Consulting-Specifying Engineer Editorial Advisory Board
The veteran board members and newcomers represent expertise and leadership in engineering, building science, commissioning, and business practice. Representing the diverse climates, codes, and building types found in the United States, board members—as authors, reviewers, and speakers—provide breadth and depth across the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire/life safety engineering topics. Below are the qualifications of each member.
Anil Ahuja, PE, LEED AP, RCDD, president, CCJM Engineers Ltd., Chicago
Ahuja has nearly 30 years of experience in building systems design, design management, construction management, commissioning, and operations and maintenance. He is a registered professional engineer in several states, with project experience including commercial, institutional, educational, residential, industrial, and airports. Ahuja is a member of President Bush's “Renewable Energy Think Tank” and the AIA Chair of the MASTERSPEC Engineering Review Committee.
Patrick Banse, PE, LEED AP, senior mechanical engineer, Smith Seckman Reid Inc., Houston
Banse has more than 30 years in the consulting engineering field with the last 25 years in healthcare design and engineering. He is responsible for HVAC, plumbing, and fire protection design for hospital and healthcare projects. He has authored several articles on smoke control and related codes and standards and has spoken at the ASHE P, D & C Conference and at Build Boston.
Paul Bearn, PE, associate electrical services engineer, KlingStubbins, Philadelphia
For the past 18 years, Bearn has been responsible for the engineering and design of electrical power and lighting systems for data centers, process facilities, laboratories, and commercial installations. He has most recently focused on mission critical facility projects for JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Amtrak. He has drawn on this experience to create the article, “EPO: Emergency Power On” for the December 2008 edition of Pure Power magazine, which was also used as a segment in Consulting-Specifying Engineer’s webcast “Blackout Blues,” describing business strategies to determine on-site generator needs.
Michael Chow, PE, LEED AP BD+C, principal, Metro CD Engineering LLC, Dublin, Ohio
Chow is an accomplished professional engineer and entrepreneur. He received a BSEE from Ohio Northern University in 1992. Chow serves on the ONU College of Engineering Advisory Board. He is the owner/founder of Metro CD Engineering LLC based in Dublin, Ohio, and is a licensed PE in 18 states. He is an officer in the U.S. Green Building Council Central Ohio Chapter. In 2009, Chow received the Consulting-Specifying Engineer and Columbus Business First newspaper 40 Under 40 awards.
Douglas Evans, PE, fire protection engineer, Clark County (Nevada) Building Dept.
Evans’ knowledge of fire protection includes suppression systems, detection and alarm systems, elevators, fire-resistive construction, exiting, hazardous materials, fire testing, fire modeling, secondary power supplies, and an understanding of the appropriate codes and standards. His specialization is review of code alternates/performance-based designs, smoke management systems, grease duct enclosures, product listings/applications for use within structures, foam plastics as building materials, and unique interiors.
Raymond A. Grill, PE, FSFPE, principal, Arup, Washington, D.C.
Grill served as the president of the SFPE and as a Trustee on the Board Trustees of the Fire Protection Research Foundation. He was a 24-year member and chair of NFPA 72 Technical Committee on Notification Appliance and a member of the NFPA Technical Correlating Committee for Automatic Sprinkler Systems. Grill served as the principle investigator for two contracts with NIST regarding the World Trade Center investigation.
Raj P. Gupta, PE, LEED AP, president, Environmental Systems Design Inc. (ESD), Chicago
Gupta oversees all operations and strategic planning for the firm. He joined ESD in 1984 as a mechanical engineer and became president in 1998. Gupta is a registered professional engineer in 33 states and a member of ASHRAE, BOMA, Chicago Building Congress, and Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings.
Danna Jensen, PE, LEED AP BD+C, Associate Principal, ccrd partners, Dallas
Jensen has 12 years of experience at ccrd in Dallas, where she became associate principal in 2012. Most of her work consists of designing electrical distribution for hospitals; additionally, she handles some office and minor retail work. She is the project manager of major hospital projects, which includes knowledge of all mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP), and fire protection systems, as well as commissioning. Jensen was a 2009 Consulting-Specifying Engineer 40 Under 40 winner.
Gersil Kay, president, founder, Conservation Lighting International and Building Conservation International, Philadelphia
A past member of the IESNA Board of Directors, Kay is a member of several professional affiliations and societies including IESNA, IAFI, AIA's Historic Resources Committee, and International Council on Art Deco Societies. She served as the U.S. Chair of Professional Education for International Council of Monuments and Sites in 1990 and was the first recipient of the President of the United States' Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation.
William J. Kosik, PE, CEM, LEED AP, managing principal, EYP Mission Critical Facilities Inc., Chicago
Kosik is a member of EYP Mission Critical Facilities' Technology Council and R&D organization. Kosik is the leader of “Moving Toward Sustainability,” which focuses on the research, development, and implementation of energy-efficient and environmentally responsible design strategies for data centers. Kosik collaborates with SC500 clients, developing innovative design strategies for cooling high-density environments, and creating scalable cooling and power models for 10sTeraFlop to 100sTeraFlop to 10sPetaFlop scenarios.
Tim Kuhlman, PE, RCDD, electrical engineer, CH2M Hill, Portland, Ore.
