Congratulations to Our AC24 2024 Award Recipients!

At 2024 Annual Conference (AC24), the Construction Industry Institute (CII) was honored to award and recognize six extraordinary individuals for their exemplary contributions to CII.

Through the outstanding efforts of the six awardees, CII can continue Changing How the World Builds.

James B. Porter, Jr. Award for Technology Leadership

Since 2007, CII has granted the James B. Porter, Jr. Award. The award is given to an individual who exhibits the traits and leadership qualities displayed by James Porter, including vision, technical acumen, leadership, and a commitment to people. Porter was instrumental in advancing technology within capital projects.

CII is proud to honor Worley’s Tedd Weitzman as the 2024 awardee for being a dedicated leader and contributor to CII’s research efforts, technology committee, and driving technological awareness and advancements.

“Tedd has been known for his focus in minimizing risks and increasing efficiencies, and we know firsthand how passionate he is in supporting the empowerment of the next generation of leaders in our industry as we navigate an everchanging landscape,” said Noe Sanz, CII’s Vice Chair.

CII sees Tedd as a transformational leader, who has recently been a champion in bringing CII AWP Data Requirements into publication.

“There are few things that can leave me somewhat speechless or less loquacious, but this is definitely one of those moments,” said Tedd. “I accept this on behalf of all of the collaborative effort that I’ve been blessed to participate in here within the industry and within CII.”

Richard L. Tucker Service & Leadership Award

Every year, the Richard L. Tucker Leadership & Service Award recognizes an individual who has greatly contributed to the advancement of CII’s mission and success as an organization. Named after Dr. Richard Tucker, who personally created the Construction Industry Institute in 1983 and served as the first CII director from its inception until retiring his retiring as director in 1998.

The 2024 winner of the Richard L Tucker Leadership and Service Award is none other than Doug Omichinski with Bechtel.

Doug’s passion for CII is undeniable. Doug has served CII as a Board of Advisors member, on the Strategic Planning Committee, on research teams, and on the Executive Committee as vice chair and then chair.

“Doug successfully led our membership through one of the most challenging times in CII’s 40-year history,” said Paul Burroughs, CII’s Chair. “That being the first year of COVID-19 pandemic. CII is better because of Doug’s participation, guidance, and leadership.”

Carrol H. Dunn Award of Excellence

Established in 1985, the Carrol H. Dunn Award of Excellence is given every year to honor an individual with significant achievements in improving the engineering and construction industry. The award is CII’s highest honor and is recognized as one of the most prestigious awards within the industry.

CII is excited to announce the winner of the 2024 award is John Fish of S&B and IMS.

“Always interested in technology, John was selected to join the CII Breakthrough Strategy Team that spearheaded research for implementation of innovation, deliverables, and validated the value of the two-sided ISO for construction,” said Jamie Gerbrecht, CII’s Executive Director. “After a decade of contributing to CII, Fish also joined Fiatech and now after nearly six decades of serving this industry faithfully, he is now proudly pushing the limits on project improvement as he represents S&B and IMS today.”

John has been contributing to CII since 1994 when John was assigned to RT-113 by Jimmy Slaughter, another Dunn awardee. John and Jimmy aided in the development of the first PDRI and alignment tool. John has also improved Front-End Planning and served as a guest lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin’s CII Best Practices course.

“It was a truly unexpected award, so I want to say thank you to everybody who made this possible,” said John. “I’ve been blessed to work with this organization for 30-some years, and it’s been phenomenal.”

Outstanding Volunteer Award

Based on exemplary demonstration of commitment to the mission of CII, CII is honored to name Ontario Power Generation’s Matt Sikstrom as this year’s Outstanding Volunteer Award winner.

Since graduating from the University of Toronto with a degree in electrical engineering, Matt had been involved in power generation within the province of Ontario for over 19 years - the majority being with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) where Matt currently leads the redevelopment of small hydroelectric power for OPG. Matt has been extremely dedicated to the mission of CII, including serving as a member of RT-312: Identification and Implementation of Critical Success Factors in the Commissioning and Startup of Capital Projects and RT-364: Integrating Commissioning and Startup into the AWP Work Process.

Outstanding Academic Award

Each year, CII celebrates an academic whose support and contributions have an innovative and effective impact on CII efforts. The 2024 awardee is Professor Chris McComb, PhD from Carnegie Mellon University. A faculty member of the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering – Chris’ research interests include human social systems, machine learning, and human-AI collaboration in design and engineering.

Chris has distinguished himself in CII as a principal investigator on RT-391: Defining Opportunities to leverage Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Analytics Applications for AWP. The research successfully provided a seed list of future research areas for CII to explore as technology matures.

Outstanding Student Award

Every year, CII is delighted to recognize a student who has important contributions to a CII initiative that can greatly impact the construction industry. This year’s honoree is Hyewon Seo, a PhD student at Purdue University.

Hyewon was instrumental in RT-405, which presented their findings on how organizational culture impacts success in projects with a focus on AWP at AC24. For the research, Hyewon developed a survey that assesses the implementation of AWP and measures its performance. The survey was critical in identifying hidden barriers and data collection conducted by Hyewon was instrumental in understanding the true impact of organizational culture on project performance.

Closing Remarks

We at CII would once again like to thank all the award winners for their exceptional support of CII and. The works of our awardees and countless others are what continues to drive our industry to new heights through innovation, collaboration, and dedication. From the staff at CII, thank you!

James B. Porter, Jr. Award for Technology Leadership:  Tedd Weitzman, Worley	Richard L. Tucker Service & Leadership Award:  Doug Omichinski, Bechtel
Carrol H. Dunn Award of Excellence: John Fish, S&B	Outstanding Student Award: Hyewon Seo, Purdue University
Outstanding Academic Award:  Chris McComb, Carnegie Mellon University	Outstanding Volunteer Award:  Matt Sikstrom, Ontario Power Generation