Rich Murray (left), executive director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, was among 19 public and private owners who lead small group discussions at the Ohio Construction Conference last week. Scott Reifeis (Nationwide Children’s Hospital) makes a point during the owner-lead roundtables. The Conference featured nationally acclaimed speakers, including the owner-architect-contractor team who built the nation’s first LEED platinum-certified hospital, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas.   Larry Spysinski (Columbus Regional Airport Authority), left and Jerry Maddox (Maddox NBD) were among more than 300 participants at the Conference.

More than 300 industry professionals convened last week for the Ohio Construction Conference, held Feb. 23 at COSI in downtown Columbus.

The event featured national speakers on new trends in integrated project delivery, risk management, sustainable design and construction, and technology for building design, construction and management.

Attendees were decision makers from all professions of the industry: construction owners and developers, architects and engineers, general and specialty contractors, and suppliers and service providers.

“The mix of professionals made the conversation richer and the Conference even more credible,” said Larry Spysinski (Columbus Regional Airport Authority).

Local owner’s rep Don McCarthy (McCarthy Consulting) agreed, noting, “I really enjoyed connecting with a bunch of people who I haven’t had the time to talk with for some time -- and the topics covered yesterday were very interesting.

“In fact, I walked away with some new ideas and concepts for my clients,” he added.

Spysinski and McCarthy were among 19 local construction owners who lead small-group discussions at the Conference.  The roundtable topic – success stories seen by the industry despite the recession – inspired many attendees.

“Those success stories were the perfect way to end the day,” said Dennis Hoffer (Inside Outfitters, Inc.).  “I came away thinking of my industry friends who didn’t attend and what a fantastic program they missed!”