Samir Emdanat

Samir is among the industry’s most vocal advocates of Integrated Project Delivery and the use of lean principles in design and construction. As President and Co-Founder of vPlanner, Samir applies his passion for collaborative methods and technologies to help owners and project teams improve their capital project delivery systems and maximize value throughout the design and construction processes. vPlanner, a subsidiary of Ghafari Associates, is a management consultancy and a leading provider of software solutions that support the Last Planner System®.

A frequent writer and speaker on the topics of IPD, lean principles, and the Last Planner System®, Samir has presented at a variety of forums, including the Lean Construction Institute, the International Group for Lean Construction, the AEC Technology Strategies, and Stanford University’s Center for Integrated Facility Engineering summer program, among others. He regularly participates in various industry initiatives aimed at advancing lean thinking and collaborative technology adoption across the design and construction supply chain. In 2005, Engineering News-Record recognized Samir as one of the industry’s “Top 25 Newsmakers” for his work on the General Motors Virtual Factory Initiative, which resulted in breakthrough innovations in schedule, cost, quality, and safety on a series of projects collectively valued at over $3 billion.

Samir earned a Master of Science in Architecture and a Master of Architecture with distinction from the University of Michigan, along with a Bachelor of Science in architecture from the Jordan University of Science and Technology. He also holds a Lean for Healthcare Operations Certificate from the University of Michigan.