Senior Partner
Paramount Associates, LLC
Office: 651.365.0300
Mobile: 651.302.2348
cschmillen@paramountassociates.com
Mr. Schmillen brings more than 20 years of experience in the construction industry to Paramount Associates. His expertise ranges from extensive on-site project management to in-depth dispute analysis and resolution services for commercial, industrial and government projects. As a licensed professional engineer, Mr. Schmillen complements his on-site experience with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Prior to graduating from Iowa State University in 1992, Mr. Schmillen worked as a field laborer for McCarthy Construction (Arizona office) and as a mechanical engineer co-op for the Army Corps of Engineers (Mississippi River Basin office).
Upon graduation, Mr. Schmillen was recruited by the Harris Companies, one of the nations largest mechanical contracting firms headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota. During his 13 years with the firm he served in various capacities, starting as a field engineer and working his way through estimating, safety and quality control positions before becoming a successful project manager in both the industrial and commercial markets. His projects ranged from a few thousand to 20+ million dollars in value and included plan and spec, design-build, prime contractor and fast-track methods of building delivery.
Mr. Schmillen has successfully completed projects in some of the industry's most demanding markets such as government (federal/state) and power/process. In addition, he has completed projects in the food, pharmaceutical, retail, manufacturing, high-rise commercial/residential, institutional and water/waste water segments of the industry. His diversified background as a construction professional and engineer have provided Paramount clients with a detail-oriented advocate for their cases. Understanding the issues from a "real-world" perspective and applying that knowledge to his dispute resolution skills has provided owners and contractors alike with expedited amicable resolutions, as well as, equitable negotiated settlements.
Mr. Schmillen is a frequent speaker at professional society events such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), where he was recognized for his contributions to the industry and awarded the "Young Engineer of the Year" in 1999 for "Outstanding Achievement in the Engineering Profession". He was also selected for the prestigious "Leadership Development Internship" program in 2002, a year long term that serves as a training opportunity and exposes the six selected candidates to ASME workings at the national and international level.
A partner since 1998, Mr. Schmillen has participated in numerous cases involving construction related claims/disputes and has been certified as an expert witness in both state and federal courts. Mr. Schmillen has prepared numerous executive summaries and performed damage calculations associated with delay, disruption and acceleration, and loss of labor productivity. He has also performed analysis associated with construction standards and industry practices, mechanical trade and technical issues and project management issues.
He is a practitioner of the Primavera suite of products for construction scheduling and employs the latest advancements in CPM scheduling techniques in his schedule analysis.
