Leadership
Long International’s officers and the majority of our Principals have worked together over 20 or more years. At Long International, our commitment to long-term relationships fosters effective communication and efficient teamwork. Long International’s executives work together to ensure our clients’ success. To learn more about our leadership team, please browse the summary biographies and detailed resumes of our senior executives below.
- Richard J. Long, P.E., Chief Executive Officer
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Richard J. Long, P.E. is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Long International, a Colorado-based construction claims and project management consulting firm that focuses its practice on owners, engineering and construction firms, and contractors performing petroleum refining, petrochemical, oil and gas, power/cogeneration, mineral processing, industrial, building, and infrastructure projects worldwide. He has over 40 years of U.S. and international consulting experience involving construction contract disputes analysis and resolution, arbitration/litigation support and expert testimony, project management, engineering/construction management, cost and schedule control, and process engineering. As an internationally recognized expert in the analysis and resolution of complex construction disputes for over 25 years, Mr. Long has served as the lead expert on over 300 projects having claims ranging in size from US $100,000 to over US $1 billion. He has presented and published numerous articles on the subjects of claims analysis, entitlement issues, CPM schedule and damages analyses, and claims prevention.
Before forming Long International, Mr. Long was Senior Vice President, Contract Administration for a major electrical and mechanical contractor. In this role, he had corporate-wide responsibility for technical management and oversight of the preparation and resolution of construction claims. In addition, he was responsible for the development, training, and implementation of project management policies and procedures to ensure that profit, cost, schedule, scope, quality, and safety objectives were achieved. Mr. Long managed for 13 years the construction claims practices of two large consulting firms. Prior to his consulting career, Mr. Long gained 13 years of project management and process engineering experience on petroleum refining, oil shale, synfuels, mining and power generation projects with Tosco, Fluor, and Conoco.
Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Andrew Avalon, P.E., P.S.P., President
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Mr. Avalon is President of Long International and has over 25 years of
engineering, construction management and claims consulting experience.
He is an expert in the preparation and evaluation of construction claims,
business interruption claims, schedule delay analysis, arbitration/litigation
support and dispute resolution. He has prepared more than thirty CPM
schedule analyses, written expert witness reports, and supported attorneys in
depositions, cross-examinations, mediations and settlement negotiations. He has analyzed construction schedules for owners and contractors to determine the causes of construction delays and to equitably allocate responsibility for delay-related costs. He has developed "cause and effect" analyses and presentations for time extensions and delay damages. In
addition, Mr. Avalon has published numerous articles on the subjects of
CPM schedule analysis and entitlement issues affecting construction claims.
Mr. Avalon is a registered Professional Engineer with U.S. and international
experience in petrochemical, oil refining, commercial, educational, medical,
correctional facility, transportation, dam, wharf, wastewater treatment, and
nuclear power projects. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Hal E. Buddemeyer, Senior Principal
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Mr. Buddemeyer, a Senior Principal for Long International, has 39 years of experience in all aspects of program and construction project management and construction disputes. His experience includes construction and property damage/business interruption claims analysis, preparation, defense, and negotiation of settlements on projects including refineries, offshore oil & gas, petrochemical plants, heavy civil and mining projects, tar sands facilities, nuclear, coal and gas-fired power plants, and building projects. Mr. Buddemeyer's project experience includes project cost/schedule control, systems and procedures development and implementation, program planning, as well as capital and operating cost estimating and economic analysis during the design, construction, and start-up phases of a diverse cross section of projects. Mr. Buddemeyer has 26 years of construction contract disputes consulting experience. In this regard, he has been responsible for entitlement and issue analysis; change order analysis; labor productivity analysis; cost and damages analysis; schedule delay and impact analysis; claim report preparation and rebuttal; negotiation and mediation assistance; the organization, development and maintenance of document databases; assistance to counsel during discovery; and depositions and interrogatory preparation. Mr. Buddemeyer has testified in U.S. and international arbitration. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - W. Tom Thweatt, Senior Principal
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Mr. Thweatt is a Senior Principal with Long International and has over 39 years of engineering, construction, and management consulting experience. He has extensive experience in major U.S. and international refining, chemical, petrochemical, pipeline, infrastructure and thermal/ hydroelectric power generation projects ranging from $40 million to $1.8 billion. He has worked extensively in projects that were executed by multi-national joint ventures on both the owner's and the contractor's sides. Mr. Thweatt has served on Joint Venture and Consortium Executive Committees and has participated directly in claims negotiations and settlement agreements in excess of $100 million.
