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For nearly 60 years, John Reilly has worked on the management, design and construction of a multitude of projects including large, complex infrastructure programs, highways, transit systems, airports, cities, vehicle manufacturing, buildings and underground facilities.

Services include program management, delivery strategies, organizational planning, contracting methods, partnering, team-building and team-alignment, disputes resolution boards, expert and peer review panels, strategic advisory panels,  risk workshops, risk identification and risk response and probabilistic cost estimating (WSDOT CEVP® process).

John was President of the American Underground Construction Association (1999-2001) and Chair of two International Tunneling Association Working Groups – No. 20 “Urban Problems – Underground Solutions” and No. 13 “Direct and Indirect Benefits of Underground Structures.”

John was awarded a 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Underground Construction Association “for outstanding achievements in the underground design and construction industry…with significant contributions to the education, planning, design and construction of …facilities…including advances in new methods and materials and advancing the public understanding and concurrence with the beneficial uses of underground space.”

RETC Conference – 2023

John presented a paper at the 2023 RETC conference in Boston, summarizing 30 years of development in risk management, probable cost estimating and advanced risk management techniques, with examples from US and international projects, including results. A proposal to use advanced risk evaluation to allow enhanced-capability TBMs to be considered in a competitive bid was outlined.
You can download the paper here:
[ RETC Conference paper, 2023 ]
[ RETC Conference presentation, 2023 ]

TBM Procurement, Risk and Technology Advancement – 2020/2021

John’s article was published in “TunnelTalk” discussing procurement of large Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) and related contracting procedures. This article was written in response to other recent articles in “TunnelTalk” and as an update to an article which he wrote, and presented in 1997, to the International Tunneling Conference in Vienna. That article addressed “Owner Responsibilities in the Selection of Tunnel Boring Machines” including the implications of performance vs. prescriptive contracting. It was used as input to international papers and presentations on this subject 1998 – 2003.
You can download the 2021 and 2020 “TunnelTalk” articles and a related 2011 Alternative Contracting article on this topic by clicking the following links:
[ TBM Procurement and Contractual Processes, 2021 ]
[ TBM Procurement, Risk and Technology Advancement, 2020 ]
[ Alternative Contracting, 2011 ]

Megaprojects and Risk, 2018 BSCE Lawler Lecture

John presented an overview of megaprojects, with examples from 1968 to the present, including success factors, management strategies, cost and risk management, an overview of the Cost Estimate Validation Process (CEVP) he developed with colleagues and the Washington State Department of Transportation in 2002, alternative contracting methods and advanced applications of these processes.
[ Click here to download the presentation. ]

Megaprojects, Lessons learned over 50 years, 2016

John’s paper summarizing megaprojects he has worked on over the last 50 years, with lessons-learned, is published in the Proceedings of the 2016 World Tunnel Conference, San Francisco.
[ You can download the article by clicking here. ]

Previously: Keynote Presentations, 2013

John presented strategies on the development, implementation, management and contracting of megaprojects, considering cost and risk, with US and International examples, at the Fox conference in New York, (January – Part 1) and the Cutting Edge conference in Seattle (November – Part 2). You can download these presentations thru the following links:

  1. NY – Management of Megaprojects, issues, strategies, cost issues, cost and risk management, contracting and delivery [ Click here to download the presentation. ]
  2. Seattle – Alternative contracting and delivery for Megaprojects – their characteristics, summary of contracting methods (US and International), new initiatives, case studies and examples
    [ Click here to download the presentation. ]

A Short History of Risk Management, 2017

Keynote Presentation to the November Risk Conference Alexandria VA, including historical risk development, Codes and Guidelines last 25 years, advanced risk management, probable cost and schedule estimating, risk management examples.
[ You can download the article by clicking here. ]

Risk, correlations and dependencies, 2016

This paper, presented at the World Tunnel Conference 2016 in San Francisco, advances risk identification and management techniques. With co-authors Alfred Moergeli (Switzerland) and Philip Sander (Austria).
[ You can download the article by clicking here. ]

Reilly interview on Risk, January 2016

John was interviewed by the Austrian construction magazine “Bauaktuell” for his perspective on risk in construction.
[ You can download the article by clicking here. ]

Risk-Cost Papers & Presentations, 2015

John with co-authors Alfred Moergeli (Switzerland) and Philip Sander (Austria) has written papers on probabilistic cost-risk estimating and risk management, presented at the ITA Conference in Dubrovnik (May) and RETC New Orleans (June). [ Click here to download the ITA paper. ] and the RETC presentation [ Click here to download the RETC presentation. ]

John has worked in multiple countries over his career – (USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, Peru, China, South Korea and Dubai)

United StatesCanadaAustraliaUKGermanyPeruChinaSouth KoreaDubai

He has also presented at conferences and projects in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Oslo, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Salzburg, Basel, Budapest, Vienna, Milan, Bologna, Ferrara, St Petersburg, Istanbul, Durban, Lima, Dubai, Singapore, Beijing, Soul, Mexico City, New York, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco , Washington DC.

John has authored over 100 papers in the areas of management, policy, strategies, contracting and delivery methods, risk and risk management, and the link between cost and risk.

Thank you for visiting  www.JohnReilly.us.

Laura continues technical editing of international articles and company websites for a variety of clients.  You can contact her at:

Laura SkorczeskiTechnical Editing:
Laura Skorczeski
www.LSReVisions.com