The leadership team
Meet the brilliant minds behind our work.
Arash Shahi
Chief Executive Officer
Arash is an entrepreneur and innovator who feels fortunate to have enjoyed a remarkable career with significant achievements in the architectural, engineering, construction (AEC) and academic sectors.
A high-performance executive with interpersonal savvy, Arash is recognized for his ability to bring stakeholders together on collaborative initiatives, and as a digital technology visionary. He was recently named as one of the Top 40 Under 40 in Canadian Construction for his innovative work. Arash holds a PhD in construction engineering and management technologies and co-founded the Building Innovation Research Centre at University of Toronto.
Arash’s experience, educational background and passion for the AEC sector propelled him to co-create AECO Innovation Lab, which is poised to revolutionize the adoption of digital technology in AEC and related industries and governments. AECO provides research, software, and business development services to transform insights into real-world solutions.
Claudia Cozzitorto
Chief Strategy Officer
Claudia honed her expertise as an architect with over fifteen years practicing in Ontario and British Columbia, working across a range of typologies. She applied her Honours Bachelor of Architectural Studies from Ryerson University and a Master of Architecture from the University of British Columbia to a concentration on BIM, collaborative workflows, data analysis, computational BIM and open BIM are areas of great interest as well as her extensive advocacy of BIM in Canada.
She extensively advocates for the use of BIM in Canada and serves as the founder and chair of the Toronto BIM Community (tBIMc), is the Executive Director of buildingSMART Canada, and is an active OAA mentor. Her experience includes a former board member of the Institute for BIM in Canada (IBC) Steering Committee as a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) representative, a BIM subject matter expert for the Canadian Handbook of Practice, Leading member of the Canadian BIM Survey and has spoken at several conferences and guest speaker on openBIM and technology’s influence on architectural practice.
Claudia has led the BIM Management by developing the BIM Execution Plan, training the project team on new tools and workflows, as well as monitoring compliance of models throughout the design and construction phase to project handover to ensure smooth delivery of project deliverables at all phases. She believes that efficient and effective BIM project delivery is a result of true collaboration.
Mark Anderson
Chief Commercial officer
Mark Anderson has over 20 years of business experience connecting people and managing partner relations. He has worked with diverse groups and organizations to establish collaborative teams focused on achieving shared goals. Mark’s most recent efforts helped establish the One Ontario coalition, with over 35 organizations involved in helping Ontario streamline the development approval process. He has been instrumental in stakeholder engagement operations of AECO and One Ontario and brings a wealth of strategic experience to the team.