I’m driven to leave the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry stronger than I found it.
To support that mission, I created the AEC Project Value Chain™, a management framework that helps project owners and AEC professionals create more value before design begins, and founded AECProjectValueChain.com as an education, thought leadership, and advisory platform.
The idea began while I was completing my Executive MBA in 1997. I originally pursued business and finance to become a better leader of an engineering consulting firm. Along the way, I realized that while architects and consulting engineers provide exceptional technical expertise, project owners also need strategic, business, finance, and project development advice to make better capital investment decisions before design begins.
That insight changed the direction of my career.
Over the next three decades, I founded and led strategic advisory and infrastructure management consulting practices within three AEC firms, integrating business, finance, risk management, and project development expertise with traditional architectural and engineering services. My focus was to help organizations make better investment decisions before committing millions of dollars to design, construction, operations, maintenance, and asset renewal.
Following my retirement from consulting, I developed the AEC Project Value Chain™ framework and launched AECProjectValueChain.com to share these ideas through articles, presentations, webinars, masterclasses, and advisory services. My goal is to help consulting firms and project owners strengthen their strategic advisory capabilities and improve the quality of capital investment decisions.
Today, my mission is simple: help AEC professionals learn and apply strategic advisory skills that create more value before design begins and elevate the role of architects, consulting engineers, and construction professionals as trusted advisors.
While many firms continue to focus on delivering traditional technical services more efficiently, I believe the next competitive advantage will come from combining technical excellence with strategic advisory, business, and project development expertise – supported by the intelligent use of AI – to help project owners make better decisions and achieve better outcomes.
The greatest opportunity to create value – or destroy it – occurs before design begins.
