When thinking about our buildings, it is often easy to grow complacent with their “traditional” design and operations. In a world increasingly driven by technology, it is critical for our buildings to adapt alongside advancing tech as they lay the foundation for the next digital iteration of civilization. This panel will address buildings of the future; discussions will cover efficiency driving innovations for more sustainable building operations, tools that can be used to maximize ROI in the design/planning process (modeling, digital twin, etc.), and some of the challenges that need to be overcome to achieve a new standard of building performance.

Speakers:
Kyle Hendricks, Managing Director, Sustainability, CBRE
Chris Drew, Director of Sustainability, Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill
Geoffrey Kasselman, CEO, Op2mize, LLC
Nolan Browne, Founding Partner, ADL Ventures
Rose Chen, Head of Innovation Investments & Partnerships, Wesco International

With increased attention on the construction industry’s energy consumption and overall carbon emissions, the need for contractors, material suppliers, developers, and the like to decarbonize the built environment is more important than ever. Panelists will share their perspectives regarding the ongoing energy transition and speculate whether various climate pledges are within reach or merely marketing tools.

Speakers:
Peter Siegal, SVP & Director of Development Operations, Lendlease
Joe Dardis, Head of Presales – Construction Projects, ArcelorMittal
Matt Wegworth, VP, Dawson Ventures, McKinstry
Myrrh Caplan, Vice President, Sustainability, Skanska

As Sustainability and ESG initiatives continue to gain traction and recognition in the built environment, it is no surprise that traditional design and building techniques are evolving. Across the value chain, we are seeing paradigm shifts that affect all stakeholders in some way. This panel will examine what specific functions are changing as a result of these priorities and some of the key factors influencing these changes.

Speakers:
Denyse van Opbergen, Manager, Corporate Sustainability, EllisDon Corporation
John Ortiz, Global Head of Sustainability, MBCC Group
Ryan Spies, VP of Sustainability, Clayco
Jennifer Taranto, Vice President of Sustainability, STO Building Group
Tommy Linstroth, CEO, Green Badger

This panel will look at emerging trends and technology in prefabrication and lifecycle costing as a tool to understand how the role of contractors away from the site is growing and transforming. As these concepts become more widely adopted, project teams may be better equipped to deliver projects on time and under budget.

Speakers:
Michelle Palys, VP of Performance Excellence and ESG, Graycor
Susan Heinking, SVP of High Performance and Sustainable Construction, Pepper Construction
Stacy Scopano, VP – National Director of Prefabrication and Manufacturing, JE Dunn
Belinda Carr, Prefab Research Coordinator, DPR Construction

Building off of the high-level conversation regarding PropTech’s possible convergence with ConTech that started at BuiltWorlds’ Venture West Conference in San Francisco, this panel will take a more granular look at their possible intersection, including how the two technologies coexist. Beyond living in parallel, panelists will discuss what true collaboration looks like.

Speakers:
Jessica Francisco, Global Head of Sustainability, Global Occupier Services, Cushman & Wakefield
Todd Burns, President Project and Development Services, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)
Nick Carter, CEO & Founder, Ingenious.Build

To mitigate the nearly 40% of total global energy-related carbon emissions caused by buildings, the AEC industry is increasingly looking to innovative building materials and systems as a means to build greener. This panel will explore the feasibility of implementing new materials and whether or not it is financially worthwhile in the short versus long term.

Speakers:
David Fennell, Senior Structural Steel Specialist, American Institute of Steel Construction
Ryan Cialdella, VP of Research & Development, Ozinga
Eric Lindquist, President, Adjustable Concrete Construction
Ed Bernard, SVP – National Director – Facilities Services, Terracon

Ahead of SOM’s guided tour of 800 W Fulton Market on Thursday, 5/18, Kevin Rodenkirch, Lucas Tryggestad, and Julie Michiels will present on 800 W Fulton, an immersive mixed-use office building in Chicago’s Fulton Market.

Speakers:
Kevin Rodenkirch, Associate Principal, Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM)
Lucas Tryggestad, Principal, Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM)
Julie Michiels, Senior Associate Principal, Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM)

This session is a series of three 15-minute “Lighting Keynotes” in which we’ll hear about some of the latest and most innovative developments across the US.

Speakers:
Joe Harris, Vice President, JMB Financial Advisors
Joachim Schuessler, Principal, Goettsch Partners

Forces influencing user/tenant experiences are not always physical. In addition to considering the various means and methods of boosting user experience, safety, and communication by altering buildings physically, such as forward-thinking design, this panel will also cover the many other ways to optimize user experience.

Speakers:
Josh Lowe, Co-Founder, AkitaBox
Stephen Katz, Technical Director, Senior Associate, Gensler
David Dewane, CXO, Space, geniant

The BuiltWorld VC niche is buzzing with excited capital, as the broader equity market continues to sit on its hands. Since the beginning of 2022, an additional ~$5B in deployable capital has been raised, bucking the broader VC fundraising enviroment’s contraction, with investors from every corner of our economy ostenisbly playing a hand in this ripe investment space. This panel will dive into what makes Building Tech such an attractive investment niche and how the tightening credit market will play into due diligence and deployment (if at all).

Speakers:
Rachel O’Connell, Vice President on The Real Estate Technology Investment Team, Fifth Wall
Chris Fortunato, Vice President, CRH Ventures
John Tough, Managing Partner, Energize Ventures
Siavash Mohseni, Director of Innovation – DIVERGE, Hensel Phelps

With the seemingly constant vertical integration of building operations technology and advanced data, this panel will look at what has happened over the last five to ten years and what catalyzed any changes there may have been. Further, the panelists will discuss what the driving forces were in the past versus today and if they’re just the “flavor of the day” or if they’ll be here to stay.

Speakers:
Kurt Karnatz, President, Environmental Systems Design, Inc.
Michael Ellis, Technical Executive AEC, Dassault Systèmes
Anthony Katsivalis, National Director of Client Technology, Transwestern
Deepinder Singh, CEO, 75F

Technology that aids in facilities management and maintenance lives and dies by the accuracy of its data. The more accurate the data, the more efficient facilities managers and technicians can be, ultimately optimizing operations and maximizing their time. This panel will discuss how the evolution of available technology has led to positive improvements as well as possible drawbacks to implementation, such as integration challenges, upfront costs, and potential security risks.

Speakers:
Austin Rabine, CEO, Rabine Group
Mike Travalini, CEO, Mezo
Igor Tsinman, President, AMC Bridge
Igor Starkov, VP Digital Twin, Siemens

Current discussions around modular and prefabrication in the AEC industry have shifted drastically since the $2.5B rise & fall of Katerra in the wake of the pandemic lockdowns. This modular failure seemed to insight a cascade of fresh innovation as it highlighted the ripe opportunity that recent modular/prefab founders are just now taking advantage of. Increased efficiency through repeatable processes, less waste, and more easily adhering to schedules to name a few. Now that modular is a widely established concept, disruption and expansion in this space will demand profits and challenge the status quo. This panel will explore some key differences between Modular Development and Modular Construction before looking at ways to incentivize investment in R&D and increasing and growing profit margins specific to buildings and real estate.

Speakers:
Jennifer Caldwell, Client Accounts Director, US, Modulous
Steve Glenn, CEO, Plant Prefab
Aaron Holm, Co-CEO, Blokable
Curtis Wong, CEO, Cloud Apartments