Kuhlman has 20 years of experience in the field of communications infrastructure. His experience includes the design and construction of telecommunication infrastructure for microelectronics manufacturing facilities, data centers, laboratories, testing labs, office buildings, petrochemical plants, hospitals, and university campuses. His project experience includes facilities designed or constructed in the United States, Ireland, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Israel, and India.
Keith Lane, PE, RCDD, LEED AP, principal, partner, Lane Coburn & Assocs. LLC, Seattle
Lane is a licensed General Electrical Administrator in Washington, a Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD) through BICSI, a Network Transport System Specialist, and a Certified Telecommunications Project Manager (TPM) through the Telecommunication Project Management Assn. (TPMA). Lane is active in several professional organizations including NFPA, the Illuminating Engineering Society, and the Washington State Society of Healthcare Engineers. He was a 2008 40 Under 40 winner.
Kenneth Lovorn, PE, president, chief engineer, Lovorn Engineering Assocs. Inc., Pittsburgh
Lovorn has 32 years of progressive design and engineering management experience with architect-engineers and consulting engineers designing electrical systems. His work designs include single-family and high-rise residential; light industrial facilities; office buildings; institutional facilities, including renovations; and new facilities for hospitals, K-12 schools, and higher educational facilities.
Ali Mahmood, PE, senior mechanical engineer, Stanley Consultants Inc., Chicago
Mahmood has 19 years of technical experience. His reponsibilities include project engineering, project management, and mechanical engineering task lead. His work is primarily for institutional, industrial, and utility clients. Mahmood's project experience includes quality control and quality assurance of bid documents, including analysis, engineering, and designing mechanical systems encompassing HVAC, plumbing, and fire protection.
Erin McConahey, PE, associate principal, Arup, Los Angeles
McConahey works in mechanical engineering at Arup, where she focuses on multidisciplinary design approaches and integrated technical solutions grounded in extensive engineering analysis. During her 13 years with Arup, she has worked internationally and is now a lead engineer on a wide variety of project types including educational facilities, offices, high-end retail, laboratories, museums, and high-rises. She was a 2008 40 Under 40 winner.
Syed M. Peeran, PhD, PE, senior engineer, Camp Dresser & McKee Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
Peeran has more than 20 years of experience in the design of electrical distribution systems. He was an adjunct professor at Northeastern University, Boston. He has authored several papers in the transaction of IEEE and two sections in electrical engineering handbooks. His expertise includes design of low- and medium-voltage distribution, protection, variable frequency drives, harmonic analysis, power system studies, and electric motors.
Mickey Reiss, PE, FSFPE, president, CEO, RJA Group Inc., Framingham, Mass.
Reiss has more than 30 years of experience focusing on fire protection safety through new technology, codes and standards development, and the proper application of fire protection systems. Reiss served on NFPA technical committees such as the National Fire Alarm Code, Life Safety Code, Building Code, and Cultural Resources Committee and as the Chair of the NFPA Board of Directors from 2000 to 2002.
Brian A. Rener, PE, LEED AP, Electrical Platform Leader and Quality Assurance Manager, M+W Group., Chicago.
Rener has more than 20 years of experience in management and engineering for new and existing facilities. His specialization is in electrical power and life safety systems for commercial, industrial, governmental, and mission critical facilities. He is a member of the IEEE industrial applications Chicago society where he has served as an officer and chair. Brian has published or presented numerous papers on power systems for the IEEE, Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine, and Pure Power magazine.
David Sellers, PE, senior engineer, Facility Dynamics Engineering, Portland, Ore.
Sellers' background includes more than 30 years of experience with commissioning, design engineering, facilities engineering, mechanical and control system contracting, and project engineering in a wide array of facilities. The facilities range from hospitals and semiconductor clean rooms to commercial office buildings to research/pilot projects in the energy efficiency and sustainability arena. He provides technical training and develops technical guidelines on retrocommissioning and commissioning field techniques.
Gerald Versluys, PE, LEED AP, senior electrical engineer, TLC Engineering for Architecture, Jacksonville, Fla.
Versluys has more than 20 years of experience in building MEP engineering design, including seven years at TLC. The majority of his experience is as a consultant project manager on healthcare projects; however he also has a deep resume' on creative lighting, medium voltage distribution and historic renovation projects. Gerald's recent experiences include MEP design of the first LEED-certified hospital in Pennsylvania; teaching lighting design; teaching ARE preparation courses; and speaking on healthcare related engineering topics.
Mike Walters, PE, LEED AP, principal, AEI/Affiliated Engineers Inc., Madison, Wis.
As the firm’s sustainable market leader, Walters provides leadership in the planning and design of sustainable and energy-efficient public, private, and government projects worldwide, including climate action plans for Cornell University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Case Western Reserve; the development of Ohio State University’s Energy and Infrastructure Plan; and the 5 million sq ft LEED Platinum King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. A popular SCUP, Greenbuild, and Labs21 speaker, Walters has been a featured lecturer at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and is a frequent lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, where he developed the sustainable building design and LEED course for the College of Engineering. Walters was a 2009 40 Under 40 winner.
Peter D. Zak, PE, principal, GRAEF, Milwaukee
Zak directs GRAEF's mechanical, electrical, and plumbing projects and the firm's design engineers and more than 30 years of experience with the design of mechanical systems. He has also been an adjunct professor at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where he developed and taught a series of courses on the design of mechanical building systems.