Jacobs: If/When

We're wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season as we close out 2020. We’re very grateful for all the fantastic guests who have been on our show this year, and we’re looking forward to continuing to bring you insightful content in 2021.

This episode originally aired as a videocast which can be seen here. Susan Howard is an Industrial Control Systems Senior Cybersecurity Consultant for Jacobs with a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification and an M.S. in telecommunications engineering and cybersecurity from UC Boulder. Her current work includes governance, risk, and compliance for control systems cybersecurity, vulnerability assessments, and cybersecurity and telecommunications design consulting. Her work supports multiple sectors including water, wastewater, transportation, electric utilities, building automation, data center automation, and others. Industries she supports include private sector clients such as Intel and Microsoft, municipal and state water and transportation agencies, and Department of Defense clients including the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Her Master’s and Doctoral research is focused in securing Dedicated Short-Range Communication modalities for use in Autonomous and Connected Vehicles.With 30 years of experience in the Information Technology industry, Dean Hullings provides strategic recommendations and guidance to the Forescout Public Sector account management team, connecting engagements and initiatives to maximize team productivity. Before joining Forescout, Dean spent 26 years in the US Air Force as a communications and cyber officer, serving in various leadership positions for Air Force and Joint Commands. Dean has a BS in Computer and Information Science from the University of Delaware and three master’s degrees in Public Administration, Military Operations and National Security and Strategic Studies.At Jacobs, Eric Conway directed investment, research and development of advanced cybersecurity solutions for customers in the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community and Federal Civilian market. He was a lead solutions architect, designing systems and products within the Jacobs Cyber core capabilities of cyber analytics, cyber operations, and cyber readiness. Mr. Conway oversaw Jacobs Cyber solution labs that develop security products that focus on cybersecurity assessment, monitoring, analytics, compliance, and training. He is a Principal Investigator (PI) for Defense Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA) on programs developing next-generation cybersecurity solutions. Prior to Jacobs, Mr. Conway spent 20 years as a systems and software engineer in the Intelligence Community, developing cyber capabilities, analytical systems and enterprise software to support U.S. intelligence and security efforts.

This episode originally aired as a videocast which can be seen here. Dina Salvaggio, RN is Jacobs Principal of Healthcare Consulting, APG. She has over 30 years’ experience as a healthcare leader, Registered Nurse and Principal/Consultant, and she is experienced in identifying, developing, implementing and leading teams, programs and processes. Dina has worked as a leader in the clinical settings, at a health system corporate level, within managed care, and in medical supply distribution, sales and consulting. Her focus is on streamlining functions, reducing cost (operational and capital) and ensuring that optimal clinical processes as well as the support services are incorporated into facility designs and operational systems. In addition, Dina has supported health systems with emergency response, mitigation and resiliency.Donn Sorensen is Executive Vice President of Operations at Mercy Health Ministry. He is responsible for Mercy’s strategy, growth and operations, and he works closely with regional hospital and Clinic presidents to guide planning and achievement of regional and Mercy-wide goals. He’s been with Mercy since 2000 and has more than 25 years of health care experience. Mercy, the fifth largest Catholic health care system in the U.S., serves millions annually. Recently named one of the 15 Top Health Systems in the U.S. by Truven Health Analytics, Mercy ranks in the top five for large health systems. Sorensen is active on several boards and civic organizations, and he is the author of the book, Big-Hearted Leadership: Five Keys to Create Success Through Compassion.

Kate Willison, Global Innovation Lead at Jacobs, seeks to promote a culture of innovation at all levels within the business. She helps connect the dots - between ideas, people, teams, clients, partners, technologies, challenges and opportunities - and enable innovation to flourish. In this role Kate helps shape strategy, deliver global innovation initiatives, lead innovation investment projects, engage in internal and external marketing and communications and act as an overall champion for innovation.  An accomplished spatial and digital consultant with over 11 years of experience in the engineering, construction and professional services industry, Kate is an experienced project manager who has led both technical projects and global strategic initiatives. She has worked on a range of international projects in the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa and Europe and have gained a wealth of experience in the oil & gas, mining, environmental, infrastructure, transport and renewables sectors. As a chartered GIS professional - CGeog(GIS), Kate is highly experienced in the application of GIS and remote sensing to support multidisciplinary projects.Matt Stewart is a senior business designer at Board of Innovation. He’s led design and innovation projects in over 20 countries, and worked for some of the world’s biggest and most well known innovative companies, including IKEA, Levi’s, Unilever and of course, Jacobs. In his spare time he starts companies (lifesprint.me), social projects and art festivals. He’s also fascinated by the topic of widespread loneliness and an advocate for swimmable urban rivers.

