2020 Speakers & Participants

The Honorable Senator Don Harmon, President, Illinois Senate

Senator Harmon has promoted a progressive agenda in Springfield, one based on his profound commitment to social justice and public service. In recent legislative session, Senator Harmon supported historic school funding reform that overhauled Illinois' worst-in-the-nation school funding formula, replacing it with one of the most progressive systems in the country. He also worked tirelessly to bring an end to the state's two-year budget standoff, finally bringing relief in the form of a responsible, balanced budget. After working for 15 years on the issue, Senator Harmon also advanced a landmark measure allowing Illinois to license gun dealers. Senator Harmon has also promoted alternative energy sources, passing a plan that will direct the state to invest $30 million in solar energy and a plan that clears the way for $2.2 billion investment in wind energy.

The Honorable Senator David Koehler, Assistant Majority Leader, Illinois Senate

State Senator Dave Koehler, Peoria (District 46) has served in the Illinois State Senate since first getting elected in 2006. In the Senate he has been the committee chair of Local Government, Agriculture and Environment and Conservation. Prior to his election, he served as Executive Director of the Peoria Area Labor Management Council (PALM) for 21 years. The Hon. Senator David Koehler was promoted to Assistant Majority Leader in the Illinois Senate in 2019 in recognition of his leadership in stewarding some of the most important bills and legislative initiatives in the Illinois government over the past decade. He is an exemplar of someone who is dedicated to developing long-term solutions – he has demonstrated this time and again in business and in his various roles as a public servant.

Mitch Simpler, National Chairman, American Council of Engineering Companies; Partner, Managing Partner Emeritus at JB&B

Mitchel Simpler is the Chair of ACEC through 2020. He joined JB&B, one of New York’s premier consulting engineering firms, in 1977 and currently serves as Partner, after having served as Managing Partner from 2012 - 2018. Mr. Simpler’s projects include 1 and 5 Times Square, the New York Genome Center and the Rohm & Haas Research Center in Shanghai, China. He has also managed the construction of landmark museums and visual art spaces such as the Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the TWA Hotel, the reimagination of Eero Saarinen’s landmark TWA terminal at JFK Airport. Mr. Simpler holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York State and a Fellow of the American Council of Engineering Companies, currently serving as Chair on the ACEC Executive Committee.

Frédéric Istas, Vice President Earthmoving Division, Caterpillar Inc.

Frédéric Istas has worldwide design, manufacturing and support responsibility for Medium Tractor Products, Motor Graders, Medium Wheel Loaders, Paving Products and SEM branded product lines. Istas joined Caterpillar in 1996 from Cargill (UK) and worked as service engineer in Gosselies, Belgium, before moving to Amsterdam to cover Northern Europe as a Parts and Service Sales Rep. He held various position at Caterpillar over his career and in June 2017,he was named Vice President of the Earthmoving Division. Istas was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium. He studied electro mechanics in Ghent, Belgium. He completed his Belgium national service obligations as Lieutenant in Arlon, Belgium and Siegen in Germany. He is a Graduate of the Caterpillar Duke University Executive Development Program, Digging Deep.

Jamie Rhee, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Aviation

In 2018 Jamie L. Rhee was named Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA). In this critical role, she manages one of the world’s busiest airport systems, comprised of O’Hare and Midway International Airports, which serve more than 100 million passengers each year and establish Chicago as a global leader for air cargo activity. Rhee began her career with the City of Chicago and has worked for nearly 24 years in various roles, most recently as the Chief Procurement Officer. In that role, Rhee oversaw a purchasing of $2 billion in goods and services for dozens of user departments in the City of Chicago, including the CDA, and the certification of thousands of minority-owned (MBE) women-owned (WBE) and disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) including the Airport Concessionaire Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) program.

Jim Underwood, Executive Director, Capital Development Board (CDB)

Jim Underwood began a construction career as a Laborer pouring concrete on the construction of the Clinton Nuclear Power Station in 1976. He completed an apprenticeship with IBEW Local 146 Decatur in 1982 and worked 13 years as a journeyman wireman before becoming an assistant business manager with the local in 1995. Jim earned a BA in Labor Studies in 2000 and started a career in state government in 2001 as Division Chief of the ILSecretary of State’s Physical Services Division building trades men and women. He was Personnel Mgr. at the IL Dept. of Corrections and then CEO of Correctional Industries before joining the IL CDB as Deputy Director of Construction in 2008. Jim was Executive Director at CDB from 2011-2015 and after four years as the Chief Procurement Officer for the IL State Treasurer he returned to CDB as Executive Director in May of 2019.

