The following is an edited transcript of a panel discussion of 11 chief information officers (CIOs) in design and construction firms that was sponsored by ENR on March 31 in New York City. The discussion transcript formed the basis of a cover story on industry CIO business issues that appears in the magazine's April 26, 2004, issue (page 26). It is entitled "CIOs navigate rough waters to manage changing technology and corporate demands."

The two hour panel discussion was moderated by ENR.com Editor-in-Chief Judy Schriener and by Debra K. Rubin, ENR Senior Managing Editor--Business and Economics. Their questions are in bold face.

DEBRA RUBIN, ENR: How has your role changed in the time you have been at your firm? What role do you serve in decision-making?

JOE PUGLISI, EMCOR: I think it speaks to the role of technology within EMCOR Group. The position of CIO was created in January of 2000, and I was hired for the express purpose of looking at how technology was applied across the then-43 companies, and developing some sort of strategy. There was a recognition by [management] that technology would increasingly be an important part of this industry, and they wanted to make sure we had the best.

VINCENT LAINO, Weston Solutions: At Weston the chairman says, "This is where we are headed." That sets the context. Then the technology group has to step up and deliver to prove to the rest of the senior management team that there are some values generated there. And once that happened, frankly, the seat at the senior management table was kind of de facto: We are an integral part of the planning process now.

DAN WOLGEMUTH, HNTB Corp.: A number of years ago, HNTB felt like they would look at key hires outside of the engineering practice to create some momentum in some areas that wouldn't necessarily have been spawned within the organization. Speaking in business vernacular is what earned us a place in the boardroom and the right, not only to weigh in on issues related to technology, but also related to our core business.

DEAN KERSHAW, Titan Facilities Inc: I'm not a CIO. I am the president of a small subsidiary of the Titan Corp. Titan is a global IT company, and when they, through acquisitions, acquired an engineering construction capability, I was hired specifically to introduce technology into those areas in order to bring it into the 21st century and differentiate it in the marketplace.

JAMES BROGAN, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates: At KPF my position was a new one. It was created about three years ago. The focus at the time was to have more of a strategic direction on global connectivity or global solutions. It's a very creative environment at KPF, and having the right tools and to be always exploring new tools from whatever industry is critical for us. So we're always looking at that, again, with this big picture and strategic direction in mind.

KEITH AUTHELET, Gilbane Building Co.: We had all these disparate organizations, and we all went through centralization. And the next part was collaboration, not only within the organization itself, but with all these other people. The only way to really collaborate is through the technology. You have people and you have processes. So you need tools that are probably leading the industry now in collaboration and processing.

Once you sit across the table from the executive team, they realize that for almost every problem we have, they need the IT guy there. All of a sudden you end up at the executive meetings, and that did change in the time that I've been there.

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