Baabak Ashuri is Associate Professor and Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) Fellow in the School of Building Construction and the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech where he directs Construction Research Center (CRC). Dr. Ashuri’s educational, research, and consulting activities focus on Project Analytics, Construction Engineering & Project Management, Investment Valuation, Economic Decision Analysis, and Innovative Project Delivery Systems (Design-Build (DB), Design-Build-Finance (DBF), Public-Private Partnership (P3), Construction Manager/General Contractor (CMGC), and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)). His work has implications for improving long-range planning and integrated decision-making process for delivery of resilient and sustainable infrastructure systems.

Rebekah was the Associate Vice Chancellor and University Architect for the University of California, Irvine for 25 years before establishing the consulting firms of rggroup global and XI³ to provide consultation to owners, architects and contractors on program management and project implementation.  She continues to consult on building integrated and “Best Practice” teams utilizing innovative project delivery processes for healthcare and university projects.   Rebekah has managed and consulted on over $10.1 Billion of projects: UCI Medical Center, Ventura County Replacement Hospital, Assuta Medical Center, United Arab Emirates University, Los Angeles World Airport, Ohio State University and over 75 Design Build Projects for various owners. 

Spearheading the broad acceptance of collaborative project delivery methods including Design Build and Progressive Design Build within UCI, Higher Education, State of California and other public and private owners, Rebekah has become known in the industry for best value delivery of projects that balanced risk, utilize active management tools for promoting innovation, evaluate total life-cycle cost decisions, and employee industry best practices for lean construction.  Rebekah has guided many universities and public owners through the bold process of taking inventory of their strengths and weaknesses to achieve superior outcomes.

Sought after for her expertise, Rebekah frequently lectures and consults with medical centers, universities, and professional organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad, focusing on alternative project delivery methods, the implementation of capital programs and the acceleration of leadership and strategic problem-solving.

Rebekah is the Past Chairman of the Board for National DBIA, Past President of the Western Pacific Region DBIA, Co-Chaired the Progressive Design Build Committee for 4 years and in 2006 Rebekah was bestowed the DBIA Brunelleschi Lifetime Achievement Award.

Robynne Thaxton is a Seattle based lawyer and consultant and a leading expert in construction law and alternative procurement both in Washington State and on a national basis.  She is the principal and founder of Thaxton Parkinson PLLC and Progressive Design-Build Consulting, LLC.  In addition to being a DBIA instructor since 2005, Robynne served for seven years on the National DBIA Board of Directors and currently serves as the Chair of the DBIA National Progressive Design-Build Committee.  She is also in the inaugural class of DBIA “Fellows”.   Robynne was a member of the Washington State Capital Projects Advisory Review Board from 2019-2023. Robynne is AV rated by Martindale-Hubble and has been named as a Washington Super Lawyer from 2010 to 2023.  Robynne’s practice primarily focuses on developing design-build procurement and contract documents for public owners.  In addition to traditional design-build projects, she has worked on more than 30 progressive design-build projects worth over $5 billion.  Representative clients include Toronto Transit Commission, Bonneville Power Administration, the Port of Seattle; the Cities of Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and Wenatchee; the State of Washington; WSDOT; and Western Washington University.  Robynne received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder School of Law.