FDOTConnect Instructors

Denise Broom is an Infrastructure Digital Practice Specialist at Stantec with a strong background in 3D Design, Automated Quantities, and Plans Production. As a former FDOT employee who worked in the FDOT CADD Office, she brings extensive familiarity with FDOT Design Tools and is an FDOT Certified Trainer. In her current role at Stantec, she has developed and delivered in-house ORD training for Stantec’s offices throughout Florida.

Gary Gaiotti has 40 years of experience in the civil field, beginning his career as a Survey Rod Man and transitioning to Party Chief a short time later. Mr. Gaiotti has previous experience working extensively with the Florida Department of Transportation within Roadway Design. Work on previous projects has included: design and plans production of multiple disciplines, including roadway, signing, lighting, signals, landscapes, structural, and advanced 3D modeling for Roadway Designs.

Eddie is a Senior Roadway Engineer with Patel, Greene and Associates (PGA). He has more than 15 years of experience in highway and transportation facility design. He has been responsible for the production of construction plans, horizontal and vertical geometry, cross-section design, 3D modeling, pavement selection, and design, maintenance of traffic (MOT), design and documentation for erosion control, design and plans for signing and pavement markings, right-of-way plan development, and project scheduling. He also provides quantity computations, specifications, special provisions, and engineer’s estimates. Eddie is a Bentley-accredited OpenRoads Designer user and serves on PGA’s 3D Task Team which is charged with standardizing and continuously improving internal approaches to 3D modeling and design, as well as visualization. He has spearheaded initiatives such as the development and refinement of intensive 3D peer review and QC/QA checklists, the creation of a BIM Project Execution Plan template, and a 3D Best Practices Handbook. He also regularly trains junior staff on the use of ORD and 3D modeling principles through the development and administration of internal videos, lunch-and-learns, tipsheets, and over-the-shoulder guidance. Prior to joining PGA, Eddie served as a CADD Manager for roughly 40 users with five different workspaces and remains very active in the administration of all things CADD.

Errick Gray is a Senior Highway Designer with 23 years of experience in civil engineering, including 14 years of experience developing and overseeing roadway plans production for both public and private clients within the State of Florida. His experience consists of major highway design, urban/ rural roadway design, sidewalk and multi-use paths, traffic control, and structure plans production. Errick serves as the Highway/ Bentley Digital Champion Lead for North America focusing on Design Transformation throughout the project life cycle. He provides 3D training & innovation and provides application support through testing, packaging, and technical assistance.

Krissy Hoffman, PE has more than 20 years of roadway design experience in the state of Florida. Her experience includes designing roadway geometry and drainage systems for rural roadways to major interstates with express lanes. Most recently her focus has been on the development of 3D modeling for roadway projects. She routinely trains junior staff in model development and works closely with contractors on model implementation in the field. She recently earned recognition as a Bentley Premier Scholar for OpenRoads Designer.

Kevin Lucht currently serves as a Senior Digital Solutions Manager for Arcadis in Tampa, FL. Kevin is a registered professional Civil Engineer in three states. He has thirty-five-plus years of engineering project production and project management experience in heavy civil engineering projects, as well as an expert in BIM applications and digital engineering systems. Kevin has worked with clients worldwide in the areas of Highway, Aviation, and Rail design.

Kevin received a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois and started his career in the highway design field initially with MODOT and later with RS&H. Most of his engineering and PM career he served with CH2M Hill, HNTB, and Bechtel. Kevin has also worked for Intergraph and Bentley in their InRoads civil engineering group, as well as being a consulting project manager for numerous ProjectWise deployments to major civil projects and large AEC customers.

Emmanuel Marín, PE, RSP1 has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Florida. Emmanuel has seven years of experience in Highway Engineering, including leading efforts for the development of roadway geometry, intersection improvements, temporary traffic control, and shared-use path design for both RRR and new construction projects. He has in-depth experience in OpenRoads Designer software and the FDOT 3D modeling workflow, ranging from simple geometry tools to complex template design.
Experience in Roadway Design, including geometry, intersection improvements, temporary traffic control, and shared-use path design. Emmanuel has great expertise in MicroStation software and the FDOT 3D modeling workflow.

Kali is a Project Engineer at WGI and a graduate of the University of Central Florida (B.S. Civil Engineering, M.S. Civil Engineering with track in Transportation Systems Engineering). She has been with WGI for over 5 years, starting in the roadway division and transferring to the structures division after 2 years. Kali has been involved with learning and subsequently training on OpenRoads and OpenBridge her entire career. These programs have been used to guide engineering decisions on active projects and to strengthen project pursuit efforts.

John-Mark Palacios is a professional engineer with over 16 years of experience and a passion for roadway design and mastering the software tools we use. He first learned Microstation and Geopak, working on his BSCE at the University of Florida, graduating in 2006. He obtained his Master’s of Urban and Regional Planning from Florida Atlantic University in 2014. He taught himself 3D modeling with Civil 3D before learning it on Geopak SS4. As CADD Applications Engineer at FDOT, he helped lead the shift from traditional plans to Model as a Legal Document and wrote the FDOTConnect for OpenRoads Designer 3D Modeling Workflow training manual as well as delivering many trainings on the subject. He currently works as a Design Integration Engineer for RS&H, customizing OpenRoads, developing new workflows, and supporting roadway design projects in Florida.