Click here to download a copy of the white paper.Diana Anderson, MD, M.Arch, is a healthcare architect and a board-certified internist. She completed her medical residency training at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center. As a “dochitect”, Dr. Anderson combines educational and professional experience in both medicine and architecture. She has worked on hospital design projects globally and is widely published in both architectural and medical journals, books and the popular press. She is a frequent speaker about the impacts of healthcare design on patient outcomes, staff satisfaction, and related topics. A Co-Founder of the Clinicians for Design group, this international network of leaders seeks to inspire and accelerate the design of environments and systems. She recently completed a geriatric medicine fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. Alongside her work at Jacobs, Dr. Anderson is now pursuing a research fellowship in geriatric neurology at the VA Boston Healthcare System.Having trained in Dublin and Bristol, Professor Desmond O’Neill is a consultant geriatrician at Tallaght University Hospital, chair of the National Centre for Arts and Health, and co-chair of Medical and Health Humanities in TCD. His research interests cover neuroscience, ageing and the humanities, and in terms of dementia have covered a range from driving with dementia, neuro-imaging and policy, to engaging with the arts to augment quality of life in dementia. With over 500 peer-reviewed publications, he has been the co-PI of the Irish National Audits of Stroke and Dementia Care, and led out on a range of policies relevant to ageing and dementia such as the national policy on elder abuse. His international profile includes presidency of the European Geriatric Medicine Society and he is the current chair of the Humanities and Arts Committee of the Gerontological Society of America. He has been honoured with the All-Ireland Inspirational Life Award in 2010 for services to older people, the Joseph T Freeman Award of the Gerontological Society of America.Thomas Grey, Dip.Arch.B.Arch.Sci.MArch - Research Fellow, TrinityHaus, TCD, graduated from DIT Bolton Street in 1998 with an honours degree in Architecture. He moved to New Zealand in 2003 to complete a two-year Masters (Sustainability of the Built Environment) at the University of Auckland. With over 10 years in architectural practice working on projects in Ireland, the UK, Croatia, the US and NZ, Tom joined TrinityHaus Research Centre in TCD  as a Research Fellow in 2009. Since then he has undertaken a variety of urban design and building design research projects examining how people-friendly design, architecture, and urbanism can support human performance, health, well-being and social participation. Much of this research focuses on age friendly and dementia attuned environments, and is underpinned by Universal Design and participatory design processes. Current projects include research and recommendations for the design of long-term residential care settings, design guidelines for Dementia Friendly Hospitals from a Universal Design Approach, the development of a Dementia Friendly Design Audit Tool, research into age-friendly housing.   

Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar is President and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, an industry trade group supporting human exploration, science, commerce, and American leadership in space. Under her leadership the Coalition has grown from 5 companies to more than 70 over the past four years and is a recognized source for policy, technical and business information in the aerospace and defense sector.Earlier in her career Dr. Dittmar managed the mission operations group for The Boeing Company on the International Space Station Program. Later, she acted as a special advisor to the NASA Astronaut Office before her appointment as Boeing Chief Scientist for Commercial Utilization of the ISS. More recently she was Senior Policy Advisor to International Space Station National Laboratory. She has also served as a senior advisor to NASA, the DoD, and the FAA. Mary Lynne is a Fellow of the National Research Society and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute for Astronautics and Aeronautics.Dr. Joy Kelly is Vice President and General Manager of the Jacobs Clear Lake Group which provides design, development, and testing of spacecraft and associated systems for human spaceflight and astromaterials curation and basic research at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). Joy also serves on Jacobs Innovation Roundtable, a global council with responsibility to facilitate innovative work cultures throughout the company. From 2008 – 2019 Dr. Kelly served as Deputy General Manager of the Clear Lake Group.  From 2004 to 2008, she served as the ESC Group’s Director of Engineering and Chief Engineer on the contract, supporting the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station programs. Joy was previously Technical Fellow in Guidance, Navigation, and Control on the Technical and Engineering Acquisition Support (TEAS) contract at Eglin AFB. In this role, she served as the senior focal point for guidance, navigation, and control on major development and mission-critical programs. Her work during this tenure redefined critical bank-to-turn autopilot design strategies for future missile systems design and provided advanced robustness analysis approaches for a wide range of weapons systems. 