Before joining Long International, Mr. Thweatt served as Vice President and Director of Engineering for Techint, S.A., a major EPC contractor based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He served as a member of the Technint Comite Direccion, the governing committee responsible for all strategic and operational decisions, and was in responsible charge of worldwide engineering operations for all proposals and projects.
Before relocating to South America, Mr. Thweatt served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Operations, for the Parsons Energy and Chemicals Group Inc., based in Houston, Texas. He had profit and loss responsibility for engineering, procurement, construction, estimating and project controls for all proposals and projects executed by the company's four major operating centers in Houston, Texas; Reading, Pennsylvania; Pasadena, California; and London, England. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Christopher S. Beach, CPA*, CFE, Principal
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Mr. Beach is a Principal with Long International and has 35 years of professional experience in public accounting, financial consulting, claims consulting, and dispute resolution. He established and led the professional litigation consulting practice for Peterson Consulting LP (subsequently Navigant Consulting) for eleven years in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. He then founded and developed the litigation and economic development consulting practices at Beach & Company over a twelve-year period until 2005, at which time he merged the practice into the Houston office of LECG, which he led and developed as Managing Director of the office. In these capacities, he has consistently developed, performed, and led others in the practice of litigation and management consulting services for corporations, law firms, and public sector entities.
In providing litigation support, he has testified in deposition, given testimony in State and Federal courts, including Bankruptcy court. Mr. Beach co-authored, developed, and instructed industry courses for construction industry executives and management on, "Financial Management for Non-financial Executives." These multi-day courses were developed and given to members of one of the two primary construction industry associations in the United States. The courses included GAAP financial accounting for construction companies, micro-economics, project financial management, and company financial management.
He also co-authored, developed, and instructed a course on "Financial Management: Job Cost Control." This was a multi-day course developed for the Mechanical Contractors Association of America that included financial statement analysis, micro-economics, construction industry GAAP, financial management, and project cost control utilizing proprietary job cost estimating methodologies.
*Long International, Inc. is not a CPA firm. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Steven J. Bieniewicz, Principal
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Steven J. Bieniewicz, a Principal with Long International, Inc., has over
35 years experience in engineering, project management, project planning and
scheduling, cost engineering, construction claims/dispute resolution, project
performance audits, and corporate management. He has over 21 years of
construction claims and contract dispute resolution experience including issue
entitlement evaluation, schedule delay analysis, damages analysis, attorney
support and expert witness testimony on a large number of complex
construction projects. Mr. Bieniewicz is recognized as an expert in the
development of schedule delay and cost overrun analyses for construction
projects. He has worked on over 100 claims ranging in size from US $50,000
to over US $100 million. Before joining Long International, Mr. Bieniewicz
had been a Principal in four consulting companies that focused on construction
claims and project management.
Prior to entering the consulting field, Mr. Bieniewicz had direct experience on a number of construction projects including nuclear and fossil power plants, wastewater treatment plants, hospitals, and commercial buildings. As a Senior Project Manager for a contractor, he had complete management responsibility for several projects including hospitals and commercial buildings. As a Planning and Scheduling Engineer, he developed and maintained project schedules on a wide variety of projects. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Rod C. Carter, CCE, Principal
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Mr. Carter is a Certified Cost Engineer and Principal with Long International and has over 13 years of experience in construction project controls, contract disputes and resolution, mediation/ arbitration support, and litigation support for expert testimony. He has experience in entitlement, schedule, and damages analyses on over thirty construction disputes ranging in value from US$100,000 to US$200 million, related to oil and gas, heavy civil, nuclear, environmental, chemical, power, industrial, commercial, and residential construction projects. Mr. Carter has experience in document discovery and the development of internet-based document repository databases. He is proficient in the use of Primavera Project Planner software, and has extensive experience in assessing the schedule impact of RFIs, change orders, and other events to engineering and construction works. Mr. Carter specializes in loss of productivity, cumulative impact, and quantum calculations, and has had a lead role in assessing damages on more than a dozen major disputes. In addition, Mr. Carter has developed cost and schedule risk analysis models using Monte Carlo simulations to address the uncertainty of estimates and claims. He has testified in two arbitrations as an expert in construction scheduling and damages, and has presented expert findings to an international arbitral tribunal. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Ronald E. Downing, Principal
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Mr. Downing is a Principal with Long International, and has over 35 years of
experience in the management of power, process industrial and environmental
construction projects, and in the analysis and preparation of construction claims.
