Craig Relyea has over 40 years of global project services experience, focusing on construction management, project controls, contract administration, and planning and scheduling within the pharmaceutical, shipbuilding, petrochemical, and power industries, responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining the processes and best practices to support major capital delivery programs.
Craig started his career with Seatrain Shipbuilding in 1972 as an apprentice in the drafting room, who eventually became responsible for developing and maintaining the fabrication and construction schedules for the ship’s hull group. In addition to his apprenticeship, he went to school at nights for a decade before getting his BS in Business Management.
In 1981, he joined Foster Wheeler, one of the larger EPC organizations that supported the petrochemical and energy industries where he eventually became the manager of Project Controls and Computer Services.
In 2003, he joined Eli Lilly and Company, where he helped develop a project controls organization, rising to become the Director of Project Services, where estimating, project controls, construction management and computer services all fell under his guidance. Craig took an early retirement package at the end of 2017. He has been providing some consulting work and continues to mentor some of his former coworkers.
He was very active locally in the Hoosier Section of the AACEi and instrumental in reviving it, serving as both president and as a board member, as well as a presenter at the 2011 AACE conference in Anaheim CA. He was also active within the Construction Industry Institute, where he served as a member of the Sector Leadership Committee. He was the inaugural chair of CII’s Manufacturing and Life Sciences sector and was a member of the Funded Studies Committee which oversaw the various research projects. He also served as the chair or member on several research teams. He is a co-author and the final editor of “CPM Scheduling for Construction - Best Practices and Guidelines” that was published by PMI in 2014.