Business Review USA & Canada - November 2016

ARBONNE: Poised for an era of rapid expansion made possible by I.T.

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November 2016

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GE’s

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BRILLIANT FACTORY

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

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EDITOR’S COMMENT

WELCOME to the November issue of

Business Review USA & Canada.

T

his month features an interview with Elyse Allan, CEO of GE Canada, and Kim Warburton, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, about the company’s new Brilliant Factory in Ontario. The facility is a set to be a state-of-the-art project which will bring both prestige and economic prosperity to the local area, and marks the beginning of a new age for GE. Also featured is a piece from Daniel Kurgan, CEO of BICS, about how the US is front and center of telecoms innovation, and our list is the top 10 business schools in Canada.

November’s exclusive profiles

include Arbonne International, the skincare company that is undergoing an international expansion; SCT&E LNG which is developing a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana to promote the use of clean natural gases; University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences and its high-tech campus and science unit construction project; HTS Engineering’s growth and innovation in the air conditioning sector; and AiNET’s flexible data center offerings.

Enjoy this issue, and please do join the discussion on Twitter: @BizReviewUSA & @NellWalkerMG

Nell Walker Editor nell.walker@bizclikmedia.com 3

CONTENTS

F E AT U R E S

06

PROFILE

GE:

connecting Canadian manufacturing

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20

TECHNOLOGY

The US at the front and center of telecoms innovation

50 University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences

LIST

Top 10 Canadian MBA schools 4

NOVEMBER 2016

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Arbonne International

C O M PA N Y PROFILES TECHNOLOGY 32 Arbonne International

CONSTRUCTION 50 University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences 66 HTS Engineering 78 AiNET

ENERGY 90 SCT&E LNG

66 HTS Engineering

78 AiNET

90

SCT&E LNG

PROFILE

Elyse Allan, CEO of GE Canada

Connecting

Canadian manufacturing Wr i t t e n by : N E LL WA LK E R

GE Canada has broken ground on the site of its future Brilliant Factory in Welland, and speaks to Business Review USA & Canada about the project ahead EARLIER THIS YEAR, the province of Ontario partnered with General Electric Canada to provide the company with a $20.5

million grant, aiding to fund the new Brilliant Factory in Welland.

The facility will be one of the most technologically advanced of its kind in the world, bringing a plethora of economic opportunities to the local area. It will create a fully-integrated industrial Internet of Things approach to manufacturing, and as such, further enhance Ontario’s status as a growing presence in the world of technology.

Business Review USA & Canada spoke with Elyse Allan, CEO of GE Canada, and Kim Warburton, 7

PROFILE

GE has operated in Canada for over 100 years, beginning with the manufacturing facility in Peterborough, Ontario founded by Thomas Edison in 1892.

Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, about the new Welland factory and what it means both for GE and for Ontario.

“We broke ground in August this year,” Allan says, “and expect the factory to open early 2018. The first business to be located in the multimodal facility is GE Power, which will make reciprocating gas engines.

The plant will also manufacture components for GE transportation diesel locomotive engines.”

GE has been in Canada since 1892, when iconic inventor Thomas Edison founded a factory in Peterborough, and it has maintained a presence

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ever since. Still, the Welland factory is a huge deal for Ontario and the nation itself, as Warburton explains: “We looked at many locations, but we settled in Ontario for proximity to the border and access to quality labor. There aren’t a lot of stories about big business in Canada, but this is a message of hope for the manufacturing sector in this country.

When you’re part of a multinational, you fight every day for your countries because there’s lots of voices around the table, and many equally compelling reasons to go elsewhere.

One of the big drivers is the Economic Development Corporation that exists

G E : C O N N E C T I N G C A N A D I A N M A N U FA C T U R I N G

in Canada, with that it will eventually which we have a be competing against great relationship.” at least two hundred “The province others worldwide. is well located for The facility will export to reach our run 3D modelglobal customers,” based simulations adds Allan, “and has to help optimize the incredible talent manufacturing, and we need for our real-time analytics to advanced facility.” ensure GE is able to The work that GE predict and prevent will do in Canada unplanned downtime. is described by “If you can predict Elyse Allan, CEO of GE Canada Warburton as “wholewhat’s happening world digital,” meaning an industrial with your machine before it occurs, level of IoT. “Advanced manufacturing you can fix it in advance,” Warburton now is about taking a look at existing says. “3D manufacturing has become factories and saying ‘how can we be very advanced; you couldn’t do any better by using both digital and lean of this five or 10 years ago. Down manufacturing?’, and so in Welland the line we’ll undoubtedly be using we’re building bigger and better virtual reality in some factories. All efficiency through digitization.” these new things are now being GE expects that the Brilliant Factory brought into facilities which make will swiftly allow production to run them more viable than ever before.” around 30 percent faster than it The Brilliant Factory production currently does, and that it will be at model, GE says, has evolved quite least 10 percent more productive. The naturally to a point where it is among Welland Plant is likely to remain one of the most advanced in the world. “Just the top 10 in the world, despite the fact think about consumer internet 10

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PROFILE

“There aren’t a lot of stories about big business in Canada... years ago – we’re now at the beginning stage of industrial internet, which is the next phase,” Warburton explains. “It’s really quite incredible when you think of the millions of machines and pieces of equipment that are now connected via the industrial internet, and that allows them all to talk to each other.

You couldn’t do that not long ago.”

One of the most exciting prospects for Ontario as it helps to fund GE is the economic impact. The province is investing over $2 billion across a 10 year period through the Jobs and Prosperity Fund to bring in big business and create job opportunities; companies which are

settling in Ontario to manufacture include Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, IBM, Google, and Huawei.

“Our aspiration is that Welland’s Brilliant Factory becomes one of the top GE factories in the world for advanced manufacturing,” Allan says, “and we look forward to working with the City of Welland to create jobs and economic growth.”

“Because of digitization and the tools involved in achieving it, you can do things more efficiently which puts a whole new face on traditional manufacturing,” Warburton adds. “Now we can have skilled workers doing skilled tasks.

...but this is a message of hope for the manufacturing sector in this country” – Kim Warburton, VP of Commucations and Public Affairs, GE Canada

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GE: CONNECTING CANADIAN M A N U FA C T U R I N G

That’s the future of manufacturing, and it’s good news for Ontario.

“Welland has been a depressed area economically, and this building is a boost to the community. Others will look to Welland and hopefully choose to move there, helping the economy further. It’s a domino effect.

We’re sourcing as much labor as possible from Welland itself, which we’ll be hiring for in 2017 ready to open the factory in 2018.”

In the words of Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, “GE’s decision to invest in Welland sends a clear message that our province has a lot to offer”; the project is a mutually advantageous strategic move which will benefit both the province and the technology giant immensely.

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The US at the front and center of telecoms innovation Writ ten by: DANIE L KURG AN

TECHNOLOGY

Daniel Kurgan, CEO of BICS

TECHNOLOGY

The US market is at the center of communication service evolution with traditional carriers, retail brands and Silicon Valley app companies all competing for market and technological supremacy. Here, Daniel Kurgan, CEO of international carrier services provider BICS, explains the unique dynamics of the US market and the trends the company is seeing from its customers across all of these segments 14

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THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS market is a fascinating and constantly evolving industry filled with innovation.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the USA, where Silicon Valley’s finest are competing to provide mainstream and new app-based services traditionally offered by the likes of Verizon and AT&T. Simultaneously, traditional wireless providers are looking to provide value added services and complete the move to enhanced IP-based services, and a plethora of new MVNOs are entering the market based on popular retail brands and price-led propositions.

It is a market where only the strongest will survive, and each segment of communication players must address their own unique challenges to ensure they win or retain the market share to meet their business objectives.

Dominated by two market needs, which can be categorized into MNOs (mobile network operators) and digital service providers, the US proves to be an exciting testing ground for

T E L E C O M S I N N O V AT I O N

“It is a market where only the strongest will survive” VS

new providers with unique business models. Around 90 percent of appbased communications providers operate out of Silicon Valley and are now engaging with mainstream telecoms infrastructure companies to expand both their physical footprints and their technical capabilities.

MNOs have had to upgrade their networks due to technological advancements, LTE growth and the role of big data. They now offer their subscribers enhanced services such as high speed data and high definition voice (VoLTE), which set an example to the rest of the world on how to keep customer engagement intact with the new service offerings.

Digital service providers on the other hand are cashing in on the growth of end-user reliance on smartphone devices for online activities. These often require identity validation and authentication via SMS or voice communication channels to avoid internet frauds over app downloads, mobile transactions, and so on.

This is especially evident with those who are looking at new business models such as sponsored data – where users are offered free data to be used on a specific service – and those providing services in countries where regulation requires access to identity management services.

Telecoms industry analyst house

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TECHNOLOGY

Analysys Mason predicts that by 2020 the identity management services market

will be worth

$9.4 billion Analysys Mason predicts that by 2020 the identity management services market will be worth $9.4 billion. This will in part be driven by requirements from Valley app companies to verify the identity of those using their services both in heavily regulated markets and more widely for their own business objectives. Many of these Internet companies will need to engage with traditional wireless infrastructure providers to enable these and other services to improve their customer journey.

