Meet the Experts Behind the Work

Poppy Leina'ala Lee Loy serves as QRSE's Operations Ho'okele, leading the firm's operations division. A team-oriented operations professional with more than 17 years of experience, she supports complex organizations across finance, HR, and compliance functions, taking a hands-on approach—working alongside staff to solve problems, improve processes, and keep day-to-day operations running effectively. Before QRSE, Poppy built her career at Tripler Army Medical Center, where she advanced from Health Systems Specialist to Supervisory Health Systems Specialist. In her current role there she supports operations across the medical center's largest clinical service line—serving 55,000+ beneficiaries and coordinating across 500+ civilian and active-duty personnel—while contributing to oversight of a $72 million annual budget. Her strengths span budget and resource oversight, workforce coordination, workflow standardization, and regulatory compliance, reinforced by professional development in Lean Six Sigma, COR coursework, and business analytics.

Tracy Russett serves as Comptroller at QRSE, LLC, where she leads the firm's finance and accounting operations. An accomplished accounting and finance professional with more than a decade of experience in Ajera (Deltek) software, bookkeeping, and financial operations and a career dating back to 2000, she brings proven expertise in accounts payable and receivable, bank and credit card reconciliations, payroll administration, financial reporting, and internal controls compliance. Tracy holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Business and Psychology from the University of Michigan and an Associate of Applied Science in Accounting from Mott Community College. Across her career she has managed full-cycle bookkeeping, monthly close processes, and consolidated financial reporting for engineering, manufacturing, and multi-entity organizations. She is known for her organizational strength, attention to detail, and commitment to integrity and confidentiality.

Melissa Awa-Sullivan is an Administrative Assistant at QRSE. She has more than six years of experience in project administration, budget analysis, and financial management, largely supporting Department of Defense operations at Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC). As a DoD Budget Analyst and, earlier, as a Project Administrator/Financial Analyst with Bowers + Kubota Consulting, she managed fund control, reconciliation, year-end closeout, and financial reporting, and supported construction and facilities budgets, certified payroll, and government purchase card programs. Melissa holds Financial Management (FM2) Certification and CES Fundamentals, Basic, and Intermediate credentials. She earned a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Marketing and Business Management) from Hawaii Pacific University.

Malia Slevin has been part of QRSE since the company's founding, starting as part-time administrative support and transitioning into a full-time role at the heart of the firm's day-to-day operations. She provides essential organizational, financial, and operational support across QRSE's operations in Hawaii and Illinois — monitoring the finance inbox, filing receipts and attaching them to Ajera expense reports, downloading and reconciling credit card and bank statements, and prepping timesheets and other direct costs for invoicing. She also manages proposal preparation logistics and vendor coordination and supports document management, human resources, and office coordination — the systems that keep QRSE's projects and corporate operations running smoothly. Having built her skills steadily over her years with the firm, Malia reflects QRSE's culture of growth and dedication from within.

Fionx Chin brings a unique combination of project engineering and operations skills to QRSE. On the project side, she serves as the lead for specification drafting of new contracts under HDOT's HWY-CM highway maintenance program, coordinating contract specifications for highway maintenance, service, landscaping, and materials contracts statewide, and supports HDOT's statewide eConstruction implementation and training program. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. On the operations side, Fionx develops e-learning content and manages QRSE's Litmos learning management system, converting policy and training content into dynamic, interactive courses — drafting scripts, producing videos, quizzes, and presentations, and performing voice-overs — that strengthen legal, technical, and procedural understanding throughout the firm. She works closely with department managers and internal stakeholders to align training tools with company objectives, drawing on prior experience leading a team of more than 50 employees as an assistant store manager for Uniqlo in Philadelphia.

James “JJ” Anderson helps transportation agencies deliver federally funded highway and emergency infrastructure projects from notice-to-proceed through closeout. A licensed Professional Engineer in Hawai'i and a Certified Construction Manager, he brings 19 years of civil and mechanical engineering experience spanning federal, state, and municipal construction across Hawai'i and the continental United States. JJ leads QRSE’s construction management operations on Kaua'i, supporting HDOT federal-aid highway programs and emergency contracts through a digital project delivery workflow built on Autodesk Construction Cloud, HeadLight, and Hall Hub. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before joining QRSE, JJ served as Government Task Manager and COR at NAVFAC Hawaii’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, managing facilities projects ranging from $7 million to a $158 million military construction program, and as Lead Office Engineer and Lead Inspector on the $63 million HART Rail Transit CE&I East contract. He is known for meticulous daily documentation that has protected HDOT’s position in contested claims and liquidated damages assessments, and for administering environmental and cultural compliance requirements on Kaua'i's historic corridors — Section 106 documentation and protection of historic features, archaeological monitoring of ground-disturbing work, annual noise permit renewals, and coordination with State Parks on tree trimming and invasive species surveys.

