Birkes has provided marketing and business development leadership for AEC firms for 35 years. She is a member of the College of Fellows for the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), a Certified Professional Services Marketer and a past national president of SMPS and the SMPS Foundation.

Meloni McDaniel
President and CEO
TEXO, The Construction Association

McDaniel has been with TEXO since October 2013 and led the member programs and services efforts until her promotion to president/CEO in March 2015. McDaniel is a licensed architect in Texas, and she’s active in the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Fort Worth, which focuses on STEM education.

Steve Penson
Vice President
Austin Commercial

Penson earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. Before joining Austin Commercial, he worked as a project manager in Texas Instruments’ corporate real estate group. Penson joined Austin Commercial in 1997 and currently oversees national aviation operations.

Carol J. Friedland
Cajun Constructors Associate Professor
Bert S. Turner Dept. of Construction Management, Louisiana State University

Friedland has 20 years’ experience in construction and civil-engineering practice and education. Her research and teaching are focused on community resilience and industrial construction. Before joining LSU, she was a project engineer with Kiewit, specializing in power-station construction in the Southeastern U.S.

Thomas Sofranko
Associate Dean
College of Art + Design, Louisiana State University

Sofranko is a professor of architecture at LSU, where he has worked for 25 years. Past roles include director of the school of architecture and interim director of the school of interior design. Sofranko is a licensed architect and has practiced with a variety of firms in Ohio, Florida and Louisiana.

Safety Judges
 

Wayne A. Crew
General Secretary
National Academy of Construction, The University of Texas at Austin

Crew has more than 45 years of experience in the engineering and construction industry, working for owners and contractors as well as doing research. He holds a BS in civil engineering from Michigan State University and an MBA from the University of Houston. He was previously director of the Construction Industry Institute at UT Austin.

Brent L. Fisher
Director of Safety
Yates Construction

Fisher has more than 19 years of safety experience across a range of industrial projects around the world. He has been with Yates for 17 years, is a certified safety professional and a construction health and safety technician through the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP).

Brandon Smith
Manager of Safety, Health & Security
Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance

Smith’s occupational safety and health experience includes industrial safety, commercial industries and warehousing operations. He is a certified safety professional through BCSP and an executive board member and past president of the Greater Baton Rouge Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers.

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