Nominations for the 2027 BuiltWorlds Mavericks are now open.
When BuiltWorlds named its first Mavericks in 2018, the list read like a who’s who of the built world’s most famous names. Frank Gehry and Jeanne Gang represented architecture. Tracy Young of PlanGrid represented a then-new wave of construction software. Alongside them were city-builders, venture pioneers and contractors who had already reshaped their markets. That first class had 25 honorees. A year later the list doubled to 50 and added figures like Bjarke Ingels, SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell and Procore’s Tooey Courtemanche.
Nine cohorts and more than 400 honorees later, the list has changed. It looks far less like a hall of fame and more like a field report.
The shift: from visionaries to builders of the vision
The early lists celebrated people imagining a different built world. Recent lists celebrate the people delivering it, often in roles that rarely make headlines.
You can see that clearly in the 2026 class. Chris Masse, a general superintendent at EllisDon, built CM Planner, a superintendent-led planning workflow that ties together Fieldwire, Crewscopes and look-ahead schedules. At Swinerton, Kim DeYoung moved the company away from pilot-first experimentation and toward a repeatable delivery model that turns proven tools into measurable jobsite results. These are not lab demos. They are operating changes, made by people who understand how work actually gets done. builtworldsbuiltworlds
The categories evolved along the same lines. The early disciplinary buckets (architecture, engineering, real estate, construction) gave way to five roles that reflect how innovation moves through the industry: Entrepreneurs, Industry Leaders, Influencers & Educators, Investors and Technologists.
Five themes from the 2026 Mavericks
1. AI is going after the unglamorous work. The 2026 class isn’t chasing flashy use cases. They’re applying AI to contracts, procurement and permitting. Josh Levy’s Document Crunch embeds contract compliance across the whole project lifecycle. Ojonimi Bako’s Kaya AI analyzes drawings and specs, generates RFQs, and evaluates sourcing options using live pricing and lead-time data. Martin Muoto launched Z/Suite, an AI-enabled planning and permitting platform aimed at preconstruction friction. mavericks 50 2026 innovators builtworlds +2
2. Robotics and autonomy are moving into production. Eric Cylwik helped Sundt deploy an autonomously operated excavator with Bedrock Robotics that loaded more than 1,000 haul trucks under live production conditions. The class also captured a market milestone: both Canvas co-founder and CTO Maria Telleria and JLG CTO Shashank Bhatia were honored, after JLG acquired the drywall-finishing robotics company in January 2026. builtworldsbuiltworlds
3. Corporate venture has become an integration engine. More than half of the 2026 Investors sit inside or alongside builders and software platforms, including DPR, Trimble, Nemetschek, Dar, Mota-Engil and GS. Kaushal Diwan turned DPR’s WND Ventures from a traditional CVC into a platform that pairs investment with hands-on operational collaboration. German Aparicio turned the Trimble 0–60 Challenge from passive startup scouting into a co-development engine that delivered 10 new Trimble integrations. Capital increasingly comes with a jobsite attached. builtworldsbuiltworlds
4. Materials and resource efficiency are back in focus. Several honorees are changing what buildings are made of and how they consume resources. Supersede is developing waterproof, recyclable replacements for marine-grade plywood. Droople has deployed more than 10,000 smart water monitoring systems. Emanuel Heisenberg brought serial renovation to Germany through ecoworks. mavericks 50 2026 innovators builtworlds +2
5. The workforce is the point. The strongest technologies on the list make skilled people more effective and safer. Hyperframe’s framing system can be installed up to ten times faster by workers trained in minutes. Steve Rowson’s Virginia Tech Helmet Lab released the first independent rating system for construction safety helmets. builtworldsbuiltworlds
The 2026 class was also unmistakably global. Honorees came from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, Japan and Korea, Germany, Portugal, France, the UK and Canada, alongside the U.S.
What 2027 may tell us
If the past decade of Mavericks traced the industry’s path from vision to deployment, the 2027 class will show what comes after deployment: scale. Several questions will shape the next few years:
- Which AI tools become embedded infrastructure, and which fade after the pilot?
- Will robotics consolidation accelerate as equipment makers and contractors buy capabilities rather than build them?
- Can industrialized construction finally deliver housing and infrastructure at the cost and speed the market needs?
- Who is building the workforce, the standards and the data foundations that let all of this work across firms rather than inside a single one?
The people answering those questions are the people we want to find. The 2027 Mavericks will be celebrated at BuiltWorlds’ Chicago Global Summit, April 28–29, 2027, at Convene, 311 West Monroe Street in Chicago. The Summit is where members and industry leaders gather to discuss AI and data strategy, robotics, venture investment and the future workforce. It’s a fitting stage for the people turning those topics into results. builtworlds
Nominate a 2027 Maverick
We’re looking for 50 people across five categories who are changing how the built world is designed, built and operated. Nominees are evaluated on four criteria:
- Passion for improving the industry
- Action that moves it forward
- Courage to forge their own path
- Impact beyond their own organization
Funding raised and revenue earned are not the measure. Past nominees who weren’t selected are welcome to be nominated again. Past honorees are not eligible, because a Maverick is a lifetime designation.
Nominations close December 18, 2026.
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