Professor Amr Abdel-Azim
Amr is a pioneer in the area facilities management in higher education campuses. He is currently the Senior Director of Design and Construction at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. Responsibilities include overseeing all aspects of campus facilities management, implementing strategic initiatives to enhance sustainability and efficiency, and fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
Amr was the Senior Architect at Michigan State University with 15+ years at the East Lansing, Michigan, Campus. Amr is a key participant in the MSU capital planning process of over 5,200 acres (21 km2) of MSU's contiguous campus; there are 556 buildings: 100 for academics, 131 for agriculture, 166 for housing and food service, and 42 for athletics. Overall, the university has 22,763,025 square feet. Amr has had cutting-edge practice in Campus building technology, design-build project delivery, and construction quality.
His professional achievement includes building the American University of Sharjah, a brand new campus from scratch in the UAE. Founded in 1997, AUS is a private comprehensive university with five colleges located on a beautiful 330-acre site in the City of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Amr led the effort to build the Michigan State University Campus in Dubai as part of Dubai Academic City, which was completed in September 2008. MSU Dubai is integrally connected to the main MSU campus, giving students opportunities to enrich their academic and student life experiences.
He served as the Senior Executive for Capital Projects at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), leading a capital construction program there. The major Campus development involved a $300-million state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research Center and a world-class performing arts Center (EMPAC) and related infrastructure.
Amr was the Director of the Physical Plant of the newly established American University of Sharjah, and the University of Sharjah started the Campus from scratch. The campus physical plant, which reflects a distinctive Arabic architectural style, is comprised of 90 administrative, classroom, athletic/recreational, and residential buildings totalling over 2,300,000 square feet.
Amr holds a bachelor's degree in Architecture and a master's degree in urban planning. He is a Certified Educational Facilities Professional CEFP by APPA and an active member of many American and International organizations in the areas of facilities in higher education, Lean Construction, and facilities management.
Dr Matt Stevens
Matt Stevens, PhD works exclusively with construction contractors. Stevens has been advising since 1994, and his industry experience spans over 40 years. He has lived in Australia since 2012. Stevens is a Senior Lecturer at Western Sydney University and focuses exclusively on Construction Contractors. He authored three industry books: Understanding Australian Construction Contractors (2023), Managing a Construction Firm on Just 24 Hours a Day (2006), and The Construction MBA (2012). Stevens’s advising work focuses on Strategic Planning, Business Evaluations, Best Practices, and Productivity. His advising experience has spanned Australia and the United States, where he has assisted main and sub-contractors (over 100 firms).
Dr.-Ing. Annett Schöttle
Dr.-Ing. Annett Schöttle is a Choosing by Advantages (CBA) and Lean expert with a strong passion for transforming the construction industry. She focuses on improving project teams and ensuring project success and has helped numerous design and construction teams with the implementation of the Last Planner System. Annett is an accomplished researcher in lean construction and collaboration. Her expertise in decision-making processes is evident through her numerous published papers and book chapters. As a CBA trainer, Annett has been instrumental in developing a global implementation concept for a renowned German automobile manufacturer, showcasing her profound expertise. Furthermore, Annett has guided project teams in strategic decision-making using CBA. Additionally, Annett co-founded CollabDecisions, a platform to share knowledge on collaborative decision-making approaches.
Dr. Paz Arroyo
Dr. Paz Arroyo, Ph.D., is a Quality Leader at DPR Construction. She has construction industry experience internationally, with a strong background in lean and decision-making. She co-founded CollabDecisions (http://www.collabdecisions.com), a platform to share knowledge on how to make collaborative decisions. As a quality Leader at DPR Construction, she supports the implementation of a Culture of Quality across the project lifecycle nationally. Paz is also a Member LCI NorCal Core Group.
Robert Hales
Robert Hales is the Market Director for Land Transport at Beca. The common thread to Robert's career is working to improve infrastructure delivery, and his involvement with IGLC and LCI in the UK and now in Australia and New Zealand stems from this. Robert is a chartered Process engineer who started his career in food manufacturing & drinking water treatment, where he first applied Lean. Over the past 19 years, Robert has worked to apply collaborative work, lean principles, and practices across the infrastructure lifecycle. He has done this as a con-sultant engineer, design, project and programme manager on transport infrastructure projects. From the UK "Rethinking Construction" report by Sir John Egan onwards, Robert has followed the findings of similar reports and has sought to address them on the projects he has been directly or indirectly involved in as an engineering consultant. Robert set up a Lean consultancy team in the UK whose focus was on implementing ISO18404 as a model for Lean transformation and was instrumental in its adoption by Balfour Beatty and the Smart Motorway Alliance in the UK. Robert is the Market Director for Land Transport at Beca and is currently working as Programme Manager for KiwiRail, delivering repairs to the North Auckland Line after the 2023 weather events.
Paul Ebbs
Paul is the Associate Director – Lean Coach, WSP UK/Operational Change Manager, SMP Alliance. He is an internationally recognised industry leader and is at the forefront of lean best practices. He is a passionate systems thinker and an advocate of innovation through action research. Working with Professor Christine Pasquire from the Centre for Lean Projects, Nottingham Trent University (NTU), Paul has developed and implemented his PhD research Integrated Risk Management Approach - 1IRMA 3600 – on UK and Middle East Infrastructure Projects over the past 5 years. Paul currently works as an Operational Change Manager for the National Highways SMP Alliance in the UK.
Dr Mohammed Abdelmegid
Dr Mohammed Abdelmegid, a Lecturer in Engineering Management at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, brings a mix of industry and academic expertise to his role. He completed PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Auckland, with a focus on computer simulation for construction decision-making. Mohammed's commitment to enhancing project delivery through innovative solutions is rooted in his diverse background, which includes industrial roles in structural engineering, quantity surveying, building services coordination, and construction site management across various engineering projects. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Risk Management Professional (RMP) by the Project Management Institute (PMI). His research interests focus on operational research applications in construction management, productivity improvement, lean production, construction digitalisation, and knowledge management. With a pragmatic approach, Mohammed prioritises practicality in his research efforts, aiming to bridge the gap between theory and practice to benefit construction managers and organisations alike.
Dr Yang Zou
Dr Yang Zou is a distinguished academic and researcher in the field of intelligent infrastructure and digital construction, currently serving as Senior Lecturer at the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Auckland. With expertise spanning Building Information Modelling (BIM), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Extended Reality (VR/AR/MR), and Smart Sensing, Dr Zou is committed to revolutionising construction practices for a smarter, safer, and more sustainable built environment. As the Director of the Smart Digital Lab (SDL), he spearheads initiatives to integrate advanced technologies into construction education and research. Beyond academia, Dr Zou actively contributes to industry advancement as President of BIM Education New Zealand (BENZ) and through editorial roles in leading journals like Construction Innovation and Frontiers of Engineering Management. His extensive involvement in professional organisations and conferences underscores his commitment to driving innovation and excellence in construction informatics and automation on a global scale.
Ajay Kumar Agrawa
Ajay Kumar Agrawal is a researcher specialising in construction management. He is driven by a passion for utilising technology to optimise project planning and scheduling processes. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD at the University of Auckland, where he brings a unique blend of industry experience from Mace Group and academic rigour to his work. Currently, his work focuses on lean construction, where he applies advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Semantic Web to increase efficiency and sustainability through construction projects through better project planning. Ajay's achievements, including winning the Velocity Ideas Challenge and receiving the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship, underscore his dedication to driving a positive impact in the construction industry through research and innovation.