Chris Dierks Honored with 2026 LCI Board Achievement Award

The Lean Construction Institute (LCI) is thrilled to announce that Chris Dierks, DPR’s Healthy Teams & Lean Leader, has been awarded the prestigious LCI Board Achievement Award. This honor recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to advancing LCI’s mission of transforming the design and construction industry through Lean principles.

Through his many accomplishments in Lean, Chris has freely given his time and knowledge. He presents at many Lean speaking and training events across the country and internationally, including LCI Congress and LCI CoP events. He serves as a trusted voice for the community and was featured in a 2025 LCI Congress blog on networking, where he urged experienced attendees to seek out first-timers and younger professionals, and encouraged newcomers to engage and ask questions. Much of his service and work, both at DPR and beyond, has gone toward supporting and mentoring members of the Lean community.

“Chris understands that Lean is ultimately about people. For more than two decades he has given his time and knowledge to this community, building the trust that makes better project outcomes possible. The practitioners he has mentored, taught, and encouraged along the way are a legacy in itself,” shared Shannyn Heyer, Interim CEO and CFO, Lean Construction Institute.

Advancing Lean Principles in his professional role and beyond

Contributions to the success of the annual LCI Congress conference.

Chris continues to be a dedicated contributor to LCI Congress:

Chris drives DPR’s organizational participation in LCI Congress, with approximately 25–35 DPR employees attending each year, and has facilitated DPR Construction’s sponsorship for over a decade.
He has played a major role at LCI Congress for years, including: serving on the LCI Congress Abstract Review Team every year since 2020; serving as a Congress Presentation Champion for 11 years, including 2026; serving on the 2015 LCI Congress Planning Committee; presenting several times; and serving as an LCI Approved Instructor. This year will mark Chris’ 21st LCI Congress.

Driving Lean transformation through his role at DPR.

Chris has made significant contributions to promoting the use of Lean design and construction tools and techniques at DPR and to the industry as a whole:

He has led the adoption of Lean and IPD for DPR nationally and internationally. Chris is DPR’s Healthy Teams & Lean Leader and brings more than 28 years of construction industry experience to his role, helping teams build strong, integrated cultures while implementing Lean principles. His background spans roles from project executive to corporate SME leadership roles, providing a practical perspective focusing on the implementation of the right processes to help drive collaboration, enable better decision-making, and bring more value and successful outcomes to Lean project delivery.
He brought early, large-scale Lean deployment back in 2011 to the industry’s attention through DPR’s Facebook Forest City, NC, data center campus, two 370,000-sq.-ft. buildings where Lean practices produced open and consistent dialog between trades, higher predictability and smoother workflow, and delivery of each phase ahead of the contracted schedule with zero defects at substantial completion.
He built DPR’s project-based Lean education model, planning workshops to match the dynamics of each project with significant emphasis on helping team members bond.

Contributions as a Lean thought leader.

Chris has authored or been acknowledged in publications, papers, and research that continue to advance Lean, and he presents internationally on Lean topics:

He was named in the acknowledgements of LCI’s Lean Deployment Planning Guide as one of the industry experts who openly shared insights and experience with the research team, and also contributed to the LCI books Target Value Delivery: Practitioner Guidebook to Implementation and Don’t Conform – Transform!.
He was a leader in the development and use of the Team Health tool, and co-authored the peer-reviewed paper that introduced it to the international research community.
He is the author of several Lean papers published by IGLC (International Group for Lean Construction), including co-authoring “A General Contractor’s Lean Journey,” which documents DPR’s Lean Journey; he presented this paper in Singapore this June.
He presents on Lean topics at colleges, universities, and IGLC conferences around the world.

Honoring Chris at the 2026 LCI Congress

Chris’s continuing commitment to advancing the principles of Lean design and construction, and his exceptional contributions to LCI, make him a deserving recipient of the 2026 Board Achievement Award.

The Board Achievement Award will be presented to Chris at the 2026 LCI Congress in Atlanta, Georgia, during the LCI Award Ceremony on Thursday, October 15.

About the Lean Construction Institute

The Lean Construction Institute (LCI) is a non-profit organization whose overall objective is to advance Lean principles within the design and construction industry. Through its educational offerings, events, webinars, Communities of Practice and certification programs, LCI empowers professionals to deliver projects with greater efficiency, collaboration, and sustainability. LCI’s community of members and partners work together to shape the future of construction by embracing innovation and Lean practices.

LCI advances its mission through a range of initiatives, including research, education, and events. Its flagship events, LCI Congress and the Lean in Design Forum, bring together industry professionals from across disciplines to share knowledge, build community, and accelerate the adoption of Lean practices. Learn more about LCI and its mission.