2026 AGENDA

7:00am - 8:00am

Location: Westin Lobby Restaurant & Ballroom Foyer

8:00am - 8:10am

Location: ABCD Ballroom

8:10am - 9:00am

David Davlin

Session Overview:

Success can be defined in its simplest form as making life better for someone else. Whether it comes in creating a better product, helping to relieve someone’s stress or pain, bringing someone laughter or joy or helping someone get more out of their life, success is always about serving.

This being the case, the key to success in any business lies not only in the development of great products and services, but more importantly in the development of great people. In this insightful presentation, Dave Davlin shares three essential ingredients for developing a purpose-driven mentality to achieve a fulfilling career and balanced life.

This presentation is an hour of interaction, humor and audience participation mixed with a powerful message. It is a roller coaster ride of emotion that will find the audience engaged in hilarious laughter one moment and brought to tears the next. The audience will be challenged to make the most of every moment in order to develop themselves personally and professionally while creating value and making a difference in the lives of others.

Learning Objectives:

·      Developing vision and defining one's sense of purpose.
·      Recognizing and embracing the importance of creating positive and memorable experiences with fellow workers and family members.
·      Understanding and embracing the value of service in the pursuit of success.

Location: ABCD Ballroom

9:05am - 9:55am

Nyasha Harmony Gutsa - BILLY

Session Overview:

Construction contracts are written to transfer risk, but in practice that risk is often enforced—or uncovered—by finance teams at the point of payment. In the Southeastern United States, where construction is driven by rapid growth, labor volatility, and weather-related risk, gaps between contract language, insurance coverage, surety requirements, and accounting workflows can expose firms to uninsured losses, delayed payments, audit findings, and disputes.

This session examines how modern construction finance teams across the Southeast are becoming the final control point for risk transfer. Attendees will learn how insurance requirements, endorsements, and bonds interact with contract terms, where breakdowns commonly occur between legal intent and operational execution, and how accounting systems are increasingly used to support “safe-to-pay” decisions.

The discussion focuses on practical, field-tested approaches finance leaders can use to reduce risk, improve coordination with legal, risk, and operations teams, and strengthen internal controls—without slowing down project delivery or vendor payments.

Learning Objectives:

·   Identify where risk transfer commonly breaks down between contracts, insurance, bonding, and accounting workflows in Southeastern construction firms
·   Evaluate how finance teams can use payment controls to enforce compliance without disrupting operations
·   Recognize regional risk factors (CAT exposure, labor mobility, surety complexity) that affect “safe-to-pay” decisions"

Location: Jr. Ballroom

9:05am - 9:55am

Tobin Paxton - MITER

Session Overview:

Contractors win or lose on the strength of their people. The way you recruit, onboard, and develop employees directly shapes retention, productivity, and ultimately profitability. Onboarding is the most important “loyalty test” a new hire will ever take, and it’s also the first chance to communicate your company’s mission and vision. From training and benefits to the everyday tools employees use, experience is either a driver of loyalty or a source of frustration. This session will show why employee experience isn’t just an HR initiative — it’s a financial strategy that pays measurable dividends.

Learning Objectives:
·      Learn why it’s critical to articulate your company vision and mission — and how to do it.
·      Explore how investments in onboarding, training, development, and benefits drive retention and productivity.
·      Recognize the financial ROI of treating employee experience as a strategic business priority.

Location: ABCD Ballroom

9:55am - 10:15am

Location: Ballroom Foyer

10:15am - 11:05am

Panel -CFMA National & Jay Snyder Moderator

Session Overview:

In the construction industry, success depends on strong alignment between the field and the financials—and Work-In-Progress (WIP) reporting sits right at that intersection. This panel will unpack how WIP functions as a vital bridge between operations and finance, empowering construction professionals to stay on top of project performance, profitability, and risk in real time.
Geared toward financial leaders and construction company owners leading in this space, the discussion will highlight how clear, confident command of WIP reporting can enhance strategic decision-making, strengthen internal collaboration, and elevate your voice at the table.

Learning Objectives:

·    Understand how Work-in-Progress (WIP) reporting functions as the connection point between field operations and financial management in construction.
·    Learn how to use WIP insights to monitor project performance, profitability, and risk in real time to enhance strategic decision-making.
·    Explore ways WIP reporting strengthens collaboration between operations and finance teams and elevates financial leaders’ influence within their organization.

Location: ABCD Ballroom

10:15am - 11:05am

Billy Robinson - Brown Edwards

Session Overview:

Effective equipment and fleet management is essential for controlling operating costs, reducing downtime, and improving organizational performance. This session explores practical strategies for capturing true ownership costs, optimizing life-cycle decisions, leveraging data for proactive maintenance and replacement decisions, and implementing policies that strengthen accountability. Attendees will gain actionable insights that can be immediately applied to improve fleet reliability, budgeting accuracy, and overall cost efficiency.