International carrier services providers, such as BICS, have been

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engaging with these companies for some time: providing international capabilities, and enabling services which require more robust infrastructure than they already have access to.

MOVING COMMUNICATIONS INTO THE NEXT GENERATION The rapid growth of these Valley players would never have been possible without the significant investments made by carriers around the world in making the ‘internet everywhere’ dream a reality.

Not only is domestic 3G and LTE available throughout the States,

T E L E C O M S I N N O V AT I O N

but now customers of all of the major US networks can enjoy high speed data roaming while visiting more than 125 countries around the world, including all of the world’s major holiday destinations.

This footprint has grown simultaneously with strong smartphone penetration seen across the world since the iPhone launch in 2007. Following the development and roll-out of truly international LTE, the next major step is the widespread deployment of higherdefinition voice services. In the US, this has taken the shape of VoLTE, which is currently being rolled out by carriers across the country.

VoLTE (Voice over LTE) offers the same leap in quality from standard voice as data services received when LTE replaced 3G, and promises to offer the same boost in usage carriers saw during this transition.

In regions where app companies are gaining traction with IP voice services it is vital that carriers accelerate this roll-out and truly make the most of their significant investment in next generation voice.

VOLTE EVERYWHERE VoLTE stands out as the highest quality HD voice service, offering low-frequency LTE spectrum usage, which enables network efficiency and reduced operational expenditure for mobile carriers. As usage increases in line with the availability of supporting devices and wider network availability, VoLTE will be made available for roamers and those making international calls.

This promises to provide increased revenue for traditional carriers as they look to boost usage of voice and maximize the economic advantages from their technological investment.

To achieve this ubiquitous international service, however, requires significant research and interoperability testing. This is currently being undertaken by BICS in association with carriers around the world.

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TECHNOLOGY

Following multiple, wide-ranging trials, the use case for international VoLTE interworking has been successfully proven between Europe and Asia and means not only will users across launch markets have access to high quality voice service over an LTE network, but general mobility will increase too, enabling services to be used on any device, over any access network, be it 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi. This technology is now being perfected

services) launch including group chat, video calling, instant messaging and file transfer services. RCS is a carrier-led initiative offering rich and simpler communication services which are interoperable with all other operators both domestically and internationally, providing the same level of ubiquity as voice and SMS. This technology has also been embraced by Valley players such as Google with its purchase of Jibe

‘VoLTE will be made available for roamers and those making international calls’ for the US and other markets and will be available in due course.

VoLTE is only the start of the technological innovation that will drive the industry forward during the coming years with the scene now set for wider RCS (rich communication

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at the end of September 2015. The acquisition further indicates how OTTs are interested in integrating telecom carrier-led next generation communication services.

Both VoLTE and RCS will bring the next stage of all-IP era

T E L E C O M S I N N O V AT I O N

communications to the commercial marketplace, offering ubiquitous, high definition services with a robust fall-back onto legacy technology as and when required.

In the US market, next generation services are revolutionizing communications services for operators, Valley app companies and end-users alike. The increasing demand has been driving service providers to ensure they have implemented local presences to target their current customers and potential new business and boost their income revenues where possible.

If these technological developments are fully embraced, and supported by carriers providing reliable backbone infrastructure, operators are able to bring the next level of communications to the market place and provide a new level of customer experience to subscribers, increasing usage and profitability.

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LIST

Top 10 Canadian MBA schools Here are Canada’s top business schools of 2016 ranked by reputation, according to Canadian Business.

Wr i t t e n by : N E LL WA LK E R

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LIST

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JOHN MOLSON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY Established 1974 in Montreal, the John Molson Business School allows Quebec residents a hugely reduced course cost, charging just $7,000 rather than $16,000, and offers MBA students the chance to be a part of its long-running international case competition. It is the largest of its kind, now running for its 35th year, and the winners receive $10,000.

www.concordia.ca

L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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CANADIAN MBA SCHOOLS

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DEGROOTE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, MCMASTER UNIVERSITY This Burlington school began in 1952, and offers students the opportunity to undertake four-month work placements in order to acquire real-life business skills alongside their studies.

Incentives are also given to students in the form of an honors program for the third year, after which there is a 12-16 month internship option. Enviably huge companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble are all internship partners. Courses cost $36,650.

www.degroote.mcmaster.ca L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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LIST

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UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA Founded in 1908, the University of Alberta offers a very broad range of subject to study, with a heavy focus on leadership – there are now courses on women in leadership and applied leadership. The school has ranked highly in top universities lists for several years in a row, and has a huge economic impact on the area around it, bringing around $12.3 billion to Alberta every year. Courses cost $27,862.

www.ualberta.ca L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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CANADIAN MBA SCHOOLS

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SAUDER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Sauder was established in 1956 and is consistently within the top university rankings worldwide.

Around 65-70 percent of students come from outside of Canada, and the school also hosts 15 specialist research centers. The courses offered

by Sauder are more specific than most, allowing the student to pursue the exact career of their choice. The Vancouver school costs $43,883.

www.sauder.ubc.ca

L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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LIST

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DESAUTELS FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT, MCGILL UNIVERSITY Like Degroote, this Montreal school highly values real-world experience and ensures that all students undertake 10 days of international study as well as a paid internship. There is a Tokyo campus which gives overseas students the opportunity to travel to Canada and undertake some of their studies there. Desautels is the oldest school on this list, established in 1906, and the program costs $79,500.

www.mcgill.ca L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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CANADIAN MBA SCHOOLS

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HEC MONTRÉAL The courses at HEC are separated by theme, focussing on topics more specific to the student’s requirements.

A five week consulting project at a relevant company is mandatory, and study features leadership and communication. Like the John Molson School, HEC offers a far cheaper rate for local residents: $7,500 for those in Quebec, and $15,300 for out-of-province applicants.

HEC was established in 1907.

www.hec.ca/en

L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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LIST

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SCHULICH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, YORK UNIVERSITY A younger school, beginning in 1966, this Toronto school boasts overseas campuses in Beijing and Hyderabad as it has a heavy emphasis on international business. The Schulich Strategy Field Study is mandatory and is a real-world consulting project that students can use to achieve necessary experience for their post-graduate lives. The course costs $70,710.

www.schulich.yorku.ca L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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CANADIAN MBA SCHOOLS

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IVEY BUSINESS SCHOOL, WESTERN UNIVERSITY Ivey started in 1922, and uses over 300 real scenarios to develop students’ skills and prepare them for their careers. Based in London, the school has been hailed by Bloomberg Businessweek as the best MBA school outside of the US. The program costs $82,000.

www.ivey.uwo.ca L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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LIST

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QUEEN’S SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY The program at Queen’s focusses on the basics of the business world, including entrepreneurship and innovation. It has recently added a healthcare-specific module, and came in first place for Canadian Business’s 2014 MBA ranking. The school was established in 1919 and its course at Kingston costs $77,000.

www.smith.queensu.ca

L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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CANADIAN MBA SCHOOLS

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ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Canada’s top business school is also the most expensive at $95,100 for the full course. The Toronto school focusses on practical realworld business skills that anybody going into the sector will need, and offers a vast range of subjects for students to choose from – there are 14 available majors and over 90 elective modules. Established in 1950, the school consistently ranks within the top 10 Canadian MBAs, maintaining the best possible reputation.

www.rotman.utoronto.ca L I K E , F O L L O W, S H A R E :

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POISED FOR AN ERA OF RAPID EXPANSION MADE POSSIBLE BY I.T.

Written by John O’Hanlon Produced by Vince Kielty

A R B O N N E I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Arbonne International is a company that helps change lives: to enable it to do that effectively it has to keep ahead of the way people think and live their lives - and that’s where IT comes in

B

y the time Petter Mørck died in 2008, he had seen the business that he founded in 1975 grow from a small Swiss provider of personal health products to a global giant with its base in California since it moved there in 1980.

Today Arbonne International employs a direct workforce of some 800. However, its multi-level marketing (MLM) business model, whereby sales are effected through a network of independent consultants, makes it a lot bigger than this figure suggests.

More than 250,000 franchised or licensed agents, each running their own business with the support of Arbonne testify to the success of that model in the marketplace.

Yes, a quarter of a million businesses in the United States,

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Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand are established to market Arbonne’s range of health and nutritional products, made from natural, botanically-derived and pure ingredients. These products are 100 percent developed by Arbonne’s scientists, the formulae are all Arbonne’s own, and 50 percent of these products are manufactured in the company’s own facilities.

Mørck’s vision was to make safe, high quality and natural health and wellbeing products available to the average person at affordable prices, and ‘pure, safe and beneficial’ remains Arbonne’s ethical mantra.

Servicing the orders from so many consultants, each with a greater or smaller number of his or her own customers, is probably the most business critical part of a

TECHNOLOGY

very large back office environment that includes all the usual business functions, as well as the supply chain for a complex manufacturing operation from procurement through to global distribution. Juggling all these balls is the challenge for Arbonne’s IT department, under

the leadership of CIO Guy Thier.

Appointed in 2013, Thier had completed nearly 10 years as SVP at Bally Total Fitness where, combining the roles of CIO and COO he led an IT turnaround that saw operating costs cut by more than half. The two

about The idea to provide skincare products unparalleled in quality and effectiveness developed in Switzerland in 1975, when one man, Petter Mørck, together with a group of leading biochemists, biologists and herbalists, fulfilled his vision and founded Arbonne.