Rob Drescher helps owners deliver some of Hawai'i’s largest and most complex transportation contracts — from a $140 million highway widening to an $875 million design-build rail segment. A licensed Professional Engineer in Hawai'i, South Carolina, and North Carolina with 37 years of experience in design and construction contract administration for heavy civil public works, Rob currently serves as Construction Contract Manager on two of HDOT’s marquee federal-aid projects: the Farrington Highway Widening in Ewa and the Interstate Route H-1 Kapolei Interchange Complex Phase 3. He holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University. Rob’s career began at Kennedy Space Center, where he tested Space Shuttle mechanical systems as a Lockheed engineer, served as Vehicle Lead Engineer for Space Shuttle Columbia, and earned the NASA Astronaut Corps’ Silver Snoopy Award. He went on to design and manage water, wastewater, and highway improvement projects across the Southeast. Rob also serves as a construction management subject-matter expert for HDOT Highways’ contract administration training program, where his white paper on Builders Risk insurance has become an integral piece of the curriculum.

Youngchan “Chan” Ahn helps HDOT deliver emergency infrastructure work on Kaua'i’s most critical highway corridors. A licensed Professional Engineer in Hawai'i with roughly a decade of construction experience across Hawai'i and Guam, Chan serves as Construction Manager for the Kuhio Highway Emergency Slope Stabilization projects at Hanalei Hills and Waikoko, where he leads the project team and acts as the key coordinator among HDOT Design, the design consultant, the contractor, and third-party stakeholders. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan. Before joining QRSE, Chan spent his early career with Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, rising from Assistant Quality Control Manager on the $350 million Kahului Airport roadway improvements and Consolidated Rent-a-Car facility on Maui to Environmental Manager and Superintendent on the J755 Urban Combat project for NAVFAC Marianas in Guam. A certified drone operator, Chan has used UAS-based 3D modeling and sitewide video to strengthen progress tracking and stakeholder communication on major projects.

Ben Garde brings 46 years of bridge engineering and construction experience to QRSE’s clients, one of the most extensive structures backgrounds on the team. A licensed Professional Engineer in Illinois, Ben serves as Construction Manager for HDOT’s replacement of Makaha Bridges No. 3 and 3A on Farrington Highway, where his bridge expertise helped determine the best construction alternatives after pre-construction flooding forced a redesign of the project. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, along with ACI Concrete Field Testing and HDOT MTRB FSTQP Bituminous certifications. Ben built his career over three decades with the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Bridges and Structures, rising from Bridge Planning Engineer to Bridge Planning Unit Chief, where he led three squads overseeing bridge planning for all nine IDOT districts and represented the Bureau in decision-making with the FHWA, railroads, the U.S. Coast Guard, the EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and state resource agencies. He also authored the Bridge Condition Report guidelines used by consultants statewide and updated the planning sections of the IDOT Bridge and Culvert Manuals.

Adriana Quitevis is a licensed Professional Engineer in Hawaii with over 10 years of experience managing complex, multi-discipline federal and state infrastructure projects from design through construction completion. She has led large-scale civil and environmental engineering efforts for agencies including USACE, NAVFAC, and HDOT, overseeing construction operations, cost estimating, schedule management in Primavera P6, quality control, and contract administration while consistently delivering projects on time, within budget, and in compliance with contract specifications, environmental regulations, and OSHA safety standards. She holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from CSU Fullerton and a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Occidental College. Adriana brings extensive environmental engineering experience, having managed stormwater remediation and public works improvement projects that required permitting, SWPPP development, and BMP oversight to maintain regulatory compliance. Her leadership has been widely recognized: she was named Engineer of the Year by LA Sanitation, received a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles, and her P704 Sewer Lift Station Project earned Project of the Year from the ASCE Hawaii Chapter.

John Kimmel helps HDOT deliver highway improvement and emergency repair projects on Kaua'i, drawing on more than 18 years of engineering leadership that spans federal installations, expeditionary construction, and state highway work. A licensed Professional Engineer in South Carolina, John serves as Construction Manager on the Waimea Canyon Drive/Kokee Road Improvements Phase 2B. He holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering (Structural) from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Brigham Young University. John joined QRSE after a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps that culminated as Public Works Officer of the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i, where he held full authority over installation infrastructure, utilities, and land management and directed an approximately $14 million annual base operating support contract. His earlier Navy assignments ranged from designing pre-positioned expeditionary field hospitals deployed worldwide to managing hurricane-damage repairs, wharf rehabilitation, and runway work at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Cape Canaveral.

Damon Sjolund has over 25 years of construction materials and geotechnical quality control experience, supporting transportation, bridge, and federal-aid roadway projects throughout Hawaii. His background spans engineering and laboratory technician work, field quality testing supervision, and project management. Damon manages daily geotechnical and concrete quality control operations on federally funded projects, oversees AASHTO-accredited laboratory testing, and provides guidance to field technicians. He brings hands-on expertise in deep foundation observation, Portland Cement Concrete testing, drilled shaft and micro-pile installation observation, and earthwork compaction monitoring on complex Hawaii Department of Transportation projects. Damon holds an A.S. in Construction Technology and is ACI-certified in concrete field, strength, laboratory, and aggregate testing, along with HDOT Soils & Aggregate and Bituminous Certificates of Qualification.

