Change Leader: Converging Technologies Create Smart Infrastructure
These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication. Ruth Gratzke is the president and CEO of Siemens Smart Infrastructure USA. Gratzke summarizes the difference between “traditional” and “smart” infrastructure as a difference between passive and proactive. “Smart infrastructure today communicates,” she notes. “Smart infrastructure is able to provide transparency. And hopefully wh...
Future Forward: Lobbying for the Future of Engineering
Linda Bauer Darr is president and CEO of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). The ACEC represents approximately 5,500 firms, associations and organizations in the civil engineering and infrastructure space. It works to market its members as well as lobby local, state and federal government to demonstrate the value and “essentiality” of engineering. “Lobbying is the government form of marketing,” explains Darr. She believes engineers, by nature, tend to be “joiners,” and...
Change Leader: Smart Engineering and Infrastructure Funding Desperately Needed
These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication. Barry B. LePatner is the author of Too Big to Fall: America’s Failing Infrastructure and the Way Forward. He is founder of the New York City-based law firm LePatner & Associates LLP; and for more than three decades has been prominent as an advisor on business and legal issues affecting the real estate, design and constructio...
Change Leader: Changing Practices for a Changing World
This particular webcam interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication. Tom Lewis is the executive lead for the National Business Line for Climate, Resilience and Sustainability within WSP USA. Michael Mondshine is the senior vice president and director, Sustainability, En...
Future Forward: Virtual Inspections Will Remain After COVID-19 Pandemic Passes
Jared Utterback is a licensed General Contractor and the Chief Compliance Officer with Inspected. As aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic begin to improve in the United States and there seems to be a “light at the end of the tunnel” from an extremely difficult time period, leading industry experts are repeatedly examining which of the new COVID workflows, practices and technologies that almost-instantly became standard practice will remain part of the AEC workflow, and which will return to how they...
Change Leader: Hearing the Voice of the Customer
This particular webcam interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can view a video of the interview by visiting bit.ly/39v3NPH. These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication. Katriona Lord-Levins is the chief success officer for Bentley Systems. After a long and successful career in computer science and AEC...
Future Forward: Transform Vacant Singular-Use Buildings for Year-Round Occupancy
Nicole Keeler is the director of sustainability at NELSON Worldwide. Design for an Unknowable Future In normal years, millions of square feet of single-purpose buildings are unused for a substantial part of the year, including shopping malls, hotels and entertainment venues. During 2020 and a global pandemic, these same single-purpose buildings became even more vacant, and some previously vacant buildings may never again acquire full-time or even part-time tenants as they become unuse...
Change Leader: Utility Providers Increasingly Turn to Third-Party Private Contractors
These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication. Keith Oldewurtel leads the municipal and commercial (M&C) business for Veolia North America (VNA). Third-party contracting has been growing among mid-size municipalities for some time, particularly in the complex areas of energy, water and wastewater systems. The COVID-19 pandemic is adding to that trend as many governments...
Future Forward: Data Sharing Determines Project Success
Chris Bell is the vice president of marketing and product management for e-Builder, a Trimble organization. Donna Laquidara-Carr is the industry insights research director at Dodge Data and Analytics. Donna Laquidara-Carr Project-management (PM) software has rapidly become part of most modern infrastructure projects, as they’ve proven to help projects become more efficient and reduce budget overruns. However, many different PM approaches have been tried, and they often come from either an...
Future Forward: Simulating Spaces for Social Distancing
This particular webcam interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can view a video of the interview by visiting bit.ly/3blxW4i These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication. Eduardo Lazzarotto is Bentley Systems’ director of product management for facilities engineering. Lazzarotto has spent most of his profe...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
