Construction Industry Leaders Featured on Activating Curiosity™

Julie Riga is an award-winning executive leadership coach, international speaker, podcast host, and author dedicated to helping leaders and organizations thrive through change. With more than 20 years of experience leading global teams across Fortune 500 companies, Julie combines real-world leadership expertise with practical coaching strategies that empower individuals to lead with confidence, resilience, and authenticity. As the author of Stay on Course: The Life and Legacy of Ennio Riga, Chef to the Stars, Julie shares powerful lessons on perseverance, purpose, and personal growth. She is also the host of the Stay on Course podcast, where she interviews inspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers who share insights on leadership, mindset, and success. Through coaching, speaking, and consulting, Julie helps organizations develop stronger leaders, navigate transformation, improve communication, and build cultures where people can perform at their highest potential.

A nationally recognized expert in AI strategy and digital transformation for the AEC industry, Kristin helps firms move beyond hype to practical implementation. A Fellow of SMPS (FSMPS) and Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM), she works at the intersection of technology, strategy, and industry leadership. She specializes in AI education, change management, and strategic implementation through her AI First Steps framework. Her Minds & Machines symposiums, AI IQ Community, and consulting services equip firms with the clarity and tools to integrate AI competitively. Known for her direct, no-nonsense approach, she focuses on the operational shifts AI creates—from decision-making and workforce transformation to contracts and differentiation. Kristin makes complex topics accessible and actionable, inspiring leaders to think critically, act decisively, and stay ahead in the AI-driven future.

Conifer Advising is a mass timber consultancy dedicated to driving systemic change in the real estate, design, and construction industries by making mass timber the default choice for developers and architects. The firm is led by Kristin Slavin, a seasoned expert with over a decade of experience across the entire mass timber lifecycle, including development, architecture, construction, and prefabricated manufacturing. Conifer Advising is founded on the principle that sharing experience, knowledge, and collaborative processes to enable mass timber will increase the feasibility for developers to build innovative, low-carbon buildings. Conifer Advising partners with a diverse clientele, including government agencies, institutions, developers, design teams, and manufacturers, to overcome the critical barriers to mass timber adoption. The firm’s services are rooted in deep industry knowledge and critical thinking, providing expert guidance to streamline projects, reduce risk, and elimin…

Laura has been leading teams to discover and implement sustainability goals since 2008. She led Emerald’s growth to an internationally sought-after partner to clients and their architects and project teams. Laura excels at facilitating eco-charrettes and strategy sessions that align the client's business and financial objectives with their corporate sustainability strategy or for building projects. She excels at leveraging embedded expertise on teams to create actionable solutions. Her experience spans manufacturing, financial services, non-profit, and government entities. Laura is known for her thought leadership and pragmatic approach to risk mitigation, cost savings, and actionable strategies that achieve measurable results. Additionally, she serves on the boards of USGBC Ohio, Entrepreneur's Organization of Cleveland, and the Greater Cleveland Partnership.

Aligning construction with the future of work by putting people—not companies—at the center of opportunity. A Global Capital & Built Environment Strategist, tracking how money, talent, and technology flow through the built world—from skyscrapers and mixed-use developments to the workplaces and communities they shape. She bridges industries that rarely connect: corporate real estate, development, construction, private capital, and emerging tech. With over a decade advising Fortune 500 real estate teams, developers, contractors, and family offices, she translates insider trends into strategies that anticipate capital shifts, position portfolios to win in changing markets, navigate the decentralization of work, and apply AI, blockchain, and emerging tools for an edge. Founder & CEO of Aedifico ai and Host of Decentralized Everything, she shares unfiltered insights on the future of the built environment and the forces reshaping it—helping clients and audiences make bold, informed…

Nneoma Albert Benson is an international human rights lawyer, social impact developer, and Founder and President of BEFA Women and Child Care Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending the rights and dignity of women and children facing poverty, violence, and systemic injustice. Founded in Nigeria in 2009, BEFA has provided legal aid, secured access to justice, and empowered vulnerable women to rebuild their lives with dignity. In recognition of its impact, the organization was granted Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Nneoma is also the Co Founder of Helichrysum Construction, a company with roots dating back to 1991, now expanding into the United States. Through her work at the intersection of construction, law, and social impact, she is leading the development of BEFA Haven, a multi-million dollar empowerment housing community designed to eliminate homelessness for working women and families by integrating housing…

Healthcare Planner, with more than 35 years experience in the design and construction of hospitals and the life science facilities. My specialty is the integration of advanced medical technologies which was always exciting, albeit challenging. Lived outside of Boston in a small suburban town with my wife and two daughters. Worked at Harvard teaching hospitals for nearly 20 years before signing on to help build the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and subsequently other hospitals in the region. Presently CEO of a start-up venture offering small pre-designed and fully equipped hospitals as a product. We believe our model will streamline the entire hospital building process and help make healthcare delivery more affordable and accessible.

Robb is the Managing Director for Overcast Innovations, a manufacturer of technology-integrated ceiling assemblies. His history includes being the General Manager of the Seattle-area branches of Johnson Controls and Siemens Smart Infrastructure, and a global role with Siemens for Technology Migration. In his Seattle-based roles, he oversaw the sales, engineering, installation and services for Fire and Life Safety systems, Security Systems, HVAC Building Automation systems, Digital Services, Mechanical Equipment and IoT Solutions for Smart Buildings. Robb began his technology career with the US Navy specializing in Electronic Warfare. He also globalized a Swiss-German start-up in the FinTech industry and co-founded a green building start-up in Washington and Oregon. Robb is President of the Board of the Smart Building Center Education Program, the Industry Lead for Washington’s West Sound STEM Network, Chairman of the Washington State Controls Apprenticeship Committee and is invested…

Ryan E. Smith is a Professor and Director of the School of Architecture at the University of Arizona. Professor Smith has been teaching, researching and consulting with respect to offsite construction, industrialized building, prefab and volumetric modular product R&D, factory setup and layout, design assist, and market analysis and focus group, for 18 years. Smith is author of numerous offsite construction reports, papers and books including the seminal text, Prefab Architecture (Wiley, 2010). He is the founding past chair and current board member of the National Institute of Building Sciences, Offsite Construction Council, a fellow of the Modular Building Institute and a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Offsite Construction + Innovative Structures at Edinburgh Napier University in the UK. He currently serves on the board of Ivory Innovation Housing Affordability Foundation. His doctoral work focused on creating frameworks for international knowledge management and exchan…

Scott Reynolds is the CEO and co-founder of UpCodes, the developer of a comprehensive compliance and product research platform that makes code libraries more accessible. Scott’s background in architecture and extensive experience working in some of the largest cities in the world, including New York City and Hong Kong at world-class architecture firms, provides him with a unique perspective into the challenges AEC professionals face when accessing building codes and ensuring compliance.