Arbonne skincare products, based on botanical principles, became a reality in the United States in 1980 and are now shared throughout the world through the Arbonne network of Independent Consultants.

Building on these same founding principles, the product line has since grown to include both inner and outer health and beauty products that are unparalleled in quality, safety, value, benefits and results.

The wonderful thing about Arbonne is that it’s not just about great products, it’s also about great people. The Arbonne family is made up of thousands of individuals working to make their dreams come true. Through sales incentives and rewards, travel opportunities, a generous SuccessPlan and great products, Arbonne offers a unique opportunity that can help make anyone’s vision for the future a reality.

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GLOBAL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION PROFESSIONALS We are a boutique consulting firm removing roadblocks to enable improved performance by leveraging methods developed through extensive entrepreneurial and industry experience.

GBTP operationalizes business strategy for clients across industry, size and structure.

STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT

We provide business advisory services to validate, optimize and operationalize your strategic plans.

PROJECT EXECUTION

We provide professional program and project oversight to manage risks and ensure on-time, on-budget delivery.

BUSINESS AND IT ASSESSMENT

Our assessment methodologies measure your business and IT operations performance, risk and velocity against your target business plans.

ACQUISITION & DIVESTITURE: BUSINESS & IT ALIGNMENT

We rapidly evaluate your current state and create strategic & tactical roadmaps aligned to address acquisition and divestiture activities.

BUSINESS RE-ENGINEERING &TRANSFORMATION

We create and action a target roadmap for business or IT process improvement to facilitate your strategic alignment in a manageable and progressive fashion.

SOLUTION SELECTION AND INTEGRATION

We provide End-to-End vendor and solution integration from business requirements, to RFP management and post contract governance support.

As an advisory firm, we work directly with business and technology executives to align strategic business initiatives to develop or enhance short and long term strategies. We provide project execution oversight and specialists to deliver projects on time and on budget.

CLIENT SPOTLIGhT

Arbonne International ThE GLOBAL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION PROFESSIONALS (GBTP) STORy Keith Chiavetta, GBTP’s President and CEO, saw an opportunity during a tough 2009 U.S. economy, to create a boutique management consulting firm providing both business and technology consulting. His vision included a small-team approach offering senior advisory and consulting services at a competitive rate. Today, as then, he focuses on providing significant value through establishing a trusted advisor relationships with an entrepreneurial spirit that extends well beyond simply making recommendations or providing advice.

Over the past eight years GBTP has developed into a global advisory and consulting company with six core offerings. Clients range from start-ups to international organizations with thousands of employees. We serve both private and public firms, including many private-equity owned concerns and not-forprofits. Our approach balances “big firm” processes with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Our team is a dedicated group of senior professionals from multiple industries. Their significant experience includes strategy, architecture, operations and IT consulting.

We are proud of their work and the passion they have for excellence and client service.

When Guy Thier, CIO of Arbonne International, joined the company’s executive team in 2013; Keith Chiavetta answered Guy’s call to help implement his vision. Keith understood Guy’s approach to aligning IT with the business. Guy had brought Keith on at his prior firm to help implement a customerfocused IT strategy, anchored by innovative technology.

“Keith has long understood that a strong IT professional must understand every aspect of the business in order to be a good partner” says Guy.

The GBTP team works side-by-side with my functional leaders, focused on getting the job done.

– Guy Thier

Over the last several years GBTP has been involved with Guy and Arbonne in several key initiatives focusing on IT strategic alignment, project execution, solution integration and developing innovative technology solutions. Guy states, “The GBTP team works side-by-side with my functional leaders, focused on getting the job done.

If you are interested in having a discussion with one of our professionals, please contact us via the link below.

www.gbtpllc.com

info@gbtpllc.com

Guy Thier, CIO Guy Thier brings approximately 20 years of CIO experience to Arbonne from public, private and private equity ownership business models with extensive experience in both IT strategy development as well as grass roots execution of complex projects. He joined Arbonne from Bally Total Fitness, where he served as Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for 10 years, overseeing successful IT planning and execution, while achieving operational efficiencies for the $1 billion, 400-club organization.

Previously, Guy led the IT functions at LINC Capital and Chernin’s Shoes.

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businesses operate on very different models, he admits; the one selling a service, the other a product; the one located in buildings, the other having very few physical assets.

Nevertheless he saw it as a natural progression: “I wanted to work in an organization that really helped people to improve their life and their health.” With manufacturing operations and supply chain focused on stability and efficiency while sales and e-commerce require great flexibility and user experience, as well as the demands of product development, R&D and administration, it is like being the CIO of several companies at once, he adds.

Reporting to him directly are some 50 Arbonne IT specialists, while the team is augmented to about 150 people when partners working on the Arbonne account are included.

As well as the USA, he has people working for him in India, Hungary and other European countries.

PARTNER POWER Back in 2013 the problem that cried out to be addressed may be familiar

TECHNOLOGY

“I wanted to work in an organization that really helped people to improve their life and their health” – Guy Thier, CIO

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A R B O N N E I N T E R N AT I O N A L

to CIOs. “In common with most MLM companies, a large percentage of sales occur toward the end of the month as people try to reach their targets, improve their ratings or maybe earn an incentive,” Thier reveals. “20 percent of our business comes in on the last couple of days in the month and the e-commerce platform we were using could not handle the spike in ordering. It would shut down, and everyone was very frustrated.”

To address this

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problem, a partnership was entered into with Thatcher Technology of Naperville Illinois, a specialist in MLM software, comprising the purchase of their e-commerce platform, genealogy and compensation management as well as some back office functions to support the call center.

Following nearly two years of intensive customization and modification to meet Arbonne’s business needs, the new platform was

TECHNOLOGY

launched in March 2015. “We have a very tight relationship with Thatcher,” says Thier. “We have a daily call where we go over new requests and issues with their CEO and product development manager, so we really do work as a single virtual team involving key vendors, my own IT team and Thatcher.”

Among the key partners in this virtual team is Keste, Arbonne’s Oracle partner. Keste’s role was to develop the integration between Thatcher, EBS and some other third party providers of functionality such as credit card processing, address identification

and verification and sales tax. Keste was recognized as the Arbonne IT Strategic Partner of the Year for 2013 and continues to serve as a consulting partner. Throughout this transformation journey Thier relied on a few tried and tested consultants he had worked with over the years, singling out for special mention Keith Chiavetta, with Global Business Transformation Professionals (GBTP) who came in at an early point to help prepare the IT organization for change and to subsequently drive it forward.

Also valued was the input of Jim Jacoby and Laurie Martinelli whose input into the app design process from the point of view of customer experience was invaluable. Arusha Goyal, CEO of Goyal Consulting Group, has also been instrumental in helping Arbonne expand internationally with a successful launch of New Zealand and Taiwan. Arusha has led dozens of works streams supporting all aspects of expansion including product development, field development, customer service and technology work streams.

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WE ARE EXPERTS IN: Cloud computing IT modernization Multi-point integrations Complex e-commerce solutions Complete lifecycle order management

A R B O N N E I N T E R N AT I O N A L

INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION The new platform, apart from stabilizing sales from month to month so the system could cope with rapidly fluctuating levels of business traffic and support sustained growth, was selected to allow Arbonne to expand internationally. “We wanted additionally to be able to open for business in non-English speaking countries,” says Thier. In anticipation of exponential growth into new geographies, the greater part of the – Guy Thier, CIO e-commerce platform has been moved to Amazon Web Services (AWS), a world-embracing suite of cloud-computing services that make up an on-demand computing platform. “Our level of business already scales fivefold at the end of the month, and with AWS within minutes we add five times the server capacity.

The advent of cloud has been a

great addition to our infrastructure,” Thier adds. AWS Auto Scaling now ensures that no matter how large or unexpected the spikes in sales demand may be capacity will be automatically increased to meet them.

The new system has delivered increasingly smooth month-end closes, the CIO reports, clearing the way for a rapid transition to introducing far greater flexibility in the market using the latest tools. “We began working towards a future where you are not tied to a website or to a laptop.

These days there are many more innovative and creative ways of creating a shopping cart off a website whether with mobile device, Amazon Echo [the voice activated virtual assistant already available in the USA and being launched in the UK this year], Apple TV or a kiosk solution where you can have the personalized shopping experience of your choice

“We try to build things in a way that you don’t need training”

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TECHNOLOGY

but feeding the same compensation engine, the same genealogy structure.

It’s letting people shop wherever they are, on whatever device is to hand, and of course it opens up to a broader range of potential consultants.”

benefits they have personally had from using the products – that’s how most of them start – and give them the twin opportunities of access to the products or of joining Arbonne.

For them the company hosts more

Arbonne consultants are already used to doing business in innovative ways. Some are intense users of social media. Typically they share with family, friends and followers the

than 80,000 websites, and all the orders placed are processed through those consultants. “We also provide them with management tools to run their business,” says Guy Thier, “so

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each will have hundreds or even thousands of people below them.

We have reporting tools that let them know how well their people are doing, and communication tools so they can e-mail their team.” He is also developing toolkits to help consultants purchase products on platforms like Facebook and Pinterest.

