Officers

BOB FREAS is a Principal in Exponent’s Construction Consulting practice.  He advises clients on a range of topics including risk management, project control, change management, project scheduling, process improvement, change order negotiations, dispute avoidance and the preparation or defense of claims.

Bob has participated in several major construction and contract claims and disputes including the development, analysis and defense of construction claims related to delays, inefficiencies and cost overruns.  Bob has been recognized as an expert in CPM scheduling, construction delay and inefficiency claims and related damages.  He also provides risk analysis services to large construction owners and contractors including contract risk assessments, probabilistic scheduling, Monte Carlo simulations, and schedule and cost assessments.  Bob also has provided project management oversight, construction management and lender presentation services; developed project control systems and prepared project status reviews.

Bob is a Fellow in the Project Management College of Scheduling, the 2020-2021 Board of Directors’ 1st Vice Chairman for the Washington Building Congress and the Past President of the National Capital Section of AACE International.   He has been an adjunct professor in the Department of Civil, Environment, and Infrastructure Engineering at George Mason University and frequently lectures on project controls, construction claims avoidance and preparation, and risk management and mitigation strategies.

With a multi-disciplinary approach, Rachel uses the knowledge gained to serve as a trusted advisor for projects ranging in size and complexity. She understands the project lifecycle and how to maximize a project’s schedule from design through construction.

Rachel’s expertise includes contract compliance, program planning, scheduling, procurement tracking, submittal review, and risk analysis. She has conducted training for owners, contractors, government agencies, and engineers. Rachel is an authorized Construction trainer for the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) and specializes in software training for Oracle and Microsoft programs.

Her attention to detail, standards of quality, and design conformance are critical to the successful oversight of projects. Rachel has the public works, commercial, industrial, and private market sector experience to support any type of project.

Rachel has earned her PSP from AACE International, an MSCM from UNLV, an MFA from Florida State University and loves to be an active member of several professional organizations.

Raquel has over 30 years of private and public sector construction experience in scheduling, estimating, cost control and schedule delay analysis. She has provided professional services across all areas of construction including specialty, residential, heavy industrial, hotel/casino, high rise, transportation, commercial and water/wastewater for both owners and contractors.

Raquel is dedicated to instituting “best practices” for her clients in implementing and managing critical path method scheduling on their projects where she proactively manages claims mitigation, delay analysis, document control and process training. She directly manages baseline schedule roll-out and progress management of high profile and at-risk projects for both contractors and owners, excelling in communication and collaboration with all project stakeholders.

Raquel provides senior expert services for clients in both the horizontal and vertical sector speaking routinely as a project controls subject matter expert locally and nationally.

Mr. Fertitta is a Managing Director with Secretariat Advisors, LLC and has over 30 years in the construction industry with extensive experience working with owners, owner agents, architects, engineers, contractors and subcontractors by resolving potential project pitfalls that may adversely affect performance on large complex commercial projects. He continually produces positive results for project stakeholders with his broad experience and his unique view of project issues during all phases of the construction process. His insightful strategies assist clients by identifying and avoiding potential project risks, complying with severe contract requirements, exploring efficient construction sequences, and preparing persuasive analyses.

Mr. Fertitta’s construction experience has included leadership positions responsible for project management, cost estimating and fieldwork coordination. Examples of his project experience include private and municipal projects such as embassies, schools, rail and rail stations, office buildings, co-generation plants, industrial facilities, military facilities, condominiums, wastewater treatment plants, prisons and courthouses. has provided scheduling related services such as preparation of CPM Schedules, critical path analyses demonstrating delay, disruption, and acceleration, and resolving issues involving contract terminations.

Mr. Fertitta has been identified as an independent expert on matters of delay and disruption on construction disputes and has appeared in mediation/settlement negotiations, state and federal court, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, and the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals. Mr. Fertitta has been recognized as a top construction expert by Who’s Who Legal.

“He has a knack for distilling complicated schedules and damages into a readily understood, and persuasive, narrative”

“He is calm under pressure and very detail oriented”

GINNY HARVEY is the Senior Director of Program Design and Planning for Raytheon Missiles and Defense (RMD) business in Raytheon Technologies and provides program design and planning services for the $16B annual revenue RMD business. Ginny leads an organization of approximately 170 professionals, and is responsible for establishing planning processes and tools, hiring/staffing projects, and providing her team with training, mentoring and career development. Her organization provides expert level support for schedule analytics, Schedule Risk Analysis (SRA), Critical Chain, program startup, and schedule quality assessments.

Ginny is a certified Raytheon Six Sigma Expert and serves as an independent reviewer. She has held program leadership roles in several industries, including Director of Program Management at Micro-ASI, a flip chip technology design company, and Program Manager for a contract under the Dept of Energy (DOE) Building America Project.

Ginny holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology from Wentworth Institute of Technology, and a Masters of Liberal Arts in Management from Harvard University.

Peter Vosbikian is a claims expert with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. In addition to testifying in arbitration and litigation proceedings, Peter has been appointed as an expert witness on matters involving schedule delay and disruption, productivity loss, damages, and standard of care. His areas of expertise include contract dispute resolution, construction claims and litigation support, construction advisory and claims avoidance services, and critical path method (CPM) scheduling.