Brandi Lasconia is a field engineer with 12 years of industry experience. She came to construction inspection from a refinery quality-management background — turnaround planning, NDE coordination, and API 570 in-process piping inspection at Island Energy Services, Hawaii Gas, and PAR Refining — and brings that discipline of structured documentation, pre-fabrication checks, and code-compliance review to every roadway and infrastructure project she works on. Brandi's current portfolio centers on HDOT's leeward O'ahu program — the Farrington Highway Widening from Kapolei Golf Course Road to Fort Weaver Road, the H-1 Kapolei Interchange Complex Phase 3, Kapolei Harborside Phase 1A backbone roadway work, and the H-1 Miller-to-Kapiolani resurfacing. She holds an Associate of Arts from Leeward Community College and is HDOT MTRB certified and an ACI Field Technician.

Diana Nomura is a Cost Engineer with QRSE, managing construction projects from preconstruction through completion while overseeing budgeting, scheduling, invoicing, and coordination between clients, subcontractors, and internal teams. She brings a well-rounded background in project management, quality assurance, and field operations, with experience ensuring compliance, maintaining project documentation, and supporting project performance improvements. Diana holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and an Associate in Natural Science from Leeward Community College, and is a certified ESCP (Erosion and Sediment Control Plan) Coordinator with OSHA 30 and Fall Protection training. Her earlier roles strengthened her ability to review technical plans, assist with preconstruction efforts, and conduct site inspections, while her hands-on construction background provided practical knowledge of cost estimating and field execution. Diana also demonstrates strong analytical and problem-solving skills, drawing on research experience analyzing transportation and pedestrian-safety data that she presented at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.

Danilo Cabalang brings owners something few consultants can: more than three decades of roadway construction experience, including 23 years inside the HDOT Highways Division. A licensed Professional Engineer in Hawai'i and a Certified Construction Manager specializing in roadway construction, reconstruction, and resurfacing, Danilo serves as Construction Manager for the H-1 Eastbound Improvements from Ola Lane to Middle Street — a major federal-aid interstate project on one of Honolulu’s busiest corridors. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University in Laoag City, Philippines. Danilo’s HDOT career took him from Civil Engineer I to Civil Engineer V, administering the Special Maintenance Program and building extensive institutional knowledge of HDOT construction standards, reporting requirements, and contract management practices. Along the way he managed the $13.2 million North Kahana Stream Bridge Replacement and the $7.8 million Kalanianaole Highway emergency landslide repairs and later oversaw facilities maintenance operations for all 176 O'ahu public schools as a Civil Engineer VI with the Department of Education — strengthening contract language with the DOE Contracts Office to close performance loopholes and measurably improve contractor accountability. HDOT has consistently recognized his team’s quality performance on the H-1 Eastbound project.

Rolando "Rolly" Belong has spent more than four decades building public infrastructure — from Hawai'i's freeways to U.S. Air Force installations in the Middle East. A seasoned civil engineer and retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project engineer, he has led construction management, project engineering, and quality assurance on large-scale public projects across the continental United States, Hawai'i, and Saudi Arabia. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and Sanitary Engineering from National University in Manila and is HDOT MTRB certified and an ACI Field Technician. At QRSE, Rolly serves as the sole on-site engineer and inspector for the Kapolei Interchange Complex Phase 3 — while simultaneously supporting HDOT's Salt Lake District with pre-construction administration on the H-1 Highway Lighting Improvements. He draws on decades of HDOT relationships to bridge communication between contractors and the State, identifying field risks ahead of construction activity and maintaining contract compliance through high-volume operations including major concrete pours, earthwork, and roadway construction.

Cameron Michel is a field engineer and inspector and has spent more than five years on Hawaii Department of Transportation construction projects — managing inspections, materials testing documentation, and contract administration with a focus on accuracy and adherence to regulatory standards. His certification portfolio includes ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I, HDOT MTRB FSTQP (Bituminous, Soils & Aggregate, and Egauge), USACE NAVFAC Construction Quality Management for Contractors, OSHA 30, and City and County of Honolulu ESCP Coordinator and NPDES MS4 training. Before entering construction, Cameron served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, where he managed community construction projects — including a library rehabilitation he wrote the grant for, then delivered on time and on budget — an experience that still shapes his adaptable, community-minded approach in the field. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of San Francisco.

Dominick Lasquero helps the Hawaii Department of Transportation deliver some of O'ahu's most heavily traveled freeway corridors. An Engineer-in-Training with twelve years of industry experience in heavy civil construction — federal-aid highway resurfacing, freeway interchange reconstruction, and bridge replacement — he currently serves as the resident project engineer on two active H-1 freeway projects: the $71.3 million H-1 Resurfacing from Miller Pedestrian Overpass to Kapiolani Interchange and the H-1 Eastbound Improvements from Ola Lane Overpass to the Likelike Highway Off-Ramp. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and is HDOT MTRB certified and an ACI Field Technician. Dominick's projects run on the eConstruction platform QRSE has helped HDOT implement: Autodesk Construction Cloud and HeadLight. He is equally at home untangling the problems that stall projects — he resolved a project-defining noise variance dispute by compiling equipment decibel data for the Department of Health Noise Branch to restore nighttime paving, led HDOT Lab's material certification closeout through an NCR-by-NCR payment reconciliation, and coordinated utility relocations, a BWS waterline redesign, and SHPD archaeological monitoring on the Makaha bridge replacements.