Andrew G. Smith, Co-Chairman & Project Liaison, Missouri Hyperloop Coalition at First Rule

Andrew G. Smith is the co-founder of the Missouri Hyperloop Coalition, a public private partnership comprising the St. Louis Regional Chamber, the Kansas City Tech Council, the University of Missouri System, the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Missouri Innovation Center, Heartland Hyperloop, Inc., and the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The Coalition, with its partners Virgin Hyperloop One and Black & Veatch, produced the first hyperloop engineering feasibility study in North America.  Mr. Smith is a graduate of Dartmouth College and has studied for a master’s degree in data science at Indiana University, Bloomington. His experience includes hedge-fund management, digital media startups and has held leadership positions with Signature Healthcare, LLC, and Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby.

Doug House, Deputy Secretary, Illinois Department of Transportation

Doug House is the IDOT Deputy Secretary under Gov. J.B. Pritzker and oversees agency policy development, state and federal legislation, and agency communications. His extensive experience of more than 40 years of Public Service at all levels of government includes 34 years as Blackhawk Twp. Hwy. Commissioner and 18 years as the city of Moline Public Works General Manager. House served as president of the Illinois Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) from 2013-2015.  He has also been a construction analyst for the Foundation for Fair Contracting. He is currently an executive board member of the Innovations in Construction, Asphalt and Transportation (ICAT) and holds union memberships in the Operating Engineers, the Laborers International, the NAACP, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce & Greater Quad Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

José Alvarez, Executive Director, Illinois Tollway

The Illinois Tollway Board of Directors, voted unanimously to hire veteran public servant, José Alvarez, as the agency’s new executive director. Alvarez brings with him a wealth of administrative and government experience, including leadership positions at the highest levels of the public sector. In his role as executive director, Alvarez will lead the Illinois Tollway, which has a $1.5 billion annual budget and oversees Illinois’ 294-mile Tollway system. Alvarez comes to the Tollway after having served in a multitude of public sector leadership roles, including chief of staff for the State Superintendent of Education for Washington D.C. Schools, deputy chief of staff for the CEO of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and most recently, chief operating officer and chief of staff for the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA).

Paul Kovacs, Chief Engineering Officer, Illinois Tollway

Since joining the Illinois Tollway in 1999, Paul Kovacs has greatly influenced planning, development and implementation of multi-billion dollar capital programs by emphasizing customer service, safety, sustainability, innovation and opportunities for small, diverse and veteran-owned firms.  Mr. Kovacs is responsible for delivering about $20 billion in capital improvements, including the current $14 billion Move Illinois Program and the $5.8 billion Congestion-Relief Program completed on time and within budget in 2016. These investments enabled the Tollway to essentially rebuild its entire system and add three new tollroads – the south extension of the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355), the Illinois Route 390 Tollway and the I-490 Tollway.

Aaron Ozinga, President, Ozinga Capital Ventures

Aaron Ozinga is an experienced president with a demonstrated history of working in the building materials and transportation industry. He has strong business development and is professionally skilled in negotiation, operations management, procurement, strategic planning, and team building. Ozinga Materials is a full service material and transportation business involved in the production and distribution of aggregates, and the handling and distribution of many other bulk materials used in construction. The company owns and operates mining, truck, rail, river, and port assets concentrated in Illinois and surrounding states and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ozinga Bros, Inc.- a 4th generation family owned business. Aaron is responsible for setting the overall direction and strategy for this company. He is a business graduate of Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights Illinois.

Chuck Miller, MAASTO TPIMS Project Lead, HNTB

Chuck Miller is HNTB Fellow and a Senior Project Manager in HNTB’s Kansas City office. Chuck has 34 years of experience in transportation planning, traffic engineering and ITS, and leads HNTB’s intelligent transportation systems (ITS) practice in the states of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and Nebraska. Chuck has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt University and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Kansas.Chuck is the ITS Project Lead for the MAASTO Truck Parking Information Management System (TPIMS) Project, which is a regional partnership between eight MAASTO states and served as the project manager for the TPIMS final design in Kansas.

Mandeep Singh Arora P.E., Executive Vice President, Arora & Associates, P.C.