His direct project management experience includes estimating, contract
administration, and the development and implementation of project control
systems (cost, schedule and quality) for ongoing projects. His construction claims
experience includes claims evaluation, analysis, and expert testimony related to
construction means and methods, technical issues, schedule delays, productivity
losses, and the quantification of damages.
Mr. Downing has significant experience in the role of project manager in the construction of various systems at heavy industrial and power generation plants throughout the U.S.
Process/Industrial projects include conversion of an open car coke oven quenching system to a closed system, complete rebuild/upgrade of a continuous annealing line, installation of three air separation plants, Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) systems, numerous bulk material handling systems, and major process piping installations. This experience has involved all facets of the construction process including foundations, structural erection, equipment erection, and piping installation, and includes new construction as well as repair/renovation work within operating plants.
Power projects ranged from 65 MW to 750 MW and include coal, waste coal, waste to energy and geothermal technologies for both public utilities and independent power producers. In addition to involvement with new construction, he was also responsible for management of numerous repair/renovation projects including power boilers, turbine/generators, air pollution control, and material handling equipment.
As a Lead Analyst, he has performed numerous analyses that have played a key role in the successful evaluation and negotiation of over $500 million in claims arising from power, industrial and commercial projects in the U.S. and Canada. In the performance of delay/disruption studies, labor productivity analyses, damage quantification, and other litigation support activities, this practical and broad-based experience has been frequently utilized to identify the "root cause" of problems. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Curtis W. Foster, Principal
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Mr. Foster is a Principal with Long International, and has a
background that spans over 30 years of involvement in design,
construction, and dispute resolution on over $5 billion of projects. This
experience includes process/industrial, power, environmental, commercial and
transportation projects. He is skilled in the areas of contract management, cost
management, estimating, scheduling, earned value performance measurement,
and field engineering. He has had a significant role in the development of
integrated project management procedures for various firms involved in the
design and construction of facilities. His claim-related efforts include analyses of
cost (estimated, bid, and actual), schedule (delay and acceleration) and disruption
(labor inefficiency and productivity) for a wide range of projects in the U.S. and internationally.
Mr. Foster has significant experience in management, design, and field engineering on marine petroleum and power projects, including offshore platforms (for oil collection, separation, storage and pumping), pipelines, and receiving/export facilities. His experience with power projects includes gas-fired combined-cycle cogeneration facilities, waste-burning facilities, and other facilities burning various fuels. A significant amount of his project experience was at various locations around the world. Mr. Foster also has hands-on project management experience on commercial projects, including hospitals and mid-rise condominiums. His duties on these projects included contract administration (including change order management, schedule review, and estimating), and field inspection to ensure conformance with design documents.
Mr. Foster has broad experience in project management, project control (estimating, scheduling, and cost engineering), and engineering (field and project) in various industries. This extensive experience is utilized to the benefit of his client on both dispute-related assignments and on project management engagements. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Truman D. King, P.E., Principal
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Truman D. King, P.E., a Principal with Long International, has over 35
years of experience in engineering, procurement, and construction
operations in the mining, oil and gas, refining, and real estate
development industries. He has successfully completed assignments in
the U.S., Middle East and Europe. Mr. King was a Senior Project
Manager for Worley Parsons, where he managed the Front End
Engineering Design and acquisition of Process Design Technology for a
$500 million expansion of an oil refinery in the UAE to produce clean
diesel fuel. He has also managed oil & gas, refining, power distribution,
marine and other engineering projects and provided analysis of and
resolution of contractor's claims. Mr. King has extensive knowledge of
the owner's and contractor's project management responsibilities on
EPC turnkey projects. He has successfully analyzed claims involving
mismanagement, defective engineering, delay, disruption, and disputed
change orders. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Robert J. Lane, Principal
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Mr. Lane, a Principal for Long International, has 35 years of experience
working in or consulting for the engineering and construction industry.