Joshua Abutin keeps the administrative engine of major construction projects running and he builds the digital systems behind it. An Engineer-in-Training with 12 years of industry experience, Josh has supported the Hawaii Department of Transportation, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, and the U.S. Navy across construction contract administration, document control, change order and claims support, and digital project delivery. Josh is one of QRSE's go-to engineers for HDOT's eConstruction platform: he has set up Autodesk Construction Cloud and HeadLight project environments for multiple federal-aid highway jobs and supported statewide eConstruction training and the rebuild of HDOT's eConstruction wiki. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, with certifications in HDOT MTRB FSTQP (Bituminous, Egauge, Soils & Aggregate) and ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I.

Alan Elger provides construction management and inspection for Hawaii Department of Transportation infrastructure programs on Kaua'i. His experience spans the restoration of the historic Hanalei Bridge, emergency slope stabilization, and highway safety improvements, where his field oversight, design reviews, and analytical tools have generated significant cost savings, prevented costly failures, and strengthened contractor accountability. He also developed an interim progress-payment tool used by approximately 30 HDOT employees and serves on the Waipahu High School Academy of Engineering Board of Directors. Alan holds HDOT MTRB FSTQP certifications in Bituminous, Soils and Aggregate, and Egauge; ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I certification; and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science and Embedded Systems Architecture from Washington State University.

Lincoln Tejada brings nearly three decades of construction experience to QRSE, spanning heavy civil, electrical, and federal facility work throughout Oahu. Ten of those years were spent coordinating federal projects at defense installations including Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter Army Base, Kaneohe Marine Corps Base, and Tripler Army Medical Center. Lincoln built his career from the ground up — starting as an electrical apprentice and advancing through journeyman industrial electrician, electrical foreman, superintendent, quality control manager, and project manager, including delivery of a $30 million USACE medical repair and renewal project at Tripler Army Medical Center. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Today Lincoln leads inspection teams on federal-aid highway assignments for the Hawaii Department of Transportation, managing field inspectors, reporting, and the sampling and testing of materials to HDOT requirements. His breadth of certifications reflects the range of services he supports — HDOT MTRB FSTQP materials testing (bituminous, soils and aggregate, and Egauge), ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I, USACE/NAVFAC Construction Quality Management, USACE EM 385-1-1 safety, OSHA 30, and City and County of Honolulu ESCP Coordinator for erosion and sediment control.

Rodney Janicki is QRSE’s Lead High Voltage Electrical Inspector with more than 48 years of electrical distribution and construction experience on O'ahu, including over 36 years with Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO). He brings more than 26 years of progressively responsible inspection experience across highway, infrastructure, utility, and renewable-energy projects. His technical experience ranges from secondary 120/240 V services and 12,470 V primary systems to 46 kV transmission duct lines and overhead 12 kV, 46 kV, and 138 kV circuits. Rodney is in his seventh year supporting the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) program across three concurrent QRSE scopes: the Airport Guideway and Stations (AGS) Project, the City Center Utility Relocation (CCUR) Project along Dillingham Boulevard, and HART On-Call Projects. Rodney coordinates daily across HECO, Hawaiian Telcom, Spectrum, AT&T, and HART inspectors to keep the right utility witnesses on site, helping the team avoid wasted concrete trucks, rework, and Force Account exposure — and when high voltage work is not active, he drops into civil inspection of concrete pours and structural scopes. He is known for clear documentation, calm coordination across utility stakeholders, and the ability to anticipate field conflicts before they become rework. Rodney holds an Associate of Science from Honolulu Community College, completed the Hawaiian Electric Apprenticeship Program, is OSHA 30 and OSHA 10 certified, and is a member of IBEW Local 1260.

Todd Tavares is a Senior High Voltage Electrical Inspector with QRSE with 39 years of electrical utility and construction experience on O'ahu, including 33 years with Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO). His experience spans high-voltage utility relocations, 138 kV steel structure replacements, solar interconnections, transmission foundations, steel pole installations, and major infrastructure development. Todd’s career at HECO progressed from the Lineman Apprenticeship Program through roles as Lineman, Aerial Lineman, Working Foreman, Overhead Inspector, Construction Inspector, and Construction Project Manager. Todd is in his sixth year supporting the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) program across the Airport Guideway and Stations Project, City Center Utility Relocation Project, and HART On-Call Projects. He documents contractor activities in Unifier, tracks Force Account work, coordinates with the Resident Engineer, and works day, night, and weekend shifts as needed to maintain the program schedule. He also monitors compliance with environmental requirements and performs civil inspection of concrete and structural work. Todd is qualified to inspect both high-voltage electrical and civil construction and is known for his versatility, dependable field coverage, and detailed documentation. He is an ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I, holds OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 certifications, completed the HECO Lineman Apprenticeship Program, and is a member of IBEW Local 1260.

