Managing Director at Ankura
Mr. Almodovar is a managing director in the Global Construction Practice at Ankura. He has 20 years’ experience in the construction industry and specializes in providing advisory and litigation consulting services on domestic and international construction projects in the areas of schedule delay and cost overruns. In addition, he has prepared and defended claims, as well as provided expert testimony (oral and written) and litigation support for mediations, arbitrations and trials. Since 2017, Mr. Almodovar has been recognized in the annual rankings of Who’s Who Legal: Construction, Who’s Who Legal: Consulting Experts, and Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration. Mr. Almodovar’s experience includes construction project management, project controls management, contract management, CPM scheduling and delay analysis, loss-of-productivity analysis, damages analysis, and change order review. The projects for which he has provided his expertise have entailed a variety of issues such as delay, disruption, acceleration, force majeure, differing conditions, contract risk allocation, termination for default, among others. His clients include owners, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and insurance companies. As part of his professional experience, Mr. Almodovar was also a project engineer on multi-million dollar highway and bridge projects, and as a research assistant actively participated in the construction of the Tren Urbano transit system in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mr. Almodovar has lectured at various international conferences regarding project administration and construction claims issues. He is fluent in Spanish.

Owner at Christensen Law Firm in Gilbert
Mr. Christensen is an Arizona native, born in Mesa and raised in Tempe. He graduated from Arizona State University in 1994 (B.A., summa cum laude), and later earned his law degree from ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law (J.D., 1998). After law school, he worked for a small civil litigation firm in the East Valley, where his practice emphasized construction litigation and real estate law. Mr. Christensen established his own firm in 1999, where he continued his construction law practice, representing general contractors, subcontractors, design professionals and developers. Mr. Christensen lives with his family in Gilbert, Arizona.

Partner at Jennings, Haug & Cunningham, LLP
Mr. Csontos practices in the firm’s surety and construction litigation section where he devotes a substantial portion of his practice to providing legal advice and representation to owners, contractors, sureties and other members of the construction industry. He also serves as corporate counsel to numerous small businesses, assisting them with various types of legal matters including business operations, contract questions and commercial litigation. He joined the firm in 1986 and became a partner in 1994. Mr. Csontos is a graduate of Arizona State University (B.S., magna cum laude, 1982 and J.D., cum laude, 1986).

Principal at FR Law Group PLLC
Mr. Ryan has lived and breathed the construction industry since he was a small child. As an architect, his father gave him a glimpse into a world of large, complex projects and high risks. Mr. Ryan was inspired to obtain a degree in engineering before enrolling in law school, where he soon found that his family’s generations of construction experience and his on-the-job knowledge would pair perfectly with legal expertise. Even working as corporate counsel, he taps into his vast experience on the job site as well as the boardroom. Licensed in both Arizona and Illinois, Mr. Ryan is a proven leader with over 23 years of professional experience leading businesses and representing their legal interests. Through his experiences as a senior executive with large, publicly-traded Fortune 500 company and two national Am Law 100 law firms, he has solid leadership, business, and legal know-how. Mr. Ryan graduated from Arizona State University with a B.S. degree (in 1993) and an M.S. degree (in 1995) in Construction Engineering. He graduated from DePaul University College of Law in 2001. Mr. Ryan is a Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America and a member of the American Bar Association and ABA’s Forum on the Construction Industry.

Attorney at Righi Fitch Law Group
Mr. Tappe is a partner at Righi Fitch Law Group. As a dedicated and effective litigator and trial attorney, Mr. Tappe has focused his practice in insurance defense and construction defect litigation, where he has handled a diversity of civil matters, including insurance bad faith, breach of contract, breach of warranty, subrogation, and premises liability claims. Mr. Tappe’s current practice is concentrated on the representation of developers, contractors, businesses and individuals in tort and construction litigation, primarily in the areas of construction defects, general liability, and insurance coverage. In his practice, he has successfully defended and pursued cases through judgment at trial, secured payment on behalf of his clients, and litigated numerous issues taken up on appellate review. Notably, Mr. Tappe was the trial attorney for contractor Sirrah Enterprises, L.L.C. in Sirrah Enterprises, L.L.C. v. Wunderlich, 242 Ariz. 542, 399 P.3d 89 (2017), where he secured a verdict in favor of his client against an owner-builder for breach of contract and obtained a defense verdict on the owner’s counterclaim for breach of contract. Mr. Tappe presently serves as on the Board for the Construction Section of the Maricopa County Bar Association (MCBA), and he has been a frequent contributing author for The Maricopa Lawyer.