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SPEAKERS |
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Joe%20Allegro.jpg) |
Joe Allegro has over 40 years of experience in the design / construction industry, mostly on heavy transportation projects. He spent twenty years working for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts – the bulk of which was spent on the Central Artery/Tunnel (“Big Dig” Project), completing this work as Director of Construction. He then spent two years working for a private design consultant, where he led their national CEI services. Currently, as Allegro Construction Services (a sole proprietor) for the last 19 years, he provides construction management and independent oversight services to state transportation agencies. In addition, he provides dispute resolution services, including service on several DRBs. He is Past President of the DRBF Region 1 and has served on multiple committees.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Romano%20Allione.jpg) |
Romanio Allione is a Charter member of the DRBF, past president of the DRBF Executive Board of Directors and was the 2008 recipient of the Al Mathews Award for Dispute Board Excellence, the DRBF's top honor. He is a professional engineer, project management consultant, and member FIDIC President’s List of Approved Adjudicators. Mr. Allione has contributed to the construction of major infrastructure projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He was a party in the first DRB to operate outside the USA in the early 1980s and since then has strongly promoted the DRB/DAB concept and helped in Dispute Board training seminars and in communicating the DB philosophy. On retirement from the largest Italian contractor after more than 30 years of service, Mr. Allione has been active in advising on project management, claim preparation, and Dispute Board implementation. He has and is participating in arbitration proceedings; has been acting as Arbitrator, Member and Chair of Dispute Adjudication Boards according to FIDIC Rules; and Combined Dispute Boards according to ICC Rules. He is a lecturer at the “Master Contract, claim and delay management in construction works" program at Milan Polytechnic and for several seminars for lawyers and engineers.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Dick-Appuhn.jpg) |
Dick Appuhn is a consulting engineer based in Rome Italy serving mainly the European design and construction communities. His professional experience covers engineering design and construction management where he has been active since the 1960’s starting in the United States and moving to the international market place in 1970. His affiliations extend to the Society of Construction Law and the DRB Foundation where he served as President of the Executive and Region 2 Boards of Directors and as a member of the International Committee for Training. Dick is a recipient of the Al Mathews Award for Dispute Board Excellence, the DRBF's top honor. He is a member of the Contracts Committee for the European International Contractors Association. Dick is an active arbitrator and adjudicator in Europe, Africa and the Far East. He was appointed to the Standing Committee for ADR of the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration. Dick is an affiliate member of FIDIC and is an accredited trainer and is registered on the President’s List of Approved Adjudicators. He also serves the Task Groups for the drafting of General Conditions of Subcontract to be used with the FIDIC Standard Conditions for Construction and Design-Build Contracts. He graduated with BS and MS Degrees in Civil Engineering and Engineering Geology from the University of California at Berkeley. He was admitted as a Registered Civil Engineer, Geologist and Engineering Geologist in California, USA.
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David Brown is an English Solicitor and French Avocat with over 25 years’ experience in construction dispute resolution. He works across five continents, with a particular focus recently on projects in Romania and Algeria. His experience in dispute resolution ranges from infrastructure to hydro-electric and nuclear projects. Active in dispute board proceedings and a regular conference speaker, David is on both the FIDIC President's List of Approved Dispute Adjudicators and its French List. He is listed in Who’s Who Legal as one of the leading construction lawyers in France. He lectures at Stuttgart University on international construction law, is a council member of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, and a founding member of the International Construction Law Association.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Jeremy-Glover%20%281%29.jpg) |
Jeremy Glover is a partner at Fenwick Elliott LLP , the UK’s largest construction law firm and is listed as a leader in his field in Who’s Who Legal. Jeremy is an accredited adjudicator, Vice-President of the Conflict Avoidance Coalition, and a member of the CIArb Adjudication Sub-Committee. He is also a FIDIC Certified Adjudicator, Member of the FIDIC President’s List and of the FIDIC Net Zero Task Group TG23. Jeremy is the co-author of Understanding the FIDIC Red and Yellow Book: A Clause by Clause Commentary, the third edition of which was published in 2018, and lead editor of Building Contract Disputes: Practice and Precedents. He is a member of the Board of Examiners on the Construction Law MSc programme at King’s College, and also teaches on the MSc Building Information Modelling Management Programme at Middlesex University. Jeremy serves as the President of the DRBF Executive Board.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Andy%20Griffiths.jpg) |
Andy Griffiths is an independent dispute resolution practitioner based in Johannesburg, South Africa. A civil engineer by profession, Andy also holds a Higher Diploma in Arbitration (Specialising in construction law). He is a Member of the FIDIC President’s List of Approved Dispute Adjudicators, as well as the SAICE and CESA President’s List of Arbitrators, Mediators and Adjudicators, and the ICE-SA Panel of NEC Adjudicators. Andy has acted in over 70 disputes involving Dispute Boards, either as a DB member or as the Engineer, and has also acted as Adjudicator, Mediator or Arbitrator on over 50 other disputes. In his near 40-year engineering career, Andy was intimately involved in the design, planning and project management of some of Southern Africa's largest projects, such as the Mokolo-Crocodile Water Augmentation Project, the Berg River Dam and Pipeline, the 110km VRESAP pipeline, Durban Harbour Tunnel, and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project : the 185 metre high Katse Dam, the 45km Transfer Tunnel, the 32km Mohale Tunnel, and the Matsoku Weir and Tunnel. He is a Registered Professional Engineer (RSA), a Chartered Engineer (UK), a Fellow of the South African Institute of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), and a Fellow of the Association of Arbitrators (Southern Africa). He is immediate Past-President of the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF) Executive Board.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Nigel%20Grout.jpg) |
