Las Vegas, NV — The 2005 Professional Design-Build Conference honored a remarkable group of individuals who have made significant contributions to the design-build community.
The first group of honorees included 11 winners of the 2005 DBIA Distinguished Leadership Awards program. The objective of the program is to recognize annually those public- and private-sector owners, legislators, faculty, and students at the undergraduate and graduate levels who have demonstrated leadership in the advancement of best design-build practices and of design-build as the project delivery system of choice. Those nominated, or nominating themselves, can be individuals, firms, agencies, or institutions, including the design and construction programs of institutions of higher learning.
The jury determined that eight particularly outstanding nominations merited the honor of distinguished leadership. Three additional nominees have also made significant contributions to the design-build industry and have earned special recognition awards.
Colonel (Retired) Donald R. Frankland and Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Albert R. Schweizer, Maryland Army National Guard, were honored for distinguished leadership in the category of public owner. They have championed design-build project delivery within the Army National Guard. The program has grown from two original pilot projects in 1998 and 2000 to more than 30 percent of recent National Guard military construction. Their dedication and consistent advocacy of commitment to design-build has created a paradigm shift within the Army National Guard, making it the delivery system of choice within this agency. Colonel Frankland and Lieutenant Colonel Schweizer have been singularly effective in influencing a major federal agency to change their established methodology used to design and construct key construction projects.
Marje Fossum, Project Manager, Naval Facilities Command, Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, Washington, Public Works Construction Office, was also honored for distinguished leadership in the category of public owner. Since joining the Navy’s Engineering and Field Activity Northwest Capital Improvement Team in late 1992, Ms. Fossum has been a vocal leader in the development of design-build as the project delivery system of choice for the Navy. She has championed the use of “best value” contracting, working to overturn her organization’s traditional reliance on low-bid strategies.
Elizabeth S. Mabry, Executive Director, South Carolina Department of Transportation, completed the group of public owners honored for distinguished leadership. As executive director of the South Carolina Department of Transportation, Ms. Mabry has been the driving force behind the agency’s growing commitment to use design-build project delivery to accelerate infrastructure improvements in the state. With the recent completion of the Cooper River Bridge, the value of design-build projects in South Carolina has now exceeded $1.4 billion dollars, all in the last 10 years.
Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey was honored with special recognition in the legislator category. She worked closely with the The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Special Commission on Public Construction Reform. The result of these efforts was the recent passage of Chapter 193 of the Acts of 2004, the most significant public construction reform package in over 20 years. One element of this package was permitting the use of design-build for horizontal public works construction projects.
Representative Michael Beard, Minnesota State Representative, District 35A, was honored with special recognition in the legislator category. He worked closely with a coalition of industry providers and public owners to promote an alternative delivery systems bill in the state of Minnesota, supporting design-build and CM at Risk. Representative Beard was an outspoken supporter of the bill, worked with several key legislators who had concerns with the legislation, and successfully headed off an amendment that would have gutted the bill.
Senator David C. Long, Indiana State Senator, District 16, was honored for distinguished leadership in the legislator category. He introduced and sponsored Senate Bill 244 in the Indiana Legislature, providing design-build as an option for public agencies. Senator Long worked on this effort for three years, culminating in its successful passage earlier this year.
Congressman Michael Burgess, U.S. Representative, U.S. House of Representatives, 26th District, Texas, was also honored for distinguished leadership in the legislator category. He has been a stalwart supporter of design-build at the state and federal level. Congressman Burgess worked closely with industry officials and DBIA to expand authority to use design-build in the recently authorized SAFETEA-LU legislation. He was a key figure in gaining support for language while the bill was in conference committee.
Keith Pedersen, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska at Omaha, was honored with a special recognition award. He has added significant design-build curriculum elements to the construction program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Moreover, Professor Pedersen is actively involved in DBIA Chapter events and has taken his students to the Region 4 ASC Design-Build Student Competition the last three years.
Lisa Volpe, Architecture and Construction Management, California Polytechnic State University, was one of two students honored for distinguished leadership. As part of her requirements for her double major of architecture and construction management, she wrote a complete design-build proposal for a new stadium at Cal Poly. Ms. Volpe has served as membership chair and president of the Cal Poly DBIA student chapter, was a member of the Cal Poly ASC Design-Build Student Competition, and was an attendee at the 2004 Professional Design-Build Conference.
Spencer J. Won, Construction Engineering and Management, University of Colorado at Boulder, was also being honored for distinguished leadership in the student category. As part of his coursework and research for a Ph.D. in the Construction Engineering and Management program, he completed a master’s thesis on life cycle cost criteria in design-build transportation project RFPs and served as the research assistant for a project developing an AASHTO design-build procurement guide. Mr. Won has attended regional and national DBIA conferences and has recently presented research findings at the Rocky Mountain Chapter’s Annual Design-Build Owners’ Forum.
Each year DBIA is pleased to present awards to those individuals who document key design-build trends that affect our industry. This year DBIA honored two such individuals with a 2005 national press award. They have combined a deep understanding of the impact of accelerating design-build project delivery with an equally powerful commitment to advancing industry best practices.
David Engdahl, AIA, DBIA, and Lance G. Simons, both of Haskell (formerly The Haskell Company), presented a six-part series of columns on safety issues in Design-Build DATELINE, October 2004 through March 2005. Their theme was simple yet profound: safety cannot be an afterthought to design and construction, but must be embedded into every phase of the project. They forcefully demonstrated how design-build delivery can be an enabling mechanism to make safety a proactive and integral part of any design and construction strategy. Part reporters, part teachers, their columns provided valuable insights for all design-builders.
Lastly, DBIA presented two special awards to individuals who have made a marked contribution to DBIA. The Distinguished Service Award was given to Barbara J. Jackson, Ph.D., DBIA, Professor, Construction Management Department, California Polytechnic State University. At Cal Poly, Dr. Jackson has developed innovative design-build course curricula for the construction management department. Dr. Jackson chairs DBIA’s educational committee and has made major contributions in revising current DBIA course offerings and developing additional ones. She is one of DBIA’s premier instructors, deeply committed to expanding her students’ understanding of alternative delivery approaches. Dr. Jackson contributes a regular column to Design-Build DATELINE titled “First Principles” and has made the journal required reading for her Cal Poly course in Integrated Project Services.
An Appreciation Award was given to Thomas Wierdsma, P.E., DBIA, Director of Project Planning and Development, Hensel Phelps Construction Co., for his work as Chair for the 2005 Professional Design-Build Conference. He was no “figurehead” — Mr. Wierdsma was a truly visionary Conference Chair. He wanted to ensure that this year’s conference was of the highest quality. Mr. Wierdsma was intimately involved in many key elements of the conference. Many of the innovative elements of this year’s conference can be traced to Mr. Wierdsma’s imagination and brainstorming throughout the period of conference preparation. He helped establish the theme and vision of this event. Mr. Wierdsma was key in the selection process of speakers and breakout sessions. He was the “closer,” facilitating and coordinating agreements with our keynote speakers. In short, Mr. Wierdsma was instrumental, and essential, in making this conference an unqualified success and meeting his expectations for high quality.
It is not too early to begin considering nominations for the 2006 Distinguished Leadership Competition. The competition will begin in the spring of 2006. Follow the DBIA web site, www.dbia.org, and future issues of DATELINE for more specific information on competition requirements and deadlines.