Resumes & Biographies
Project Management Experts
- 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - Michael Harris, Senior Executive Consultant
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Mr. Harris is a Senior Executive Consultant with Long International and has over 30 years of construction project and claims management experience. His comprehensive consulting and management background includes risk evaluation and managing and resolving complex claims and contract disputes on major construction projects throughout the U.S. and globally for a wide range of industries including the power, water, petrochemical, industrial, commercial, healthcare, and general building sectors.
Mr. Harris has extensive expertise in key construction disciplines including project design, project management, construction management, contract management, risk and claims analysis, on-site risk management, claims resolution, claims avoidance management, cost management, and expert witness reporting and testimony. As well as his extensive project execution background, he also has considerable experience in various types of dispute resolution forums such as arbitration, litigation, and mediation proceedings in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East. Mr. Harris has also been appointed as mediator and arbitrator on various international projects. He has been responsible for the management of numerous major projects, both from a construction and dispute perspective, ranging in size from US$ 100,000 to over US$ 500 million.
A strong and rounded project execution background in many countries, together with expansive experience in dispute resolution processes, has allowed Mr. Harris to be thoroughly versed in the management of construction risks and claims for any type of project or problem in any location/country. He is skilled at contract analysis, claims strategy and preparation, claims defense and the negotiation of settlements. Before joining Long International in 2009, and during the last 10 years, Mr. Harris has held positions as Executive Vice President and Corporate Director of Claims with two Fortune 500 construction companies. In these roles, he has had responsibility for the management, strategizing, implementation, and resolution of numerous construction disputes and contract claims for major projects on four continents. Summary Resume Detailed Resume - F. Paul HerrNeckar, Senior Executive Consultant
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F. Paul HerrNeckar is a Senior Executive Consultant responsible for Long International's Austin, Texas office. He has over 40 years of U.S. and international project management, engineering and construction management, and construction claims experience in petrochemical, oil & gas, power, refining, chemicals, pharmaceutical, pulp & paper, food and water-related projects. Mr. HerrNeckar also has extensive process control engineering and construction management experience in process control projects. He is skilled in the management of lump-sum turnkey projects in the United Sates as well as internationally. He has participated directly in claims negotiations and settlement agreements in excess of $100 million.
Mr. HerrNeckar provides claims analysis and dispute resolution services include a wide variety of projects for owners and contractors. Specific responsibilities include analysis of engineering project management performance under the contract, job cost analysis, delay analysis, procurement issues analysis, problems affecting instrumentation and process control systems, and change order analysis.
Before joining Long International, Mr. HerrNeckar managed projects as large as $450 million while living in the Middle East. He also was Projects Engineering Manager for 45 projects valued in excess of $2.6 billion, managing approximately 120 engineers from different disciplines as well as surveying and document control. Summary Resume Detailed Resume