrating data driven results, for clients in both the public and private sector. Andrew is an ASIS International, Board-Certified Protection Professional (CPP) serving on the crisis management and business continuity steering committee.  He’s a member of OSAC and has been trained on risk management “Best Practices” through DHS, the FBI, and other public and private agencies and organizations. Andrew has personally worked on, planned, and lead some of the World’s most high-profile engagements, including the New York City marathon, and the largest IPO in history.

Christopher Pell – Associate
Jaros, Baum & Bolles

Chris began his career as an operations engineer in the energy industry in the Mountain West before relocating to New York and joining JB&B. Chris began his time at JB&B Field as a Commissioning Engineer working on projects such as the Hudson Yards and World Trade Center developments. Chris now manages a team of commissioning engineers who at any time are working on many projects in the New York metro area and beyond across multiple sectors of the industry, including commercial office, healthcare and life sciences. 

John Vinueza, PE – MEP Project Manager
Skanska

John got his start in electrical contracting, prior to joining JB&B in New York City as a Consulting Engineer in the Field group. John was a part of a mid-sized team providing a full suite of commissioning and construction administration services throughout a multitude of projects in the New York metro region. John is now an MEP Project Manager at Skanska, directing the successful delivery of MEP scope at a state-of-the-art surgical tower project that will contain 56 ICUs, and 24 operating rooms.

Nick Steketee – Project Manager
DPR Construction

A graduate of Stanford in both architecture and civil engineering, Nick is currently a project manager at DPR Construction. He has worked on a variety of project types and scopes. Project types include datacenters, biotech, and corporate offices. Scopes include demolition, seismic retrofits, envelope, and MEP. As project manager on his latest project, he managed design and construction of a new 172,000SF net-zero energy corporate office headquarters, valued at $170,000,000.

Jorge Torres Coto – Senior Commissioning Project Manager
MA Engineers

Jorge has acted as Commissioning Authority on projects ranging from small office buildings to complex manufacturing facilities with diverse systems (steam, compressed air, process water, clean room environments, containment rooms, etc.), and has been working in the construction industry since High School which has given Jorge the experience required to operate, troubleshoot and optimize building systems. Jorge has been involved as a TAB Technician, as O & M Personnel, Designer, and Commissioning Provider. He has made it a priority to spread the usefulness and importance of the commissioning process by offering university classes, training of peers, and in-house at the firms he has worked at. Jorge holds a BSc degree in Mechanical & Electrical Engineering.

Jarrell Wenger, PE, CEM, LEED AP – Principal, Central Engineering Group Lead
Engineering Economics, Inc

Jarrell is a mechanical system performance expert and leads EEI’s Central Engineering Group (CEG), which provides engineering services, especially design reviews. He is a registered Professional Engineer, Certified Energy Manager, and LEED Accredited Professional. Jarrell has over 35 years of engineering experience and spent more than two decades providing Cx. He leverages his expertise to develop solutions to complicated and costly building issues.

Ryan Hughson – Director of Business Development
Optigo

Ryan is an expert in the world of building IoT and smart building networks, with almost two decades in the industry. Through his vast experience as a field technician, product manager, and quality assurance specialist, Ryan understands industry challenges and is dedicated to solving them. In his current position at Optigo, Ryan manages company partnerships and relations, working to deliver IoT-ready solutions for OT.

Brendon Mattis – Principal
Engineering Economics, Inc

Brendon’s interest in sustainability began when he was in high school. In college, he found that improving building systems was an impaction path to increase sustainability and decrease the built environment’s environmental impact. These interests grew into an engineering and Cx career. Brendon has focused on Cx for over 25 years, following nearly a decade of experience as a mechanical design engineer. He is a local industry leader whose resume includes virtually every type of facility operating under all kinds of conditions. 

