Thirty-five I.T. leaders from AEC firms across the country met in Washington D.C. April 19-20 to discuss technology and business trends.
- Keynoting the event was Dave Gilmore of Design Intelligence who encouraged attendees to challenge themselves to be leaders in their respective firms and in the industry.
- Kyu Choi of Microsoft provided an overview and roadmap of Microsoft Teams.
- Brian White gave an enthusiastic presentation of Veritas’s new suite of multi-cloud data management tools.
- Radical Galaxy, Bradley Snyder and Matthew Shaffer, demonstrated its offering in high-end, outsourced AR/VR.
- Timon Hazell, Senior BIM Engineer at Silman Engineers, led an engaging discussion on computational design using Dynamo and other tools.
- Jacob Slevin and Westin Conahan closed the meeting with a demonstration of Designer Pages, a cloud based solution for specifying interior design products.
Thanks to Bruce Barclay and Andrew Corn for hosting another successful event. We’ll see everyone in SoCal in the fall.
AECIT Leaders member Jim Williamson died Sunday, March 12, 2017 from a heart attack. Jim was a knowledgeable IT professional and life-loving individual who made friends with everyone he met. He leaves behind a former wife, a daughter, and a son.
Those who wish to share their memories of Jim are encouraged to submit them to Stacy at Mahlum Architects where Jim worked for the past 14 years. They will be passed along to the family and compiled in a memory book.
Let Jim’s death be a reminder to number our days. Life is but a vapor and there is no promise of tomorrow.
Seattle Times obituary.
College fund for his children.
Long-time AECIT Leaders member Markus Weidner has returned to Pennoni as the firm’s first Chief Innovation Officer.
Congratulations Markus.
Jason Stefanski presented a session entitled Turning Your Employees into Human Firewalls: Elevating Your Cybersecurity at the Geoprofessional Business Association 2016 Fall Conference in Seattle.
KTGY Architecture + Planning recently named long-time AECIT Leaders member Dawn Bridges as Director of Information Technology. IN her new role Dawn will be responsible for firm-wide I.T. strategy as well as managing the day-to-day activities of the I.T. team and projects. Congratulations!
Click here for additional information.
In conjunction with Bentley Systems, Shawn Foster, Technology Manager of Black & Veatch’s Energy Division, recently presented a webinar discussing how his company transformed their business through implementation of a comprehensive plant design and project delivery environment.
Black & Veatch’s Sewaren 7 Power Plant was also a finalist in the Power Generation category of the 2016 Bentley Be Inspired Awards.
Host Richard Hodge welcomed nearly 35 members to Philadelphia on October 20-21 for the Fall 2016 Roundtable. Four sponsors contributed to the success of the event:
- Justin Boitano presented Frame’s capability to deploy virtual desktops in the cloud capable of running design applications such as Revit, Civil 3D, MicroStation, and the like.
- ARC Document Solutions (James Mercado and Nick Miller) demonstrated Skysite, a hosted document distribution and project collaboration tool which ensures all team members have access to the latest documents.
- Angie Izzi discussed Autodesk’s initiatives for moving beyond transactional file-based workflows to a collaborative project design and delivery model including the role Forge will play in this transformation.
- Eagle Point Software (Brad Heil, Ray Thorn, and Tiffany Willard) demonstrated how Pinnacle Series software helps firms organize and deliver training materials, standards, and other documentation.
In addition member led discussions included:
- Sam Ishak reviewed a recent ransomware attack experienced by his firm including how it was dealt with and what lessons were learned to minimize future risk.
- Thursday afternoon field trip to Kieran Timberlake provided insight into several of their technology explorations.
- Ryan Welch presented KT’s research initiatives including work with Autodesk API’s.
Friday’s business meeting included discussion of website member profiles and forthcoming data visualization. Long time member John Robison announced that Dawn Bridge will be assuming the primary member role from KTGY and he will assume secondary membership status. We thank John for his contribution to the group over the years, including the past several as board president, and look forward to his participation at future meetings. Tim Rice will assume the role of president. Ron Heims is vice president and treasurer, Susan Koenigs is secretary, and Matt Birk is membership coordinator.
LMN Architects based in Seattle has been awarded the 2016 AIA Architecture Firm Award. Tim Rice, IT Director for LMN, is an active member of the AECIT Leaders Roundtable.
Congratulations to Tim and his firm!
Michael Schuldt, Director of Information Technology at Pennoni Associates, will be presenting a session entitled Cloud Computing in the AE Industry on April 26, 2016 at the BST Global PowerUp Users Conference.
Michael will be one of the BST clients discussing his experiences in deploying corporate applications in the cloud.
Click here to view more details…
Affiliated Engineers has named Susan Koenigs Director of Digital Practices where she will lead multiple technology teams including the firm’s Building Information Management group and the Custom Tool Development team. In her new role Susan looks “forward to sharing AEI’s discoveries and advances in technology with the firm’s clients, project partners, and the industry at large.” Click here for more details…