More than half of this time has been involved in the resolution of
construction-related claims and disputes. He has expertise in quantum/
damages analyses, project cost estimating, project construction scheduling,
project cost control, and overall project management. He has also worked in
the areas of contract administration, claims management, and contract
dispute resolution. Mr. Lane has significant background in the application of
the Primavera scheduling systems to proactively develop/update project
schedules and/or to retrospectively analyze the impact of various events to
the project schedule. He has utilized these and other scheduling tools on
major construction projects in the U.S. and internationally. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Philip R. Moncrief, P.E., Principal
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Philip R. Moncrief, P.E., is a Principal with Long International, and has over 40 years of U.S. and international consulting experience involving engineering and construction, contract disputes, project management, project development, engineering/construction management, and process engineering. As an internationally recognized expert in the engineering and construction industry, he has managed large projects and had profit and loss responsibility for the engineering and construction operations of four major engineering-construction companies. He has published two books and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Colorado and Texas A&M University in their Construction Management Programs, and is a frequent presenter of project management topics to industry forums and seminars.
Before associating with Long International, Mr. Moncrief was Vice President and General Manager of Technip's Houston office, Vice President Project Management for Bechtel, Senior Vice President of Davy McKee and Vice President of Fluor Corporation. In these roles, he had responsibility for management and oversight of engineering and construction projects in the US and internationally including the development and implementation of project management policies and procedures to ensure that profit, cost, schedule, scope, quality, and safety objectives were achieved.
Mr. Moncrief is a 1968 graduate of Rice University with a Masters in Chemical Engineering. He has wide experience in the Refining, Petrochemical, Chemical, Pipeline, Terminals, LNG and other areas including treatment of waste from the facilities. His knowledge and experience includes 40 years of process design, overall facility design, project management, project engineering, procurement of materials and equipment and construction of numerous facilities thorough out the world. His experience with these projects includes conceptual development, estimating of project cost, economic analysis, scheduling, contracts, marketing, and all areas of facility management and operations. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - G. Charles Phillips, P.E., Principal
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Mr. Phillips, a Principal with Long International, has over 40 years of U.S. and international experience in the refining and chemical processing industries. His background includes expertise in construction contract disputes analysis and resolution, project management, program management of multiple projects, engineering/ construction management, cost and schedule control, and economic evaluation and risk analysis.
Mr. Phillips provides project management, claims analysis and dispute resolution services to the construction industry. He is skilled in the assessment of technical issues and evaluations of project management performance of owners and construction contractors on engineering, procurement, and construction contracts for process plant and industrial projects. He has analyzed engineering, procurement, and construction costs and project documentation to identify responsibility for cost overruns. His work history includes 25 years with The Dow Chemical Company and 10 years with M. W. Kellogg. This experience of working for both an owner and an engineering contractor firm has given him an understanding of the contract performance issues involved from both perspectives. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Ronald J. Rider, Principal
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Mr. Rider, a Principal with Long International, has over 24 years of comprehensive construction experience and expertise from over 85 projects in the areas of project management and dispute resolution services. Mr. Rider excels in providing clients with quality service in project estimating, developing and monitoring critical path method (CPM) schedules, project cost control, project billings and payments, change order pricing and resolution, contract administration, CPM schedule recovery, project close-out, and dispute resolution of project problems. Mr. Rider is highly skilled in cost and labor hour variance modeling, impact identification and analysis, retrospective CPM schedule delay preparation and evaluation, concurrent delay assessments, project acceleration analysis, and damages verification and quantification. He is proficient in the use of Primavera Project Planner (P3), Safran Project, Microsoft Project, Claim Digger, Summation Blaze, and all Microsoft Office software packages.
Mr. Rider specializes in his ability to combine his project management capabilities along with problem solving competencies resulting in effective dispute resolution services. Mr. Rider has a proven track record, and his work experiences encompass project types such as petrochemical, oil refinery, power, industrial, commercial, road/highway, transit, hospital/medical, and airport projects ranging in size from $50,000 to $2.7 billion. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Peter van der Schans, Principal
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Peter van der Schans, a Principal with Long International, has 40 years of
project management, engineering management, and engineering experience.
His extensive international experience includes the overall responsibility
for engineering, project control, procurement, construction, and start-up of
oil refining, oil and gas, gas to liquids, petrochemical, chemical, industrial
facilities, municipal and refinery hazardous waste processing, and
environmental projects. His experience covers all project phases from
feasibility studies, preparation of FEED packages, EP and EPC project
execution to start-up and operational troubleshooting. He has extensive
experience in execution of refinery and petrochemical plant projects. He
has analyzed delay, cost overrun, and lost production claims for refinery,
offshore, and petrochemical plants.