Darren Draper PE, CxA – Principal/Director of Commissioning
Epsten Group

Darren Draper is a Principal and Director of Commissioning at Epsten Group, an Atlanta-based consulting firm focused on building performance and sustainability. Darren has dedicated his career to the important aspect of building commissioning, even serving as an expert on the topic for many A/E/C industry-related panel discussions. He is also one of two instructors for AABC Commissioning Group’s (ACG) Commissioning Authority (CxA) Certification preparation workshop. As a certified expert in the field, he oversees the Firm’s commissioning services, including M/E/P systems, building envelope, and retro-commissioning. An exercise of communication and teamwork, his dedication to his role ensures that owners and end-users obtain an excellent return on their investment, and working hand-in-hand with other Firm principals, Darren integrates commissioning early in the design phase to maximize the benefits.

David Riffle – US Field Applications Consultant Manager
Belimo

David Riffle started working for Belimo in 2011 in Danbury, Connecticut.  His tenure includes the role of District Sales Manager for New York City, District Sales Manager for Georgia and Alabama, Regional Application Consultant for the Southeast and currently the US Field Applications Consultant Manager.  David’s responsibility is leading up the Belimo team that work with Consulting Engineers, End users and other for applications and technical assistance.  David comes to Belimo with a M.B.A. and B.S. from The University of Akron.

Andrew Martin – President
Bluerithm

Andrew has over 15 years of experience in building design, construction, controls systems, and project management, most of which was with mission critical facilities such as data centers and hospitals. He holds a Master of Science degree in software engineering from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, as well as several industry certifications. 

Joe Pascal –
Facility Grid

Joe Pascal, Chief Revenue Officer at Facility Grid, is a recognized top-producing sales executive and sales management leader with more than 20 years of experience in achieving multimillion-dollar revenue growth for both established and startup organizations. As Chief Revenue Officer, Joe drives Facility Grid’s presence and growth in the market and is actively involved in all facets of the business. Prior to Facility Grid, Joe served as Vice President of Major Accounts at CoStar Group. 

Chris Henderson –
McKinstry

As Renewable Energy Operations Leader, Chris provides operational leadership for renewable energy projects through late stage development, pre-construction, material procurement, construction, commissioning and operations/maintenance across the McKinstry organization.

Jacob Terry – Director
CxAlloy

For 15 years, Jacob Terry has been designing and developing CxAlloy commissioning software.  A self-taught programmer, he has a BA in Print Journalism and an MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Ish Keener PE, SE – Senior Engineer – Building Science Solutions
Intertek

Ish is a Manager for Intertek’s Building Science Solutions group based in York, PA. Ish has over 10 years of experience as a building engineer, with a BS from Penn State and MS from Missouri University of Science and Technology. Prior to joining Intertek’s Building Science team, Ish performed research and design on fiber reinforced concrete and was a practicing structural engineer, focusing on design of reinforced concrete, CMU, steel, and timber framed structures. Since joining Intertek Building Science Solutions in 2016, Ish’s primary focus has been building enclosure performance, including new construction consulting, commissioning, forensic investigations, existing building enclosure analysis and commissioning, remedial design, and whole building airtightness testing. Ish is a board member of the BCxA Mid Atlantic Chapter and will serve as President next year. Ish has a passion for teamwork, quality construction, and best building practices with the goal of helping to create a more durable built environment.

Jeff Wrigley – Building Performance Program Manager
State of Utah

Ed Soltero – Assistant Vice President and University Architect
Arizona State University

Brandon Conway – Senior Manager
Banner Health

Brandon Conway, CEM
Banner Health Senior Manager Remote Operations Center (ROC)

Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health is one of the largest nonprofit health
care systems in the country. The system owns and operates 28 acute-care
hospitals, Banner Health Network, Banner – University Medicine, academic and
employed physician groups, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers
and an array of other services; including Banner Urgent Care, family clinics, home
care and hospice services, pharmacies and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in
six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming.

