Gary Whittle, Project Management Director, CBRE

Gary Whittle is currently the Project Management Director for CBRE | Heery in Houston, a full-service project management firm focused on public sector projects, primarily K-12 and higher education. He has served in this role for the last several years, managing a team of program and project managers that provide Owner’s Representation services for clients like Houston ISD, Houston Community College, Humble ISD, Lone Star College, College of the Mainland and others.  

With a Bachelor’s of Science in Construction Science from Texas A&M and a Masters of Business Administration from TCU, Gary has spent his entire career in the construction industry. In his 20-year career he has overseen more than $3 billion in commercial construction projects, serving as a Superintendent, Estimator, Project Manager, Program Manager, and Owner’s Representative. Project types have ranged from high-end corporate finish out, hospitality, mission critical and healthcare facilities, to public funded K-12 and higher education projects.  

Brett Margosian, Senior Civil Engineer, East Bay Municipal Utility District

Brett Margosian is a Senior Civil Engineer in EBMUD’s Construction Division and supervises a group of construction managers who administer capital construction contracts involving the reservoirs, rate control stations, pumping plants, pipelines, water treatment plants, and other facilities that bring safe, reliable drinking water to the District’s East Bay service area. He has been at the district for over 10 years and has worked in both the Design and Construction Divisions. He joined EBMUD after moving to California from Memphis, TN to be closer to his extended family, and although it may not look like it, he is an avid distance runner and just completed his 14th marathon in July of this year.

Tim LaChapelle, Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, Parsons

Tim has over 28 years of software development leadership experience in multiple markets from Aircraft Communications, Medical Systems Instrumentation & Data Analysis, Global Internet Optimization, and many other big-data markets in commercial industry. In his last 12 years at PARSONS, Tim spent 10-years leading the technical execution in our National Security business segment, helping to drive innovation and completion of key strategic national cybersecurity initiatives, and especially the last two years helping to lead the digital transformation of PARSONS’ aviation, rail, transit, intelligent infrastructure, environmental, and energy businesses.  As Chief Digital Officer at PARSONS, Tim continues to leverage his skills to push technical innovation and digital transformation across PARSONS’ federal and critical infrastructure businesses to ensure a more resilient and sustainable world for customers and his family (wife, Laura, and their four children) located near Baltimore, Maryland.

Nicholas Johnson, Chief Evangelist, Kahua

Nicholas Johnson has served the design and construction industry for 40+ years. Starting his career as an electrical designer and drafter, he was among the first to create a career around CAD/CAM technology. That path led to a leadership position in IT with Heery International, an Atlanta-based design and construction company. In that role he learned about construction project management software, and specifically a startup company called Constructware. He was with the Constructware team for 6 years before they were acquired by Autodesk. Since that time Nicholas has held sales leadership positions at Autodesk, Trimble Connected Water, Beck Technology, and Trimble e-Builder. He twice took two year working sabbaticals to serve a greater cause. The first with Amigos for Christ, a non-profit serving the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua, and more recently, with the Society of St Vincent DePaul, serving the poor in North Georgia.