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GENERAL OVERVIEW
Grace Seferian is a Program and Construction Management professional as well as a Professional Mediator and Arbitrator with over 20 years of construction experience in both the public and private sectors. She has managed all aspects of multi-million dollar projects from Programming & Planning, Design, Bid & Award, Construction and Closeout maintaining scope, schedule and budget as well as compliance with applicable state and agency criteria and safety standards. She currently practices alternative dispute resolution and is the founder of ResolveWithGrace.
The combination of her engineering and construction experience gives her a complete and well-balanced understanding of the building process. As an expert in the field of construction, Grace has a deep understanding of technical terms, engineering and claims analysis principles. She has resolved hundreds of construction disputes and potential claims. Her professional experience includes educational facilities, financial institutions, and both commercial and residential buildings.
In her last assignment she was supporting a Bay Area community college district’s $253 Million 5-year bond program for construction and modernization of one of their campus facilities with Program and Construction Management services. Her services included monitoring the performance of Architects and General Contractors to ensure that District Standards were being achieved and the District's Bond Program Goals were met.
Grace’s responsibilities included managing the overall project cost, schedule and budget; managing the General Contractors and other directly contracted vendors and consultants, such as architects, inspectors, engineers, materials testing labs, furniture consultants and moving companies; managing the contractor bidding and selection process; reviewing construction proposals and related pricing/scopes; analyzing, tracking and managing critical milestone activities to avoid schedule slip; correcting and assessing “work-in-place” to approve capital expenditure; leading and conducting Project Meetings; identifying the factors that influenced construction costs, and monitoring and reporting on this data; reviewing validating and auditing cost estimates prepared by contractors and architects and other consultants; supporting engineering decisions as it related to the project cost and budget while design or construction changes took place during construction; resolving daily construction disputes and project issues; processing approval of change orders; reviewing requests for payment by the GC/CM and Owner vendors and consultants; tracking and ensuring OFCI equipment met the project schedule; reviewing the punch list items to be completed or corrected with the GC/CM prior to issuance of Certificate of Substantial Completion; reviewing and approving final GC/CM invoices, payment applications, retention payments; overseeing the moveable furniture order, delivery and final installation; and overseeing and managing the transfer of the building operations to the owner including all close out documentation and warranties.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
2013 - Present
ResolveWithGrace, Berkeley, California
Construction Mediator (own practice)
Mediation and dispute resolution services for construction and consulting services disputes.
Mediator at the Superior Courts of California, Counties of Alameda and Contra Costa.
Mediator at the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) in San Francisco, California.
2006 - 2013
Swinerton Management and Consulting – Education Division,
San Francisco, California
Project Manager
(Owner’s Representative)
Program and construction
management services for the Chabot Las Positas
Community College District (CLPCCD) and San Francisco Unified School
District (SFUSD).
Services included managing demolition, hazmat abatement, design, construction and swing space processes of several projects on campus with aggressive schedules.
Key projects included installation of underground utilities, structural and seismic upgrades for several classroom building renovations; similar upgrades for the Math and Science buildings (LEED Gold project); modernization of the Dental Hygiene facility; the Planetarium building renovation; swimming pool renovation; football field turf replacement with new athletic equipment; and Campus security system.
2002 - 2006
Bernards,
San Fernando, California
Construction Manager (Owner’s Representative)
Construction management services for Multi-Prime High School projects for the Burbank Unified School District (BUSD) and the William S. Hart UHSD.
Services included managing the construction process of new high schools.
Scope of work included new classroom buildings, swimming pool, outdoor tennis and basketball courts, football and baseball/softball fields, gymnasium, kitchen and cafeteria, indoor theater and performing arts center, outdoor amphitheater, new underground utilities and equipment, parking lots and new road construction on Campus.
2000 - 2002
F.H. PASCHEN / SN NIELSEN,
Santa Fe Springs, California
Project Manager
General contractor services for residential soundproofing projects for various State of California Airport Authorities and the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD).
1999 - 2000
KCE Matrix, Inc.,
Glendale, California
Environmental and Civil Engineer
Environmental Site Assessments for commercial properties and gas stations.
Subsurface assessments and groundwater monitoring and sampling.
Remedial design and monitoring of subsurface soil and groundwater remediation systems.
Building assessments for asbestos and lead.
Site inspections for seismic repair.
1995 - 1999
La Constructa, s.a.l.,
Beirut - Lebanon
Planning Engineer and Contract Manager
Construction management services for Byblos Tower, Bank Headquarters of Byblos Bank - 20 story reinforced concrete tower with 7 story underground parking.
1994 – 1996
American University of Beirut (AUB), Beirut - Lebanon
Graduate/Research Assistant at the Engineering Management Department.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Master of Engineering Management Degree (M.E.M.) – February 1996
Bachelor of Engineering Degree (B.E.) Major Civil Engineering – February 1994
Both degrees received from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Dispute and Conflict Resolution Mediator training (40 hours) UC Berkeley
Advanced Mediation training (33 hours) by SEEDS
Real Estate Mediation training (2 hours) by Community Boards
Mediator Malpractice; Transforming Impasse from Problem into Opportunity in Business Mediations; and Mediator Proposals (4 hours) by The Mediation Society
CDRS Arbitration, CDRS Advanced ADR and CDRS Dispute Review Board training (32 hours) by Construction Dispute Resolution Services (CDRS)
DRB/DRA training (16 hours) by Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF)
EPA - Asbestos training: AHERA Contractor and Supervisor (40 hours) by Hazard Management Services, Inc.
Intensive Program Management training (21 hours) at UC Berkeley
REGISTRATIONS
Licensed Professional Civil Engineer (P.E.) in the State of California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, License C68317
Licensed General
Contractor (Classification B) in the State of California Contractors
State License Board, License 832525
AFFILIATIONS
ADDITIONAL ASSETS
