Net Zero Construction Conference 2023 Speakers

2023 Sponsors

N0CC 2023 Agenda

Help us educate the construction industry on sustainable net zero practices.

10:00AM

Opening Remarks

Dr. Aali Alizadeh

Co-Founder, President, and CTO

Giatec Scientific Inc

10:05AM

Decarbonising Heavy Building Materials

Dr. Nicola Kimm

Chief Sustainability Officer

Heidelberg Materials

Bio

Dr. Nicola Kimm is a Management Board member and Chief Sustainability Officer at Heidelberg Materials, where she leads an organization covering ESG, Global Research & Development, Technologies & Partnerships, and Innovation. She is driving the company's path to sustainable construction and carbon neutrality. Nicola is also a non-executive board member at the investment company EQT AB and has previously held executive roles at Philips, Signify, CSM, and BASF in Europe, Asia, and North America. Her experience spans engineering, operations, EHS and communications in the electronics, chemicals, and food industries. She holds a PhD in Economics and Business Engineering, MSc and BSc degrees in Chemical Engineering, and a BSc in Ecology.

10:30AM

Reducing carbon in precast concrete with power ultrasound – a case study with Deutsche Bahn

Dr. Nora Baum

CFO

Sonocrete

Bio

Nora is the CFO of Sonocrete, responsible for finance and commercialization topics. She worked for McKinsey as a consultant for several years, and founded an IT startup. Nora studied sociology, political science and business studies, and did her Ph.D. on the digitization of handcrafts.

10:55AM

Accelerating along the path to carbon neutral concrete

Shane Mulligan

Sustainability and Technical Marketing Manager

Heidelberg Materials

Bio

Shane Mulligan, P.Eng., and LEED Green Associate, is the Sustainability and Technical Marketing Manager at Heidelberg Materials, where he is responsible for all aspects of sustainable sales and marketing efforts in Heidelberg Materials concrete business in the Northwest Region. This includes working with architects, engineers, and designers towards lower carbon, sustainable solutions in the built environment. He has over 17 years of experience in a variety of civil engineering sectors including the technical promotion of cement and concrete products, structural design of underground infrastructure, waste diversion planning, and stormwater management. His previous experience includes a role with the Cement Association of Canada in leading advocacy efforts with the government, focused on procurement policies and the technical promotion of cement and concrete. Shane has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Calgary.

11:30AM

Data, Schemas, and Knowledge for Decarbonizing the Built Environment Sector

Dr. Anil Sawhney

Director of the Infrastructure Sector

RICS

Bio

Anil Sawhney, Ph.D. PMP FRICS FHEA, is the Global Lead for the Construction and Infrastructure Sector at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Anil is a construction and infrastructure sector expert, an educator, a researcher, and a ConstructionTech enthusiast. In his role at the RICS, he is involved in producing the construction and infrastructure sector's body of knowledge, standards, guidance, practice statements, education, and training. Anil is the current chair of the International Cost Management Standards (ICMS) Standard Setting Committee and the co-chair of the AECO Working Group of the Digital twin Consortium. He is also an Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University, Visiting Professor at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, and an adjunct faculty at the University of Southern California. Anil has a rich mix of academic, research, industry, and consulting experience gathered in the USA, India, Canada, the UK, and Australia. In 2020, he co-authored a book entitled Construction 4.0-Innovation Platform for the Built Environment. He is currently the co-editor of the Construction Innovation Journal. Dr. Sawhney serves on the international editorial board of the ICE Infrastructure Asset Management journal and the Journal of Information Technology in Construction.

12:05PM

Building for a Green Future | Panel

1:20PM

Networking and Expo

1:50PM

Unlocking Sustainable and High-Quality Concrete Production through Data-Driven Techniques

Aku Wilenius

CEO and Co-Founder

Caidio

Bio

Aku Wilenius is the CEO and co-founder of Caidio, an innovative AI startup based in Helsinki, Finland, that develops an automated quality management platform for sustainable concrete production. Aku has over 20 years of experience in industrial automation and operations, having held leadership roles at National Instruments, an American technology enterprise specializing in designing test and measurement automation solutions. He has a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and a Master of Business Administration in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Aku is passionate about driving industrial innovation and sustainability and committed to making concrete production more sustainable using big data and AI. He has been recognized for his initiatives to make concrete production greener and has been interviewed by major media houses, including CNBC, BusinessWorld, and Money FM 89.3. With a strong track record in technology and business, Aku is dedicated to using his skills and expertise to lead Caidio in its mission to help drive the concrete construction industry toward a net-zero future.

2:20PM

The Green Impact of AI in the Concrete Production

Alex Leblond

Executive VP

MARCOTTE

Bio

Alex Leblond, MBA, leads MARCOTTE's sales and business development in its mission to revolutionize the control and automation of concrete production. MARCOTTE's MBatch system is currently implementing and powering more than 1,500 concrete plants in high-profile projects in N-A. MARCOTTE's advancements in 4.0 machine learning are industry innovated to enable Artificial Intelligence in the production process. Optimized real-time precision reduces human dependency and material consumption which yields profit and environmental sustainability.

Jean-Philippe Boucher

Product Manager

MARCOTTE

Bio

My name is Jean-Philippe Boucher, and I am a product manager at MARCOTTE. However, my journey to this point has been quite an adventure.

