Aatif Zubair is a senior associate for Secretariat Advisors based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has almost five years of professional work experience associated with construction claims and project management.  His primary responsibilities involve preparing expert reports, performing forensic delay and quantum analysis, and assisting senior leaders in preparing for appropriate court venues.

Aatif was born in Muzaffarnagar, India, but spent most of his childhood moving between different countries in the Middle East. From an early age, he showed a great passion for science and the built environment. After graduating from high school in Saudi Arabia, Aatif decided to return to India to pursue his undergraduate studies. He was admitted to Delhi Technological University, one of the finest engineering schools in the country, where he studied civil engineering with an emphasis on structural and geotechnical engineering.

After graduation, Aatif joined the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a leading global construction firm. He worked in the middle eastern operations, where he spent two years working as a field engineer on multiple high-rise commercial projects with some of the leading real estate developers in the nation. As a field engineer, Aatif managed project scopes such as façades and interior fit-outs from start to finish. This including handling responsibilities such as tracking submittals, RFI, punch-lists and close-outs. It was here when Aatif was first exposed to the project controls and legal disputes industry, where he assisted the project controls team in progress tracking and earned value management.

Aatif’s desire for advanced learning and new challenges led him to Illinois, where he pursued a Master’s in Construction Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, focusing primarily on finance, project controls, and digital construction. During his time in graduate school, Aatif was heavily involved in extra-curricular and was on the board of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Rho-Epsilon Real Estate Association, where he first got his interest in organizing guest lectures and networking workshops. He also served as the Head of the Contracts and Procurement Team of Illinois Solar Decathlon, where he was directly involved in the pre-construction work of a self-funded, solar powered modular home.

Upon finishing graduate school in 2019, Aatif received an opportunity to work at Secretariat, a leading global expert witness firm headquartered in Atlanta. Over the last two years, Aatif has had the opportunity to work on the legal matters of some of the most famous modern construction projects in the 21^st century. He has worked in industries ranging from commercial buildings to multibillion-dollar industrial projects, as both a delay and quantum analyst. He has assisted leaders in performing CPM review, Window and Time Impacted Analysis. As part of his job, Aatif also advanced his software skills in platforms such as Primavera P6, Relativity, Python, and Power BI. Amongst several reasons, he enjoys the analytical and technical challenges that come with working in delay analysis, which often require a deep understanding of design, constructability, and work-flow process in different industries.

In addition to working at Secretariat, Aatif was interested in further supplementing his technical and networking skills by attending workshops and presentations organized by various professional organizations. Upon receiving recommendations from his colleagues, he joined the Rising Professionals Committee at AACE, where he has helped organize technical presentations and panel events. This also helped him to make connections with professionals in the project controls industry. He aspires to continue assisting the new up-and-coming professionals to reach the next level.

Aatif’s advice to the next generation of rising professionals would be to take the initiative to learn, explore and find your niche by taking on challenges outside your comfort zone. Getting involved with professional affiliations like AACE by volunteering in events will assist you in making connections early in your career. Even if you are currently in school, it would be beneficial to schedule a job shadowing event with people in various industries. He also encourages young professionals to not just focus on technical knowledge, but your personal skills such as communication and leadership. These skills will help shape your relations with clients and colleagues alike in the long run.