Dereck Togiai is an experienced construction inspector with expertise in roadway and infrastructure construction, including traffic signals, pavement, drainage, waterlines, bridge foundations, and slope stabilization. He currently supports HDOT’s federally funded Farrington Highway Widening project in ‘Ewa, inspecting electrical duct lines, HECO infrastructure, a 36-inch waterline relocation, drainage systems, drilled shafts, and precast-girder construction for two new bridges. Dereck leads weekly inspector coordination meetings, mentors staff on field procedures and nuclear density testing, and reviews certified payrolls to identify wage-classification errors before submittal. His prior HDOT experience includes three Kūhiō Highway projects on Kaua'i involving emergency slope stabilization, roadway resurfacing, safety improvements, environmental compliance, and archaeological coordination. He began his inspection career as a Level III Construction Inspector with the Utah Department of Transportation, supporting major roadway and design-build projects, including the I-15 southbound expansion. Dereck holds HDOT MTRB and ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I certifications.

Steve Shoemaker is a construction inspector with more than 20 years of heavy civil construction experience centered on Hawaii's largest transportation programs. As a Construction Compliance Monitor for Safework CM on the Honolulu Rail Transit Project, he served as civil lead inspector for Phase 2 of the $875 million Airport Guideway and Stations contract. He has also worked directly with HDOT to ensure specifications and requirements were met in the field. Steve spent 13 years as a Senior Lead QC/QA Inspector with MID-PAC Engineering, working across major HDOT highway improvements, City and County of Honolulu roadway and utility upgrades, and multiple phases of the Honolulu rail project — where he monitored and coordinated inspection for nine civil crews, three guideway gantries, and four shaft crews. His materials background is extensive: sampling soils, aggregates, and bituminous mixtures for laboratory acceptance, performing concrete temperature and slump testing and strength specimens, obtaining asphalt samples and roadway cores, maintaining as-built drawings, and conducting BMP inspections to verify stormwater compliance. Steve holds ICC Reinforced Concrete, ACI, and PTI post-tensioning certifications and is HAZWOPER certified for work involving hazardous materials.

Heaven Ruiz helps keep highway construction moving safely and on record, serving as a construction inspector on Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) projects across Oahu and Kauai. His inspection experience spans roadway widening, pavement resurfacing, emergency slope stabilization, and electronic tolling infrastructure, and he is a daily practitioner of QRSE's digital project delivery approach — using HDOT's HeadLight field reporting system. Certified as an ACI Field Technician Grade 1 with MTRB certification, Heaven prepares and delivers field samples to the HDOT Laboratory, tracks Force Accounts and materials, and serves as the on-site link between contractor crews and QRSE's project engineers. Before joining the construction industry, he worked as an engineering technician in Illumina's R&D division in San Diego, a background that shows in his disciplined approach to field data quality.

Ekekela "Mapu" Kahana brings exceptional range to QRSE's field teams, combining hands-on construction inspection and materials testing with the contract administration skills that keep projects audit-ready. In the construction industry since 2019, when she began as a Project Engineer with Unlimited Construction Services in Honolulu, Mapu holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, along with MTRB and ACI Field Technician certifications, OSHA 30, and Construction Quality Management for Contractors training. At QRSE, Mapu has inspected and tested concrete, compaction, and asphalt paving on major HDOT highway work on Oahu — including night and early-morning girder pour monitoring at the GPRM precast yard for the Farrington Highway Widening — while performing weekly BMP environmental compliance inspections, documenting force account work, and reviewing certified payrolls across more than a dozen HDOT projects on Oahu and Kauai. She has also drafted contract change orders and coordinated surplus material disposition for project closeout and currently supports the U.S. Navy's Dry Dock 3 Replacement program at Pearl Harbor, where she manages contractor submittals, produces monthly executive reports, and is spearheading the team's 30/60/90 submittal look-ahead initiative.

Austin Caulkins is a construction inspector supporting Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) highway improvement and emergency slope stabilization projects on Kauai. He brings a disciplined, safety-first approach to fieldwork grounded in more than five years of construction and utility field experience, U.S. Army infantry leadership, California POST law enforcement training, and high-voltage electrical work. He is an NCCCO-certified crane operator, holds a California Class A commercial driver's license, and earned his B.S. in Cybersecurity and Networking from DeVry University, magna cum laude, in 2026. At QRSE, Austin specializes in construction documentation, force account record-keeping, materials testing, and contractor compliance monitoring across active highway resurfacing, pavement reconstruction, and slope stabilization projects — from per-anchor master logs for soil nail drilling, grouting, and shotcrete operations to nuclear-gauge compaction testing and as-built verification for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Israil Dalere is a construction inspector with three years of industry experience supporting Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) highway projects on Oahu and Kauai. Holding MTRB and ACI Field Technician certifications, he manages daily inspection across multiple simultaneous contractor crews — preparing field diaries and daily narratives in HDOT's HeadLight eConstruction system, taking quantity takeoffs, verifying compaction, performing cylinder and aggregate sampling, and coordinating materials delivery to the HDOT Laboratory for acceptance testing. His inspection work spans roadway widening, resurfacing, guardrail and signage installation, and traffic control plan compliance monitoring on active highway corridors. Israil came to inspection from the trades, having worked as a construction laborer and window installer on residential and commercial projects in Waianae and Kapolei — hands-on experience that grounds his eye for how work actually gets built.