Mandeep Singh Arora, PE is the Executive Vice President of Arora and Associates, P.C. and manages the day to day operations of the organization. Mr. Arora has been with the firm since 1995 and brings over 25 years of experience in management, engineering design and construction. He earned his Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and his MBA from Columbia University and is also a licensed professional engineer in New York and New Jersey. Mr. Arora has been the Principal In Charge on a wide variety of transportation projects ranging in scope and complexity in the New York Metropolitan Area. Projects have included preparation of environmental documents, preliminary and final engineering, roadway design, traffic engineering and ITS, as well as structures.

Mike Eichten P.E., Vice President and Project Manager, AECOM

Mike Eichten, P.E. is the Project Manager for the 41st Street and 43rd Street Pedestrian Bridges and a Vice President with AECOM. His background is in geometric design and complex interchange design including the Circle Interchange and the I-55 and Lake Shore Drive Interchange projects in downtown Chicago. Mike received his bachelor’s degree from Marquette University in 1992 and has been with AECOM for 28 years.

Ashley F. Booth, Wisconsin Office Leader & Vice President, HNTB

Ashley is the Wisconsin Office Leader and a Vice President with HNTB. He is responsible for nearly 110 employees in offices located in Milwaukee and Madison. He has over 16 years of experience with HNTB and the public sector. Ashley has been assigned roles as National Streetcar Practice Leader and Great Lakes Division Transit Leader responsible for developing transit staff, winning and delivering transit projects. He has helped lead such projects as: The Hop Milwaukee Streetcar, Fiserv Forum arena in Milwaukee and the Q-Line in Detroit. Ashley has also served on numerous local and national boards.

Erin Aleman, Executive Director, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)

After progressing steadily in a variety of leadership roles at the local, regional, and state levels, Erin Aleman was appointed unanimously by the Board of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) in June 2019 as the agency’s third executive director. Aleman brings more than a decade of accomplishments in developing transportation and land use policies to the agency as it embarks on implementation of ON TO 2050, the region’s new long-term comprehensive plan to help the seven counties and 284 municipalities of northeastern Illinois improve quality of life using strategies that address transportation, housing, economic development, open space, the environment, and more.

Landon Whitton, Project Manager, AECOM

Landon is a Project Manager and local leader of the AECOM Jackson, Mississippi office. Landon leads AECOM central region bridge inspections for hundreds of structures including major river crossing cable-stayed and large through-truss bridges. He was Project Manager of the US 82 over Mississippi River biennial inspection (2018), which was AECOM’s first successful attempt at an NBIS bridge inspection utilizing drone technology. Landon graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mississippi State University. He is a registered professional engineer in Civil Engineering in 3 states with 11 years of experience.

Nicholas W. Smith, Trust Indenture Manager- Illinois Tollway, WSP USA

Nick Smith is the Trust Indenture Manager for the Illinois Tollway General Engineering Consultant (GEC), with WSP USA. Mr. Smith manages the GEC annual inspection and reporting program and has the mission of reimagining legacy systems in order to assist the Illinois Tollway operate in economic manner while maintaining their assets in a state of good repair. During his tenure Mr. Smith has overseen the deployment of the enterprise asset management system into maintenance and operations resulting in a more collaborative and cost effective process.

Sarah Flock, Principal, Raths, Raths & Johnson, LLC

Sarah Flock has 18 years of architectural experience in investigations, repair design, and field testing of distressed structures, nonperforming buildings, and material systems. She specializes in building enclosure assessment and in the resolution of moisture intrusion, including condensation formation. With her extensive building enclosure knowledge, she has provided litigation support and served as an expert witness on related failures. She is a registered architect in several states, active in ASTM, an accredited BECx provider, and on the Executve Committee for the Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA).

Susan Green, Paving Territory Manager, Minneapolis District, Caterpillar Inc.

Susan Green is a Paving Territory Manager for Caterpillar. She supports the sales and service of Caterpillar paving equipment in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. She is a member of the Minnesota Asphalt Pavement Association Technology Committee, Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association Board, and the chair of the IAPA Equipment Committee. Susan has worked for Caterpillar for 15 years and has a degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Purdue University. She resides in Oswego, Illinois with her 2 daughters.

Patrick Cassity P.E., S.E., President, Patrick Engineering Inc.

