Leadership

Evan Weiss

President

Mr. Weiss joined AWI as President in January 2013. Since joining AWI, Mr. Weiss has focused on shaping the company’s culture of safety, integrity and performance and has led the growth and development of the company’s internal and external operations to meet the growing demands of our markets and customers.

Prior to joining AWI, Mr. Weiss was the President of Transfield Services, US Resources and Energy business, where he reorganized the business and completed the acquisition of Steier Oilfield Service in North Dakota. Prior to working for Transfield, Mr. Weiss spent 22 years with Day & Zimmermann and its affiliated subsidiaries and JV’s.

With over 31 years’ experience, Mr. Weiss has led businesses serving government and commercial customers in the US and international arenas. His experience covers a wide spectrum of services ranging from oil well construction, refinery maintenance, turnarounds, biotech engineering and construction to security and logistics services in the US, Iraq and Afghanistan.

John C. Hikins III

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Hikins has over 31 years of finance and accounting experience in both the commercial and government sectors. He worked for SOC’s International Security and Logistics business as the Director of Business Management. During this time, his contributions resulted in contract awards in Iraq and Afghanistan in excess of $800M.

Prior to joining SOC, Mr. Hikins spent 18 years working for Day & Zimmermann in various aspects of finance, accounting and pricing.

John Lawrence Lartin

Director of Contracts

John has over 36 years of experience in transactional law, servicing diverse industries in both US domestic markets and international companies.

John started working with AWI in 2013, supporting AWI’s varied business transactions. After earning his BA in Economics from SUNY Cortland, John began his career at Crane Co.’s New York headquarters, for its Valves, Fittings & Actuators Division, spending 10 years learning product, project execution and contract administration, until joining Day & Zimmermann’s Law Department in Philadelphia. At Day @ Zimmermann, John reported to their General Counsel, gaining valuable and extensive transactional law experience managing its Contracts Group servicing a wide array of industries: Engineering; Construction; Manufacturing; Oil & Gas; Pharmaceutical; Security; Nuclear & Fossil Power; and Temporary Staffing. John earned his Risk Management ARM and CPCU certification from the Insurance Society of America and thrived in transactional law, D&Z supported his evening division enrollment in Temple Law School graduating with his Juris Doctorate in 2004.

Dane Canning

VP of Sales and Marketing

Ambitious and intensely focused on bottom-line results and customer satisfaction. Mr. Canning has made valuable contributions in developing and maintaining contracts and identifying strategies for business development and growth.

Over the last 11 years Mr. Canning has delivered top performing sales, marketing and business development with proven ability to drive business expansion through sales initiatives while delivering revenue growth, market share, and market penetration in Iraq.

Wilfred Wilson

Estimation Manager

Wilfred Wilson is AWI’s Estimation Manager with more than 14 years of experience in project estimation and management. He currently leads the company’s project cost estimation activities, variation proposal, budgeting, billing, and subcontractor administration.

A mechanical engineer, Mr. Wilson also provides technical advisory and supervision support to AWI’s oil, gas and power plant development projects including oil field piping construction, hot tapping, fabrication, hydro testing, erection and commissioning, shutdowns and tie-ins. These include engagements with top oil and gas firms in Iraq such as ExxonMobil Iraq Limited, Weatherford Oil Tool Middle East Limited, PETRONAS Carigali Iraq Holding B.V. and Halliburton Worldwide Limited.

Prior to joining AWI, Mr. Wilson served as Project Engineer and Costing and Billing Engineer at Galfar Engineering & Contracting, UAE serving clients such as Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) and Petrofac International Ltd. He stared his Engineering career with IB Construction, India.

Mr. Wilson is an enterprising leader with excellent communication, analytical, problem solving and management skills. He earned his Mechanical Engineering degree at B-Tech, India and completed a post graduate Specialization Course on Oil Field Engineering & Quality Control.

Maria Vanessa Pascual

Proposals Manager

Ms. Vanessa Pascual is one of the pioneer employees of AWI. After joining the company in 2008, she quickly rose through the ranks, holding a variety of technical and managerial-level positions in business development and operations.