MULTILINGUAL, MULTICHANNEL So far, all Arbonne’s business has been conducted in predominantly English, French or Spanish speaking regions, however this year the company is opening for business in Taiwan. Translation from and into Chinese has been a barrier. It’s perhaps simple enough to render text in both languages but when it comes to interaction it gets a little harder, Thier confesses. “We have software that will take a person’s address in Chinese and convert it to English or vice versa. And we have in-line translation tools in place so that any user can choose whether to see material in Chinese or in English.”

As people choose to shop in different ways it’s a priority for

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Arbonne to create new channels.

For example to make it easier for consultants to access their figures an Amazon Echo version of their portal will soon be released so they can simply ask for the statistics and receive a spoken answer – soon it will be possible to do that from a smartphone too. Asked whether frequent upgrades don’t mean a lot of training, Thier replies that these apps are designed to be intuitive, “We try to build things in a way that you don’t need training. The first mobile app we launched in May was provided the same information as the internet portal for consultants

and we had zero training. In the first week we had 20,000 downloads of the app; now it’s running with about 35,000 users and not a few problems have been reported.”

The company is poised for an era of rapid expansion, made possible

by IT. For six years it had not moved into any new territories because of technology and language hurdles: now it is planned to move into at least five new countries over three years. The infrastructure is scalable, the model proven, and Petter Mørck’s vision of passing a legacy to the great great grandchildren he will never know personally is becoming a reality.

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Lean design and construction methodologies Written by Catherine Rowell Produced by Tom Venturo

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Marco Capicchioni, Vice President for Facilities, Planning, Design and Construction for the University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences, discusses how the extensive construction, renovation and improvement works to current healthcare facilities on campus, in addition to the implementation of smart technologies, have enabled the delivery of first-class care whilst remaining ahead of the game

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ppointed in 2014, Capicchioni has ensured the ongoing success of an array of projects currently in progress at the University. His extensive experience at Detroit Medical Center and the Henry Ford Health System has strengthened his passion in the construction and renovation of health facilities, ensuring ongoing projects on site will exceed the customers’ expectations and are delivered as quickly as possible.

Two recent projects has ensured the care provided at facilities on campus is of a high standard. The

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Orland Park ambulatory facility, situated off-site, will be opening at the end of 2016, enabling the delivery of high quality care for patients based in the south and southwestern suburbs of Chicago.

Also, the recent infill of the third and fourth floors at The Center for Care and Discovery situated on campus, with upgraded patient units and embedded observation unit, has enabled observation patients to be placed within one designated area rather than be dispersed throughout the hospital. In addition, the labor and delivery project at the

CONSTRUCTION

Comer Children’s Hospital on campus has provided increased advantages to patients and their families with the introduction of enhanced medical technology.

“We used to have a lot of electronic devices in patient rooms, but they weren’t really smart devices. Now, virtually every device that’s in a room, including the patient temperature thermometer is all integrated into the informatics system for maintaining the Electrical Medical Record for the patient,” comments Capicchioni.

There have been significant advancements within medical technology, yet this has provided complex challenges with regards to construction and design.

Not only is it now imperative for workers to ensure embedded technology is smart, the Wi-Fi

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Marco Capicchioni Vice President, Facilities Planning, Design and Construction

“We really want to ensure it is a state of the art facility which is able to be operated at a reasonable cost and also help support our sustainability efforts” – Marco Capicchioni, Vice President, Facilities Planning, Design and Construction

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has to consequently manage this increased load. All remaining wires are therefore placed within the ceiling space. Capicchioni explains: “It’s changed the way we look at the wiring of rooms and design of the buildings. Not as many devices

and integrated effectively.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) 3D has been utilised within all projects in order to eradicate any potential issues and has allowed workers to envision whether these technologies can be routed

Orland Park Exterior Construction

are now plugged in or hardwired to the wall for information, mostly everything has gone wireless, which means it’s very important that the antenna system to capture this information is robust, secure and capable”, in addition to ensuring all devices are regulated

alongside vital electrical, water and emergency works. “The ceiling space is a precious resource – not only to get all the equipment into the ceiling installed, but also for servicing of those items, making sure that valves are accessible,” Capicchioni adds. BIM 3D

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modelling has become an essential tool for not only the construction and design teams, but also with the team’s subcontractors, signifying its importance within project work on site and completion of project’s against set timescales.

Capicchioni continues: “Utilising that ceiling space and making sure each layer is designated for a specific purpose and making sure there aren’t any problems, where

we are trying to get ductwork through and trying to get another kind of service through - we require BIM 3D modelling to be utilised.”

When undertaking vital work on site, the health and safety of workers and patients is paramount. Whilst the teams work in collaboration with the infection control department situated on campus to ensure all standards are maintained, the construction and design team also extensively

UCM-Labor and Delivery-LDR Room

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McCauley

MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION I N C.

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plan all routes to move the required rooms in advance - which will materials. Capicchioni adds: “This actually be in their final location allows them to put in place airlocks and do a final test fit to make sure between the construction and non- that everything all fits in place”, construction zones to make sure Capicchioni explains. In completing that we have pressurisation to keep these proto-types, the teams are the dust and other able to confirm contaminates whether they have from the incorporated all construction site patient needs, from getting into in addition to the occupied factoring in cost environment.” and logistics.

A lean approach To support is implemented the teams and at the early ensure they are stages in order to updated at all ensure positive, times, a monthly collaborative newsletter is working – Marco Capicchioni, Vice President, sent internally, in relationships, with Facilities Planning, Design and addition to alerts the undertaking of Construction which are used to critical flow paths inform workers of and processes to effectively reduce any potential changes to access on the impact on health services. A site. Once a week, senior leaders series of kaizen events and triare informed of any key issues storming is undertaken in order to regarding the pace of construction support the initial design stage. and any changes in timescales.

“As we build the facility we Capicchioni acknowledged typically build a few proto-type that not only is it important for

“We are looking at all aspects, not only the type of care, integration of research, but also how operationally efficient it will be”

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workers to hear any updates, as their business evolves they need to be able to hear their workers’ input. To this effect, if employees have any concerns regarding any current work, the University enables workers to call a hotline number in order to stop work or discuss any developing issues.

With all the projects which are currently underway or in the pipeline, there is an increased focus on the sustainability and long term benefits, not just in the region but as a whole. “We really want to ensure it is a state of the art facility which is able to be operated at a reasonable cost and also help support our sustainability efforts,� Capicchioni says. The 1,800-space car parking deck, built in 2015 has also reduced parking difficulties on campus and has been designed to incorporate a loading dock for the site, where Capicchioni acknowledged all main supplies go in and all trash and other waste products exit.

Work has also recently commenced on the construction of a fifteen thousand square foot

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

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ambulatory facility within the South Loop of western suburbs of Chicago, in addition to an emergency department within the parking deck on campus,

Hospital in a five-year project.

Although in the early visioning stages, such an expansive project incorporates not only complex construction challenges, but also

UCM-Labor and Delivery-Main Entry

which is set to complete at the end of 2017. In addition, the oldest facility on campus, the Mitchell Hospital, is set to be renovated and transformed into a Cancer Centre

recruitment and technological advances. Capicchioni explains: “We are looking at all aspects, not only the type of care, integration of research, but also how

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operationally efficient it will be.”

“It’s hard to foresee, as technology marches on, what that technology might be so we’ll be working with a futurist to help us to understand what might be some of the new things in the pipeline.”

The University has also had to factor in the construction boom in Chicago and consequent lack of trained union workers.

Capicchioni explained: “We’ve been having sustained growth of

over six percent for the last five years and so we typically start the day off with 100 percent of our beds filled.” However, it is clear that the completion of the array of projects on campus will have long-term benefits for the population of Chicago, with the implementation of key technologies and sustainable initiatives which will drive the projects forward and ensure the delivery of world class care within the region.

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Written by John O’Hanlon Produced by Tom Venturo

CONSTRUCTION

HTS Engineering

– keeping its cool

For the industrial and commercial heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) installations that sit at the core of every major construction across North America, the go-to partner is HTS Engineering and its sister company DXS. Both are making a big impression in New England

T

here’s no hotter engineering sector (forgive the pun) than HVAC. With inexorable pressure on new building construction teams to deliver sustainable solutions and ease of maintenance no project can be started without the involvement of specialists in environmental control. The North America air conditioning systems market alone is worth some $30 billion.

Air conditioning is becoming one of the most important facets of social infrastructure, indispensable

to providing people with good health and a culturally advanced lifestyle, as well as to fueling economic development. At the same time, air conditioning uses large amounts of energy. One of mankind’s greatest challenges will be to minimize the rise in energy consumption accompanying economic development, especially in the rapidly growing emerging countries. Now that the USA has ratified the Paris Climate Change Agreement the impetus toward energy efficiency in

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HTS ENGINEERING

the climate control industry will undoubtedly intensify.

Key market players in North America include global manufacturers like Carrier Corporation, Daikin Industries, Ingersoll Rand, JCI, Trane and others. These multi-billion dollar corporations go to market via representative companies, of which HTS Engineering is a dominant name right across North America. With annual revenues in the region of $350 million HTS has grown since its foundation in 1992 through a strategy of entrepreneurial ownership: there’s a global ownership group of individuals who have a stake in each of the company’s 16 locations across Canada and the USA, and regional principals who have a share in their own territory. This structure gives HTS a unique focus on success and a single focus on creating success for all those involved with cooling and heating decisions – from selection, design and purchase, to installation and maintenance.

