John Olivieri

Executive Director

With over 30 years of experience working in the heavy construction and transportation field, John’s career has taken him to many places around the globe.  He attributes his success to the development of a good work ethic while working as a boy at a local dairy farm bailing hay, mucking out livestock stalls and carrying heavy containers of milk and cream.

As a young man in high school he spent his summers working for a rural, township road crew maintaining and repairing their tertiary road system.  This gave him the opportunity to operate everything from tractors for mowing, chainsaws for cutting trees and brush, to heavy compacting rollers for asphalt repair, and dump trucks to haul gravel.  However, as a young man with a strong back, he was most often shoveling soil, aggregate and hot asphalt. 

All these things combined to inspire him to pursue a degree in civil engineering.  This field seemed to offer the perfect combination of being outdoors most of the time, which he thoroughly enjoyed, while working on heavy transportation projects.

John first began his professional career working at the Richland County Engineering Office.  He was responsible for roadway safety systems and traffic control devices.  He also performed hydraulic calculations for various watershed areas ensuring proper sizing and design for bridge and culvert replacement projects.

Next, he moved to the state capital, Columbus, where he worked as a construction inspector for the Franklin County Engineer.  (Columbus is the county seat of Franklin County and the largest metro area in Ohio).  Typically, he was assigned to road construction projects.  These usually required the removal of all existing pavement, base and even sometimes sub grade materials.  Frequently, unsuitable sub grade materials had to be either replaced with more suitable material or somehow treated or manipulated, using some type of stabilization process, to bring them up to an acceptable strength.  Ultimately this led to him gaining valuable knowledge and insight into assessing whether bases and sub grade materials were stable and strong enough to carry heavy traffic loads.

John subsequently moved on to an association representing all 88 county engineers in the state of Ohio.  He ran a system that allotted funding for the construction of roads, bridges and safety devices for local government agencies.  He was involved in the successful completion of hundreds of projects funded by two separate sources worth more than $50 million annually.

While happy to learn the internal machinations of public funding for large infrastructure projects, he decided to return to his first love and take on projects more likely to include outdoor field work.  Accordingly, he became heavily involved in on-site installation and construction of various precast concrete bridge, culvert and tunnel projects across Ohio. 

In 2004, he created his own consulting-based corporation, Rocca Industries Incorporated.  Simultaneously, he trademarked a new project inspection and project management division called Critical Path Solutions.  Since then, John has experienced many exciting new endeavors, places and interesting people!

One such undertaking was the creation, from the ground up, of a federally certified construction materials testing laboratory. The lab was responsible for determining the compressive strength of concrete, asphalt and soils used in roadway projects.  He also assembled a team of field inspectors used to ensure adherence to construction and design standards, best practices and methodologies.  Parts of this team were also specially licensed and trained to safely and accurately conduct nuclear density field testing for in-situ compaction testing of soils and sub soil surfaces for roadway projects.

John is an effective communicator and strives to foster an atmosphere of seamless coordination with engineers, government officials, contractors and even nontechnical project related stakeholders.  Because of this, several times over the last 15 years, he has acted as a corporate liaison between manufacturers and new customers in an effort to help them develop and introduce new technologies and products and bring them to market.  This includes the development of unexploited market niches for various new devices, systems and even disruptive technologies, all intended for use within the public transportation infrastructure sphere.  (Much to John’s personal delight, on more than one occasion, these opportunities led him inside the famous laboratories of the NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratories in California!)  Of course, products used for public transportation projects often require prior approval and certification for use on government owned projects.  Accordingly, John has gained valuable knowledge about this very involved and detailed process that has become an integral part of the transportation related industry in the United States.

John earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio and a technical certification – “Concrete Professional” from Rhodes State College in Lima, Ohio.  He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Ohio Farm Bureau.  He was born and raised in Mansfield, Ohio and still resides in the Columbus metro area with his wife of 31 years, Joan.