Learning Objectives:

·    Understand Total Cost of Ownership : Learn how to identify, calculate, and monitor all cost drivers, including acquisition vs. leasing, maintenance, utilization, fuel, technology, and disposal costs.
·    Apply Best Practices for Preventive Maintenance & Asset Life-Cycle Planning: Explore methods for extending asset life, reducing unplanned downtime, and using data-driven maintenance schedules.
·    Implement Effective Cost-Control & Optimization Strategies: Discover proven strategies such as standardization, telematics utilization, right-sizing fleets, common sense policies, and improving operator accountability.

Location: Jr. Ballroom

11:10am - 12:00pm

Jim Gallagher

Session Overview:

Construction thought leader, James Gallagher, P.E., F.ASC, will speak about disputes in construction and strategies for resolving them effectively. His talk will cover some of the latest dispute trends, as well as some little-known traps many companies overlook that may put them at greater risk for disputes. Gallagher will cover some new innovations in the industry such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), artificial intelligence (AI), game theory and others, and their potential to increase or decrease dispute risk. He will also review the post-pandemic resolution environment and how dispute resolution is evolving. This talk will be most valuable for owners, developers, architects, engineers, builders and other top executives in construction-related businesses.

Learning Objectives:

·    An overview of the post-pandemic dispute resolution environment
·    How new innovations in the industry such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), artificial intelligence (AI), game theory and others, potentially increase or decrease dispute risk
·    What are some of the latest dispute trends, as well as some little-known traps that put companies at greater risk for disputes

Location: Jr. Ballroom

11:10am - 12:00pm

TBD

Session Overview:

Learning Objectives:

Location: ABCD Ballroom

12:00pm - 1:00pm

Location: Westin Lobby Restaurant & Ballroom Foyer

1:00pm - 1:50pm

Ellari Kerner - WIPFLI

Session Overview:

Construction firms are collecting more data than ever, but many are still struggling to translate that information into measurable results. Dashboards and AI tools promise smarter decision-making, yet without the right foundation, those investments often stall out or fail to deliver the expected ROI.

This session bridges the gap between strategy and execution. We’ll explore how leading contractors are turning data into insights, insights into action, and action into financial value while avoiding the most common pitfalls that derail data initiatives. You’ll learn practical ways to build a usable data foundation, visualize what truly drives performance, and leverage AI to accelerate outcomes.

Whether you’re just beginning your data journey or looking to move beyond static reports, this session offers a clear roadmap for turning construction data into a competitive advantage.

Learning Objectives:

·    Map the full lifecycle from data → insight → action and identify where organizations frequently get stuck
·    Understand the top pitfalls in data strategy implementation
·    Define the essential building blocks of a data foundation that connects the field, finance, and leadership teams
·    Recognize high value use cases for data visualization that ensure metrics are clear, actionable, and aligned to ROI
·    Understand where AI and automation fit to accelerate value realization
·    Communicate the value of data initiatives to drive sustained investment and cultural adoption

Location: ABCD Ballroom

1:00pm - 1:50pm

Heather Parbst - CLA

Session Overview:

Succession isn’t just a financial event—it’s a complex process that impacts operations, culture, and long-term business value. Internal leaders like CFOs and controllers play a critical role in preparing organizations for smooth and successful ownership changes. This session explores the non-financial factors that can derail succession, introduces the Four Pillars of Readiness—Personal, Financial, Business, and Family—and dives into the Business pillar where internal leaders have the greatest influence.

Participants will learn practical strategies to reduce owner dependency, strengthen leadership continuity, and build trust across teams and stakeholders. We’ll also tackle one of the toughest challenges: engaging resistant owners in succession conversations. Through actionable tools and real-world examples, attendees will leave equipped to protect enterprise value and support sustainable growth during ownership transitions.

Learning Objectives:

·    Understand the non-financial factors that can derail succession and how to mitigate them.
·    Learn the essential areas owners and leaders must address for a successful succession.
·    Gain strategies to reduce owner dependency, build team trust, and engage resistant owners to increase business sustainability and value.

Location: Jr. Ballroom

1:55pm - 2:45pm

Panel Discussion: RAMP (need names of panelists)

Panelists:

Session Overview:

Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded across construction and accounting technology: from estimating and preconstruction tools to spend management, accounts payable, and financial analysis. While these tools promise efficiency and consistency, they also introduce new considerations related to controls, data integrity, and professional judgment.

This panel brings together leaders from construction and accounting technology to discuss how AI is being applied in practice today. Rather than focusing on emerging technology for its own sake, the session examines how AI is changing the day-to-day experience of accounting work, what risks CPAs should be mindful of, and how to evaluate AI-enabled tools across the full construction finance stack.