Patrick is the President of Patrick Engineering and for the past 15 years of his career has held key leadership positions in planning, procuring and delivering design/build projects across North America. Prior to his current position, he was Executive Vice President of Design/Build at Parsons Corporation. Both companies are unique in that they provide integrated design and construction capability in a single company. Major projects that Mr. Cassity played a key role in include the Christopher S. Bond Bridge over the Missouri River, Hastings Arch Bridge over the Mississippi, US 90 Bridge over Biloxi Bay, Goethals Bridge over the Arthur Kill, and Gordie Howe International Bridge. Patrick has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and M.S. in Structural Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

David Caudill, Administrator, Division of Tolling Operations, Virginia Department of Transportation

David is directly responsible for four VDOT toll facilities consisting of two traditional toll facilities and, more recently, two High Occupancy Toll (HOT) toll facilities employing real-time, density-based, dynamic toll pricing and trip construction. He is also responsible for the Commonwealth’s E-ZPass program, which currently has over 1.7 million individual accounts. Annually Virginia E-ZPass handles over 220 million toll transactions and $550 million in associated toll revenues. Mr. Caudill has a total of 35 years of transportation experience with 22 years of experience in engineering, construction and operations related to regional building and tolling facility assets, as well as, 13 years of bridge and highway design. Mr. Caudill is a Professional Engineer, holds a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering and a Master's in Business Administration.

Cynthia Essenmacher, Tolling Program Manager, Federal Highway Administration Center for Innovative Finance Support

Cynthia Essenmacher has worked for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for the past 15 years, focusing on improving transportation processes at the Federal level. She is currently the Federal Tolling Program Manager at FHWA’s Center for Innovative Finance Support. She manages two Federal tolling programs that allow tolling on Federal-aid highways for the purposes of major capital investments. She also ensures Federal-aid toll facilities that are operational are meeting Federal requirements. Cynthia has worked over the years with Federal, states and local transportation officials to provide technical assistance for many Federal programs, including innovative finance, risk management, planning, operations, and performance management. She works remotely for FHWA Headquarters in Lansing, Michigan.

Andres Rosa, President, Digital Forces

Andy Rosa was born in Uruguay. While in high school he paid for his foreign exchange to the US by programming on an Apple IIe. After graduating university with a degree in computer engineering, he founded Digital Forces to apply his love for digital technologies - from the semiconductor, to the redundant cluster. He has been growing Digital Forces since, and has benefitted from a great team of co-workers, clients, and projects (including projects with Navy Pier, CTA, and the White Sox). Outside of the office, Andy enjoys traveling, spending time with his wife and four kids, and live music.

Joseph P. Schwieterman Ph. D., Professor School of Public Service, DePaul University

Dr. Schwieterman is a Professor in the School for Public Service, Department of Public Policy, and Sustainable Urban Development program. He is an expert in the fields of public policy, transportation and urban planning, and is the author of numerous books and peer-reviewed articles on the development of cities and transportation. He has consulted with prominent national organizations on planning and development issues, and advised national trade groups and research organizations on trends in transportation. Dr. Schwieterman also serves as the Director of DePaul’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, which promotes effective urban planning, as well as president of the Chicago Chapter of the Transportation Research Forum.

Travis Underhill P.E., Deputy Commissioner of Districts, Indiana Department of Transportation

Travis Underhill serves as the Deputy Commissioner of Districts. In this role he provides leadership and oversight over district operations including the delivery of INDOT's capital and maintenance programs. Travis graduated from Michigan Technological University with a BS in Civil Engineering. Travis and his wife, Jamie, have been married 10 years and have three children, Josephine, Thomas and Henry. Travis enjoys coaching his children in their various sporting endeavors and entertaining family and friends with his outdoor cooking equipment.

Dennis Heckman, State Bridge Engineer, Missouri Department of Transportation

Mr. Heckman received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri – Columbia in 1990. He worked for a private consulting firm for two years prior to joining the Missouri Department of Transportation in 1992. Mr. Heckman has been in the Bridge Division for 27 years and has been the State Bridge Engineer since 2007. Mr. Heckman is registered as a Professional Engineer and is a member of the AASHTO Committee on Bridges and Structures where he serves as vice chair of the T-3 Seismic Design Technical Committee.

