He was the co-founder of Vela Systems, which pioneered tablet workflows on construction jobsites. It was acquired by Autodesk in 2012 and has been rebranded as BIM 360 Field. Next, he founded Newmetrix, the AI-powered safety risk analytics software provider that Oracle acquired in 2022.
At CONEXPO, he spoke to Roads & Bridges following his lecture, “AI and Construction Safety, Real Examples, Real Results.” He discussed how AI systems rely on humans to achieve results, the ways in which AI can increase work zone safety, and how the industry is battling myth versus reality when it comes to AI.
Kanner graduated from Brown University and earned an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
About the Author
Gavin Jenkins, Senior Managing Editor
Senior Managing Editor
Gavin Jenkins is an award-winning journalist based in Pittsburgh. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, VICE, Narrative.ly, Prevention, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Beijing Review.
In 2020, two stories he wrote for Pitt Med Magazine earned three Golden Quill Awards from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania. “Surviving Survival” won Excellence in Corporate, Marketing and Promotional Communications – Written, Medical/Health, while “Oct. 27, 2018: Pittsburgh’s Darkest Day, and the Mass Casualty Response” won Excellence in Written Journalism, Magazines – Medical/Health, as well as the Ray Sprigle Memorial Award: Magazines, a Best in Show award.
After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in 2003, he covered sports for the Bedford Gazette, in Bedford, Pa., and the Martinsville Bulletin, in Martinsville, Va. In 2006, he returned to Pittsburgh to write for Trib Total Media. Based out of the Kittanning Leader Times, he worked for the Trib for two years, and then he moved to Shenzhen, China, to teach English and freelance. After two years in China, he earned an MFA in nonfiction from the University of Pittsburgh.
When he's not at work, he's usually playing with his border-collie mix, Bob.