Danny Forster, a highly-renowned speaker at industry conferences around the world and the host of The Discovery Channel’s “Build it Bigger” series, will provide a jolt of energy and inspirational ideas about the topic of innovation as the featured speaker at the July 25-27 American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) TransOvation Workshop, held in Leesburg, Va.
The second annual TransOvation is bringing together experts in transportation development and business for a professional development hour-granting event that helps industry professionals build innovative thinking into their professional skill set in order to tap new markets and increase efficiency, productivity and profit for their employers.
Forster travels the world with a camera crew in search of incredible feats—a record-setting skyscraper, a city-saving levee, or state-of-the-art football stadium. At every site, he not only pinpoints the ingenious solution at the heart of each structure, but he also makes challenging architectural and engineering concepts clear and compelling. And he often does so by literally going behind the scenes, two miles under a seismic zone in a Peruvian tunnel, landing in a chopper on the back of a top-secret Naval vessel, or 1,600 feet in the air installing glass on the outside of a twisting skyscraper. He’ll share these experiences and their applicability to transportation improvement projects.
TransOvation, held at the Lansdowne Resort & Conference Center, will also feature world-class innovators, thought leaders and top industry professionals. Among them:
Victor Mendez is the administrator at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). As the agency’s top official, he brings more than 20 years of experience on highway management and administration issues. His lifelong interest in innovation and technology helped lead to the creation of FHWA’s “Every Day Counts” initiative, which gives states tools to streamline construction projects and cut costs. He previously served as director of the Arizona Department of Transportation, and holds a bachelor’s in civil engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso and has an M.B.A. from Arizona State University.
Ted Zoli, a heralded bridge engineer and a vice president at HNTB, is a 2009 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient. “Esquire” magazine profiled Zoli in a 2010 cover story, “The Brightest: 16 Geniuses Who Give Us Hope.” Zoli also teaches at Princeton and Columbia.
Ross Smith, director of test at Microsoft Lync, is one of the nation’s top innovation thought leaders and has spent over 20 years developing and testing software for Microsoft. Smith knows how to cultivate an environment that can lead to increased collaboration, productivity and profit. He holds five patents and has been featured by the “Wall Street Journal,” “The Economist,” CNBC and MSNBC.
John Hillman, president & CEO of HC Bridge Company, won the 2010 “Engineering News-Record” (ENR) magazine “Award of Excellence” for his development of the Hybrid Composite Beam. ENR writes of Hillman, “[he has an] obsession that sets out to transform the infrastructure world for the better.”
James P. Pinkerton, a national thought leader and commentator is a contributor to the Fox News Channel. He is also a strong supporter of boosting investment in the nation’s transportation infrastructure to meet the economic and mobility challenges of the 21st century. He has written for “The Wall Street Journal,” “The New York Times,” “Newsday” and is the author of “What Comes Next: The End of Big Government & the New Paradigm Ahead.” Pinkerton worked in the White House domestic policy offices of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and is a graduate of Stanford University.
Through individual and group exercises, attendees will explore various project scenarios and learn how game-changing concepts helped overcome challenges and control costs; how leading transportation design and construction industry firms are creating and sustaining growth through innovation; strategies for fostering innovative practices into everyday project management; and how new technologies and techniques are changing the way we think about, design, build and manage transportation infrastructure.
The workshop will also include an “Innovation Showcase,” an exhibit area of cutting-edge products, technologies and services for industry professionals. Contact ARTBA’s Peter Embrey or Ed Tarrant at 202.289.4434 to learn more about exhibit and sponsorship opportunities.
Space is limited. Get all the details and register at www.transovation.org.
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