Mr. van der Schans has experience in detailed commissioning planning of refineries, and mechanical completion and handover efforts, and has extensive commissioning and start-up experience. He also resolved many warranty claims to the satisfaction of Owner and Contractor by technical and operational analysis of damages. He participated in many HAZID and HAZOP reviews, and functioned as HAZOP Chairman. He was an expert witness in a large reactor damage claim, and was a Process Consultant for FPSO conversions. He participated in contract negotiations with Contractors for US $50 to $450 million contracts on behalf of the Owner.
Before joining Long International, Mr. van der Schans served as Senior Project Manager with Parsons E&C for 5 years, primarily as a leader of Project Management Consulting Teams and as individual Project Management Advisor for Middle Eastern Refiners. He also served 23 years with Badger and Raytheon Engineers and Constructors as a Process Engineer, Technical Services and Start-up Engineer, Project Engineer, Project Engineering Manager, and Project and Sr. Project Manager. He started his career with Selas of America in process design and start-up of Hydrogen, Ammonia and Methanol Syngas, and Olefins plants. He served as Director and Vice President of Engineering and Technology for Power Recovery Systems Inc, and as Director for Project Engineering Services GmbH. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - James S. Dielschneider
Managing Director, Europe & Asia Operations -
James S. Dielschneider is the Managing Director of European and Asia Operations of Long International, Inc. He provides onsite investigation, analysis, presentations, and expert witness testimony regarding engineering and construction disputes involving project, program, and construction management issues. Mr. Dielschneider testifies in arbitrations, High Court and US Courts, and serves as a mediator and arbitrator of complex design, procurement, and construction disputes.
Mr. Dielschneider's dispute testimony includes: program, project, design and construction management, programming, quantity surveys, cost estimates, budgeting, estimating errors, scheduling, defective design, late drawings, errors and omissions, contractor approval problems, procurement delays, substitutions, changes, unforeseen conditions, constructability, change orders, resource allocation, safety constraints, interference of construction work, costs of acceleration of work, revenue loss, profit loss, overpayment, productivity loss, equipment standby costs, delays, acceleration, time extensions, quality control, final acceptance problems, rework, and impacts of these problems on construction projects and ongoing facilities operations.
He has over 40 years of international management, design, construction, and consulting experience involving electrical power plants, waste treatment plants, water systems, sewer systems, roads, highways, bridges, rail, tunnels, utilities, airports, moorage facilities, oil refineries, environmental remediation, electronic manufacturing plants, research facilities, hospitals, universities, high rise office buildings, school facilities, hotels, recreation facilities, parks, retirement centers, dams, and other large, complex projects up to US$1 billion. Mr. Dielschneider has presented seminars, provided training, and published numerous articles on project management, construction management, multiple project scheduling, project planning and control systems, and mediation. He authored a book on construction planning and scheduling. This capability is founded on the actual performance of planning, programming, quantity surveying, estimating, scheduling; the management of programs, projects, design, procurement and construction; and the direct field management of construction crews and subcontractors. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Daniel A. Copeland, Director of Business Dev. & Marketing
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Daniel A. Copeland is Director of Business Development and Marketing for Long International, Inc. He has over 18 years of business development and marketing experience, with 11 of those years spent in the construction claims consulting arena. Prior to joining Long International, Mr. Copeland was the Director of Business Development of Hill International's claims group in Washington, DC where he established the business development practice. For nearly 10 years prior to working for Hill International, Mr. Copeland managed the Center For Management Development And Training, Inc. (CMDT) and Lion Worldwide, Ltd, an internationally renowned construction contracts and claims seminar company that promoted and held seminars throughout the U.S., S.E. Asia, India, UK, and the Middle East primarily for owners, contractors, and lawyers worldwide. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - Douglas J. Nutter, Manager of Graphic Services
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Mr. Nutter is Long International's Manager of Graphic Services. He has over
34 years of experience in design, illustration, cartography and graphic
production for technical support, arbitration and litigation. He is skilled in
developing complex technical issues and data into concise presentations for
use by counsel, juries and arbitration panels. Prior to his consulting career,
Mr. Nutter gained twelve years of engineering drafting and graphics
experience on petroleum refining, oil shale, synfuels, mining and power
generation projects with Tosco Corporation. Summary Resume Detailed Resume
*Long International, Inc. is not a CPA firm.