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Mike Donovan President

Mike Donovan, a 2009, 2010 and 2015 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, is the president and owner of HTS Texas. In this role, he has incorporated market-changing, innovative concepts and personalized customer service, enabling the company to grow from start-up to gross $163 million in 2015, receive Houston Business Journal’s Fast 100 award in 2010 and 2014, and Houston Chronicle’s Best Workplaces Award in 2010 and 2011.

The most active HVAC market and hence one of the largest HTS business is Texas. President of operations there, and a member of HTS’s global ownership group Mike Donovan epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit of the company, having been a finalist in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year program in 2009, 2010 and 2015, cited for the marketchanging, innovative concepts and personalized customer service he introduced, enabling HTS Texas company to grow from start-up in 2002 to gross $163 million in 2015.

The Texas economy, he explains, has done better than most though the global recession, though

“As a company we are very divested across sectors from healthcare, higher education, government and judicial and many others” – Mike Donovan, President

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Dan Senese Principal

Dan Senese graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering from The University of Waterloo. After working three co-op terms and one full year with HTS Engineering in Toronto, he joined HTS New England in Boston. Dan has over 20 years of industry experience, has been an ASHRAE member for over 9 years. He has extensive knowledge of HVAC equipment and systems with unparalleled attention to detail. Dan has solid relationships with contractors, engineers and owners and has proven success selling in each category. In late 2013, he stepped into a manager role before becoming a Principal in 2016.

Houston itself has felt the effects of the dip in oil prices. “Judging by non-residential construction starts in Texas I’d say the market is now stronger than in 2009. As a company we are very divested across sectors from healthcare, higher education, government, judicial and many others, so if someone isn’t starting an office building there is always something else going on. And HVAC demand is stabilized by the sheer amount of replacement that has to be done in what is a very mature market. Don’t forget that in Texas, if you don’t have air conditioning you don’t have a business!”

Another factor in HTS Engineering’s success has been the exclusive product rights it holds in many key markets to sell the products of the world’s largest air conditioning manufacturing company Daikin Industries. Daikin, with annual sales of around $18 billion, has a massive product line, allowing HTS to provide custom-built installations for its clients. With exclusivity in most

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HTS ENGINEERING

of the Texas and Ontario markets, a recent restructuring of the organization in the important New England business has given a huge boost to that business too.

Key to growth in New England To hear about that we jump from Houston to Boston. Dan Senese is one of the most experienced engineers in the business having spent more than 20 years with HTS in Canada and the USA and now one of four Principals who lead HTS

New England. This company was highly respected in the industry by consulting engineers and contractors, but growth at the rate of Texas had eluded it, he admits, because it remained something of a boutique business focused on highly specialized, bespoke products. “We did not have the breadth of more standardized products available from the ‘big four’ manufacturers.” While it was representing a number of very high-end manufacturers

Setting a new standard for HVAC products, services, and expertise.

Congratulations to HTS and Stebbins-Duffy on forming a powerhouse to serve HVAC customers in New England.

Daikin is proud to have HTS New England as the local Daikin equipment sales representative. Our long-standing partnership makes us confident that this team will deliver great outcomes for building owners, engineers, and contractors.

Call (978) 977-9911 or visit http://newengland.htseng.com/ For more on Daikin Applied, visit www.DaikinApplied.com ©2016 Daikin Applied. All Rights Reserved.

CONSTRUCTION

such as Haakon Industries, he added, and cross-pollination HTS New England was finding of industry knowledge between that its engagement with some the two companies could create major clients tended to be more a whole new level of expertise. intermittent than continuous.

Significantly for HTS, StebbinsBearing in mind what we have Duffy was the exclusive New said about the importance England representative of Daikin of a relationship with a major products, so the fit was perfect. manufacturer Agreement such as Daikin, was reached on it was strongly August 15, and felt that HTS the following day needed a broader the news was product portfolio released to the if it was to achieve industry. HTS significant growth.

New England Towards the is now led by end of 2015, HTS former StebbinsPrincipal Jeff Duffy VP Emery Ritchie and Peter – Dan Senese, Principa George together Foss contacted alongside three John Duffy, president of the 50 HTS New England principals: year old HVAC company StebbinsPeter Foss, Jeff Ritchie, and Dan Duffy. Duffy was receptive to Senese. The market has already the idea of a merger, observing responded very positively, says that together the companies Senese. “We had already shared deliver results that far surpass the business plan with suppliers to what they could accomplish as both companies. Manufacturers like separate entities. There’s very Daikin and Haakon aspire to be with little overlap in account coverage, a representative that dominates in

“Manufacturers like Daikin and Haakon aspire to be with a representative that dominates in its territory”

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its territory,” he says. They were ready and willing to take on the tasks of product familiarization and training that lay ahead. After all, he points out, they were seeing an instant doubling of the sales force promoting their products.

Next came the difficult task of dividing the accounts to focus on contracting clients on the one hand and consulting engineers on the other. In New England HTS had since its foundation in 1997 employed hybrid sales people, who called both on consulting engineers who design the system and mechanical contractors who purchase and install the equipment. “They are well rounded sales people but spread a little too thin. They would be selling a system then getting involved in project management while it was installed. But every minute you spend on project management is time you are not devoting to digging up new business!” The sales people from both companies were interviewed to see which path they wanted to take.

Out of the four principals it was seen as sensible to have two on either side. Emery George and Dan Senese were deeply involved on the contracting side, Peter Foss and Jeff Ritchie both had an engineering background, so the first two relinquished their engineering accounts and Foss and Ritchie their contracting accounts. “We all manage fewer accounts now, but have much more to sell, are more focused and more relevant to our customers.”

With a full suite of products and the power of Daikin the merged entity can become involved in many more projects too.

Immediately after the merger was announced, the principals started to call on their clients to introduce the new sales teams and present to them the advantages the merger offers. “I wanted to thank the partners for their support over the years, and assure them that I am not going anywhere, but remain part of the leadership team and want them to know I care they are in good hands.”

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Always innovating One of HTS’s great strengths is its in-house IT development team, which has created the TRAX software, a custom made solution that runs its back office functionality and ERP. Part of the logistics merger will be to migrate Stebbins-Duffy to this platform.

“TRAX places us head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the industry,” says Mike Donovan. “The next release will be when we go 76

November 2016

online with our project management module so our customers can track progress: that is a really neat feature and it’s rolling out in 2017. All of our software is in the cloud, with data center backup in Toronto and other locations.”

The HTS story is not complete without mention of its sister company Direct Expansion Solutions (DXS) founded in 2007 to develop a dedicated team of specialists to address the rapidly

CONSTRUCTION

Direct Expansion Solutions growing Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) segment of the air conditioning industry. Daikin Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV) equipment and VRV technology was very popular in Europe and other advanced economies like Australia but had not really impacted the USA till Daikin purchased McQuay, in 2006. “We wanted to create a business that sold the technology Daikin had brought in, so that we could become the go-to representative company for VRV,” explains Senese. “DXS is now that company, with a specialist team focused on selling a single product and doing it well. We have become very good at that!”

From its start in Central Texas, DXS grew in Southeast and North Texas with offices in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and

San Antonio. In 2012 it opened an office in Toronto and earlier this year the company launched operations in New England. As we have seen, a lot has been going on this year, and it couldn’t better time to celebrate these changes.

On November 3 HTS/StebbinsDuffy and DXS and Daikin will be hosting an industry-wide event to introduce their clients, their clients’ clients and the entire construction and maintenance community to meet the new teams. It will be a hands-on event, promises Global Marketing Director Ashley Heisler, with a chance to view the latest advanced technology from Daikin including VRV “We want to thank all our stakeholders and take this chance to let them learn from industry experts, while celebrating with a live band, great food, cold drinks and of course giveaways and door prizes!”

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SOLVING THE IMPOSSIBLE Written by John O’Hanlon Produced by Tom Venturo

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ONE DATA CENTER SERVICE PROVIDER DECIDED THERE WAS A BETTER WAY, SO HE SET OUT TO BUILD IT

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s anyone knows who was in business before then, the beginning of the 1990’s was effectively a pre-internet era. Nothing was standardized and few people foresaw the transformations that would take place in the ensuing two decades.

All the more remarkable then that a young high school student in Columbia, Maryland, had the vision to start up a business that today owns and operates more than 800,000 square feet of data center space, supporting it with its own private fiber network of more than 10,000 miles.

Deepak Jain was just 17 when he founded AiNET, in 1993. Mark Zuckerberg would have been nine.

“There were opportunities in the market place that made sense to me at the time,” he explains modestly. These opportunities were around the area of

dial-up internet access, which some of us remember with no affection at all — but AiNET was one of the first providers, and people had to have it.

“I understood the direction I wanted to take — so I managed to borrow $300 and set up in my mother’s basement.”

