Hannes Ertl, President of TUSCA

He was appointed by FIDIC to the joint FIDIC-ITA Task Group 10, responsible for the drafting of the recently published FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Underground Works (the Emerald Book). Hannes is currently chairman of the task group, and is coordinating the preparation of the Contracts Guide.

Hannes has 20 years of professional experience in the site supervision, design, construction and contract management of Underground Works in many parts of the world (Asia, India, Arabia, Europe, North America, and South America). He obtained his MSc in Engineering Geology from University of Graz/Austria and is a licensed Professional Engineer.

In order to be able to further support clients through disputes and conflict situations, Hannes is a Professional Master of Mediation.

Matthias Neuenschwander

Swiss citizen, born 1960, M.Sc. in civil engineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland (1985). Past chair and member of TG 10, member of the FIDIC Contracts Committee, Animateur of ITA Working Group 3 “Contractual practices”. Professional member of SIA, OTIA, USIC, DRBF, DBF. 

After his master’s degree, Matthias worked in sub-saharian Africa for ETH Zurich and SWISSAID, and in the USA for the Swiss Contractor Losinger, Inc. Back in Switzerland, he held positions as a Project Manager with Losinger until 1995 and as a partner in the design and supervision firm Navarra & Neuenschwander until 1999. He then moved on to Lombardi Engineering, Ltd. as the Engineer for the south sector of the Gotthard Base Tunnel (at 57 km, longest railway tunnel on earth). In 2004 he joined the board of directors and in 2012 he became the Managing Director of Lombardi’s. In 2014 Matthias founded Neuenschwander Consulting Engineers Ltd, to provide high-level consultancy to decision makers in large infrastructure projects worldwide. From 1996 to 2010, he was a professor for project management with the Università della Svizzera Italiana and with the University of Applied Sciences of Italian Switzerland, Lugano, and from 2006 to 2018 he served as a member of the committee of the Swiss Tunnelling Society. Matthias chaired the FIDIC-ITA Task Group 10 from its constitution in 2014 to the publication of the Emerald Book 2019, and since then he is the TG’s liaison to the FIDIC Contracts Committee. He currently chairs the ITA Working Group 3 “Contractual Practices”.

Andrés Marulanda Escobar

He acts as the Project Management Director for INGETEC and managing director for INGETEC I& D, a consulting engineering firm mainly working in Latin-America, with a track of record of more than 70 years and around 2000 employees. He is responsible for supervising and leading the projects of the firm, and acts as project manager of some of the key projects of the company. He has extensive experience across different industries such as: energy, infrastructure, mining, industrial development and Oil and Gas.  

Throughout his professional career, Andres has been actively involved in the tunneling industry, as a practitioner, academic and in international associations. He has participated both as a geotechnical engineer and project manager in the design or supervision of more than 200 km of hydraulic and transportation tunnels in over 30 projects. He also has extensive experience in the design and construction supervision of large underground caverns for hydroelectric projects. Andres also acts as technical expert in claims and dispute evaluations. 

He is a registered professional engineer in Colombia and USA (Florida) and a certified project management professional. (PMP). He has been an active participant and contributor to the ITA community for more than ten years. Since 2005 he has been an active participant in WG3 and since 2014 he has represented ITA in Task Group 10, a joint task group with FIDIC that has developed the new FIDIC “Emerald” standard form contract. He has also represented the Colombian Tunneling Committee in the General Assembly many times over the last decade, and also been active in the International Commission of Large Dams (ICOLD), currently acting as the vicechair for the Committee of Dam Selection. In 2019, he was elected to ITA’s Executive Council. 

Jim Maclure

is a chartered Civil Engineer, and a Fellow of the UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers, with an honours degree in Civil Engineering, and MSc in Structures from the University of Manchester.

Jim has over 45-years’ experience working with contractors and consulting engineers in the UK and internationally. He has acted in many different roles, including Resident Engineer, Site Agent, Technical Manager and Project Manager on major infrastructure and building development projects which have included roads, bridges, hydropower, tunnels, dams, water supply, and sewage treatment.

In 2002 he joined Mott MacDonald Limited becoming Deputy Head of the Contracts Department. He completed Dispute Board training, and specialised in giving FIDIC training and procurement advice in-house for Mott MacDonald in UK and on infrastructure projects worldwide. Later as an accredited trainer with ECV Ltd, he has delivered FIDIC training courses worldwide, particularly in Africa. Jim now lives in Durham, UK, and remains active as an Independent Consultant.

Gösta Ericson

is a Civil Engineer with over 45 years of international experience in geotechnical and underground projects. He spent many of his earlier professional years in Libya, Iraq, Canada and Saudi Arabia in geotechnical engineering, design and construction of large infra structure and underground projects.

Recently Gösta spent 6 years in India as advisor to the Government in the design, construction and commissioning of the first two underground storage facilities for crude oil, a technical field in which Gösta has unique competence.

Charles Nairac

is a partner in the International Arbitration Practice at White & Case LLP, resident in the Firm’s Paris office. He has extensive experience of both commercial and investor-State arbitration, with a focus on the construction and energy industries. He has represented parties in arbitrations all over the world, including recently in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the CEE/CIS.

Charles was one of seven members of the Task Force formed in 2014 jointly by FIDIC and the International Association of Tunnels and Underground Space, in charge of the drafting of the new “Emerald Book”, published in May 2019.

He is recognized in leading legal directories such as Chambers, Legal 500, the International Who's Who of Construction Lawyers, the GAR 100 and PLC.

Charles obtained his bachelor of law degree from King's College London, a master’s degree from Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) University and a postgraduate degree in International Law from Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) University. He also teaches international arbitration at SciencesPo Law School, Paris I University, Paris II University and Nancy University.

Zoltán Záhonyi

holds a degree of M.Sc. in Civil Engineering (Budapest, 1991) and a postgraduate degree in Law (Budapest, 2004), possessing international experience in various civil engineering fields including preparing and management of construction projects.

Involvements with consulting engineering and FIDIC contracts (from early 1990-s to date): translator of FIDIC 1999 Red-, Green-, Yellow, 1995 Orange and also the 2008 Gold Book (Hungarian language). Member of Task Groups and the Contracts Committee of FIDIC since 2007 (member of FIDIC’s Contracts Committee from 2009, chair of the CC from September 2015), participating in and managing of the preparation of FIDIC’s 2017 Suite of Contracts Updates. Dispute adjudicator in Hungary. FIDIC accredited international trainer – acclaimed in many countries and by many MDBs including the World Bank.