Wayne Bunnell, ITS Operations Engineer, Indiana Department of Transportation

Wayne graduated from Purdue University in 2016 with a Master's of Science in Civil Engineering. Wayne worked at the INDOT Traffic Management Center for Purdue as a remote employee under the management of Darcy Bullock. Wayne brought research to reality as a field implementation research engineer. In this role, he helped INDOT to investigate the accuracy of a weigh-in-motion station with license plate and USDOT reading cameras. Wayne now works for the Indiana Department of Transportation at the Traffic Management Center as an ITS Operations Engineer. Among his duties is data QA/QC for many ITS systems including weigh-in-motion stations.

Laura Thompson P.E, Senior Project Engineer, Illinois Tollway

Laura Thompson serves as a senior project engineer for the Illinois Tollway, where she is responsible for managing numerous phase II and phase III projects. Her work focuses on delivering major capital projects on time and within budget, including some of the biggest projects in the Tollway’s 15-year, $14 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future. Since joining the Tollway in 2013, Ms. Thompson has taken an active role identifying new ways to deliver projects, recently spearheading the Tollway’s first 3-D modeling project on the Illinois Route 47 Interchange on the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88).

Nathan Porter P.E., Senior Structural Engineer, AECOM

Nathan Porter, PE is a Senior Bridge Engineer at AECOM with over 22 years of bridge design and management experience in major highway design-build, Public-Private Partnerships and heavy freight rail projects. His bridge design experience encompasses both steel and concrete structures which includes cable-stayed, steel plate and box girders, steel truss and arch, prestressed bulb-T, and post-tensioned concrete bridge elements. He is currently serving as the Design Lead and Engineer-of-Record for the Fredrick Douglass Memorial Bridge Project in Washington DC.

Brian Racine P.E., Resident Engineer, TranSystems

Brian Racine, P.E. is the Resident Engineer for the 41st Street bridge project. He has 20 years of experience in the construction of bridges, roadways, highways, and urban improvements. Brian's background includes being the Assistant Resident Engineer for Bloomingdale Trail (The 606), Resident Engineer for CDOT’s Fullerton Drive Bridge over Lincoln Park Lagoon, and the Outreach Engineer for the reconstruction Wacker Drive in the City of Chicago. He is a Professional Engineer in the State of Illinois and attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering.

Johnny Mullins, Senior VDC Engineer, Lendlease Construction Inc.

Alexander Badaoui P.E., Senior Transportation Engineer, TERRA Engineering, Ltd.

Alexander Badaoui has more than 15 years’ experience, across four countries (Afghanistan, Vietnam, Australia and United States), designing large-scale civil infrastructure projects valued over $15 billion in construction value ranging from opening bridges, multi-level interchanges, major freeways, arterials, power stations and desalination plants. He has developed and lead multiple teams creating comprehensive 3D models for these projects in multiple software platforms that were used for contract documents, contractor construction, multi-disciplinary coordination and client asset management. His expertise is industry recognized as a leader who continuously innovates and pushes the envelope on what is possible in project development.

Gregory L. Ohlendorf, GPS Manager, Plote Construction

Gregory L. Ohlendorf has over 35 years' experience in the Heavy Highway / Civil Engineering Construction field, based in construction layout. Working on multi-million dollar projects ranging from Interstates, Airports, Rail Roads, Bridges, Waste Water Treatment plants, Landfills, Commercial site development and Superfund Clean-up sites. He has evolved with the industry technology moving through conventional "steel tape" layout to GPS and 3D modeling. In that evolution he has become a proficient user of AutoCAD utilizing Carlson Civil software. Greg's main responsibility as GPS Manager is to provide accurate 3D models to the field operations including GPS/LPS machine control, grade checking and survey.

John J. Yard, Acting Master Sergeant, Illinois State Police, Cannabis Control Unit

Acting Master Sergeant Yard joined the ISP in 1996, he was assigned to patrol in the Metro-East St. Louis. Yard spent 5 years on patrol before joining ISP Investigations. John has 19 years of experience in investigating violent crimes throughout the state of Illinois. In 2018, Yard assumed command of the ISP’s Medical Marijuana Unit. In late 2019, the Medical Marijuana Unit expanded, under the new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act. Yard is in command of the new Cannabis Control Office (CCO), for the Illinois State Police. The CCO handles ISP’s regulatory, administrative, and criminal investigations in Illinois’s Cannabis Industry.