To explain this level of entrepreneurship and confidence at such a young age Jain thanks his parents. “I had used a computer since I was six or seven because my parents did not want to keep buying me toys. They handed me a computer and some books and said if I could learn how to use this I could write my own games. That sums my childhood up in a nutshell!” Without formal IT or business training, it was the potential of technology to change lives that fascinated him: even his business was initially conceived as way to pay for an absorbing hobby, and when the time

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Deepak Jain, CEO came he chose to follow a BA course in Molecular Biology at Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1997. With his background, it came out of the blue at him that he would be nominated 2001 Young Entrepreneur of the Year by EY. A habit of growth These were times of extraordinary growth for the new company. In a couple of years it had evolved into a pure ISP provider, a service obtainable from very few companies at that time, and had attracted some international clients. “We grew fast, doubling from month to month, but

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Deepak Jain is the Founder and Chief Executive of AiNET. Since founding AiNET in 1993, Mr. Jain has led it through explosive technological and financial performance milestones while maintaining a strong commitment to best-inclass customer service. Mr. Jain’s management style emphasizes individual thought leadership and ground-up problem solving. His energy has infused AiNET’s unique performance-based culture. In the year 2001, he won the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award for his work with AiNET. Mr. Jain and the AiNET team are committed to farsighted solutions to the challenges facing enterprises and government at all levels.

Today, these include the areas of security, storage, energy efficiency and paradigmshifting cloud computing, Mr. Jain is the author of over a dozen pending domestic and international patents in the areas of power systems reliability, data center efficiency and green energy. With over 12 issued to his name and 90 patents pending worldwide Mr. Jain has worked to solve challenges throughout the electrical engineering, data center, mechanical engineering and telecommunications area.

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the breakthrough came when I had a call from Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner.” Cuban and Wagner founded Audionet in 2005, which morphed

small then. There was not as much bandwidth available as they needed: Yahoo! and other businesses were growing very fast, doubling and tripling

“We will never rest on our laurels, and will always be our own strongest critic” – Deepak Jain, CEO into Broadcast.com three years later and was bought up by Yahoo! in 1999 for $5.7 billion. “We engineered their solution and supported them with our servers right up to the takeover.”

The relationship with Cuban and Wagner shifted AiNET into a space that did not exist at the time, but foreshadowed its growth into becoming one of the world’s foremost data center providers. “We grew through IBM and GE and Lockheed Martin and other companies. We were getting huge requests from these large companies, yet the internet was very

their requests to us every few months.”

He soon found he could no longer meet this demand simply by adding more servers. “The company had grown on its IP services platform, but to do that well you must meet very specific structure and infrastructure requirements. The machines need to be running 24/7. They need to have good power, good cooling, good physical security, and be robustly built. We were retrofitting existing buildings to make that happen.”

Renting and managing space in third party data centers was a short term

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CONSTRUCTION

solution to the capacity need, but he found that the lack of reliability and control was not good enough to satisfy his commitment to his customers. AiNET set out a policy to acquire or build its own facilities and this it has followed since 2003.

Flexible power AiNET purchased and updated its first data center in 2003, then started to build its own facilities. In the process, he realized that most of

the standard construction practices were simply wrong. Even those MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) engineers who specialized in data center construction were failing to understand that standard building trade approaches were not working in the best interests of the end users. “The first thing they do is to figure out the maximum power it will ever need and customize the hardware to cope with that. That means a huge investment before the

Check out Baltimore’s Largest Data Center

“One Market Center”

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AiNET

building can take in its first customer server.” Over a decade, he argues, the requirements will dramatically differ from the projected design, and customer need will no longer be met.

AiNET’s approach is much more flexible. InfraGuard, based on a portfolio of patents, is 25 percent more efficient than competing systems.

Most recently, on June 17 this year the system added a patent from the State of Israel to awards from Europe, Japan and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

InfraGuard could be developed in the face of received wisdom in the industry because AiNET is a vertically integrated owner, operator and builder of data centers. “The standard design for a data center is to have two power feeds from the utility,” he explains.

“Either one should be able to power the whole building and if both fail you switch to generators – these have to be connected and synchronized, a risky and complex process. Our design means that you don’t have to synchronize – each system iws independent. Our design does away with the single points of failure (SPOF)

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CONSTRUCTION

“There were opportunities in the market place that made sense to me at the time” – Deepak Jain, CEO

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AiNET

that abound in the traditional model.”

It was further made possible by the company’s culture of innovation, the acknowledgment that what works today may not work tomorrow.

“We’re always questioning our own processes and constantly asking how we can make them better, even when we are already ahead of the curve.

How do we perform on cyber security

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November 2016

penetration tests? How do we feed power in to our data centers? How are we cooling the infrastructure? Saying this is good, but is it good enough?

We will never rest on our laurels, and will always be our own strongest critic.” And AiNET will always focus on the most challenging 25 percent of its clients’ problems, he promises.

CONSTRUCTION

The Baltimore hub In February 2014 AiNET purchased One Market Center for $20 million.

It is the largest data center in Baltimore. Standing seven stories high, and across the street from Baltimore’s historic Lexington Market, it is home to a host of networks, including every major telecoms carrier; Level 3 Communications,

XO Communications, Comcast, FiberLight, Zayo, Believe Wireless, Verizon, E911, Internet2, Windstream and Cogent- the last two having since expanded their presence there. One Market Center is a “carrier neutral” data center facility, meaning customers have choice of the ISP or provider they use to connect them to the internet and w w w. a i . n e t

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AINET

the world. It’s connected to all of AiNET’s data centers, which offer nearly a million square feet of space, using AiNET’s 10,000 mile private fiber optic network. This single data center directly supports over 25 percent of the world’s data traffic.

You need two things to run a data center well, Jain believes: reliable power and reliable communications.

As the largest privately held communications network in Maryland, Washington DC and northern Virginia with 10,000 miles of its

YEAR FOUNDED 1993

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November 2016

own fiber lines AiNET can offer its clients an end to end experience, with no third party involvement, that no competitor can match.

It’s no wonder that US government agencies as well as large corporations are locating their servers in AiNET facilities. The stability of the partner is critical in both the public and the private sector. Since that initial $300 (which has doubtless been repaid) the company has grown on its own revenues it has remained debt free and investor free – what acquisitions it

INDUSTRY Data storage and transfer

CONSTRUCTION

has made have been self-funded. As Deepak Jain puts it: “Our company has no outside stakeholders. No one looking for a return on their money.

No disinterested related parties. We are healthy with a sensible internal return on our success. I’m aware of no organization of our size or capability that can make the same claim – most are simply borrowing money until the day they can exit.”

Looking forward, AiNET will undoubtedly be expanding geographically – it is currently eying

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 150

up Hong Kong. However, Deepak Jain’s vision is already very close to realization. “Ten years ago we set ourselves a goal to touch every internet transaction in the world: back then that seemed far off but today we are very close.” Not unexpectedly his vision has simply expanded further and a project has been started that aims to bring food security to the poorest parts of the planet. “If that comes to fruition in my lifetime it would be amazing.”

ANNUAL REVENUE 2016 estimate- $26m

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Sustainability is at the forefront of

SCT&E LNG’S NEW FACILITY within LOUISIANA

Written by Catherine Rowell Produced by Tom Venturo

SCT&E LNG, INC.

SCT&ELNG is constructing a $6.9 billion Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Export Terminal within the State of Louisiana, providing an environmentally-friendly and clean fuel source to the global energy mix with an increased emphasis on sustainability

C

ompanies worldwide are increasingly tasked with finding cheaper, more sustainable energy sources that will reduce increasing levels of environmental pollutants while continually meeting the demands of its growing consumer base. Originally established by Southern California Telephone Company, SCT&E LNG is now globally renowned as the developer of a 12 mtpa natural gas liquefaction and LNG export facility on Monkey Island in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

The company’s innovative and technical innovations in providing sustainable and affordable natural gas via LNG to countries in need of clean burning and inexpensive

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energy solutions has been globally recognized, at which the company has been recently nominated for the CWC Asia Pacific LNG Innovator of the Year Award for its unique 20year fixed price LNG supply offering, a first of its kind in the industry.

“The United States has an abundance of clean natural gas, and there are places in the world that are in desperate need of clean fuels, rather than pollutants which we are currently experiencing. SCT&E LNG will supply inexpensive, stable, and clean burning fuel into parts of the world that desperately need it,” explains Eric Smith, Executive Director of Business Development.

SCT&E LNG’s unique 20-year fixed price option is just the beginning of the company’s innovative offerings

ENERGY

in the industry. According to CEO Greg Michaels, the company is “currently working on crafting LNG supply deals based on exotic indexes, something no one else has been able to achieve before.”

Multiple natural gas pipelines are located close to the 246-acre project site, which will allow natural gas to be collected and treated effectively in order to go through the liquefaction process where the gas will be cooled to -162°C (−260 °F) degrees. The LNG will then be placed within three onsite storage tanks situated alongside three LNG trains incorporated into the SCT&E LNG development. The storage tanks will hold around 160,000 cubic meters of LNG supply each, which will cater to the increasing demand for clean burning fuels, and can be utilized for a multitude of needs, from commercial and residential use, to industrial and transportation services.

While innovation is a key distinguisher of SCT&E LNG’s business philosophy, pursuing “proven” strategies, technologies and locations is also a fundamental

about Strategically located on Louisiana’s Calcasieu Ship Channel, the future SCT&ELNG facility sits approximately 2.5 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. The project site is located near the heart of the U.S. natural gas intrastate and interstate pipeline systems, just miles from major gas pipeline interconnections.

