Gilbane creates new tech-oriented role

Dive Brief:

• Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co. has appointed two executives to technology-focused positions, one of which is a new role for the firm.
• Alex Gutman has been named chief technology officer and Rawle Sawh has been named director of operations technology, the company announced on April 20. Sawh’s role was newly created as a way to make sure Gilbane’s teams are supported with lean, scalable technology, said Lynn Rasic, the company’s director of global communications, in an email.
• Prior to working at Gilbane, Gutman was a technology executive in the food and beverage industry, working with The Heineken Co. and Rémy Cointreau. Sawh has been with the company since 2007, and his most recent role was as director of virtual design and construction.

Dive Insight:

Sawh will be the enterprise leader for all of Gilbane’s technology that enables its project delivery, according to the release. Gutman will be focused on driving digital transformation efforts across the country. Both men will report to Karen Higgins-Carter, the company’s chief information and digital officer.

“We’re in a time of great advances in construction technology and we are proactively investing to leverage technology and analytics to benefit our clients and our teams,” Higgins-Carter said in an email. “These new positions are part of a diverse, experienced team with cross-industry perspectives to accelerate our digital transformation.”

The prioritization tracks with Gilbane’s previous actions — in March, the company appointed industry veteran Kelly Benedict as its head of innovation and transformation. Benedict told Construction Dive that the company had five focuses for tech: a shared roadmap and innovation for the business, process simplification and collaboration, data analytics, intelligent building technologies and cybersecurity.

“What we’re trying to do is be very intentional, and look through and engage with the business and identify the true pain points,” Benedict told Construction Dive.

Gilbane follows an industrywide trend as contractors look at how technology, artificial intelligence in particularcan serve them amid an uncertain economy.