In August Envista welcomed nine new experts, eight in the United States and one in Australia! Our Civil/Structural group expanded with four new experts, our Building Consulting group with three new experts, and our Fire and Digital Forensics groups each with one new expert.

Meet Envista’s Newest Additions!

Brent Benoit

Senior Principal Consultant, Building Consulting (New Orleans, LA)

Brent is a Senior Principal Consultant whose experience spans more than 20 years in commercial, residential, and industrial construction and consulting. He has held project superintendent, project manager, and estimator roles for large-scale contractors as well as owning and operating a luxury residential construction project company. Brent has held lead construction project management positions in shipyards and ports as well as overseen multiple hotel turn-key construction projects. He has conducted claims inspections and completed estimates on hospitality, maritime, warehouse, retail, schools, apartment complexes, single-family, multi-family, continued care retirement communities, medical centers, medical care facilities, commercial buildings, and office complexes. Brent has also assessed and estimated structural collapses, hail, fire, smoke, water, flood, wind, and wind-driven rain damages of scores of claimed properties in all recent major storms across the southern US.

Fun Fact:

The farthest I've traveled for an investigation was in Key West Florida, 14 hours away, and was there for two and a half weeks.

James Strehle, PE

Project Engineer, Civil/Structural (Minneapolis, MN)

James is a Project Engineer with over seven years of experience as a forensic structural engineer and is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Minnesota. For the last four and a half years, he gained experience in property condition assessments, construction document preparation, and construction administration/management of restoration projects. James has expertise in designing new buildings as well as structural components for buildings undergoing renovation, performing field investigations for various material and structural failures, and conducting structural safety reviews, condition assessments, and due diligence surveys of parking structures.

Fun Fact: The most interesting loss I've worked on was an investigation into owner-caused "hail" damage, which was obvious once the locations of impact were drawn on a diagram of the roof.

Jason Ostby

Senior Building Consultant, Building Consulting (Chicago, IL)

Jason is a Xactimate certified Senior Building Consultant with over 10 years of experience in both the insurance/construction industries. He also has an extensive background in both residential and commercial construction specializing in carpentry. He also brings knowledge from the insurance industry with experience in all types of property losses, including fire, flood, wind/hail, and catastrophe events. Jason has led commercial carpentry projects as a small business owner and employee with specific experience working with General Contractors. 

Fun Fact: As a child, I dreamt about being a professional athlete. However, I was always interested in construction which led to my current role as a building consultant here at Envista.

Keith Flood, MS, IAAI-CFI(V), IAAI-ECT, NAFI-CFEI

Fire Consultant, Fire & Explosion (NY/NJ/Boston)

Keith is a Fire Consultant with over 20 years of experience in fire safety and fire science. In just the last decade of his career, he investigated over 300 fires. Keith is well-versed in code compliance, having served as a fire marshal for over 10 years during his career as well. He possesses two bachelor’s degrees, one in fire science administration and one in fire/arson investigation. He is IAAI-FIT and NAFI-CFEI certified and has provided testimony during court proceedings as an expert witness.

Fun Fact: The most interesting case I've worked on was a loss associated with a fire that occurred within a new wood stove chimney. I had to figure out what exactly happened to cause the ignition.

Manuel Cisneros, PE

Project Engineer, Civil/Structural (San Jose, CA)

Manuel is a Project Engineer with over 10 years of experience as a Civil Engineer. He is proficient with a variety of design codes and contract language review/analysis, including International Building Code (IBC), California Building Code (CBC), California State of Transportation Agency Caltrans, American Society of Civil Engineers 7-16 ASCE, American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), ASTM Standards, American Concrete Institute (ACI), and AASHTO. He specializes in the design of metal/steel and has been instrumental in the bidding process for projects by reviewing and creating estimates, specifications and plan drawings.

Fun Fact: I have always wanted to travel to Alaska to see the beautiful state, but only in the summer. I would also like to travel down to the Patagonia region in South America.

Marshall Eckford

Principal Consultant, Building Consulting (Atlanta, GA)

Marshall is a Principal Consultant with over 12 years of experience in the restoration and reconstruction industries. His firsthand knowledge and accredited business acumen bring valuable insight to catastrophe and large loss estimating and recovery planning. He is an expert project manager, having coordinated large-scale emergency response teams and subcontractors, directed the scope of work with adjusters, and provided mitigation oversight for hundreds of loss scenarios. Marshall is well-versed in preparing and reviewing complex estimates using industry-leading methods and software and holds multiple IICRC certifications.

Fun Fact: As a Building Consultant, my favorite part of my job is helping businesses in a time of need.

Michael Ilievski, BE (Civil) MIEAust.

Senior Project Engineer, Civil/Structural (Sydney, Australia)

Michael is a Senior Project Engineer with 10 years of experience in the building industry. His technical experience includes conducting tasks, such as engineering and building defect inspections, waterproofing membrane assessments, roof inspections, specification writing, contract administration, estimation, risk and compliance assessments, hold-point site inspections, and project management/site supervision. Michael also has expertise in completing building assessments for the purposes of defect rectification and remedial repair, as well as conducting ongoing site inspections for the purpose of maintenance and up-keep including under-pinning of building foundations, repairs to spalling concrete in slabs, construction of retaining walls, assessment and remediation of stormwater systems, waterproofing remediation to existing structures, roof replacements (tiled and metal), and a number of general refurbishment projects. 

Fun Fact: My favourite part about being an engineer is having the opportunity to reverse engineer and analyse failure mechanisms for complex projects. Subsequently, this provides an opportunity to work with respected peers and actively develop remedial rectification solutions to provide an effective (economical/safe/environmentally friendly) repair system. Each instance develops my expertise in new areas and provides me with the relevant experience to design against similar failure issues in the future.

Preston Simpson

Digital Forensics Analyst, Digital Forensics (Raleigh, NC)

Preston is a Digital Forensics Analyst with over eight years of experience in the field of digital forensics and conducting investigations into all facets of crimes including child exploitation, sexual assaults, homicides, assaults, burglaries, and larcenies. Preston spent five years supporting the South Carolina Law Enforcement as part of the special Agent-State Surveillance and Intelligence, assisting authorities in investigations of fugitives, missing persons, and drug investigations. His expertise also includes historical analyses of location-based information including call detail records, historical cell site location analysis, and live intercepts. He has also testified in court proceedings as an expert witness.

Fun Fact: I would have to say my favorite part about being in digital forensics is the wide variety of clients and cases I am exposed to. There seems to be no case that is the same and forensics means the same in each case. Every day is a little different, which keeps me engaged and on my toes.

Tod Lewis, PE

Principal Consultant, Civil/Structural (Louisiana)

Tod is a Principal Consultant on Envista’s Civil/Structural team with over 30 years of experience providing structural engineering services. He has worked as a professional engineer in the seismically-active San Francisco Bay area and the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast. His professional experience includes structural engineering analysis, structural design, failure analysis, construction phase services, and construction defect determinations. His design experience includes structural design of numerous buildings, building and equipment foundation design, historic rehabilitation of structures, structural steel design, timber design, cold-formed steel design, reinforced concrete design, concrete tilt-up design, low-traffic bridge design, high-rise rehabilitation, unreinforced masonry retrofits, and masonry design.

Fun Fact: When I was a child, I aspired to be a Soldier.

Welcome to the team!