Isaac Bumalang is a Construction Inspector at QRSE supporting field inspection and daily construction coordination for the Kapolei Properties Division (KPD) development, a mass grading and new roadway infrastructure program that will eventually be turned over to HDOT. In roughly his first six months in construction inspection, he monitors on-site activities to verify that work conforms to project plans and specifications, and documents daily field reports capturing photos, work narratives, quantity tracking, labor, and equipment through the Autodesk Construction Cloud and Headlight systems. Isaac conducts Best Management Practice (BMP) inspections and coordinates corrective actions with the contractor and Construction Manager to maintain environmental compliance, and he ensures contractors adhere to relevant project, local, federal, and safety guidelines. Serving as an on-site liaison between the construction crew and QRSE's Project Manager, he brings strong attention to detail, accountability, and coordination to quality control and field support.

Robert Samuel is a field engineer supporting QRSE's Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) highway construction projects on Kauai. A civil engineering graduate of the Colorado School of Mines with two years of industry experience, Robert joined QRSE in January 2026 and quickly moved into active field roles — tracking striping and pavement marking quantities, documenting force account work, preparing paving reports, and taking material samples on safety improvement, slope stabilization, and resurfacing projects. His experience before QRSE runs from heavy civil tunneling to marine construction: he supported Tunnel Boring Machine operations in Cleveland, producing CAD as-builts and performing QA/QC inspections of precast concrete segments, and supported dredging operations on the Gulf Coast, where he surveyed shipping channels, built topographic and disposal-area tracking maps in Civil 3D, and conducted turbidity water quality testing to keep operations in compliance with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers environmental standards.

Provides engineering field support across QRSE's construction management operations. Experienced in schedule delay analysis, time impact assessments, and project coordination for complex infrastructure programs.

Andrew "Andy" Brinkerhoff is a licensed Professional Engineer with more than 15 years of progressive experience in transportation engineering, program management, and project development across state DOTs and the Federal Highway Administration. His career spans hands-on design engineering at the Illinois Department of Transportation and a decade of federal-aid program leadership at the FHWA Illinois Division, where he rose from Transportation Engineer to Field Engineering Team Leader and ultimately Director of Program Development — managing a portfolio covering planning, environment, realty, safety, operations, pavement and materials, asset management, and finance, and meeting regularly with IDOT's most senior leadership. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Southern Illinois University Carbondale College of Engineering. Since joining QRSE in 2025, Andy has steered the firm's support of the Hawaii Department of Transportation's statewide highway maintenance program, managing a team that shepherds more than 100 maintenance contracts across all four districts through advertisement, award, and renewal. He also leads HDOT's compliance with federal Buy America and Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements through rewritten specifications, a new material certification framework, and statewide training. Andy also supports the Illinois DOT's NEPA Assignment readiness assessment, having led in-person readiness discussions with the IDOT Districts and Central Office. Known for his proactive approach and sound engineering judgment, Andy manages complex multi-disciplinary programs from planning through construction.

Leon— known to teammates and clients as Tré — has 29 years of experience in transportation, consulting, project management, and business development. A licensed Professional Engineer in Hawaii and Illinois, he has delivered a wide range of transportation projects, from small residential streets to complex highway interchange programs, and is accustomed to working in challenging environments. He is a Hawaii Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Plan Coordinator and Preparer and holds a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Operations Management from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. At QRSE, Tré serves as an acting Project Manager on behalf of the Hawaii Department of Transportation, managing design projects from preliminary engineering through final design — including a complex historic truss bridge replacement in Wahiawa and emergency traffic signal replacements following the Lahaina wildfires on Maui. He also leads QRSE's environmental document review team supporting HDOT's design staff and the rollout of digital processing systems that make environmental reviews more efficient and transparent, and he manages bridge cost estimating improvements for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Allyn Tabata, PE, CCM helps federal, state, and municipal agencies deliver complex infrastructure and military construction programs with the discipline that only decades in the field can bring. A licensed Professional Engineer in Hawai'i and California and a Certified Construction Manager, she brings 44 years of construction management experience, including a 33-year military construction career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy at WESDIVNAVFACENGCOM, where she served as Resident Engineer, Administrative Contracting Officer, Division Strategic Planner, and instructor of the USACE Contractor Quality Control (CQC) Certification Course. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. At QRSE, Allyn has served as Senior Construction Manager leading quality control programs, submittal management, and program advisory services on active federal Navy and HDOT construction contracts — including the Dry Dock 3 Replacement at Pearl Harbor and HDOT's statewide eConstruction implementation and construction management training programs. Her environmental compliance experience runs throughout her project work, from reviewing SWPPP/IWPPP and erosion control submittals on the Leeward Bikeway to organizing environmental Best Management Practice inspection reports on the H-1 Freeway Rehabilitation and managing environmental monitoring and permit adjustments on Hurricane Lane emergency stream repairs. Her career portfolio spans the Hawaii Department of Transportation, City & County of Honolulu, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART), Central Federal Lands Highway Division, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Navy, and Hawaiian Electric Company.