Richard Perez has been designing Florida highways for more than 35 years. He has designed everything from complex interstate interchanges to two-lane rural roads. 3D Highway Engineering is a full Highway Engineering Consulting company with a highly skilled and motivated Training Division. 3D Highway Engineering has become one of the leaders in the nation with 3D modeling software and highway design.

Heather is a Senior Structural Engineer at WSP USA, working with the bridge-group out of the Tampa office. She graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. and M.E. in Civil Engineering with a Specialization in Structures. Heather has over 6 years of professional experience mainly focused in Florida while working on projects in North Carolina and Texas as well. She is currently the project lead for the Department’s “FDOTConnect for OpenBridge Modeler: Bridge Design & Modeling” training course, as well as a member of FDOT’s Technical Advisory Committee and State DOT Exchange for OpenBridge Modeler. Internally, she is a member of WSP’s Global NEXTBridge Group, which discusses the evolving world of BIM usage and opportunities for bridge design and modeling, covering a wide range of software used for the purpose across the world.

Tejsingh Rana is a Project Manager and Business Development Lead at Highway Studio LLC with over 15 years of highway design and project management experience working in various FDOT Districts. He has worked on the design and management of a wide variety of projects from RRR to reconstruction as well as major design-build projects such as I-4 Ultimate. He is an expert in 3D Design/ Delivery and is a member/adviser of the FDOT – FICE Statewide 3D Task Team and FDOT CADD – Consultant Technical Advisory Committee, helping FDOT achieve their mission of high-quality design through 3D Implementation and Next Generation Plans Delivery. He has a master’s degree from the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. Tej enjoys sharing his expertise and mentoring younger engineers by conducting Guest lectures at FIU, and participating as a panelist in career exploration events (ITE, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, FIU). He is also a committee member of the FES Miami Chapter and helps in organizing events for the engineering community. He promotes and practices a positive state of mind and volunteers his time in conducting mental health and wellness sessions along with teaching meditation at workplaces. He loves being close to nature and enjoys spending time in parks and beaches.

Lauren Rhodes is an Engineering Intern with Patel, Greene and Associates (PGA). She has over seven years of experience in transportation engineering with a focus on stormwater management and drainage design. Her specific expertise includes drainage analysis, plans production, plans review, drainage documentation, data collection, and permitting.

Kyle Rosenmeyer is a Model-Based Design Leader for VHB, where he helps drive data-informed and technology-enabled initiatives across the company’s markets, services, and regions. His 12+ years of experience in civil engineering include a wide range of transportation and wastewater infrastructure projects across the U.S. using Bentley software. As a Premier Scholar in OpenRoads Designer, he is training the next generation of engineers and designers to leverage 3D modeling in all aspects of infrastructure projects; including planning, design, review, construction, and operation. He is a full-stack web developer, an iTwin Developer and Bentley accredited designer with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Boise State University. Kyle is an advocate for a model-based design using Bentley Connect software, and a strong believer in combining coding and engineering skillsets for the next generation of Civil Engineers.

Angela Shepard has 15 years of drainage design experience with Jacobs Engineering Group. She has been involved in all aspects of drainage design and permitting for transportation projects in the State of Florida. Most recently, she worked with the FDOT CADD Office to develop custom application resources for FDOT Connect Drainage in OpenRoads Designer, training materials, and course curriculum for use by the FDOT drainage design community. She prepared the concept drainage sheets for NexGen plans and publication in the 2021 FDOT Design Manual and has provided several training sessions on the new drainage workflows including the 2019 Bentley Florida Local Users Group (FLUG) Conference and 2020 FDOT Transportation Symposium.

John Thomas has 7 years of experience in transportation engineering including advanced 3D modeling and visualization with Bentley Microstation software and Lumion. He has highly developed skills with GEOPAK, SS4, and Open Roads Designer (ORD) Connect Edition. He is experienced in 3D modeling processes, workflow, and quality control on projects for the FDOT and Florida’s Turnpike; that includes 3D modeling with ORD, creating surface .tin files, creating advanced 3D templates, creating high-quality renderings, developing 3D typical sections, photogrammetry, and driver view videos, temporary traffic control plans, plans production, and visualization for bid proposals. He also has significant experience with roadway design activities for limited-access highways involving widening, milling & resurfacing, and reconstruction.

Steve graduated from the University of Florida in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil engineering and went on to get a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of South Florida in 2011. He spent the first six years of his career working out in the field for a heavy civil bridge contractor on various major bridge projects as a field engineer and project engineer. Since then he’s been back on the design side working as a bridge engineer. He’s been using OBM for over 6 years now and has been helping the FDOT develop & improve their OpenBridge Modeler workspace.