Meet the Speakers
David W. Cocke
David has been practicing Structural Engineering in California since 1981. He founded Structural Focus in 2001 after 20 years with another firm. David is a licensed structural engineer in California and 15 other states with expertise in seismic evaluation, historic preservation, retrofits and new design. His many years of dedicated service to the engineering community have earned him fellowships in the Structural Engineers Institute, the American Society of Structural Engineers, and the Structural Engineers Association of California. In 2017, David was inducted into Virginia Tech's Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni. He has served on numerous boards and is a past President of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and of the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE. David is currently on the NIST Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazard Reduction, the Board of Directors of the Applied Technology Council and the U.C. Seismic Advisory Committee and has served as SEAOC-appointed alternate member of the state Historical Building Safety Board for the past 17 years. David has evaluated and designed seismic retrofits for hundreds of buildings in his career.
Kevin O'Connell
Kevin D. O’Connell is a licensed California Structural Engineer and Principal and Structural Engineering Division Head of the Los Angeles and Houston offices of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. Kevin’s experience includes designing new buildings; designing modifications to existing buildings, including seismic retrofit and historic preservation; and investigating existing building structures. He is passionate about seismic safety; in addition to new design, he has designed numerous seismic retrofits of soft-story wood-framed buildings, non-ductile concrete buildings, brick masonry buildings, and welded steel moment frame buildings in Southern California to make communities safer. Kevin is an active leader in several professional organizations including SEAOSC.
Presentation: Nonductile Concrete Building Seismic Retrofit: Implementation, Challenges, and Opportunities
Seismic retrofit of nonductile concrete buildings is challenging but also full of opportunities. This presentation will discuss different challenges and opportunities faced by the structural engineering team during the implementation of two nonductile concrete building seismic retrofit projects. These two case studies, one large building and one small building, will touch on code selection, guidelines, analysis methodology, architectural coordination, historic considerations, cost, and structural detailing.
Sandy Hohener
Sandy Hohener is a Principal at Degenkolb Engineers in Los Angeles with over 15 years of experience. His work primarily focuses on the evaluation and retrofit, and repurposing of existing buildings, and he practices in the healthcare, higher education and science and technology markets. He is a member of the NEHRP Provisions Update Committee, ASCE 7s Seismic Subcommittee and SEAOSCs Existing Building Committee.
Meet the Panelists
Shahen Akelyan
Shahen Akelyan is Assistant Deputy Superintendent of Building with the Department of Building and Safety, City of Los Angeles. He has served as the Chief of High-Rise and Seismic Retrofit Programs. He is currently in charge of the Structural Counter operations. He has been working with the City for almost 25 years.
Shahen has Masters and Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering. He is licensed Structural and Civil Engineer with State of California. He is Certified Building Official, Certified Fire Marshal, Certified Access Specialist, and LEED Green Associate.
Shahen was on the Board of Directors and 2019 president of Los Angeles Basin Chapter of International Code Conference. He is a member of the Los Angeles Tall Building Seismic Design Council, a member of the Structural Engineering Association of Southern California, and he is currently serving in the Code Advisory Committee with the Building Standards Commission for Structural Design/Lateral Forces.
Scott Markle
Scott Markle spent his early career in structural engineering in the Department of Public Works, Bureau of Engineering. After leaving the City in 1996 to work for 8 years in various L.A. structural engineering offices, including EQE and John A. Martin & Associates designing schools hospitals, commercial and residential structures, he returned to the City in 2004. A promotional opportunity in 2006 brought him to the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). In 2007, Scott managed the investigation, design, procurement, and seismic renovation of the historic Theme Building ($14M+). In 2009 he co-authored and co-presented the experience at the annual Structural Engineering Association of California conference in San Diego.
In 2014, he led a seismic risk study of all structures at LAX, VNY and ONT. This effort led to an all-encompassing report and the grading/ranking of every structure in the LAWA portfolio. Also in 2014, he was tasked with improving the Design and Construction Handbook (DCH) into a model for all construction at LAWA. From 2014 to present, Scott oversaw the engineering standards within the document as well as its creation and publication to the LAWA website.
Currently, Scott manages the engineering section, comprised of a group of multi-discipline engineers. His group is responsible for technical support to all LAWA divisions as well as review of all design and construction documents routed through the design review process. He and his group also manage on-call A/E contracts as needed for planning and design studies of various engineering disciplines.