Dewey Rissler, Project Manager, US Army Corps of Engineers

Dewey was born and raised in New Albany, Indiana, attended local schools and graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a BS in Civil Engineering in 1977. He has worked his entire federal career with the Louisville District starting in 1980. In 1982 he moved into Military Construction and in 1991 he moved to Management. In 2007 he managed the design and construction of the BRAC Human Performance Wing Complex at Wright-Patterson AFB. At $195M, it was the largest military construction contract ever awarded by the Louisville District at that time. The project was completed 3 months ahead of schedule and under budget. In 2008, Dewey was selected as the Chief of the Military Support Section of Military Project Management Branch for the Louisville District. In 2016, Dewey accepted the assignment of Olmsted Project Manager. He is a registered PE and CPMP. 

Brian Pfeifer, Materials Engineer, Illinois Department of Transportation

Mr. Brian Pfeifer was appointed as bureau chief of the Central Bureau of Materials at the Illinois Department of Transportation in April of 2016. He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, and is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois. During his 25-year career, he has worked for IDOT and also for the Federal Highway Administration.

Michelle Woods, Assistant Project Director, Chicago Dept. of Fleet & Facilities Management
Michelle Woods has more than twenty-five years of experience in municipal government working for the City of Chicago. Currently she is a project manager for the Department of Fleet and Facility Management where she is working on developing the Chicago Riverwalk into a viable City asset allowing uninterrupted access along the Chicago River from Lake Street to the Lake front. Previously, Michelle worked for the Department of Transportation's Division of Engineering on the design and construction of $450,000,000 in infrastructure projects. Michelle is a graduate of DePaul University where she received a degree in Urban Studies and French.

Joe Monroe, Operations Engineer, Illinois Department of Transportation, District 8

Joe began his career with a Geotechnical firm in St. Louis and was hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation in 1994. He initially was a rotation engineer where he moved through every District 8 Bureau until 1998 when he was promoted to the Systems and Services Engineer position. He became an Operations Field Engineer in 1999 and the District 8 Operations Engineer in 2006. He is a licensed PE in both Illinois and Missouri and obtained his BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from SIUE. Joe and his D8 Ops team have handled numerous floods the past decade and coordinated relief and recovery efforts through the State’s Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) on multiple significant events.

Dave Speicher, Operations Engineer, Illinois Department of Transportation, District 5

David Speicher is the District 5 Operations Engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation, in Paris, Illinois. David began working for the Illinois Department of Transportation following graduation from the University of Illinois in January 1993 and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Illinois. Over his career he has worked in almost every bureau in District 5. He was the District 5 Local Roads Engineer for 10 years and has been the Operations Engineer for the last 8.

Brian Hill, HMA Operations Engineer, Illinois Department of Transportation

Brian is the HMA Operations Engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation's Bureau of Materials. He joined the Department in July 2016 and is a registered professional engineer. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

John Senger, Engineer of Pavement Technology, Illinois Department of Transportation

John Senger graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering from Bradley University. During the next 8 years John worked as a consulting engineer working on a wide range of projects. John joined the Illinois Department of Transportation in the second half of 2015 and is currently the Engineer of Pavement Technology.

Abdul Dahhan, Vice President for Engineering, Chicago Testing Laboratories, Inc.

Abdul Graduated from U W Madison, in 1985 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, and he’s a Licensed Professional Engineer in Illinois, a member of the ASCE, also a member of ASTM Committee D-4. Abdul is Vice President at Chicago Testing Laboratory, Inc. (CTL), he manages and directs all engineering activities related to project development and project delivery. Prior to joining CTL in 2015, Abdul had a 30 year career at The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Most recent position there, was the Bureau Chief of Materials for IDOT, Region 1. Abdul was a member of IDOT Technical Advisory Group for Pavement Design, Materials and Management. He also served on IDOT statewide Technical Working Groups Committees for Aggregate, PCC and HMA.

Bill Vavrik, Vice President, Applied Research Associates

Dr. Bill Vavrik is a Vice President and manager of the Transportation Infrastructure Division of ARA. He joined ARA in 2000 and has been responsible for a diverse project portfolio including projects in pavement and transportation engineering.  Dr. Vavrik leads the ARA team supporting the Illinois Tollway in Pavement and Infrastructure Management. He is oversees a team that supports the Tollways pavement design, pavement management, infrastructure asset management, materials, specification development, research, and sustainability systems.