SCT&E LNG has received Order No. 3566 from the Department of Energy granting them a 30year authorization to export approximately 1.60 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of natural gas, or approximately twelve (12) million tons per annum (mtpa) of domestically produced LNG, by vessel from the proposed SCT&E LNG Export Terminal to countries with whom the United States has a Free Trade Agreement.

SCT&E LNG also has a nonFTA application on file with the DOE that is pending approval.

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SCT&E LNG, INC.

aspect of its business model.

Louisiana already has a robust infrastructure in place and has garnered strong community and government support. The $6.9 billion SCT&E LNG development will provide over 1,500 construction jobs, boost the US economy and has garnered widespread political support.

Louisiana is also currently the third natural gas producer and the ninth crude oil producer in the nation. “Our facility will have a direct positive impact on the health of tens of thousands of people where our

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gas will be consumed as well as contribute to the health of the global environment,� adds Michaels.

The SCT&E LNG project is headed by a strong executive team of energy professionals with vast experience within the LNG and EPC industries.

Vice President of Engineering, Scott Ray, has extensive knowledge and vast experience in designing and constructing a number of LNG liquefaction facilities globally, in addition to commissioning five LNG trains and seven cryogenic storage tanks. With over 27 years

ENERGY

of experience in Engineering, Construction and Procurement (EPC) industry, Ray’s expertise compliments that of Smith, who is currently developing the project’s commercial and business development strategies.

“Our strategy is to have the most knowledgeable team of people with a high level of industry experience directly related to developing projects like ours. We run with a lean team to maintain staying power through the development phase, and to bring results and return on investment to our partners”, explained Michaels.

Running lean is a fundamental factor in SCT&E LNG’s continued success, and the project has been able to achieve several key milestones

at the fraction of the money spent by other, more heavily funded projects.

Michaels explains, “We are careful with our capital and understand what an important tool it is. We operate under a “waste nothing” mentality and negotiate with every contractor aggressively. We listen intently to our advisors and contractors, then apply their recommendations based upon our team’s extensive experience.

We approach our customers/ offtakers with the mindset of best supporting their needs. The response from offtakers on our commercial innovation, proven decisions, and customer service confirms that SCT&E LNG’s way of operating is working.”

SCT&E LNG has placed an

“The fact that establishing this facility will make a difference in the lives of so many people around the world is what excites me and the entire team most” – Greg Michaels, CEO

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ENERGY

increased emphasis on fulfilling what for the SCT&E LNG project. has been titled the “second wave” of “The long term, global benefit of our LNG demand, which is predicted to facility is the improved environmental begin in 2023 and rise thereafter. This impact it will have in places, such prediction coincides with the timing as China and India, where coal is of SCT&E LNG’s being used as a signed Natural Gas primary fuel source Supply Agreement, and resulting negotiated by in high levels of Michaels, which pollution in the begins at the atmosphere,” adds commencement Michaels. “This of the facility’s pollution is causing operations around devastating health 2023 and ensures consequences for a 20-year fixed the communities, price for the supply and natural gas of LNG for SCT&E fueled energy will LNG’s customers. work to greatly This agreement improve the air has enhanced quality of these the appeal of the countries.” Natural facility’s LNG for – Eric Smith, Executive Director gas is known buyers, creating of Business Development to be twice as a competitive clean burning as advantage for the company and traditional energy sources, such as oil its shareholders. Five confirmed and coal, and will provide increased MOUs have been signed to date benefits through the reduction of for a total of 5.7 mtpa of LNG, pollutants regularly emitted. signifying increased momentum A number of key partners have

“SCT&E LNG will supply inexpensive, stable, and clean burning fuel into parts of the world that desperately need it”

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SCT&E LNG, INC.

been bought into the project to deliver crucial engineering services and help drive the project forward. Technip has been selected as the Owner’s Engineer for the development and will undertake work relating to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In addition, Technip has significant experience working with Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (APCI), the liquefaction technology provider selected for the SCT&E LNG project, a relationship that will be advantageous

50

+

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE MITIGATING RISK

in successfully moving the project forward through completion.

Ray remarked, “We selected the world’s number one LNG technology, Air Products and Chemicals. We’ve done that because it’s proven to be the best technology with the lowest cost for producing LNG.” Ray further adds, “for technology, two gas turbine drivers are currently being considered – one by GE Oil and Gas and the other by Siemens.”

The expected demand for clean

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ENERGY

fuels is predicted to triple within the next 20 years, which will yield a multitude of challenges for both suppliers and consumers. Eric Smith explains, however, “the main challenge presently faced in the global market is getting customers to make the switch from coal to natural gas on a long term basis”.

He adds: “Coal has historically been cheaper than natural gas, but it’s also extremely bad for the environment. What we’re finding is that the carbon tax being considered in many countries around the world is an attempt to equalize the price of coal with other cleaner fuels to encourage those nations to make the switch to fuel sources that will have less of an impact on the environment.”

The company, however, has acknowledged the need to find sustainable solutions that will also benefit the global community while driving the delivery of greener, cleaner energy sources for the world: “A huge driver for us is the environmental impact the increased use of natural gas will have, which in turn affects society as a whole.

People would like to have a cleaner

atmosphere because it affects their quality of life, and our project will deliver fuels to these communities that will provide them with their electricity and create a cleaner atmosphere,” concludes Smith.

The long term benefits of the project are evident. “The fact that establishing this facility will make a difference in the lives of so many people around the world is what excites me and the entire team most”, reflected Michaels.

SCT&E LNG are clearly passionate about not only the sustainability and superiority of LNG as an energy source, but also the increased advantages it has over dirtier fossil fuels which the SCT&E LNG development can deliver globally.

Strong partnerships will support the delivery and key outcomes, which in turn will effectively support countries in utilizing greener fuel alternatives to provide benefits for the future.

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SCT&E LNG, INC. EXCECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM development of a $6.9 billion natural gas liquefaction facility located in Southwest Louisiana for the export of LNG globally.

As Chairman and CEO of SCT&E LNG, he has spoken on LNG issues internationally and is a published author.

At the age of 26, Mr. Michaels founded Wholesale Airtime, Inc., now Southern California Telephone Company, one of the few privately-held

Greg Michaels CEO

telecommunications companies to successfully navigate the Telecom Act of 1996 that deregulated the telecom industry in the United States. Early

A lifelong entrepreneur, Greg Michaels

in his career, Mr. Michaels wrote his

completed the highly selective and well

company’s first brief petitioning the

respected Entrepreneurship Program

California Public Utility Commission

at the University of Southern California

(CPUC), who subsequently granted

(USC) Marshall School of Business.

his company’s Certificate of Public

Mr. Michaels majored in Business

Convenience and Necessity, creating one

Administration and completed an

of the first privately-held public utilities

additional pre-medical curriculum. During in the State of California. As a pioneer his four years at USC, he competed of the telecom industry, he developed as a student-athlete on the acclaimed

the process and platforms that allowed

USC Men’s Varsity Tennis Team. After

Competitive Local Exchange Carriers

his time at USC, Mr. Michaels pursued

to interconnect their networks via

a career as a professional tennis player.

incumbent communications providers

Mr. Michaels is a national champion

and contributed to the success of number

and still competes currently. Today,

portability that all Americans enjoy today.

Mr. Michaels is a successful business

Mr. Michaels has capitalized on his ability

leader and is the developer, owner, and

to build successful teams by identifying

operator of a number of businesses

personal strengths in individuals

encompassing telecommunications,

and further developing them. He has

real estate development, energy, and

employed thousands of people and

oil and gas. In 2014, Mr. Michaels

is well respected by his management

established a LNG company for the

teams and personnel. He has bought,

Greg Michaels, CEO

GREG MICHAELS

ENERGY

sold, and started over two dozen

LNG, a company he founded to help fill

companies. A recent acquisition gained

the growing global demand for natural

him a controlling interest in North Energy

gas. Focused on the energy revolution

Central (NEC) www.northenergycentral.

taking place in North America, Mr.

com. The principals of NEC have

Michaels seeks to become an exporter

developed over $5 billion in power

of U.S. natural gas while simultaneously

generation facilities worldwide which

helping the United States become a

include bio fuel, nuclear, and natural gas-

net exporter of its energy. In March

fired power plants fueled

2014, Mr. Michaels led SCT&E LNG, via

by LNG.

the LLC, to acquire approximately 246

Upon acquisition of the controlling

acres of land via a 99+ year (including

interest in NEC, Mr. Michaels took over

the option terms) Option-to-Lease

stalled negotiations with the Dominican

agreement in Southwest Louisiana

Republic government to build a 300

for the development of an LNG export

megawatt gas-fired power plant. Within

terminal. The project is modeled as a 12

months of the purchase of NEC, and

mtpa natural gas liquefaction facility.

leading new negotiations with the state-

In addition to his business interests, Mr.

owned electric utility, Corporación

Michaels’ passion for his community

Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas

and sense of civic responsibility led

Estatales (CDEEE), Mr. Michaels

him to coach youth soccer and tennis

increased the scale of the project and

for over fifteen years where he parlayed

signed a Memorandum of Understanding

his strengths in talent development

(MOU) with the CDEEE for the

and team building. Mr. Michaels

development of a 400 megawatt gas-fired

successfully led his soccer teams to

power plant and LNG receiving terminal.

earn fifteen division championships and

The total project costs were estimated at

over thirty tournament championships.

approximately $850 million. Mr. Michaels

Mr. Michaels believes, “Success is

negotiated additional terms that included

achieved by helping people accomplish

provisions which allowed NEC to provide

what they never thought possible.” Mr.

the Dominican government with its

Michaels runs all areas of his life by this

foreseeable natural gas requirements.

philosophy. He is a dedicated family

Mr. Michaels and his wife founded

man, husband of 24 years, and father

and 100% own Southern California

of three adult children, one who is a

Telephone Company, a United States

graduate of Cornell University, another

public utility. Mr. Michaels’ latest

currently attending Cornell, and one

endeavor is the development of SCT&E

who attends Pepperdine University.

