Game Changers: From Rookie to Rockstar – Utilitra's First-Year Safety Transformation
Jason Wernex, Director of Safety at Utilitra – a women owned engineering, technology, and construction firm – will reveal how Novara Flex helped his company to increase their incident reporting and field auditing.
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What does it take to go from implementation to award-winning results in less than a year? Join us as Utilitra, the 2025 Rookie of the Year winner at Novara, shares their remarkable first-year journey with Novara Flex.
Jason Wernex, Director of Safety at this woman-owned engineering and construction firm, will reveal how they transformed their safety program from manual processes to a digital-first culture—and how their field workers became their biggest advocates along the way.
You’ll learn:
- How to drive user adoption among traditionally tech-resistant field workers (hint: start with what’s familiar)
- Implementation strategies that actually work when you have no dedicated system administrator
- Real metrics from real success: 300% increase in safety reporting and 200% improvement in field auditing
- Beyond safety: How field teams independently discovered operational applications for billing, project management, and daily logs
- What they’d do differently and what surprised them most about their Novara Flex journey
Perfect for:Safety managers implementing new technology, operations leaders seeking scalable solutions, and anyone who’s been told “our field workers will never adopt this.”
Whether you’re considering Novara Flex or in your first year of implementation, you’ll leave with actionable insights and proven strategies from a company that got it right from day one.
Jason Wernex
Director of Safety, Utilitra
Jason Wernex leads safety initiatives at Utilitra, a woman-owned engineering, technology, and construction firm serving the utility, municipality, and commercial sectors throughout the Midwest and Great Lakes Region.
Under Jason’s leadership, Utilitra achieved exceptional first-year results with KPA Flex that earned the company KPA’s inaugural Rookie of the Year award at Connect Live 2025—including a 300% increase in safety reporting and 200% improvement in field auditing. His approach prioritizes user experience and empowers field workers to drive innovation, resulting in unprecedented adoption across all levels of the organization.
Jason brings extensive experience in technology implementation and a unique perspective on driving adoption in industries where workers have varied comfort levels with digital tools.
Taylor Thorn
VP, Pre-Sales, Novara
Taylor Thorn is an experienced construction technologist focused on safety and mobile applications. Taylor was co-founder and CEO of AnchoRock, a construction safety software solution, which was acquired by Novara in 2023. Taylor now serves as the Vice President of Pre-Sales, with a focus on construction technology.
He has an in-depth understanding of the construction industry, with hands-on experience managing and building safety solutions for general, electrical, mechanical, steel, roofing, and solar contractors. Taylor is passionate about safety in construction, assisting contractors in digitizing their safety and compliance programs through user-friendly tools.
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