I currently lead a small team of engineers and building automation system
technicians supporting Banners robust MBCx program. The ROC Team provides
high level Building Automation System support, regulatory compliance, and 24/7
on call services to ensure our major building equipment across the enterprise is
operating efficiently, reducing the need for external vendor spend. In addition,
the ROC Team has been incorporating best practices from the industry and
collaborating with Design and Construction to maintain current design standards.
Banner Facilities Operations recently received the 2021 Excellence in Health Care
Facility Management Award, presented by the American Society of Health Care
Engineering (ASHE). I am very passionate about optimizing Facilities Operations
equipment to improve patient care while reducing operational costs.

Certified Energy Manager
IAPMO Certified Inspector
Over 25 years of Plumbing/Mechanical experience, 8 of which were focused on Building Automation

Craig Hawkins –

Craig began his career in Mechanical Engineering in 1973 and became a Commissioning Provider in 1993.  In the past 24 years, Craig has commissioned over 475 projects, totaling over 50 million square feet of facilities.  Craig was awarded the prestigious Benner Award in 2016.  Craig is one of the founding members of the Building Commissioning Association (BCxA) and was instrumental in developing the BCA’s Essential Attributes during its founding in 1998.  He has twice served on the BCA’s International Board of Directors and currently the Committee Chair for Education and Training, leading the team that has developed and is delivering the BCxA educational materials.  

Saverio Grosso, CEM, CEA, EBCP, CBCP – Managing Director
Edison Energy

Saverio began his career commissioning aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy before moving into an engineering and consulting role within the energy industry. In the past 20+ years, he has developed and lead commissioning and energy programs for a wide range of facilities, with a focus on healthcare, mission critical facilities and high-end pharmaceutical laboratories. He is a results-oriented energy program developer, recognized for published case studies and articles, piloting innovative energy reduction projects for city and state agencies, and the creation and delivery of several accredited education programs. Serving as a board member of the Building Commissioning Association and adjunct professor for the CUNY School of Professional Studies, he is known for developing and teaching efficient operations strategies and nationally accredited courses to local union schools, city agencies and healthcare institutions. His work as a trusted adviser has allowed him to help define legislation in support of NYC’s energy and carbon emissions goals.

Alex Kozinets, PE, CxA, EBCP, LEED AP – Chief Product Officer
Facility Grid

Alex Kozinets is the Chief Product Officer at Facility Grid. Alex is responsible for driving Facility Grid’s product strategy and supporting its most important asset, customers.  Alex acts as customer advocate in the product development process, bringing over 25 years of experience in master planning, project management, mechanical engineering design, construction administration, start-up, and commissioning across a variety of projects for life science, healthcare, mission critical, industrial, academic, aviation, and commercial facilities.

David LeBlanc, PE, FSFPE – Vice President
Jensen Hughes

Dave LeBlanc is a Vice President at JENSEN HUGHES, as a Service Leader for Commissioning and Integrated Testing. He has over 29 years of experience in fire protection engineering and is a registered fire protection engineer. He holds a BS in electrical engineering and a MS in fire protection engineering. Dave is also a Fellow in the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. He is also a member of BCxA, NFPA 3 Cx and NFPA 4 Integrated Testing of Fire Protection and Life Safety Systems, and NFPA 72. He has written numerous articles related to fire protection systems in various publications.

Anthony Lyons, ACP, CBCP, CEM, E.I.T. – Commissioning & Energy Engineer

Anthony is a Commissioning & Energy Engineer for Baumann’s D.C. team. His expertise includes commissioning, facility condition assessments, building operations, and utility rebates. Since joining Baumann, he’s been involved in several commissioning and energy audit projects. Before Baumann, Anthony was at Clark Construction where he oversaw fire alarm commissioning at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He also worked as an O&M Engineer at Georgetown University where he ran facility, energy efficiency, and infrastructure maintenance projects to support GU’s mission and reduce its carbon footprint. Anthony graduated from GW in 2015 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.