2022 Visionaries Bios
Jit Kee Chin
EVP, Chief Data and Innovation Officer
Suffolk Construction Company
Jit Kee Chin is the Chief Data & Innovation Officer and Executive Vice President at Suffolk. Chin is responsible for leveraging big data and advanced analytics to improve the organization’s core business. She is also responsible for helping to position Suffolk to achieve its vision of transforming the construction experience while working closely with the company’s Innovation and Strategy teams to fundamentally reinvent the future of construction in the digital age. Prior to her role at Suffolk, Chin spent 10 years with management consulting firm McKinsey and Company where she counseled senior executives on strategic, commercial and advanced analytics topics. Most recently, she was a Senior Expert in Analytics in McKinsey’s Boston office where she specialized in the design and implementation of endto-end analytics transformations. Prior to that role, Chin was an Associate Principal in McKinsey’s London office where she helped organizations drive multi-year business transformations and change programs and developing strategies for profitable growth. She holds a PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS from the California Institute of Technology.
James Chong
Director, Digital Innovation Consulting
AECOM
James Chong is Director of Digital Innovation Consulting and Subject Matter Expert at AECOM providing leadership and cross-functional management of strategic programs globally. He is an entrepreneur and innovator in enterprise software, artificial intelligence, security, intelligent transportation and IoT. For over 25 years, he has helped build and grow tech start-ups to Fortune 500 global companies with focus on leveraging big data and analytics for smart cities, smart transportation and smart buildings. Chong was selected into International Data Group’s “InfoWorld Top CTO 25” and is the author of The Converging Roles of Physical and IT Security which was published in the book Security 3.0.
Hal Hinkle
CEO
BamCore, Global Bamboo Technologies
Hal Hinkle is the CEO of BamCore and its parent Global Bamboo Technologies, Inc. His focus on climate change began after his second retirement (22 years at Goldman Sachs, then 5 years running and selling a global on-line bond exchange). His initial climate focus began in 2004 when he started a non-profit foundation to focus on climate change education. Following a PhD in Neuroscience and a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation, Hinkle returned to his native California to build an organic and climate conscious vineyard and winery in Sonoma County (SeiQuerce.com), there he was introduced to BamCore for his building projects. Intrigued, he spent nearly a year researching timber bamboo and its ability to quickly capture carbon from the atmosphere, which could then be stored long term in buildings. Today, his wine label continues a focus on climate change awareness and education as one of the first climate adaptation certified wineries in the world, but his full commercial focus has now turned to bringing structural fibers from bamboo and select fast growing trees into the built environment. Hinkle holds a BS degree in biochemistry from UC Irvine and an MBA from Columbia Business School and MS, MPhil and PhD degrees from Columbia Medical School and is a Certified University of California Climate Steward.
Mania Aghaei Meibodi
Assistant Professor, director of DART
Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan
Mania Aghaei Meibodi is Assistant Professor and director of DART at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan. Her research and lab focus on developing disruptive computational design and robotic hybrid fabrication methods with additive manufacturing at its core for real-world construction. She was previously senior researcher at ETH Zurich and led multiple projects with innovative design-to-fabrication processes such as “Smart Slab” and “Digital Metal” projects. She holds a PhD and Master of Architecture degrees from KTH, Stockholm, Sweden and a Licentiate of Engineering from LTU, Lulea, Sweden.
Curtis Rodgers
Principal, Brick & Mortar Ventures
Founder, The Society for Construction Solutions
Curtis Rodgers is a construction technologist and investor at Brick & Mortar Ventures, with six years of construction operations experience across federal, energy, industrial, infrastructure, and commercial markets at both Kiewit and McCarthy Construction. Curtis founded The Society for Construction Solutions (SCS) in 2014, contributed to the NASA Centennial 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, and participated as a lecturer for the US DOE's Project Leadership Institute.