When I was 12 years old in 1994, my parents decided to sell everything and move to Costa Rica to open a bed and breakfast on the beach. As a result, I grew up surrounded by tourists, and customer service became a part of my daily life. I attended high school in Spanish in Costa Rica, which was a challenging yet rewarding experience.

After high school, I pursued a Computer Systems Engineering degree at a San Jose, Costa Rica university. During my last two years at university, I started working at HP. I was involved in transitioning a call center from Colorado to Costa Rica, and this was an excellent opportunity to apply my technical skills in a practical setting.

After graduating from university, I returned to Canada in 2007 and worked as a field engineer at Hewlett Packard. At HP, I gained valuable experience in customer service and project management.

In 2010, I joined MARCOTTE, where I held various roles in operations, from project manager to director of integrations. At MARCOTTE, I had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects, which helped me develop my product development and management skills.

Today, I am the product manager at MARCOTTE, overseeing the development of the entire product suite. My role involves working closely with the development team to ensure that our products meet the needs of our customers.

2:40PM

Responsible Sourcing and the Concrete Sustainability Council Certification

Matthew Lemay

Codes and Sustainability Programs Manager

NRMCA

Bio

As Manager of Codes and Sustainability Programs for the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Matthew provides support for members and manages sustainability certification programs including Environmental Product Declarations, Responsible Sourcing, and Material Ingredient Disclosure. He also works with NRMCA's codes and standards team and state affiliate organizations, to track state and local legislation and regulations, and provide support for state and local advocacy. Matthew is a graduate of DePaul University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in sociology.

3:15PM

Race to Net Zero Carbon Concrete in Mexico

Arturo Gaytan Covarrubias

Innovation and Sustainability Manager

CEMEX México

Bio

Arturo is a Civil Engineer who graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM. He has a Master's in Engineering with a specialty in Quality and Productivity from the Tecnológico de Monterrey.

He was president of the Student Chapter of the American Concrete Institute UNAM and founder of the Concrete Canoes Team of the UNAM in 2001. He was President of the ACI Mexico - Central and Southern Chapter 2013 - 2014. Founder of the ACI Northwest and Southeast Chapters in Mexico. He is currently President of the Mexican Institute of Sustainable Concrete (IMCS) of which he is also the founder. Likewise, he is Treasurer of the Mexican Association of the Ready-Mix Concrete Industry (AMIC).

He has more than 19 years at CEMEX, where he has served in various positions within it. He is certified as a LEED Green Associate and Sustainability Professional ENVISION from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure.

He has received recognition from the IEC International Electrotechnic Commission as a Young Professional in Australia and recognition from the American Concrete Institute as a Young Member for Professional Achievement. In 2018 he received the category of Fellow from the American Concrete Institute and the Chapter Award for his activities throughout Mexico. In 2021, he also received from ACI the Henry C. Turner Medal for his activities in Latin America. He's a member of Reviewing Group of the Concrete Structures in Mexico City's Building Code. He's a Civil Engineering School Board Member at Universidad La Salle. Together with other colleagues, create the Concreto en Latin-American movement in 2020.

3:45PM

Concrete Technologies and Their Impacts on Sustainability

4:30PM

Enabling Low Carbon Procurement & Industrial Decarbonization of the Built Environment

Stacy Smedley

Executive Director

Building Transparency

Bio

Stacy Smedley is the Executive Director of Building Transparency, a nonprofit organization that provides open-access data and tools to foster a better building future and aid in reversing climate change. Building on her 20 years of experience in the architecture and construction professions, Stacy is keenly focused on the continuous development and refinement of the resources, education and technological advancements needed to drive decarbonization strategies and investment in green procurement. She leads a growing team of experts driven to execute the nonprofit?s mission with speed, quality and efficiency.

In her role, Stacy partners with policymakers on a local, state, federal and global level to inform and support low-carbon procurement or buy clean policies by leveraging the data and insights from the nonprofit?s cornerstone tool, the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator. Through this work, she has been invited to serve on the GSA's Acquisition Policy Federal Advisory Committee and as a member of the Industry Advisory Group for the U.S. Department of State?s Bureau of Overseas Buildings.

Over the years, Stacy has received career validating awards and recognitions for her efforts, which include being named a BuiltWorlds Maverick, a Grist 50 Fixer, an ENR Top 25 Newsmaker, and much more. She is a frequent speaker and keynote presenter; Stacy has presented on embodied carbon action at conferences like Greenbuild, Living Future, Structures of Congress, C40 Cities Forum, and many others.

5:00PM

Generating Value from Carbon Management

Eleanor Horowitz

Head of Marketing

Gravity Climate

Bio

Eleanor Horowitz is the Head of Marketing at Gravity Climate, a software platform that helps businesses with complex physical operations cost-effectively measure and manage their carbon footprint. Previously, she held several roles bridging tech, logistics, and sustainability at companies including Samsara, Sidewalk Labs, and Li & Fung. She also worked as an early-stage investor focused on emerging markets. She holds a BA in Environmental Chemistry from Middlebury College and an MBA in Marketing and Operations from the Wharton School.

5:23PM

Closing Remarks