Explore the Agenda
8:00 am Check-In & Networking
8:30 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Practical AI Adoption
8:40 am Leveraging AI to Simplify Quality Workflows & Increase Efficiency Without Increasing Risk
- Showcasing practical AI use cases that improve quality workflows and enhance project efficiency
- Integrating AI directly into everyday tools and processes to accelerate plan development, automate reporting and enhance inspections without replacing professional judgement
- Establishing guardrails for responsible adoption, ensuring outputs are verified, cybersecurity is considered and AI enhances efficiency without introducing new risk
9:10 am Panel: Cutting Through AI Hype by Selecting, Governing & Verifying Tools That Actually Deliver
- Separating real, project-ready AI applications from overpromised solutions by sharing what is genuinely working in live quality programs
- Establishing governance frameworks that treat AI as a tool with clear verification, accountability and professional oversight
- Rationalizing tool selection to avoid platform overload, protect data security and ensure outputs are accurate enough to reduce rework, not create it
Quality Driven Supplier Selection
9:50 am Embedding Quality Requirements into Supplier Selection, Contracts & Checkpoints to Prevent Downstream Rework and Performance Failures
- Defining quality expectations and KPIs in statements of work to select contractors based on quality performance, not just cost and schedule
- Verifying supplier quality processes through audits, references and performance reviews before contractor selection
- Establishing checkpoints and a scalable supplier quality framework to monitor performance and prevent downstream rework
10:20 am Morning Refreshments & Networking
Track 1: Quality Program Leadership & Evolution
Track 2: CrossFunctional Quality
Track 3: Project Quality Management Tools
Track 4: Lessons Learned: Managing Quality in the Field
Track 1: Quality Program Leadership & Evolution
Chaired by
Senior Organizational Excellence & Quality Consultant, American Contractors Insurance Group
Heavy Civil Delivery
11:20 am Managing Nuclear-Grade Quality to Meet Zero Tolerance Regulatory Requirements
Director of Quality Assurance, Baker Construction
- Preparing for nuclear and gas-fired expansion by understanding the scale, regulatory burden and execution risk of multi-billion-dollar projects
- Delivering verbatim compliance to federal nuclear regulations through strict material traceability, enhanced oversight and documented verification
- Aligning quality and engineering to eliminate grey areas, ensuring designs are executed exactly as written with zero tolerance for deviation
11:50 am Panel: Aligning Quality Across Joint Ventures to Deliver Seamless Execution on Major Infrastructure Projects
Co-Founder, Design and Construction Excellence Exchange
Director of Quality, EllisDon Corporation
Quality Director, Kiewit
- Coordinating quality across multiple Joint Venture partners on complex projects to reduce inefficiencies and rework
- Applying proven joint venture alignment strategies across large-scale builds
- Establishing a clear quality governance framework across heavy civil, industrial and infrastructure markets to ensure consistent execution despite differing company processes
Track 2: CrossFunctional Quality
Track 3: Project Quality Management Tools
Track 4: Lessons Learned: Managing Quality in the Field
12:20 pm Networking Lunch Break
Tracks Finish, Return to Plenary Content
Quality as a Business Driver
1:20 pm Understanding the Financial Impact of Quality: Preventing Loss, Protecting Margins & Strengthening Client Confidence
- Making the case internally and to clients that focused quality personnel protect schedule, reduce change orders and improve profitability
- Building clear, usable quality systems that help underexperienced teams avoid costly mistakes on major builds
- Engaging project teams first so they see tangible value and enforce quality themselves, reducing resistance and strengthening delivery performance
1:50 pm Turning Quality Data into Risk Prevention by Predicting Costly Failures Before They Occur
- Tracking rework effectively and identifying reliable ways to quantify its true impact across projects
- Distinguishing between direct rework costs and indirect costs, including safety incidents and productivity impacts when work deviates from the plan
- Exploring the “cost of quality” and demonstrate the bottom-line impact and secure executive buy-in for preventative investment
2:20 pm Case Study: Digitalizing Quality Inspections to Improve Field Visibility, Standardize Documentation & Strengthen Project Oversight
- Converting paper-based inspection forms, checklists and QC documents into a digital platform to eliminate lost records and create a more reliable quality trail across projects
- Building digital workflows that make inspections easier for field teams to complete while improving adoption by simplifying tasks they were already required to perform
- Using digital tracking tools to monitor progress remotely across definable features of work, equipment and assets, enabling stronger oversight from receipt through installation and completion