Ms. Pascual has extensive industry experience and a track record of executing with excellence and delivering results. For over a decade, she led the management of AWI contracts with government clients (LOGCAP) and multinational oil and gas companies as Contracts Administrator, while simultaneously performing administrative and human resource related functions. Now, as a proposals manager, she is responsible for overseeing all proposal activities including ensuring compliance to clients’ requirements, support capture planning and developing strategies to win projects for AWI.

Having spent her entire professional career at AWI, she lives by the company’s values and mission. Her experience, hard work, discipline, professional growth and flexibility combined with AWI Senior Management’s mentoring, and support from her co-workers has led Ms. Pascual to become the leader that she is now.

Ms. Pascual is a graduate of BSc. in Hotel and Restaurant Management from the College of the Immaculate Conception, Philippines, and holds a diploma in Essentials of Commercial Contract Management with Villanova University.

Hassan Salman

Director for Projects

In his role as Director for Projects, Hassan Salman oversees all AWI projects ensuring their compliance to statutory and client requirements and established strategies and plans. One of Salman’s top priorities is to develop and drive ‘Net positive’ budget implementation strategy for all AWI projects. He manages AWI’s operational systems, processes and infrastructure while looking for opportunities of improvement.

Mr. Salman joined AWI in 2014 initially as Construction Manager and rose through his current position. He brought with him more than 15 years of regional experience as Site/Construction Engineer for Mohammad Al-Mojil Group, Saudi Arabia and Janarthanan Co., Kuwait

Mr. Salman is a civil engineering graduate from College of Engineering, Baghdad University.

Nuno Shao

China Office Manager

Nuno Shao has over a decade of experience on sales, marketing and commercial roles for oil and gas upstream market and EPC construction across the Middle East and North African region.

Mr. Shao is responsible for the management of AWI China Office. In addition, he oversees the conduct of feasibility studies for AWI special projects such as industrial city and housing complex development. He also provides project estimation and procurement support functions. Mr.  Shao leads AWI’s partnership engagements with Chinese energy, finance, and investment companies.

Before joining AWI, Mr. Shao served at China's top oil and gas equipment manufacturing and engineering enterprises. He previously worked at SEPCO, Jereh, Kerui and Wison Engineering responsible for sales and business development in MENA.

Mr. Shao graduated from Chang'an University of China with a Major in Resource Exploration Engineering.

Honeywell Knowles

General Manager, Philippines

Honeywell Knowles serves as General Manager of AWI Engineering Services Philippines. In this role, she is responsible for the management of AWI Philippine office including oversight of business development, project estimation, finance, and procurement operations.

Ms. Knowles has held a series of operational and management roles over the course of more than a decade career with AWI. Prior to her current position, she served as an Accounts Receivable / Billing Manager, a Procurement Supervisor, and an Accountant of the company. She also held various project coordination/management positions for AWI US government contracts.

As one of the pioneers of AWI, Ms. Knowles embodies the company’s philosophy of developing and retaining talents from within. In AWI, she is widely respected for her leadership, professionalism, problem solving skills and commitment to live company values.

Ms. Knowles is a graduate of Hotel and Restaurant Management from College of Immaculate Conception, Philippines.

Afif J. Kadhim

Director of Design

Afif J. Kadhim is an accomplished architect and urban designer with a career spanning over three decades. In his role as the Design Director for AWI, he is responsible for shaping and communicating the company's creative vision for its residential and industrial development projects. Mr. Kadhim oversees all design activities at AWI, encompassing architectural design, value engineering of individual buildings, and comprehensive master planning of entire communities. His work spans diverse projects such as luxury residences, high-rise residential buildings, corporate offices, commercial and mix-used structures, public and private institutions, residential community developments, and site planning. Known for his visionary approach, Mr. Kadhim’s adeptness in navigating the design process and ensuring flawless execution has earned AWI a stellar reputation in the industry.

Throughout his career, Mr. Kadhim has worked with renowned international design consultancies in the MENA region. Prior to joining AWI, he held the position of Senior Design Manager at BHNS, where he led the design of the iconic "W Residence" tower in Downtown Burj Khalifa. He has also occupied executive-level design roles at prestigious architectural firms such as Arif & Bintoak, CAP Concept, Architecture, Planning, AL Husseini Group, and Al Gurg Consultants. He also boasts over ten years of experience as a public servant for the Ministry of Housing and Construction in Iraq.

Mr. Kadhim completed his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Baghdad, Iraq.