Peter S. Gehring
Director, Building Solutions

Peter Gehring, a graduate of Bucknell University, has a long history using, implementing and teaching Autodesk applications. As a New Jersey certified Drafting Instructor he helped students become proficient in AutoCAD release 13 through 2000, as well as Autodesk Architectural Desktop and 3D Studio Viz.

Previously he worked ten years with Perks-Reutter Associates, an engineering consulting firm. Here he gained valuable “front line experience” as a NICET certified bridge and construction inspector, surveyor, CAD designer and project manager. Since 2001 Peter has been employed with Synergis Technologies. As a Building Solutions Engineer he achieved Autodesk Architectural Desktop Certified Expert status.

Currently as Director of Building Solutions he is responsible for leading a team of Design Solution Engineers, as well as educating, supporting and helping clients implement the solutions offered by Synergis.Peter is an Autodesk Building Systems and Revit Building, Certified Implementation Expert and will soon be taking the Revit Structure Implementation Expert exam. Peter is a contributing writer for AEC Bytes and Cadalyst magazines on Autodesk’s building solutions and their practical applications. Peter’s strengths include a passion for learning new technologies and sharing this knowledge with others, an empathetic concern for clients’ problems and the ability to communicate solutions to them, a solid background in architecture and engineering, and the ability to transform an idea into reality.

Synergis Engineering Design Solutions' Peter Gehring Earns Autodesk's Coveted MEP Implementation Expert Certification

Jim Law
Synergis Solutions Engineer

Jim has an associate’s degree in Architectural Design and has been training and supporting Autodesk applications for over 16 years. He started on release 9 and is efficient through the current release. He has “graduated” almost 2000 students in his long career. Jim has taught everything from AutoCAD LT to 3D Modeling, Custom Courses on the Sheet Set Manager to Dynamic Block creation. You may see Jim in one of the many seminars where he shares his expertise to CAD users in open discussions called “Stump the Chump” or during the lunch time session at the annual Synergis Technologies Tech Expo, where he uses his humor to show the newest release of AutoCAD to the attendees.

Jim has had experience in the Mechanical drafting industry with many early products, such as Autodesk’s Designer, and was formally trained in Amburg, Germany on Genius. After working for Synergis for 8 years, Jim went into the field to gather real life experience in the Architectural industry. In those 4 years he helped design a 360,000 square foot High School using Autodesk Architectural Desktop and was instrumental in developing CAD Standards for one of the Philadelphia area’s best Mechanical and Electrical consulting firms. He has been back with Synergis since 2005 and has been putting that valuable experience to good use in the classroom, hence helping Jim’s main focus using Autodesk’s MEP and Architectural products. Recently he attended Autodesk’s Implementation Certified Expert classes and will be taking the test sometime this spring.

Jim adds fun to the training environment. He emphasizes interaction with the students to help the learning process and to bring out questions and comments. “The best way to learn is to relax and have some fun” is Jim’s philosophy!  His unique training style has earned him Autodesk’s Trainer of the Year Award for 2005 and 2006.

To quote some of his students and others:

“Jim Law from Synergis Technologies is one of the best AutoCAD Instructors that I have ever worked with. I first meet Jim when I took an ADT 3.3 class at Synergis back in 2000 and when I needed an instructor for my company to do a class for AutoCAD Architecture 2008, Jim Law and Synergis was my first thought!”
-- Richard B. Hayes, CAD/Project Manager, SOSH Architects, Atlantic City, NJ

“Jim Law is a great example of an instructor who really understands the needs of our customers. On behalf of Autodesk users, we appreciate Jim’s professionalism and expertise. He is an asset to Synergis customers who want to become more proficient using Autodesk software”
-- Nancy Tremblay, ATC Regional Program Manager, Autodesk Inc.

‘The AutoCAD instruction my team received by Synergis Design Application Engineer, Jim Law, was commendable. The customized course material was clearly conveyed and all questions asked during the classes were effectively answered, demonstrating Jim’s mastery of the software packages. His presentations were enjoyable, effective and memorable. I have been pleasantly surprised by the gain in knowledge base of the personnel attending one or more of the classes, and suspect that this will give us a good basis for furthering our understanding and use of our current CAD packages as we move incrementally forward to more advanced software and realize even greater productivity.’
-- Darrin F. Morrow, EIT, CAD Administrator / ME 2, PA Department of General Services – Bureau of Engineering and Architecture

For the past 2 years Jim Law has been training AutoCAD users at PGW. When the class starts you know you are in for an upbeat class. The wall projector is turned on and you see that Jim’s desktop is decorated with the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians logos. He gets everyone upbeat while deflecting jabs about his teams from Cleveland. This breaks the ice and gets everyone ready for what could be a boring day of training. Instead his expertise allows him to introduce a review of standard AutoCAD tools and introduce the new and exciting tool. He customizes the training based on the needs of our users. As the Cad Administrator at PGW I know that we are getting the expertise needed when upgrading to a new version of AutoCAD.   
-- Jim Bochanski, CAD Administrator, Philadelphia Gas Works

Jim Law receives the 2005 ATC Performance Award

Autodesk Honors Synergis Engineering Design Solutions’ Jim Law for Outstanding Instruction for Second Consecutive Year

Bill Knittle
Synergis Building Solutions Engineer

Bill has a four year Architectural Engineering degree from the University of Hartford. He has accumulated over seven years of industry experience in the field of Architecture. During that time he helped design, document, and in some cases, manage a variety of residential, commercial, municipal, and institutional projects. Most notably, he received recognition for the adaptive reuse of a vacant factory into leasable office condominiums and a conversion of a dilapidated 81 year old silk mill into a local bank’s administration building using sustainable design techniques. For the past two years at Synergis, Bill has been training, supporting, and implementing the Building Solutions offered from Autodesk which include AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and the Revit applications. Bill has attended Implementation Certified Expert seminars for both Revit Architecture and Revit Structure which have helped in a variety of consultative engagements. His interactions with customers have led him to author several technical articles for AEC Bytes and Cadalyst. Bill enjoys teaching and sharing his industry and technical knowledge.