Panos Lampsas, MBA, regional program manager, Sutter Health (San Francisco)

WHO HE IS: Lampsas has worked in the construction industry for 30 years, starting as an assistant project manager on federal projects while going to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. The construction bug stuck with him, though, as he continued a career overseeing increasingly complicated public projects, which eventually landed him in California in 2000, managing seismic upgrades at Stanford Hospital before moving on to Washington Hospital in Fremont, Calif., and then John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Calif. Now entrenched in the owner side of the business, Lampsas joined Sutter Health in 2010, managing construction of Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, Calif., a $320 million integrated Lean project delivery (ILPD) project. Earning his MBA in 2011, Lampsas moved into his current role in 2013, where he’s now responsible for construction of the new Van Ness and Geary Campus (VNGC) hospital, a $2 billion, 1 million-square-foot ILPD project—the largest project in the history of Sutter Health and one of the largest ILPD projects ever built in the U.S.

YEAR IN REVIEW: Lampsas has spent the year leading the daily efforts of the VNGC team’s collocation office, where 150 workers representing 16 design and trade partners come together across the street from where 900 additional tradespeople are constructing the new hospital. He’s maintained the project schedule despite the realities of extremely complex logistical challenges—a site on two of the busiest streets in one of the most densely populated cities in the U.S.—and a budget that’s grown by more than $10 million in the past year. His focus on safety has achieved zero lost-time incidents in more than 2 million man hours recorded in the past 12 months. “A very engaged owner, Panos takes great pride in his leadership role of the project and achieving the construction goals that have been set collectively as a project team. He takes responsibility for the challenges that the project is faced with day in and day out, while also being the biggest proponent for team building and creating a workplace that people love to come to each day,” says team member David Thomack, executive vice president and general manager of The Boldt Co. Lampsas has also opened the site to other industry professionals, inviting teams from around the world—including competing healthcare organizations—to see the collaboration and knowledge-sharing taking place and the benefits they yield.

WHAT’S NEXT: With project completion scheduled for August 2018 and an opening in March 2019, Lampsas will be focused on VNGC for a while. Meanwhile, he plans to continue to increase awareness of the ILPD process on the owner side of the industry. “ILPD is in its infant stages, and the more people that get it, the better it will get,” he says.