Learning Objectives:

·   Distinguish between rules-based automation, assistive AI, and more autonomous (agentic) workflows in accounting
·   Assess implications of AI-enabled tools on audit trails, internal controls, and compliance
·   Develop criteria for evaluating AI solutions across estimating, accounting, and financial operations

Location: ABCD Ballroom

1:55pm - 2:45pm

Gary Gray

Session Overview:

Learning Objectives:

Location: Jr. Ballroom

2:45pm - 3:05pm
Location: Ballroom Foyer

3:05pm - 3:55pm

Sean Anderson - FORVIS MAZARS

Session Overview:

Cyber threats are no longer just an IT issue - they pose a direct risk to cash flow, project continuity, and financial trust within construction organizations. This session helps construction finance professionals understand how modern cyberattacks such as business email compromise, ransomware, phishing, and AI-enabled deepfake scams are executed by "thinking like a hacker". Attendees will walk away with practical insights to identify vulnerabilities, reduce human-driven risk, and strengthen their organization's cyber defense posture before financial damage occurs.

Learning Objectives:

·   Recognize the most common cyberattack tactics impacting construction companies, including phishing, executive impersonation, ransomware, and AI-powered deepfake voice and video fraud targeting financial transactions.
·   Understand how attackers exploit human behavior and process gaps, particularly within finance and operations teams, and why urgency, trust, and misconfiguration are often the weakest links.
·   Apply practical, finance-led defensive strategies to improve cyber readiness - such as strengthening approval controls, employee awareness, and proactive response planning to limit financial and operational exposure.

Location: ABCD Ballroom

3:05pm - 3:55pm

Bradley Taylor - FRAZIER DEETER

Session Overview:

CMMC can feel like "IT stuff", but it affects how you win and keep DoW work. This session breaks down the most common barriers construction companies face; what counts as CUI and how we know what systems are in scope.

Learning Objectives:

·   Identify what CMMC is and how it impacts construction companies.
·   FCI vs CUI and determine what IS, people, and subcontractors are likely in scope.
·   Apply a practical, non technical approach to reduce CMMC barriers (Scoping decisions, subcontractor flow-downs, basic policy/process changes.

Location: Jr. Ballroom

4:00pm - 4:15pm

Location: ABCD Ballroom

4:15pm - 5:15pm

David Kidder

Session Overview:

Learning Objectives:

Location: ABCD Ballroom

7:00am - 8:00am

Location: ABCD Ballroom

8:00am - 9:00am

Anthony Huey

Session Overview:

Learning Objectives:

Location: ABCD Ballroom
Intro by: Ramp

9:05am - 9:55am

Nicole Wagonheim - FIRST RULE (not sponsoring yet)

Session Overview:

Every construction professional knows that experience, intuition, and a healthy dose of common sense can mean the difference between spectacular success and abject failure…for both a project and a company.

Where, then, does artificial intelligence fit in? Is it reliable? Does it replace people? Is it the key to scalability or does it merely serve to provide a false sense of security?

And if there is a place for AI, how can it be safely and wisely implemented?

Few topics divide and fascinate the construction community as much as the use of artificial intelligence in what is an industry that literally serves as a monument to human collaboration.

In this session, Eliot Wagonheim and Rhonda Huismann will provide an overview of the possibilities and pitfalls of AI contract review technology, what to look for, what to expect, and how to stay on top of one of the most intriguing, frustrating, challenging, and captivating issues of 2026.

Learning Objectives:

·  The capabilities of AI in contract review
·  Decision points for each company considering whether or not to implement an AI solution
·  The limits and guardrails of smart AI policy
·  How best to implement AI while preserving and building institutional knowledge

Location: ABCD Ballroom

9:05am - 9:55am

Matt Calvano - ADAPTIVE

Session Overview:

The most dangerous phrase in construction finance is "I think we’re 75% complete." For decades, the WIP report has relied on manual entries and gut feelings from the field, often leading to late-stage profit fade that takes the executive team by surprise. But what if your WIP could "talk" to your project data?

In this interactive session, we will demonstrate how Large Language Models (LLMs) can now ingest "unstructured" operational data to sense-check what your financials say is the % complete vs. what the operational data says (plus more). Attendees will learn how to identify discrepancies between field data and financial data weeks before they hit the P&L.

Learning Objectives:

·  Identify how AI can map disparate data sources.
·  Develop a framework for "Predictive Profit Fade" alerts within your current accounting workflow.
·  Understand how to leverage AI tools to increase confidence in WIP reporting and reduce reliance on manual inputs.

Location: Jr. Ballroom

9:55am - 10:15am

Location: Ballroom Foyer

10:15am - 11:05am

James Lundy Jr - CBIZ/Marcum LLP

Session Overview:

Tricks and Traps Construction Companies and their tax advisors need to know

Learning Objectives:

·  Interactive Discussion of tried and true Construction Tax Best Practices

·  Practical application of One Big Beautiful Bill for Construction Companies and their Tax Advisors

·  Discussion and update of tax laws and litigation as it impacts the Construction Industry

Location: ABCD Ballroom

10:15am - 11:05am

TBD

Session Overview:

Learning Objectives:

Location: Jr. Ballroom

11:10am - 12:00pm

David Hern

Session Overview:

Location: ABCD Ballroom

12:00pm - 12:10pm

Location: Ballroom Foyer

12:10pm - 1:00pm

Dr. Roger Tutterow

Session Overview:

Learning Objectives:

Location: ABCD Ballroom

1:00pm - 1:15pm

Location: ABCD Ballroom