Nigel Grout FCIArb, FCIHT, DipICArb is an experienced construction professional specialising in the resolution and avoidance of disputes and contentious issues on international infrastructure projects. He provides expert opinion and findings on such matters as interpretation of contract documents, entitlement under the contract and applicable law, quantum, extensions of time, delay and disruption, variations and contractual claims. Having spent 40 years as a practising Quantity Surveyor, Nigel now works exclusively as a Dispute Board member. He has been on the FIDIC President’s List of Approved Adjudicators since 2012 and has extensive expertise and experience of Dispute Boards practice and procedures. Nigel has served on many DBs, including as Chairman or as a Sole Member DB. Also an accredited Adjudicator with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an accredited Expert Determiner with the Academy of Experts. Particular expertise in the various FIDIC and MDB contract conditions. Regularly tutors worldwide on construction claims and the operation of international Dispute Boards. Nigel has worked on projects in the UK, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Oskar%20Ljungqvist.png) |
Oskar Ljungqvist is a consulting engineer based in Dubai UAE serving various stakeholders on projects across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He is an experienced professional with expertise in contract and claims management. His skillset encompasses contract administration, delay and disruption costs, forensic delay analysis, project planning and project management. Instructs forensic delay analysis modules for Masters Programme at Milan Polytechnic Institute. Oskar is a member of the DRBF since 2018, as well as the other professional organisations such as the SCL and the AACEi. Over the last 5 years he has been extensively involved in adjudication and arbitration proceedings on multibillion Euro disputes. He graduated with BS and MS Degrees in Civil Engineering and Hydraulics from the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden. His began his career in engineering and construction in 2006 in Ethiopia.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Philip%20Loots.jpg) |
Philip Loots has practised exclusively as an international construction lawyer for more than 50 years, and is the author of various books and articles on Construction Law. He has been a keen promoter of the use of DBs and was instrumental in the initial setting up of DBs for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase 1. His position as contractual adviser to major mining houses positioned him to introduce the use of DBs on many major greenfields mining projects as well as major expansion projects. His experience extends not only to advice on contracts for infrastructure for mining projects, but also underground construction work and contract mining services contracts both for open pit mining and underground mining. Projects have been located in the Middle East, sub- Sahara Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia. Philip served on the FIDIC panel for the review of the 1999 suite of FIDIC documents, all of which promoted the use of DBs. With the more recent release of the ‘Conditions of Contract for Underground Works’ First Edition 2019, reprinted 2023 with amendments, FIDIC, together with the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA-AITES), recognised the unique risks and the need for sensible allocation of contractual responsibility for underground work, again making provision for the use of DBs.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Aisha%20Nadar.jpg) |
Aisha Nadar has been actively involved in all phases of the negotiation and implementation of large-scale cross-border infrastructure and defence programs for over 30 years. Her procurement and international contract management experience includes holding senior level positions in the US, the Middle East and Europe. She regularly advises clients on strategic procurement planning, contract drafting, contract management and dispute resolution and acts as arbitrator, mediator and dispute board member and has experience of ICC, LCIA, SCC, DIAC, AAA, UNCITRAL and FIDIC rules. Aisha has carried out assignments related to dispute resolution for organizations such as the World Bank, USAID and US DoD and is a regularly invited speaker at universities and specialized conferences on construction contracts and dispute resolution. Aisha is a member of FIDIC’s Executive Committee, the Chair of FIDIC’s Procurement Policy Sub-Committee, is listed on FIDIC President’s List of Accredited Adjudicators and served as one of the principal drafters of the updates of the FIDIC 1999 Suite. She is an officer of the International Construction Projects Committee of the International Bar Association and has previously served as a member of the Standing Committee of ICC International Centre for ADR. Aisha holds a BS Electrical Engineering from University of Nebraska, an MBA from University of Texas-Austin and an LL.M. in International Commercial Dispute Resolution from Queen Mary, University of London and completed the CIArb Diploma Course in International Commercial Arbitration, Oxford in 2005.
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/DavidOsofu-Dorte.jpg) |
David Osofu-Dorte
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![](/assets/images/ProfilePhotos/Samuel%20Semi.jpg) |
Samuele Maria Semi is an operative Contract Manager, skilled in EPC projects. He is well founded in Civil Engineering and Project Management. Having worked with top players in the industry like Baker Hughes and SAIPEM, he excels in deciphering complex terms and formulating agile contract strategies. Leveraging AI-powered tools, Samuele significantly improves project precision and efficiency. His data-driven risk analysis and negotiation abilities consistently result in dispute resolution. Multilingual and globally savvy, Samuele is committed to achieving project excellence through innovation and agility.
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