This episode originally aired as a videocast which can be seen here. Dr. Nino Kharaishvili, a global expert in health security and health system emergency preparedness and resilience, serves as the Principal of the Health System Resilience practice for Jacobs. She has more than 15 years of healthcare systems consulting experience supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, and most recently the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Biological Threat Reduction Program, which focuses on especially dangerous pathogen and infectious disease surveillance, biosafety and biosecurity.Nino also has specific expertise in defining pathways for healthcare system sustainability and resilience, as well as designing and implementing various emergency management exercises aimed at improving public health emergency preparedness and response.Dr. David Franz served in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for over two decades on active duty and retired as Colonel. He served as Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and as Deputy Commander of the Medical Research and Materiel Command.David was also Chief Inspector on three United Nations Special Commission biological warfare inspection missions to Iraq. He also served as a member of the first two U.S.-U.K. teams that visited Russia in support of the Trilateral Joint Statement on Biological Weapons and as a member of the Trilateral Experts’ Committee for biological weapons negotiations. The current focus of his activities relates to the role of international engagement in public health and the life sciences as a component of global security policy.

In this episode, Jesus Garcia Aleman, Jacobs Global Surface Water Technology Leader, and Charles Funk, Jacobs Global Building Systems Solutions Director, spoke with If/When host Paul Thies about both water and air quality issues within buildings - a topic not only relevant to building owners and property managers, but to returning occupants.This episode originally aired as a videocast which can be seen here. 

Bob Pragada, Jacobs  president and chief operating officer, joined the company in 2006, holding several senior management positions over nine years. He returned to Jacobs in 2016 after serving as President and CEO of the Brock Group, one of the largest providers of industrial services in North America. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy, he began his career in the Navy as a Civil Engineer Corps and Seabees officer, providing base engineering, construction and maintenance services and international contingency operations, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He also earned a Master of Science in engineering and management from Stanford University.With a technical background in Biology, Jacobs Vice President, Global Solutions & Technology Chrissy Thom was always drawn to science as a means of service, the art of the possible in how we create a better world. As a leader, she focuses on serving and connecting with people and how we can ignite solutions that inspire. Key focus areas include: technical career development and leadership, inclusion and diversity, leveraging global connectivity, innovation, growth and sales, and delighting clients with excellent delivery experiences. With a variety of roles throughout her career, she has excelled at helping clients solve their toughest infrastructure problems by assimilating results across multi-disciplinary teams.

Michelle Freund is a is a senior economist in Jacobs’ ANZ Strategic Advisory Group. She started her career at the Department of Treasury and Financial, advising on climate change, environmental services and water management policies. She joined Jacobs (then Sinclair Knight Merz) in 2008 and has since developed expertise in business case development and economic appraisals across a range a range of sectors. Her most recent work has been focussed on the water sector, undertaking options appraisals for policy or investment decisions responding to water security and reliability requirements, water quality risk, flooding risk, and environmental water savings objectives.Originally from California, Henry Swisher (Strategic Consultant, Energy Markets - Jacobs)is a Sydney-based strategic consultant with a background in renewable energy finance and policy strategy. He has extensive experience modelling electricity markets to provide investment advice, due diligence, policy impact analysis and has conducted numerous feasibility studies and financial models for a wide variety of energy-related projects. These have included hydrogen, large-scale solar, wind, battery storage, geothermal, bioenergy, gas turbines, and transmission infrastructure. These studies have frequently informed business cases for a broad range of projects and assets. Henry also has experience with hydrogen strategy development and is a co-author of both Jacobs’ hydrogen papers. Over the past 15 years, Simon Prunster (Energy & Emissions Specialist at Yarra Valley Water) has worked in the Australian energy industry in a diverse range of roles, from consulting for some of Australia’s largest commercial and industrial energy users in energy and carbon markets to developing a niche electricity management / retail service offering to medium sized commercial businesses. In his current role, Simon provides strategic direction and the implementation of renewable energy and emissions reduction policies, programs and projects for Yarra Valley Water (including their award-winning waste-to-energy project ‘ReWaste’) and also the wider Victorian water industry.