SCT&E LNG, INC. EXCECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM positions designing, building, and commissioning LNG liquefaction facilities globally, and has engineered and commissioned five LNG trains and seven cryogenic storage tanks to date.

Mr. Ray’s engineering career began at MW Kellogg, now Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), in a program designed to develop young engineers. MW Kellogg was recognized as an international leader in the field of LNG facility

Scott Ray, Vice President of Engineering for SCT&E LNG

design. After completing the MW Kellogg engineering program, Mr. Ray joined a startup team from MIT, Aspen Technology, to develop software for

Raised in an entrepreneurial family

chemical engineering companies. While

in a small town near Pittsburgh,

at Aspen Technology, Mr. Ray was part

Pennsylvania, Scott Ray grew up working

of a team that successfully took the

on farms and developing real estate with

company public. During the time Mr.

his father. His father instilled in him the

Ray worked at Aspen Technology, the

importance and value of hard work and

stock price increased over 400%. He

dedication, and this work ethic propelled

was recognized at Aspen Technology

him to strive for excellence which landed

for making the company’s single largest

him in one of the most prestigious

sale to Fluor, a highly recognized

engineering colleges in the world,

global engineering company. As part

Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Ray

of the sale, Mr. Ray spent roughly

covered much of the cost of his college

one year at Fluor implementing a

tuition from the proceeds of his real

training program with its employees.

estate transactions. After completing his

Upon the completion of his

Chemical Engineering degree at Carnegie

responsibilities at Fluor, Mr. Ray

Mellon’s College of Engineering, Mr. Ray

rejoined KBR to pursue his passion for

has had a successful 26-year career

LNG development. At KBR, Mr. Ray

in the EPC business. With a focus on

was part of a world-class engineering

world scale LNG projects, Mr. Ray has

and design team that developed LNG

served in a wide variety of leadership

facilities globally, which included

S C O T T R AY

ENERGY

Qatar Gas LNG Liquefaction, Malaysia

of Maryland in the United States. His

LNG Liquefaction, Nigeria LNG

Aker Kvaerner team served as the EPC

Liquefaction, Australia Northwest Shelf

contractor for Cameron LNG, Adriatic

LNG Liquefaction, Sonatrach LNG

LNG, Gulf LNG, and also completed

Liquefaction at Skikda and Arzew, Arco

a number of projects for Chevron and

Tangguh LNG Liquefaction, and others.

ConocoPhillips, among others.

He also led several different studies

During his time at KBR, Mr. Ray worked

and analyses for companies, such as

for eight years with the world’s best team

Trinidad LNG Liquefaction, Angola LNG

for engineering, design, and construction

Liquefaction, and a number of other

of the Air Products and Chemicals,

very significant projects. As a Senior

Inc. (APCI) Propane Pre-Cooled LNG

Process Engineer for KBR, Mr. Ray

liquefaction process. APCI is the number

gained valuable EPC experience and

one liquefaction technology provider

led the process engineering through

globally and is the process selected by

design, commissioning, and startup

SCT&E LNG for its project on Monkey

for several multi-billion dollar LNG

Island. Mr. Ray is currently serving as

facilities, including Nigeria Bonny

the Vice President of Engineering for

Island LNG Trains 2 & 4, Australia

SCT&E LNG and is primarily responsible

Northwest Shelf LNG Train 4, and

for the engineering, procurement,

two trains for Malaysia LNG Tiga.

planning, development, and construction

Because of his work at KBR, Mr. Ray

efforts for the company’s natural gas

was hired by Aker Kvaerner where

liquefaction and LNG export project.

he was effective as first the Business

In addition to his involvement with

Manager, and later the Project Manager,

the engineering and construction

for the EPC of several multi-billion dollar

industry, Mr. Ray is committed to

LNG facilities, such as Cameron LNG,

serving his community. He volunteers

Gulf LNG, and Adriatic LNG. Mr. Ray’s

his time weekly leading a mentoring

valuable contributions were recognized

group for men and rebuilds homes for

at Aker Kvaerner and he was promoted

disadvantaged and elderly people in

to the Director of Business Development.

the Houston, Texas, area. Mr. Ray is

In that leadership role, Mr. Ray’s team

a dedicated family man to his wife of

won the Pre-FEED and FEED contracts

23 years and the proud father of five

that led to the successful EPC bid of

children, three of whom are currently

Dominion’s Cove Point LNG $4 billion

studying at Texas A&M University, and

liquefaction facility off the east coast

two of whom are in high school.

SCT&E LNG, INC. EXCECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM years, Mr. Smith has focused his career in the EPC sector of the energy industry concentrating on large scale energy and petrochemical projects. While developing commercial strategies to pursue and win EPC projects, Mr. Smith gained valuable experience in logistics, proposals, contracts, subcontracts, procurement, and construction.

While serving in the United States Air

Eric Smith, Executive Director of Business Development Eric Smith is a motivated and effective energy executive with stellar accomplishments in the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) and LNG industries. Growing up in an entrepreneurial family in a small town in Oklahoma, he spent his high school years working for the family furniture business his grandfather founded at the end of the Korean War. After graduating from high school, Mr. Smith joined the United States Air Force working as an intelligence analyst where he served proudly for nine years. Four years into his military service, he was recruited to join the National Security Agency (NSA) to manage multiple intelligence gathering teams supporting Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan and Iraq). His contributions were recognized by the Director of the NSA and the Deputy Commander of the United States European Command. For the last eight

Force, Mr. Smith completed his Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing and began studies toward a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Maryland. After honorably completing his military service, he finished his MBA and subsequently began working for the global engineering and construction company, Fluor. Due to his success at Fluor, Mr. Smith was later recruited by Mammoet USA for the commercial role of North American Business Development Manager where he developed and sold project logistics strategies that provided solutions for lifting, transporting, installing, and decommissioning large and heavy structures to EPC contractors and project owners. In this position, he leveraged his entrepreneurial upbringing to create business opportunities previously lacking for the company.

Recognized for his contributions at Mammoet USA, Mr. Smith was recruited in 2011 by Foster Wheeler, a well-respected international EPC

ERIC SMITH

ENERGY

firm in Houston, Texas, where he began

13,000 employees. He was promoted

working as a Project Subcontracts

to the role of Senior Account Executive

Manager. His strong work ethic and

in 2014, placing him in an elite group

high-level capabilities were quickly

of energy industry executives who

noticed by senior executives, earning

excel in developing business and

him a promotion and assignment in

commercial strategies to advance their

the business development department

respective company goals. In his last

where he was challenged by the CEO to

year at Foster Wheeler, Mr. Smith led

develop a business plan to penetrate the

a team that supported an early stage

midstream markets. Within 12 months,

LNG developer successfully raise over

Mr. Smith identified and negotiated

$100 million for their LNG project.

multiple master service agreements,

Mr. Smith is currently serving as

generated sole source business

the Executive Director of Business

opportunities, and created strong long-

Development for SCT&E LNG and is

term business relationships for Foster

primarily responsible for the commercial

Wheeler in the midstream market.

development of the company’s

Because of his immediate success

Monkey Island LNG project. Mr. Smith

at Foster Wheeler, Mr. Smith’s

is responsible for identifying and

responsibilities quickly grew to

negotiating LNG offtake sales contracts,

include work in the petrochemical,

raising capital, and developing the EPC

gas monetization, and LNG industries,

strategies for the company. He works

and he was challenged with the

directly with and is a key advisor to both

task of increasing the company’s

the CEO of SCT&E LNG and its Board of

commercial exposure to the North

Directors. His professional experience

American petrochemical and LNG

in the energy industry combined with

markets. Ultimately this business

his ability to quickly build relationships

line became the largest revenue

and develop trust and rapport with

generating division in the company.

colleagues has made him a successful

In 2013, Mr. Smith led an 11-month

member of the SCT&E LNG team and

proposal effort that resulted in Foster

a well-respected player in the LNG

Wheeler winning a $2.4 billion EPC

industry. Outside of his career, Eric is a

project in the U.S. Gulf Coast, the largest

loving husband of eight years and proud

project in the company’s 100+ years of

father of three children. He resides in

business. With this accomplishment, he

Houston, Texas, and spends his free

achieved recognition as the #1 global

time with his family and playing golf.

sales person in a company of over

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