Ashley Humphries CCA CFE, CIA
Ashley Humphries is a Senior Construction Auditor at R. L. Townsend & Associates, LLC with more than a decade experience advising owners on the financial integrity and risk management of large, complex capital programs. She has led and supported audits of complex capital construction programs across higher education, healthcare, public sector, industrial, and commercial environments.
Her construction audit experience spans projects ranging from ten million to over a billion in total project cost, with a focus on CMAR and GMP delivery models. Ashley specializes in proactive construction auditing, cost validation, contract compliance, and risk mitigation throughout all phases of a project—from procurement and buy‑out through closeout and claims resolution.
In addition to her audit leadership, Ashley has experience providing litigation support and advisory services related to construction cost disputes. She is an active instructor for professional development programs focused on construction audit and cost control, and she regularly speaks at industry conferences nationwide. She is a graduate of the University of North Texas and holds the designations of Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Certified Construction Auditor (CCA). Ashley is actively involved in national professional associations supporting audit, fraud examination, and construction risk management.
John L. Wisz CCA CPA
John is the founder and principal of WiszCo, LLC., a firm that specializes in providing financial consulting services to the construction industry. On January 1, 2008, WiszCo was “spun off” from R. L. Townsend & Associates, Inc. where John served as a Senior Consultant/Senior Project Manager for over 21 years.
Since 1986, Mr. Wisz has managed, directed and performed a wide variety contract compliance audits relating to design and construction contracts. Such projects have encompassed virtually all types of commercial construction including high rise office buildings, interior renovations, corporate headquarter buildings, university buildings, hospitals, office complexes, hotels, convention centers, manufacturing facilities, airport facilities and land development projects. This includes audits of contractors, construction managers, consultants, architects and engineers.
Through his wide range of experience, John has gained a thorough understanding of the entire construction and contracting processes and his expertise has been instrumental in identifying and developing overcharges, overcharge exposures and other weaknesses throughout the entire process. He has provided practical recommendations to clients on all aspects of the construction and contracting process. Mr. Wisz has also been actively involved in developing processes and controls designed to prevent overcharges and minimize overcharge exposures. Such recommendations include contract language enhancements, contracting strategies and methodologies, change order management, cost control and contract administration.
Mr. Wisz also possesses an excellent working knowledge of federal contracting laws, regulations and guidelines including those prescribed by the Department of Defense (DoD). Such knowledge includes a thorough understanding of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), U.S. Statutes, Public Laws and other federal policies, procedures and guidelines. Consequently, John understands the differences, similarities and subtleties of contracting in both the public and private sectors.
John Sier, JD, CCP
John leads the Commercial and Construction Practice Group at the Kitch firm headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, where he has been practicing for nearly forty years. In addition to serving as counsel to Construction Owners Association of America, John is on the American Arbitration Association panel of neutrals and serves as a mediator in construction and commercial matters in various industries, including defense, health care and higher education. He is the editor of the State-by-State Guide to Architect, Engineer, and Contractor Licensing, published by Wolters Kluwer. He is also active with several construction-related organizations in addition to NACA including the Construction Specifications Institute, Building Owners and Managers Association, as well as the Steering Committee for the Construction Law Section of the Defense Research Institute. John serves as the chair of the Pro Bono/Access to Justice Committee of the Detroit Bar Association; he is President of the board of the Wayne County Dispute Resolution Center and is active on several other industry and nonprofit boards.
Jake Ortego, PE CCA/CCP
Mr. Ortego is Principle at HPM Audit and Contract Services based in Dallas, TX. Jake has over 28 years of experience with nearly every aspect of capital improvement processes from inception through design, construction, and closeout for projects that range into the billions of dollars. He leads the practice in providing consulting to Owner organizations engaged in the planning and execution of capital programs with a focus on risk identification, avoidance, and mitigation. Over his career, he has provided project controls, scheduling, project management and engineering management for nearly every sector of Owner, including institutional, public sector, industrial, and commercial. Beyond his auditing and consulting work, Mr. Ortego has been requested to provide expert opinions for construction litigation as well as neutral third party opinions as part of settlement between parties.
Prior to HPM, some of Jake’s career highlights included founding JA Cost Engineers and Advisors, being a primary team member of Deloitte’s North Central Construction Advisory Group, and leading EPCM efforts as well as running an engineering office in Manilla for Eichleay Engineers.
Jake has been heavily involved with NACA including being a Certified Construction Auditor and Cost Professional, serving on the National Advisory Board, and being the MC to many of the conferences. He is also a Licensed Professional Engineer and a Certified Cost Engineer. He is a graduate of Boston University where he obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Mechanical Engineering. He has been published by the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) as many other industry publications.