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| Spotlight on Alexia Nalewaik, CCE MRICS |
 Alexia Nalewaik
works and lives for challenges! As a Certified Cost Engineer and chartered surveyor located in Los Angeles, she
has faced many challenging career assignments since her career began in the early 1990s. She also pursues challenges
outside her career. She is the recipient of many awards in swimming competitions. She loves all athletics, was chosen
as a local spokesperson for the Arthritis Foundation and was an Olympic torchbearer for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
Always 'up for a challenge', Ms. Nalewaik became a Master's swimmer while attending the University of Southern
California (USC). She is most enthusiastic about her ocean endurance swimming. Following an ocean swim around Coronado
Island, a coach suggested she should swim the challenging 22 mile Catalina Channel, solo. In 1995, she successfully
completed the swim in 12 hours, 47 minutes and 14 seconds! Alexia has continued challenging herself by participating
in team triathlons and various relay team swim events, including the 18 mile Capri to Ischia (Italy) channel and a
16 mile swim from Point Loma to La Jolla (California). She is captain of a four-person team which will attempt a
double crossing of the English Channel (from England to France and then back to England!) in the fall of 2007.
Born in New Orleans (Louisiana), Alexia grew up and traveled to various regions of the world. Colombia, Libya, England
and Bangladesh are a few places she called home. This diverse exposure originally inspired her to become an architect.
Unfortunately, the school she wanted to attend was Notre Dame, which had a five year waiting list! Having excelled in
physics in high school, she decided to major in physics at Bryn Mawr College. She later finished her BA at the
University of Dallas (Irving, TX), after a traumatic accident at Bryn Mawr, but in doing so she realized she did not
have a long-term interest in quantum or nuclear physics. A college advisor led her to civil engineering as “a
combination of physics and architecture,” so she then went on to enroll at the University Southern California (USC)
where she received an M.S. in structural engineering while working as a structural drafter for Fluor.
Degrees
in hand, Ms. Nalewaik went into the job market. Her first job came as a result of having taken a construction
management and an estimating class during her USC studies. “When I started applying for a job in the early 90's,
the job market wasn't good for engineers….” The most interesting offer came from KTI Corporation (now Technip),
working in the oil and refinery industry as an estimator and project controls engineer. She believes, “They liked
me because I could read the drawings, and I liked it because it was dynamic. I was estimating all sorts of
engineering disciplines, piping, electrical…I learned so much in that job.” If not for the peaks and valleys within
the US refinery industry she might still be there.
During one of those ‘valleys,’ Alexia was offered a
position at Deloitte and Touche in their cost segregation practice. She could read any plan, and was hired for
her strong estimating skills. She had the opportunity to work on many manufacturing facilities, semi-conductors,
automotive manufacturing and lumber plants, and hotels. For one year, she even worked on the State of California
Superfund Projects, auditing historical costs and forecasting future costs.
Her move to Hanscomb, Faithful &
Gould took her back to hands on, day-to-day project controls responsibilities, but on the owner's side. “A lot of
work in the trenches, and on-site experience as an owner's rep, gave me a whole new group of skills.” While at
Hanscomb, one of her supervisors realized that she was well suited for doing probabilistic risk management, which
requires computer modeling and a knowledge of probability and statistics. So she began her risk analysis career,
finally getting the chance to apply techniques learned from her degree in physics.
Ms. Nalewaik was hired in
2004 by Moss Adams, LLP, a job that offered her the challenge of building a construction consulting practice in
Southern California. As the senior manager of their construction and real estate advisory group, her corporate
responsibilities include business development, and hiring and training staff. Her main hat, however, is that of a
cost engineer, a position that Alexia says, “is a good label for my role in construction audits, risk analysis,
claims and other consulting.” She goes on to explain that, “all of the projects, contracts, and costs that I've
seen over the years give me a diverse background of skills to draw upon in consulting.”
Although far from
the career she imagined growing up, she is content for the time being. “Audit is such a hot topic right now. With
construction costs increasing, there is a big focus on keeping costs down but there is also an emphasis on making
sure that the client has paid the appropriate amount. With capital expenditures given such high visibility on
financial statements, and with increasing corporate awareness of accountability and expenditure controls, it's no
surprise that audit is a top priority for clients.” However, she notes that, “in a couple years I could easily be
somewhere else doing something else, depending upon the market.” She credits her mentors at USC, KTI Corporation and
Hanscomb Faithful & Gould, all of whom are involved in AACE International, with her career success.
Ms.
Nalewaik is an active participant in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Royal Institution of
Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and AACE International. In July 2005, she volunteered to head up the AACE International
Task Force for Women in Project Controls. The group is seeking to recruit more women into AACE International and
encourage women to actively participate in project controls through mentoring. With the members of the Task Force,
she has developed and distributed a survey to determine the specific needs of women within the profession; began
the "Spotlight" series of articles; guided the creation of a WPC webpage within the AACE International website with
information for women; and created a buddy system and reception for newer AACE International members at the coming
AACE International 50th year Annual Meeting. Alexia has served on the local Section boards of both ASCE and AACE
International over the past 15 years, and is currently finishing her second term as the AACE International Los Angeles
Section President.
Ms. Nalewaik also enjoys researching and writing technical papers. Her publications and
presentations for AACE International and ASCE include: Regression Analysis as a Cost Segregation Tool; Managing
Client Expectations; Risk Management for Pharmaceutical Project Schedules; Site Selection for Manufacturing
Operations in Mexico; Risk Management for International Construction Projects; and Systematic Challenges in
Construction - Mergers & Acquisitions. She is an AACE International Recommended Practices & Standards Committee
member, recently contributing to the Project Code of Accounts (20R-98), Project Code of Accounts - As Applied in
Engineering, Procurement, and Construction for the Process Industries (21R-98), and Total Cost Management Framework
- Parts 2, 3, & 4
Nalewaik says, “I love risk management, building models and being able to use those tools
to forecast the final cost and schedule of a project. It is my experience that risk models are often under-utilized
within the industry, or are mistakenly applied. Risk management is growing in practice, as clients wish to apply
calculated contingency and float values instead of percentages.” She believes strongly in probability and statistics,
probabilistic risk management and computer modeling projects. “It is a methodology that isn't as widely used as it
should be, so I'd love to do more of that and help to popularize the technique. Not many people bother to create a
risk model and yet it is an incredibly powerful tool.”
Her future goals include, “applying all of the
different skills I've acquired.” One day, she hopes to have the opportunity to put her diverse career experience
and education into, “creating a 'near-perfect' cost management group. What it takes is an owner who is willing to
recognize the value in it, instead of thinking of project controls as an expense.”
Article by Susan Rodgers
and Marlene Hyde, CCE
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