Bill Black has worked in the design and construction sector for 42 years in a wide variety of roles, ranging from surveying and estimating to leadership and executive positions. He was named Calgary Construction Association person of the year in 2014 and has been a board member since 2012. Black was Chair of the Calgary Construction Association board in 2018 prior to taking on the role of president and COO later that year. This February he was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for his work on behalf of the construction Industry. He is also a founding member of the Mindshift consortium created to develop leadership in project delivery.
Archives: 25 Innovators Judges
Dom’s career began at his family’s construction and landscaping business, Mario’s Concrete. He went on to spend nearly 19 years at Bird Construction holding a variety of positions, including vice president of operations. Since launching BLDR in March 2023, he has been working with construction industry firms to provide fractional advisory leadership and related coaching. BLDR was engaged by the Southern Chiefs’ Organization Reconciliation Foundation Inc. to provide project Management services for their HBC Redevelopment Project, which was recognized by Fast Company as “Best World-Changing Idea, North America”. He was recently invited to join the Board of Directors for BUILD Inc., a social enterprise non-profit contractor and training program for people who face barriers to entry. He is also part of construction tech company NeoADMC 3D Ltd.’s advisory board.
Shawn Gray is not only a professional engineer. He’s an Agile practitioner, experienced engineering consultant and construction manager, and an innovative technology leader. For over 15 years, Gray has been driving digital transformation of the industry, having led several cutting-edge innovation initiatives exploring how predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, and advanced data analytics can help manage and deliver projects. In 2020 he was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 in Construction. He served as digital innovation and customer experience manager at Lafarge Canada, helping to solve industries biggest challenges by leveraging big-data do more with less and build more sustainably.
Joe is an engineering and construction executive with over 20 years experience in the infrastructure sector. He is the co-founder and president of RAM Consulting which has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Canada for five straight years. RAM also recently won equity, diversity and inclusion awards from the BC Construction Association and the BC Association of Consulting Engineers. Joe is actively engaged as a director on the board of the BC Association of Consulting Engineers. He also volunteers by mentoring with Women In Infrastructure and as a coach on his daughter’s soccer team.
SiteNews editor Russell Hixson joined the publication after spending more than eight years covering Western Canada’s construction sector for the Journal of Commerce. Prior to that he cut his teeth at daily newspapers as an award-winning investigative crime and courts reporter in Oklahoma and Washington State. Hixson is passionate about the future of media and is eager to explore how technology can bring the industry’s stories to life and elevate the sector.