JD Stevenson helps transportation agencies navigate the federal-aid project delivery process from planning and environmental review through construction. With 31 years in the transportation industry — including a 28-year career with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) that he concluded as Planning, Environment, and Right-of-Way Team Leader for the Illinois Division — JD brings rare, agency-side fluency in federal laws and regulations governing project delivery, NEPA and environmental review, statewide planning, and right-of-way. His FHWA career included national program assignments spanning the TIGER and BUILD discretionary grant programs, the Transportation, Community and System Preservation program, the National Recreational Trails Program, and development of Illinois' Long Range Transportation Plan and Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla. At QRSE, JD applies that federal perspective to the Hawaii Department of Transportation's Design Management Services and eConstruction programs. Known for making complex federal processes understandable, JD has also helped local public agencies deliver federally funded roadway and rails-to-trails projects as Project Manager for the Ozarks Transportation Organization, the metropolitan planning organization for Springfield, Missouri.

Aqsa Munir is a civil engineer with more than six years of experience in construction and infrastructure projects. Her background spans schedule and constructability review for TxDOT projects, field inspections and design support for water and transportation infrastructure at Pakistan's Water & Power Development Authority, and coordination with owners, contractors, and regulatory agencies to deliver compliant, on-time project outcomes. Aqsa holds a Master's degree in Construction Engineering and Project Management from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology Lahore.

Ephraim "EC" Ogu, LEED GA, is a construction management professional who has supported Hawaii Department of Transportation highway construction from the field trailer to the contract desk. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management with civil engineering components from the University of Wyoming, graduating in the top 5% of his class, and holds ACI Field Technician certification. At QRSE, EC served as the project engineer on the Farrington Highway Widening project and as field engineer on the H-1 Kapolei Interchange Complex Phase 3. EC now supports HDOT's statewide eConstruction program, where he drafts and processes the maintenance and service contracts, extension letters, and Technical Analysis Report (TAR) amendments that keep HDOT's highway maintenance program running. His earlier experience includes serving as the project engineer on RK Mechanical's largest project in company history, the $210+ million University of Wyoming student housing program, and highway design work with the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

Matt Fuller leads QRSE's environmental services practice, guiding transportation agencies through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the full spectrum of environmental review, permitting, and compliance. With more than 25 years in the transportation sector — including 17 years with the Illinois Division of the Federal Highway Administration — he has completed more than 60 Environmental Assessments, 10 Environmental Impact Statements, and numerous Section 4(f), Section 106, and Endangered Species Act evaluations. His career highlights include leading the environmental review for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, guiding that high-profile Environmental Assessment to a Finding of No Significant Impact that withstood legal challenges reaching the Supreme Court, and serving as lead environmental programs engineer for the $3.4 billion Elgin O'Hare Western Bypass Tier 1 and Tier 2 Environmental Impact Statements. He holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Known for driving innovation in environmental reviews and building strong partnerships with agencies, Tribes, and the public, Matt has developed environmental policies, programmatic agreements, and categorical exclusions that measurably accelerate project delivery — including the first programmatic categorical exclusion agreement between FHWA and the Illinois Department of Transportation and the NEPA compliance program for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) $1 billion Natural Gas Distribution Safety and Modernization grant program.

Elizabeth Breiseth is a nationally recognized Architectural Historian with over two decades of federal and private sector experience guiding infrastructure projects through complex environmental and cultural resource reviews. She has extensive expertise in NEPA and Section 106 compliance, having led strategic consultations and developed programmatic agreements that streamline project delivery. As the Federal Transit Administration's Federal Preservation Officer and Environmental Technical Analysis Division Chief, she provided national leadership on environmental and cultural resource policy, authored FTA's internal Section 106 Handbook, and led the consultation to execute FTA's first statewide Programmatic Agreement with the Illinois SHPO. She holds a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in History from McGill University. At QRSE, Elizabeth puts that federal leadership to work for state transportation agencies. She supported HDOT’s Design Management Services environmental support program — building environmental compliance workflow tools and reviewing cultural resource documentation — and now performs the technical procedure and policy reviews and staff interviews underpinning the Illinois DOT's NEPA Assignment readiness assessment.