Don Gallagher, Project Manager, Gallagher Asphalt

Don Gallagher, MBA, holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology from Purdue University, and a Master's in Business Administration from Aurora University. Don is proud to be part of the fourth generation at Gallagher Asphalt, and intends to help usher the company past a century of service soon. At Gallagher he has held several positions, including Operations Engineer, Plant Manager, and Concrete Project Manager, and currently leads the E-Ticketing pilot. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and son, investigating and testing new technologies, and increasing his computer skills.

John Huang, Chief Quality Assurance Engineer, Interra Inc.

John Huang has a BSME degree from Bradley University (1983). John retired from IDOT District 1 in March 2015 and currently is employed by INTERRA Inc in Bolingbrook, Illinois and holds the title of Chief Quality Assurance Engineer. During his tenure at IDOT District 1, he spent most of career in the Bureau of Materials. In 1993 he became the area Mixture Control Engineer for Kane & DuPage Counties, and Acting District Mixture Control Engineer in 2010. In 2013, John became the Construction Area Supervisor for Lake and McHenry Counties until his retirement. During his career, John has been involved in four ICT research projects, including this last one on the Evaluation of PFP and QCP. John's role in this project was to share his knowledge and experience he obtained from his years in the Department and to provide input as needed.

Joe Zdankiewicz, Engineering Manager, Cloud PCMS

Joe is a 1985 graduate of the University of Missouri - Science and Technology with a BS degree in Geotechnical Engineering. Joe began his career with the Illinois Department of Transportation, District 9 Office in 1985. He served as Geotechnical Engineer in District 9 from 1992 to 2000 and as Studies and Plans Engineer from 2000 to 2015. During that time, Joe supervised the Phase I and Design Engineering in the District including numerous projects on Interstates 57 and 24 involving special traffic control with Real Time Traffic Control Systems. In 2015, Joe accepted a position with the newly formed Southern Illinois Metropolitan Planning Organization (SIMPO) where he serves as the Director of Transportation Planning. Joe is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Illinois.

David Tomzik, Department Manager, Strategic & Capital Planning, PACE Suburban Bus Service

David Tomzik is the Department Manager of Strategic and Capital Planning at Pace Suburban Bus in Arlington Heights, Illinois. David directs middle and long-range planning and service restructuring efforts supporting Pace’s strategic vision plan, Driving Innovation. He coordinates strategic planning activities with municipal, county, regional and state planning efforts and supervises agency programs including the Express Bus on Shoulder, Pulse Arterial Rapid Transit Network, Transit Signal Priority, new technologies, transportation engineering, transit-oriented development, shared mobility services and land use planning. He began working at Pace over 30 years ago, has worked in, and managed multiple planning disciplines in that timeframe.

Hyung Lee, Senior Civil Engineer, Applied Research Associates (ARA)

Hyung Lee is a senior engineer in ARA’s transportation research & technology deployment group. Hyung received his Ph.D. degree from Michigan State University and had worked at the Florida DOT's State Materials Research park, prior to joining ARA's research group in 2015. Hyung has conducted pavement research activities in areas that include pavement surface characteristics, truck–pavement interaction, and modeling of pavement response under dynamic loading pavement performance modeling, as well as statistical modeling of roadway safety performance.

Cameron McCurdy, Technology Manager, Cloud PCMS

Cameron began his working career in 2009 at Parks Industries, LLC where he supervised the general workflow and managed development of a custom control system for the primary product line. Cam is the founder and owner of three successful businesses; ProTek Entertainment, which provides audio and video production for plays, concerts and special events including the Miss Illinois State competition for the last 5 years; ProTek Designs, which produces custom metal signs and décor and most recently, Protek Communications, which provides fixed wireless broadband to nearly 800 business and residential subscribers in the rural Southern Illinois area. ProTek Communications also provides commercial technical support and ongoing maintenance for small to medium size businesses.

Sungin Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, University of Alabama

Dr. Sungjin Kim is an asst. professor at The University of Alabama. Kim is a leading expert in the area of advanced technologies, robotic systems, and data informatics, or BIM, in civil engineering and construction domains. He has significant scholarly activities in the fields of construction and infrastructure. Prior to joining The University of Alabama in August 2018, he worked with the Georgia DOT during his doctorate. He has assessed the technical effectiveness of unmanned aircraft systems and evaluated the human performance of UAS operators, and developed user guidelines based on the field tests on the different types of the infrastructure projects.  Kim received his doctorate from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2018, a MS from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013, and completed hisBS at Pusan National University in 2012.