Peter has analyzed and prepared construction claims related to scope changes, schedule delay impacts and extended performance, loss of productivity, disruptive impacts, and damages. He has worked in virtually every market segment with all industry stakeholders, including owners, developers, contractors, architects, insurance companies, and their counsel.

Peter has consulted with clients on a wide range of projects, including commercial buildings, transportation infrastructure, prisons, power plants, and industrial facilities. His project experience includes oil and gas pipelines and fuel refineries, chemical plants, water treatment facilities, sports stadiums, hotels and resorts, landfills, bridges, airports, correctional centers, residential complexes, and other facilities in the public and private sectors. Prior to his consulting career, Peter was a design engineer for residential and commercial land development projects and a field engineer for highway, hospital, and hotel projects.

Peter’s extensive skills also include providing guidance on avoiding disputes and managing risk. He has several years of experience performing schedule delay analysis and quantifying the effects of delay, disruption, and productivity loss.

Peter has been a trusted expert and advisor to government agencies in large metropolitan cities. He has been appointed as a delay expert and advised on major construction programs valued at more than $200M.

Peter is an experienced technical writer known for preparing expert reports and presenting claims issues and conclusions in a dynamic, logical, easy-to-understand manner. In addition to having testified, Peter has had extensive involvement with negotiations, mediations, and arbitrations.

Peter has also reviewed and analyzed project documentation and data; prepared as-built schedules; and performed schedule delay, technical issue, and loss of productivity analyses and presented his conclusions in the dispute resolution environment.

Wayne is the International Program Director for Project Management training for Priority Management and is also the Chair of the Priority Management Global Project Management development team.

Wayne has continuously received outstanding feedback from participants for his engaging and inclusive style. He is continually complimented on his communication skills and his clear and structured delivery of programs and how he links projects to his client’s business objectives and company strategies.

Since 2011 Wayne has scheduled Capital projects with combined value of over five Billion Dollars. These Projects range from establishing Oil fields in Malaysia to the Treasury Track of the G20 summit, the Election ready Roadmap for AEC and includes over twenty oil rig refits in locations such as Dubai, Bahrain, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Scotland and Malaysia.

JESÚS DE LA GARZA is the Chair of the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering at Clemson University.  He is also the Vecellio Professor Emeritus in Construction Engineering and Management at Virginia Tech.  Jesús has been inducted into the National Academy of Construction.  He has received ASCE’s Peurifoy Construction Research Award, ASCE’s Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize, and he has been elected to the grade of Distinguished Member of ASCE.  Jesús is the Editor-in-Chief for ASCE’s Journal of Construction Engineering and Management.

Jesús has received the Construction Industry Institute’s Outstanding Researcher Award, Distinguished Professor Award, Outstanding Instructor Award, and the Richard L. Tucker Award for Leadership and Service.  He is a Fellow of the Construction Management Association of America and a Fellow of the Project Management College of Scheduling.

JESÚS DE LA GARZA served as Director of the Civil Infrastructure Systems program at the National Science Foundation.   His research is organized around four tracks, namely, Project Controls, Information Technology for Construction Management, Project Delivery Mechanisms, and Infrastructure Asset Management.

Jesús received his MS and PhD from the University of Illinois and his BSCE from Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico.  He has held visiting professorships at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, Arizona State University and Georgia Tech.

ANDY NESS is an attorney and partner with Jones Day, where he assists owners and contractors with troubled projects, solving complex construction and design-related problems. He has served as lead counsel on a wide variety of large construction disputes that were resolved in federal and state courts and via domestic and international arbitrations. Andy also has drafted and negotiated design, EPC, and construction contracts for a wide range of major projects around the world.

ROB D’ONOFRIO is a Principal at Capital Project Management, Inc. He is a frequent lecturer on CPM scheduling and delay claims and serves on the faculty of Federal Publications Seminars. Rob is the co-author of Construction Schedule Delays, the comprehensive reference work published by Thomson Reuters. He has evaluated over $4 billion in claims on construction projects including schedule delay and disruption claims at the World Trade Center in New York City.

As part of Lendlease Corporation’s Centre of Excellence, Matt is currently responsible for overseeing the international business delivery and execution of their projects across Asia, Europe and the Americas. The role’s focus is on business strategy, conversion, governance, risk management and the safe delivery of both its construction and integrated development projects.

Prior to this, Matt was the Regional Operations Manager for Lendlease in Asia. In this role, he worked with the country/project teams in Singapore, Japan, China and Malaysia to ensure safe project delivery. He also was instrumental in ensuring that Lendlease’s operating policies and procedures, governance protocols and team capabilities benefited from continuous improvements.

ED MAHLER is President of the Project Administration Institute, Inc. [PAI], a consulting firm providing high visibility project scheduling services to the corporate world since 1992. Prior to founding PAI, Ed was an IBM systems engineer supporting international customer accounts and project manager on internal IBM projects. Ed founded the PMI Westchester Chapter, was President from 2002 to 2008, and was VP of Programs for the New York City PMI chapter from 1994 to 2000.

PAT WEAVER is the Managing Director of Mosaic Project Services Pty Ltd and the business manager of Stakeholder Management Pty Ltd. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Chartered Institute of Building, a graded arbitrator, a trained mediator and an experienced negotiator. Pat’s consultancy work encompasses developing and presenting project management training courses, developing and advising on project schedules and the development of internal project control systems for client organizations.