Mr. Markle holds a license as a registered Professional Civil and Structural Engineer in California. He has a Bachelor and Master of Science in Civil/Structural Engineering from Brigham Young University.
Garrett Lee
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Garrett Lee is the President of Jamison Properties, one of the most active multifamily real estate developers in Southern California. Since Garrett took the helm ten years ago, the company has completed over 6,500 new apartment units, including 250 affordable units, through ground up construction and adaptive reuse conversions of office to residential. Jamison has completed 7 adaptive reuse projects in the City of Los Angeles and currently has 4 new conversions under construction. Garrett also oversees Jamison’s general contracting firms that have built the majority of its development portfolio.
Garrett is a Los Angeles native. He attended Harvard-Westlake and went on to earn a BA from USC School of Cinematic Arts and a JD from USC Gould School of Law. Since 2016, Garrett has served on the board of the Korean American Coalition, a nonprofit organization that promotes the civic and civil rights interests of the Korean American community.
Debra Gerod
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Debra Gerod, FAIA, LEED AP, joined Gruen Associates in 1988 and was made a partner in 2002. Debra’s specialty is the collaborative design and delivery of complex, public-use projects. With many of these projects designed by world renowned designers in collaboration with Gruen Associates as Executive Architect, Debra has worked with a veritable “who’s who” of design architects including Foster + Partners, Grimshaw, OMA, Christian de Portzamparc, Cesar Pelli, Pei Cobb Freed, Thom Mayne/Morphosis, Olson Kundig, Michael Maltzan, ZGF, Moore Ruble Yudell, Jones Studio, Weiss/Manfredi and others. Projects have included event centers, performing arts venues, offices, museums, libraries, courthouses, embassies, transportation projects, parks and streetscapes.
Debra has also been responsible for the renovation of several historic buildings including the renovation of the historic Brand Library and Art Center and Glendale Central Library, as well as the renovation of the historic Tower Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Current projects include the renovation of the historic Pasadena Central Library, renovation and addition to the La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum.
Debra is a Regent for the California Architectural Foundation (CAF) and served as the 2020 President for AIA|California and 2016 President of AIA|Los Angeles. Debra volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and Heal the Bay and was a long-time board member for the ACE Mentor Program of Los Angeles. Debra was elevated to a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2013 and is the recipient of AIA|Los Angeles’ 2024 Gold Medal, the highest individual honor bestowed by the Chapter.
Jack Andersen
As the current Chief of Planning & Design for California State University (CSU), Jack along with others in CSU Capital Planning Design and Construction (CPDC) which includes the Planning & Design Group (P&D) oversee at the portfolio level the systemwide capital outlay programs for the entire CSU – the largest comprehensive 4-year university in the US. He is charged annually with producing a 5-Year Master Plan that includes planning for new buildings, tenant & infrastructure improvements, deferred maintenance and structural seismic upgrades.
Jack also along with the current CSU Director of Architecture has oversight of the CSU Seismic Review Board (SRB) charged with ensuring seismic safety on all 23 campuses. In his previous role, Jack was the former systemwide Chief Building Official for the CSU with the responsibility of enforcement of code compliance on all CSU owned or occupied properties.
Jack is a licensed architect for over 30 years, member of the AIA, and a past managing corporate director and city architect. He holds a Master's Degree in Architecture from UCLA and a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture (cum laude) from Cal Poly Pomona.
Jamie Garza
Jamie Garza has over 16 years of experience in structural and earthquake engineering design. Leading the structural design for projects in Education, Civic, Aviation, Residential, Hospitality, Fine Arts, Performing Arts, Healthcare, and Commercial sectors.
Jamie has utilized performance-based engineering for the design of new buildings, the retrofit of existing buildings, and the evaluation of existing building for over 40 buildings. She led the innovative retrofit of the LAX Theme Building using a mass damper on top of the building to counteract earthquake shaking. Managing the structural design and collaborated closely with the architects and contractor for the new Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Beverly Hills. Jaime also managed the design coordination and structural design for four 10-story precast student housing towers at Stanford University, adding over 2,400 beds for graduate housing.
Jamie co-authored the paper “Should We Rely on Existing Building Lateral Systems when Retrofitting Buildings?” and presented the findings during the 2018 Structural Engineering Association of California Convention. The research provides an overview of our building codes and analysis tools, as well as a complete picture of what earthquake resiliency requires. She is committed to collaborating with clients and architects to truly implement resilient structural design.
