ETC Makes Five Key Hires

California-based construction/architecture firm specializing in healthcare/biotech & seismic retrofit hires five seasoned architects and construction experts to support its accelerating growth.

SAN DIEGO, CA -- May 25, 2011 -- ETC Building & Design, with offices in San Diego, Los Angeles and the Bay Area, announced today the expansion of its architecture and building divisions with the hiring of five senior level staffers. These key additions will help the company meet the increasing demands of its fast-expanding client base. The company, with several offices across California and clients throughout the Western United States, has continued to enjoy rapid growth even while the construction/design industry has remained depressed in the down economy. ETC has proven resilient during the recession with its focus on providing highly specialized architectural design and construction services for the healthcare and life science industries, enhanced with its unique expertise in seismic retrofit for hospitals and biotech facilities. Each of the new hires brings decades of experience to the ETC team. The hires include:

· David E. Keiser, AIA, ACHA, EDAC, Healthcare Architect

· David B. Mobley, Architect, Interior Designer

· Russell Klapperich, Project Manager/Superintendent

· Paul Grogan, Project Manager/Superintendent

· Roger Slater, Concrete Superintendent

Key Hire Biographies:

David E. Keiser, AIA, ACHA, EDAC, Healthcare Architect

David E. Keiser, AIA ACHA EDAC has focused his professional career of over 30 years on medical facilities planning and design, working for top architectural firms throughout California. Keiser is a registered architect in the State of California and a Board-Certified Healthcare Architect (one of 400 in the United States). His experience includes all aspects of medical facility design – strategic planning and programming, master planning, facility design, project management, engineering coordination, medical equipment planning and construction administration – with an emphasis on the functional and operational requirements of each project. He has served as Project Planner or Planning Team Lead for numerous projects, with extensive experience in developing work plans, creating conceptual and detailed design documents, interfacing between clients’ user groups, and planning and coordinating medical equipment. Keiser has worked on both new construction and renovation projects, including phased construction of active clinical departments. He has also routinely participated in documents approval processes with the State of California (OSHPD), California Department of Public Health-Licensing (CDPH) and other agencies with jurisdiction. Keiser’s vast portfolio of project planning and management of new construction, expansion, renovations and remodels includes Clarian Cancer Hospital, Indianapolis, IN; Tri-City Medical Center, Oceanside, CA; Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring, MD; Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA; several Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout California; St. Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan, Florida Hospital, Orlando, FL, Clinica las Condes, Santiago, Chilé; and the Williamsport Hospital, Williamsport, PA.

David B. Mobley, Architect, Interior Designer

With 10 years in corporate architecture and 21 years in private practice, David Mobley brings to ETC a varied background in large-scale institutional and commercial facilities architecture, master site planning, interior design, industrial design and illustration. His concentration on project front-end tasks including concept ideation, development and presentation compliments and adds another creative dimension to ETC’s technical and construction expertise. Mr. Mobley is a native Californian, 1980 graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California licensed architect and NCIDQ-certified interior designer. Prior to joining ETC, he worked for two large architectural firms as a design architect for such clients as the U.S. Navy, University of California, California State University, Loma Linda University and Sharp Memorial Hospital where he produced master development plans and new building designs for medical and dental clinics. He is also a professional scale-model craftsman who provides ETC and its clients a truly unique skill set in the production of museum-quality scale replicas for marketing, fund-raising, promotion, space planning, design and human factors study.

Russell Klapperich, Project Manager/Superintendent

In his experience-packed career, Russell Klapperich has worked as Project Manager on large construction and tenant improvement projects for major hospitals. Prior to joining ETC, Russell worked as a project manager for McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., one of the top ten U.S. commercial builders. He recently oversaw the building of Rady Children’s Hospital’s new Acute Care Pavilion, leading a team of 23 through the completion of this $200M project. Other projects include Good Samaritan Hospital (30 TIs totaling $10M), Legacy Hospital Systems (20 TIs totaling $10M at Emanuel; two projects totaling $5M at Mt. Hood), Providence Health Care (four TI's totaling $10M) and Oregon Health Sciences University (four TIs totaling $10M). Russell also worked as Assistant Project Manager on the Rancho Springs Medical Center, a $36M project. His responsibilities included MEP coordination, costs, budget and profit projections, working directly with the owner, architect, users group and design team. Prior to his post at McCarthy, Russell worked at Howard S. Wright Construction Co. in Portland, OR, managing hundreds of medical tenant improvements in various hospitals, with projects ranging from $500K to $2M in size. Responsibilities included estimating, contracts, project management and closeout. Russell is a U.S. Navy veteran, serving in the first Gulf War and in the Philippines clean up after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Portland State University.

Paul Grogan, Project Manager/Superintendent

Paul Grogan has worked in construction at top firms for over 17 years in numerous capacities on projects for healthcare, educational and other types of facilities. His expansive experience includes being a construction manager or sr. project manager on numerous multi-million dollar construction projects from award to completion, a subcontractor (remodeling over 60 homes in Los Angeles) and a general contractor (his own business for six years). Paul spent a good portion of his career at a large firm in Los Angeles acting as an owner-authorized representative for the Los Angeles Unified School District, and as project manager on a variety of FEMA projects. He also has extensive experience writing and negotiating contacts, ensuring contract compliance, interfacing with various governmental agencies, acquiring permits and establishing city licenses, bonds and applicable insurance. He is a member of the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) and a graduate of Riverdale Technical College (Liverpool, UK) in Building Studies, Plumbing, Bricklaying and Carpentry.

Roger Slater, Concrete Superintendent

Roger Slater has worked as a superintendent for nearly three decades with focused expertise in concrete. His expansive experience includes the significant seismic retrofit at Santa Monica hospital incorporating epoxy injection after the Northridge quake of 1994, the seismic retrofit at Hoag Hospital, and an MRI facility at Mission Viejo hospital. He’s also worked on projects at oil refineries, for aviation companies including Boeing and McDonnell Douglass, at the Queen Mary terminal in Long Beach, CA (involving some very complex concrete work) and at the Fashion Island shopping complex in Newport Beach, CA. Roger has performed and supervised virtually every kind of concrete construction work, including structural overhangs, columns, piles, caissons, floor leveling and overlays. Roger’s long career includes positions at Pre Con Industries, HBA Inc. and ICE Builders, as well as running his own contracting business for eight years, where he averaged some 80 jobs annually.

About ETC Building & Design & SAFE-T-PROOF Earthquake Preparedness Products

ETC Building & Design is a privately held corporation specializing in the design and construction of health care and life science facilities, and is the primary distributor of SAFE-T-PROOF earthquake preparedness products. ETC is the foremost provider of seismic retrofitting to health care and biotech facilities in the Western United States, a specialization that is very unique in the construction industry. The firm has also completed over 3 million square feet of hospital tenant improvements over the past nine years and recently formed a Biotech Division with a seasoned team of professionals specializing in projects for the life science sector. ETC is headquartered in San Diego, CA, with offices in Los Angeles and the San Francisco bay area.