Colleen Vaughn is a nationally recognized NEPA and Section 106 specialist with more than 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors. She served as the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Preservation Officer for 10 years — acting as the agency's liaison to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation — and was detailed to the Council on Environmental Quality as Deputy Associate Director for NEPA. Over a distinguished federal career spanning the Federal Highway Administration, the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, the Maritime Administration, and the Federal Railroad Administration, she led multidisciplinary teams, supported complex infrastructure projects, and advised senior leadership on transportation policy, legislation, and permitting reform. She holds a Master of Arts in History, along with bachelor's degrees in Antiquities and Anthropology and in Social Studies Education from Southwest Missouri State University. Colleen served as FHWA’s primary point of contact for NEPA Assignment, led national outreach to states pursuing it, and evaluated assigned states through monitoring and audits. She also served as FHWA's Section 106 lead for the multi-billion-dollar Interstate Bridge Replacement Supplemental EIS and supported completion of EISs including Hawaii's Honoapi‘ilani Highway project. At QRSE Colleen supports the Illinois DOT's NEPA Assignment readiness assessment, reviewing policies and procedures, interviewing program staff, and helping chart the path for a state to take on federal environmental review authority.

Former FHWA Division Administrator with 35 years of federal and state transportation leadership. Led program oversight, NEPA review, Title VI compliance, and organizational transformation at the highest levels of federal transportation delivery. ISO 9001 Lead Auditor certified. Directed comprehensive program reviews and process improvements across multiple state DOTs.

Chord Medeiros works at the intersection of hands-on construction management and the digital tools that are transforming how Hawaii delivers its transportation projects. A licensed Professional Engineer with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and five years of industry experience, Chord serves as a Field Engineer on major HDOT Highways projects — including the Farrington Highway Widening, the Kapolei Interchange Complex Phase 3, and the replacement of Makaha Bridges No. 3 and 3A. Chord is also the team lead for HDOT's statewide eConstruction implementation, serving as a primary administrator for Autodesk Construction Cloud and the HDOT Wiki across all HDOT Highways construction projects. He led the migration of legacy project data into the new eConstruction platforms, develops best-practice procedures and trainings for tools including Autodesk Construction Cloud, HeadLight, and e-ticketing, coordinates directly with software vendors, and led HDOT Highways Construction's two most recent procedural audits. As leader of QRSE's Tech Team, Chord directs a group of software engineers and technology specialists integrating AI solutions and building custom tools that automate daily operations and construction procedures.

Ian Chin helps keep HDOT's statewide eConstruction program running day to day. A Technology Specialist with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of California San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering and three years of industry experience, Ian runs the eConstruction support inbox — the frontline help desk for HDOT staff and consultants using Autodesk Construction Cloud and HeadLight — and helps manage the HDOT Wiki, where he has built many of its pages, administers user accounts, and runs the program newsletter. He also migrated legacy RFI data into Autodesk Construction Cloud and served on the software quality assurance team that audited highway construction projects for adherence to eConstruction best practices. Ian's work extends well beyond eConstruction support. For the Illinois Department of Transportation, he helped build an Excel-based bridge cost estimating tool, translating technical guidance into functional calculation logic. He supported HDOT's environmental program by setting up Autodesk projects and Power BI dashboards and writing a script to extract submittals for environmental reviews, and he contributed GIS data verification for Illinois American Water's statewide premise mapping program. Within QRSE's Tech Team, Ian builds AI and automation tools — including a company-wide email signature standardization tool and a septic project proposal automation tool that drafts a proposal from a prospective client's property information. He brings programming proficiency in Python, Java, C, and C++ along with GIS and web technologies.

Cole Draper supports the Hawaii Department of Transportation across contract administration, digital project delivery, and construction inspection. A UC San Diego chemical engineering graduate with a strong background in data analysis and process optimization, Cole serves as QRSE's project lead for HDOT's Masterworks digital project delivery implementation, where he helped map more than 100 pages of HDOT's project delivery processes and is driving the migration and cleanup of decades of legacy project data. He also supports HDOT Highways' maintenance contracts program end to end — preparing specifications, extension letters, amendments, and recommendations for contract award — and has built Python scripts that automate much of that document preparation. An ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician (Grade I) with additional field testing certifications in bituminous asphalt and nuclear density gauge operation, Cole has also performed construction inspection on the Kapolei Interchange Complex Phase 3 project and provided administrative support for the environmental review workflows in HDOT's Design Management System.

Grant Draper is a Technology Specialist supporting HDOT's statewide eConstruction program and QRSE's internal automation initiatives. A UC Davis chemical engineering graduate and certified Engineer-in-Training with a research background in scientific computing — where he translated MATLAB code to Python for national supercomputing resources — Grant redevelops training content for HDOT's eConstruction platforms and presents it to project engineers during weekly office hours through the HDOT Wiki. Alongside QRSE's Tech Team, he helped conduct the 2025 platform-usage audit across all of HDOT's active construction projects, grading each project against best practices. He also supports environmental permitting resources and design submittals under HDOT's Design Management Services contract, and within QRSE he builds Airtable-based tracking systems and AI-driven automations — including SharePoint reorganization, onboarding automation, and performance review applications — while helping manage the company's intern program.