Events

Bringing Industry Expertise to Your Doorstep: A Peek at Viewpoint’s 2019 Digital Contractor Roadshow Speakers

0%

We’re gearing up to launch our 2019 Digital Contractor Roadshow series and we are thrilled!

Last year, we visited more than 20 cities and enjoyed networking and learning about construction industry trends and challenges with over 600 contractors across the United States.

This year, we have even more cities on our list as well as new industry thought leaders to inform, challenge and prepare you for success in today’s challenging construction industry.

NEW THIS YEAR: attendees of the digital contractor roadshow events will get CPE credit for attendance! That’s right, you not only get to learn directly from industry experts, you also get credit for the time you spend investing in your industry knowledge.

With that, let’s take a look at our speaker lineup for the 2019 Digital Contractor Roadshows:

The Cyber-Security Expert

If you attended the Minneapolis roadshow last year, you got a sneak peek of one of our speakers for 2019. Bryce Austin, cyber-security expert and best-selling author gives an exciting and compelling discussion on cybersecurity in the construction industry.

With more than 10 years as a CIO and CISO, Bryce advises the boards of companies in a diverse array of industries. He was the CIO and CISO of Wells Fargo Business Payroll Services and a senior group manager at Target. He has first-hand experience of what happens during a cybersecurity crisis, as it did to Target due to their 2013/2014 PCI data breach. His best-selling book is titled Secure Enough? 20 Questions on Cybersecurity for Business Owners and Executives. In his free time, Bryce is a high-speed track driver and coach. He has driven cars from an 85 horsepower Saturn to a 650 horsepower Porsche 911 Turbo.

Here’s a look at Bryce’s session:

Cybersecurity for Competitive Advantage

Automobile racing goes from smooth sailing to out of control in a very short time span. So, does cybersecurity. Attend this session and learn from someone that had a “resume generating event” due to one of the largest data breaches of the past several years (Target), and what could have been done beforehand to prevent the breach from ever taking place. Many companies find that the budget required to bring necessary focus to technology security, can be very elusive, and the user experience is often in opposition to security “best practices.” This session will help you overcome both obstacles in your company.

Attendees can expect to take away:

  • Real world lessons learned from major recent cybersecurity breaches and how they could have been prevented
  • How to respond to a cybersecurity incident from a non-technical standpoint: public relations, law enforcement involvement, and contract negotiation with vendors
  • How to develop an emotional connection with teams in times of crisis
  • How to make new regulations into a competitive advantage for your company
  • What new technologies offer to combine an improved user experience with tightened security

The Technology Strategist

Our next speaker is new to the Digital Contractor Roadshow lineup and we are excited to have him. Russ Young is a Senior Consultant at FMI and leads their technology partnering program. Russ also provides experienced consulting to stakeholders in the E&C industry, enabling them to maximize the benefits of technology solutions in their business.

Prior to his time with FMI, Russ utilized his strong background in technology partnerships, combined with his entrepreneurial experience to, start one company and significantly grow three technology companies for acquisition. He helped run and grow LTech, a cloud technology integrator and consultancy. In this role, he helped Google Enterprise and Amazon Web Services provide sophisticated technical solutions to enterprise clients. Russ spent seven years on Google’s Partner Advisory Board helping Google grow to a $100 million enterprise, offering and speaking for Google to Fortune 500 clients and audiences up to 25,000 people. More recently, Russ ran the global partnership team for Bronto, a technology company that was successfully acquired by Oracle in 2016. In this role he helped build long-term, strategic technology and implementation partnerships to drive more than 70 percent of the companies’ revenue, primarily in North America, EMAE and APAC regions.

Russ holds a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University and has active roles in a number of charities and on boards that match up with his professional or personal interests. In his role working with Google, he was able to build free Google products and services for educational charities in Guatemala. Russ also served on the Harrington Grove Swim and Racquet Club Board for eight years, a 1,200-plus home community in Northwest Raleigh.

Russ’s session will dive into how to inspire innovation:

fostering Construction Innovation: Wisdom of the Hive

As the industry embraces construction technology to improve how we design buildings and execute projects, there is an opportunity to create “perpetual motion” related to a culture of innovation. Construction technology in business should be about more than just identifying a need and deploying a solution. This is the time to use that focus, energy and industry solutions to foster incredible innovation that improves business performance and project outcomes.

Attendees can expect to learn:

  • Why construction technology will separate winners and losers (it’s more than just efficiency)
  • Leadership best practices for aligning your team in a culture of innovation
  • The perfect tech committee and why it matters
  • How to maintain innovation momentum

The Construction Veteran

Finally, a veteran Digital Contractor Roadshow speaker who everyone knows and loves, Gregg Schoppman, principal and Florida consulting manager at FMI will be joining us as well!

As a principal with FMI, Gregg specializes in the areas of productivity and project management. He also leads FMI’s project management consulting practice and the consulting management group of FMI’s Florida office. Prior to joining FMI, Gregg served as a senior project manager for a general contracting firm in central Florida. He has completed complex and sophisticated construction projects in the several different niches and geographic markets. He has also worked as a construction manager and managed direct labor. Furthermore, Gregg has expertise in numerous contract delivery methods.

Gregg was named one of the Top 25 Consultants of 2014 by Consulting Magazine, receiving the highest number of nominations for that year’s recipient group. Additionally, he was a two-time finalist for the Association of Management Consulting Firms award for “Change Management” in 2012 and 2013. Gregg has been a guest speaker for the ABC, AGC, IFMA, DBIA, NECA and CFMA. He has been the Gulf Coast Director of the Design Build Institute of America function and regularly speaks to students in the civil engineering graduate school program at the University of Florida.

Here’s what Gregg will cover in his session:

Emerging Trends in the Construction Industry

Response to today’s trends will determine the winners and losers of tomorrow. It is easy to become complacent as most markets are firing on all cylinders. Leaders of best in class firms are focusing their efforts on continuous improvement and developing proactive strategies to address market conditions, talent development, and project execution. FMI will give a synopsis of the current and emerging construction trends the construction industry is facing. This presentation provides insights into some of the construction industry’s complex business challenges and will highlight what the general contractors, construction managers, architects and engineers of the future should be doing.

Register for the Complimentary Event

You won’t want to miss a chance to learn from these industry experts and engaging speakers. Not to mention earn CPE credit while doing so! We hope to see you at one of our digital contractor roadshow events this year in a city near you. Visit our website to learn more and register.

Posted By

Samantha is passionate about all things marketing and technology, especially when combined with the construction industry.

Events