Olivia Rousso, Michael Debiak & Deirdre Harvey

Teaches at Prema Yoga Institute

Olivia Rousso
After earning a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia, Olivia began her career with Gilbane Building Company in 2012. At 27 years old, Olivia has quickly grown into an emerging leader in the construction industry. Upon joining Gilbane, Olivia worked on the NYC Rapid Repairs Project, providing emergency home repairs in the Rockaways in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Olivia then went on to be a Project Engineer for several New York Presbyterian Hospital projects. She trained new engineers on Gilbane’s systems and greatly contributed to the project’s success by stepping up as acting project manager and playing an integral role in turning over the Barbara Walters Acute Care Treatment Center. Olivia later transitioned to the role of Site Superintendent, overseeing an infrastructure upgrade to the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York. In the spring of 2015, Olivia was promoted to Regional Manager of Engineering for New York City and State, where she was responsible for ensuring that engineering controls were being effectively utilized in accordance with company policy on all projects in the region, as well as providing training and support to all project engineers in the NYC region. Olivia transitioned into High Rise Construction, working on projects such as One Wall Street and 130 William Street. During her time on One Wall Street, Olivia developed key bid packages for the Trade Contractor buyout. As Project Manager on the 130 William St team, she lead the Structural Foundations team in coordination and execution of the tower’s foundation in Manhattan’s Financial District for the Lightstone Group, a developer in the City. Additionally, she recently completed a Masters in Construction Management at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Currently, Olivia is on sabbatical from the Construction Industry to learn about various cultural differences around the world.


Michael Debiak
Mike joined Faithful+Gould in 2016 as a vice president and managing director leading the New York Metro Area office and infrastructure business line for the northeast, bringing more than 35 years of construction and program management experience to the firm. Prior to joining Faithful+Gould Mike was an associate vice president and principal project director with ARCADIS in their Infrastructure group. As the northeast’s infrastructure business line lead, Mike is driven to become a client’s trusted advisor by helping them find practical solutions that solve problems, save time and reduce cost. Mike emphasizes sound business-focused decision making, while working to achieve optimal project outcomes. Mike draws upon his experience as an owner/developer and contractor on conventional design-bid-build and complex design-build projects to achieve early issue identification, mitigation and resolution to deliver successful quality projects, on time and within budget.

Working with market sector and service line leadership Mike leverages his demonstrated expertise and extensive industry network to identify opportunities, position for the win, and deliver projects. Mike’s extensive unequaled experience and expertise includes risk management, project planning and scheduling, claims analysis and negotiations, program/project controls systems and implementation, pre-construction, delivery and procurement methodologies, contract administration, and execution strategies. Mike has demonstrated expertise in program/project financing including federal, state and local grants, developer funding, P3, bank facility, and TIFIA.

Mike differentiates himself through national involvement in industry organizations, notably as Subject Mater Expert (SME) on risk and schedule for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Mike presented to more than 35 international corporations and associations, including the nationally broadcast webcast on Project management strategies and changing technology for CE News sponsored by Oracle Primavera. Mike taught scheduling in the Masters Program at Columbia University, is currently teaching construction management at Pace University and is co-author of the book Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed with Dr. Warren Bennis.


Deirdre Harvey
Deirdre Harvey is a Certified Construction Manager from CM Certification Institute with 27 years of Construction Management experience. She works for New York City Transit on various infrastructure, line equipment and flood mitigation projects. Deirdre has chaired the Public Owners Caucus in the local chapter of Construction Manager Association of America, co-chairs the professional forum at her agency and is a delegate for the New York Interagency Engineering Council.