FIATECH Honors Six Superior Stars

Home

Press Releases

Wednesday, 29 April 2009 09:54

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX, April 21, 2009--On April 7, FIATECH hosted the CETI Award Gala, in conjunction with its 2009 Technology Conference and Showcase: Where the Best Get Better, in Henderson, NV. During that ceremony, the Superior Technical Achievement Awards (STAR) were given out to six outstanding individuals who provided critical support and valuable contributions to FIATECH in 2008. As a result of their leadership, commitment and sacrifice, FIATECH was able to produce valuable tools, products and technological developments that have benefited the entire capital projects industry.

“From helping to advance our projects, to helping manage the coordination of those projects, even to overseeing the awards for those efforts, this year’s Superior Technical Achievement Award winners have demonstrated their commitment to advancing FIATECH and provided immeasurable value to the FIATECH organization. They are all excellent ambassadors for their companies and for FIATECH,” explained Ric Jackson, Director of FIATECH. “It was a pleasure and an honor to give them the awards for their service.”

Gary Barnes

Gary Barnes, Portfolio Manager at Bechtel Corporation received this award for his extraordinary work in developing, instituting, and operating FIATECH’s new process to manage and coordinate our full set of technical projects under the Capital Projects Technology Roadmap. His deft hand and diplomatic ways,combined with his dedication to the highest standards of quality and to the vision of the future embodied in the Roadmap, have succeeded in engaging experts from all across FIATECH, not only to participate in the projects, but also to participate in the selection and coordination of these projects

Rob P. DeCarlo

Rob DeCarlo, Development Product Manager at Bechtel Corporation is the software development architect and project lead for all of the development activities in FIATECH’s Camelot iRING project. In addition to his technical contributions, his planning and drive has enabled the very diverse software development teams to work effectively across the globe. Without Rob’s leadership and knowledge, the Camelot iRING project would not be where it is today.

Darius Kanga

Darius Kanga,Product Manager at Bechtel Corporation has served in a key role on the FIATECH Camelot iRING project in developing the information model and the demonstration logistics. He has been very valuable in supporting the software development teams in their use of the ISO 15926 standard specifications. Darius has also been involved in the Reference Data System (RDS) and Work-in-Progress (WIP)Yellow Belt Training and is the developer of the first WIP Editor

“Bechtel is committed to supporting the FIATECH vision and goals of significantly improving the productivity and quality of capital projects,” explains Frank Matthewson, Engineering Manager, Bechtel Corporation. “We enable and encourage our technical specialists to fully engage in these FIATECH activates to help further these objectives as demonstrated by these and previous honors.

Steve Makredes

Steve Makredes, Director of Construction at Target Corporation received this award for his outstanding commitment to the goals of FIATECH and for steering all stakeholders towards a common vision and sense of responsibility in executing this vision. His management of the 2009 FIATECH CETI Award process demonstrated his commitment. He personally managed the process of evaluating the proposals, achieving consensus among the CETI Award jurors, and ensured that the process ran smoothly and on schedule. Steve is also a strong supporter of FIATECH’s Streamlining Project activities and has given immensely of his time and energy to help drive this project to achieve its goals of reforming, re-engineering, and revising the nation’s building and land use regulatory process by pressing the 40,000 municipalities in this country to automate their permitting processes

“Steve loves to see a plan come together. His passion for technology development combined with his strategic vision will keep FIATECH and the construction industry focused on adding value for their clients,” comments Marc Steadman, Vice President, Construction at Targe

Thomas Phillips, Code Compliance Manager, Property Development at Target adds, “although I’ve only worked a short time with Steve on this effort, his passion, focus and stay the course vision has been inspiring and motivating to those new to this concept. I commend Steve for his dedication, direction and guidance in leading us in to this new era of future development and construction

Todd Sutton

Todd Sutton, Business Unit Manager – Project Controls at Zachry Construction received this award for his long-time commitment to FIATECH’s activities in our Smart Chips Projects,including RFID tags, wireless sensors and the soon to be released RFID Cookbook. Todd has been instrumental in bringing new technologies and tools released in the consumer market to the attention of the construction industry and identifying applications that will increase productivity and increase companies bottom-line

“Todd is the quintessential technology expert – intuitively understanding each and every emerging technology that rolls off the assembly line,” explains Tom Hannigan, President-Industrial Services, Zachry and Chair,FIATECH Board of Directors. “But most importantly, he quickly grasps its immediate application and benefit to business and how it can enhance the engineering and construction world. From hardware to software, from communications to automated processes, he can quickly weave a solution from the threads of technology.FIATECH has immensely benefited from both his talent and generosity of time

Bob Wible

Bob Wible, Streamlining Project Manager at FIATECH received this award in recognition of his tireless efforts to bring our nation’s 40,000 municipalities into the digital age with regard to their permitting and building and land use regulatory processes. This has been Bob’s personal mission for many years, and no one has had a greater effect on these municipalities than has Bob. There are huge amounts of money and time wasted every day in this process, yet few ever take the time to try to improve it.Reasons for this slow change are sometimes political and sometimes technical,and bringing about change is tedious and often unrewarding. However, through Bob’s efforts change is occurring and we are grateful to him for making this happen.

The STAR Award was established to recognize the personal contributions of FIATECH members who have given immensely of their own time and energy to help FIATECH achieve its vision. Each year, FIATECH honors those individuals whose leadership, commitment, participation, and sacrifice of personal time has advanced our goals and benefited the capital projects industry. Without these people, FIATECH would not be the internationally recognized and respected organization that it is today

As Tom Hannigan, President-Industrial Services, Zachry and Chair, FIATECH Board of Director aptly noted, “there is an old adage that says that ‘there's no traffic jam on the extra mile.’ This year’s FIATECH Star Award recipients contributed so much talent and time that at the milepost they are at; there is virtually no traffic at all.

For more information on the STAR award and prior year’s recipients, visit http://fiatech.org/awards-program/star.html or contact Nicole Testa Boston at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (202) 669-3935. The 2009 STAR Awards will be given March 30, 2010 in Austin,TX.

###

Comments (0) add comment