HKA expands Canadian construction consulting practice

Pictured left to right are (top row) Stephanie Ladurantaye, Vincent Laroche, Sung Ho Lee; (middle row) Maged Abdelsayed, Nader Akkaoui, Pierre-Olivier Dionne; (bottom row), Charles Bucci, Kristaps Thompson and Michael Bodnar. Photos courtesy HKA.

HKA, an international consultancy specializing in risk mitigation and dispute resolution for the capital projects and infrastructure sector, has expanded its Canadian construction advisory services with the addition of nine new hires across its Montreal and Calgary operations.

In Calgary, Michael Bodnar joins as principal. He has 25 years’ engineering experience in technical and leadership roles, specializing in forensic engineering for investigations of fires, water loss and other failure incidents.

The other new hires are all based in Montreal and previously worked for Deloitte. Heading the team is Maged Abdelsayed, who joins HKA as partner. He is a professional engineer with 35 years’ experience in the construction industry and has provided dispute management and claims-related services for both Canadian and international projects.

Nader Akkaoui, P.Eng., joins as director. He has more than 14 years’ experience in construction, project management and claims and dispute resolution, spanning the liquid natural gas (LNG), mining, metals and infrastructure sectors.

Charles Bucci also joins as director. He is a professional engineer with 13 years’ experience preparing and defending construction claims related to delays, loss of productivity, quantification of damages and optimizing project management processes.

Vincent Laroche joins as associate director. He has 10 years’ experience in construction management and project planning, estimation and management, having consulted on commercial, industrial and institutional buildings.

Pierre-Olivier Dionne, Ing., joins as manager. His experience includes preparing construction claims and expert reports, delay and forensic schedule analysis, loss of productivity analysis, project cost analysis and quantification of damages.

Sung Ho Lee joins as senior associate consultant. With 19 years’ experience in the construction and telecommunications industries, Lee has helped manage complex project databases, analyze project records and provide information technology (IT) support.

Kristaps Thompson also joins as senior associate consultant, with experience assisting in preparing expert reports and construction claims regarding analysis of delays, cost overruns and productivity losses.

Finally, Stephanie Ladurantaye joins as administrative assistant. She is an experienced administrator, having worked with such firms as Bombardier and Invessa.

With these new hires, HKA now employs 37 construction consulting executives in Canada, making it one of the largest construction claims practices in the country. Its growth comes as federal and provincial governments budget nearly $500 billion for infrastructure and institutional capital expansion.

“HKA has made the Canadian construction claims market a top priority,” says Rick Moffat, partner. “We welcome our new team members and look forward to their contribution.”