Amy Lowe

Events Manager

Amy joined the CEAO team in August 2017 bringing with her over 18 years of work experience in the public sector. Prior to joining CEAO, Amy worked as the Director of Communications for the Franklin County Engineer's Office. She also spent 8 years as the Community Affairs Coordinator working in community relations, members services, event planning, website design and social media for the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC). She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Amy is the primary contact for all CEAO conferences and events.

Andrew Kelly

Program Manager

Andrew joined CEAO in October 2024 as the County Surface Transportation Program (CSTP) and Local Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation (LBR) Program Manager. Andrew's primary responsibility is to work with the CSTP/LBR Committee and ODOT to administer the CSTP and LBR programs. This includes ensuring that projects are selected in accordance with program criteria, that projects are delivered according to schedule, and that the programs remain fiscally balanced.

Andrew began his career working in athletics with a B.S. in Sports Management, with Minors in Business and Philosophy, and with a M.A. in Athletic Administration from Shawnee State University and Concordia University Irvine, respectively. After spending years working in athletics, he shifted his focus to finance management and began a career in financial crimes analysis and underwriting. With a culmination of 8 years in operations and program management and financial analysis work, Andrew brings a unique skillset and perspective to effectively run the CSTP and LBR programs. When he is not in the office, he is spending time with his wife and son as they are preparing to welcome into the world their second child in early 2025.

Kari Gianangeli

Business & Marketing Manager

Kari joined the CEAO team in March of 2020, bringing with her many years of experience as an administrative and legal assistant working with law firms and non-profits in Central Ohio. Kari manages our day-to-day business operations, integrates marketing strategies to build new supporting member relationships while fostering existing ones, and assists members on using the CEAO events app while providing support on site at all CEAO events. In addition, she keeps our members and sponsors frequently updated through her management of CEAO’s growing social media accounts with the intent to cultivate a network for the engineering and surveying professions. Kari graduated summa cum laude from Franklin University with a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in business administration and a minor in marketing.  In addition to her roles at CEAO, Kari also works part time as a legal assistant at The Law Office of Charles Mifsud, LLC located in Dublin, Ohio where she has been employed since March of 2009. In her free time, Kari enjoys her volunteer role serving as a support sister with Mommies Matter, a non-profit which assists single mothers, as well as traveling with her husband and three children.

Jen Diamond

Administrative Assistant

Jen provides administrative support to CEAO by assisting with conferences, accounting and general office management, as well as additional support with special projects, as needed.  Prior to joining CEAO in September, 2023, Jen worked 11 years at Nationwide as an Underwriter, IT Business Analyst and IT Quality Assurance Tester. In addition to working at a nonprofit, Jen has volunteered at school and team sports for her children and the community. Jen graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Family Relations and Human Development.

Benjamin A. Sigall

Legal Counsel

Benjamin A. Sigall, Esq., Sigall.Law

Ben brings more than a decade of wide-ranging experience at large, regional firms and as a prosecuting attorney for numerous entities, including the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. His practice focuses on defending businesses in complex civil and class action litigation, primarily related to consumer protection and privacy concerns. 

Mark Sherman

Bridge QA/QC Consulting Engineer

Mark Sherman graduated from The Ohio State University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with a concentration in structures. He started his long career at the Franklin County Engineer’s office before graduation in the construction department as a project engineer.  He moved over to the bridge department to oversee the bridge maintenance crews, along with design before becoming Bridge Engineer in 1987, then became Dean Ringle’s Chief Deputy Engineer in 2001 before retiring in 2017 after 38years with the county.  After a few weeks of retirement, Mark joined the engineering consulting firm of American Structurepoint until 2021.  Mark is now proud to begin the next phase of his career working with Dean once more as the CEAO Federal Bridge QA/QC Engineer.

Michael T. Evans

Legislative Consultant

Michael T. Evans, President of AP Consulting, is the contract lobbyist for CEAO.  With 8+ years of lobbying experience in advocating and advising trade associations and elected officials with interests at the local, state and federal government levels, Michael has extensive knowledge of both issue and candidate campaign strategy. Her education includes a M.B.A – Specialization in Project Management from Ashland University, Post Graduate Degree – Certified Paralegal from Capital University Law School, and a B.S. in Communication from Ohio University.