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2025 Business Forum

April 10, 2025

Description


ACEC National Update



Sean McCone, P.E., CCM

2024 - 2026 Vice Chair

Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc. 

McCone is an Executive Vice President and Board Member at Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc. (JMT), an employee-owned firm, that provides a full range of multi-disciplined engineering, architectural, and related services. Sean serves as the Chief Strategy Officer, focusing on corporate strategy, particularly around technology, innovation, change management, and company-wide process improvement. He has over 27 years of experience in the industry.



SESSION 1: Leadership Development

Adapting to Change: Dinosaurs or Dolphins?

We live in an ever-changing world and in order to be successful we need to understand the dangers of complacency. In this energetic program we will explore the two paths that battle for our attention that will make us Dinosaur or Dolphin like. We will also discuss several aspects of the change process to better understand how and why we react to it the way we do.

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Gary Golden

Golden Opportunities

Gary was a walk on athlete at Louisiana Tech University where he received his undergraduate degree in General Business. After graduation Gary went to work for a large training organization and his responsibilities were to sell training programs and instruct various topics.

In 1990 he moved to Baton Rouge where he went to work for one of the state's largest Health Care Systems. His responsibilities were to educate the staff on various topics and continued to appear as a guest speaker for groups and organizations. In 1993, Gary was promoted to the corporate office as Leadership Development Trainer. His responsibilities were to train employees ranging from CEO’s, Vice Presidents, and front-line managers on such topics as TQM Tools and Facilitation, Situational Leadership, Management Responsibilities, Personality Profiles and Team Building.  In 1996 Gary branched out to develop the external training arm of the company to instruct and consult for corporations and industries in need of direction or improvement.

Gary has a master's degree in health care administration and has written and customized a large variety of seminars to meet the client's needs. Gary is also certified to train the following programs: Juran Quality Improvement Process, Quality Planning, Quality Facilitation, Quality Tools, Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership, DiSC Personality Profile System, Select the Best Interviewing Program, Keys to Customer Service Excellence and Professional Aspects of Selling.

In 1999, Gary founded Golden Opportunities, which is a training and development company designed to help corporations excel. Golden Opportunities goes beyond improving the bottom line by delivering top quality performance while giving people the opportunity to develop to a higher level. Gary is a dynamic presenter speaking to diversified groups on many topics and works with all types of industry and business.




SESSION 2: Project Management

HOW TO STREAMLINE PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND BOOST PRODUCTIVITY WITH AI

Discover how engineering, architecture, and consulting firms can leverage AI and emerging technologies to overcome industry challenges like rising costs and a growing skills gap.  Learn practical strategies to enhance project management, resource optimization, and decision-making, while overcoming barriers to AI adoption and driving operational excellence in a competitive landscape.

As Vice President of Product Management, Bret Tushaus is responsible for leading the product strategy, roadmap, and product management teams for Deltek's Vision, Maconomy, Ajera, People Planner, PIM, ConceptShare, WorkBook. Prior to joining Deltek, Bret spent 15 years at Eppstein Uhen Architects and holds a Master of Architecture from University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. 

Bret Tushaus

Vice President of Product Management 

Deltek

As Vice President of Product Management, Bret Tushaus is responsible for leading the product strategy, roadmap, and product management teams for Deltek's Vision, Maconomy, Ajera, People Planner, PIM, ConceptShare, WorkBook. Prior to joining Deltek, Bret spent 15 years at Eppstein Uhen Architects and holds a Master of Architecture from University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. 



 


 Session 3: Risk Management

Risk Management and AI

 The rapid advancement of technology is presenting opportunities for traditional designers to expand their services from pure professional services into the realm of what should be considered technology services. Architects and engineers are increasingly developing technology tools for their clients that sometimes are natural extensions for their design services, but sometimes extend into offering pure tech services or software products. Many firms are seeing this evolution of services to be a desirable expansion of their portfolio.


As AI assumes a more prominent role, defining the boundaries of professional responsibility becomes a nuanced and challenging task. AI systems may promise faster and more effective decision making, but questions of accountability arise. What are the potential risks and liabilities associated with the use of AI, and what are the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead?

 Lee Ann Wheeler

Client Executive

Greyling Insurance


Lee Ann specializes in the placement of Business Insurance Lines and Professional Liability to Engineering companies across the country including firms that are members of American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).


Wheeler posses over 17 years of experience in the insurance industry specializing in medical malpractice and professional liability. She also works closely with State Association to help set up comprehensive insurance and risk management programs to their members that are both cost effective and tailored to their needs.


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Contact Information

ACEC of Louisiana
Name: Janet Landry
Phone: (225) 927-7704
Email: jlandry@acecl.org
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