Charles H. Thornton

Chairman, Charles H. Thornton & Company LLC

Renaissance, Rebirth and Disruptive Innovation
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Friday, April 11, 2014– 4:30 pm

Location: Sinclair Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, 7 Asa Drive, Bethlehem, PA

Charles H. Thornton, Chairman, Charles H. Thornton & Company, LLC, New York, NY: Dr. Thornton is one of the most preeminent structural engineers and educators in the world. Serving as co-chairman of Thornton Tomasetti until 2005, he has been involved in the design, construction and analysis of projects worldwide, including two of the world’s tallest buildings – the Taipei 101 in Taiwan and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. In addition, he is recognized as an expert in collapse and structural failure analysis which included his participation in the FEMA Building Performance Assessment Team for the investigation of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Currently Chairman of Charles H. Thornton & Company, LLC, he is founder of the Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) Mentor Program, a non-profit organization that offers guidance, scholarships and training in architecture, construction and engineering to more than 40,000 inner city high school students in 106 cities across the United States.  Dr. Thornton is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Construction. He is the recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Projects And Leaders (OPAL) award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), received the ASCE Hoover Medal in recognition of the ACE Mentor Program, and the Award of Excellence from Engineering News-Record. He has taught structural engineering for many years as a visiting and adjunct professor, and held visiting faculty/lecturer positions at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., Princeton University, Manhattan College, Pratt Institute and The Cooper Union. He serves as an advisor to the Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. board of directors. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College and master’s and Ph. D. degrees from New York University.

Renaissance, Rebirth and Disruptive Innovation: After 50 years with Thornton Tomasetti and its prior companies, Dr. Thornton reinvented himself by getting into new technologies, disruptive innovations and  new challenges. Starting in 2005, when  he stepped  down as Chairman, stockholder and founding principal of Thornton Tomasetti, he formed  four new companies – a management and engineering firm called, Charles H Thornton and Company LLC, a  technology and structural health monitoring company called STRAAM LTD, and TTG, an industrialized,  prefabricated construction entity which can build mid- to high-rise buildings in one half the time with a savings of approximately 20 to 30% in cost, and finally  AECOS LTD, a systems integration company which is presently working on many projects utilizing the TTG system and an automated parking system. Dr. Thornton will present information about all four of these companies.

Furthermore he has written a memoir entitled “Charles H Thornton: a Life of Elegant Solutions.” This book will be published in the fall of 2013 and will be available on April 11, 2014. All proceeds from book sales generally go to the Ace Mentor Program of America which was founded by Charles H Thornton. Any books sold on April 11 will be at a discounted price  with the proceeds going 50% to ACE and 50% to the Fazlur R. Khan Endowment Fund.