Capital Projects & Construction Leader
Leonardo Horta
Capital Projects · Construction · Project Controls · Digital Transformation
Turning complex project execution into structured, measurable systems — from front-end definition through procurement, construction, commercial control and handover.
Electrical engineer with 15+ years across industrial gas, steel, petrochemical, semiconductor and energy projects in the Americas. My work sits where project definition, project controls, procurement, construction execution, people leadership and digital systems meet.
Impact at a glance
- 15+
- Years in capital projects
- Investment through startup
- International project delivery
- Brazil · Argentina · United States, with global engineering and supply interfaces
- 600+
- Users on the platform I architected
- Enterprise construction environment
- ~130
- Monthly active users
- Sustained field and management adoption
Where the work happened
International Project Delivery
Capital projects across the Americas, managed from project and construction organizations and connected through global engineering, procurement and supply networks. International responsibility widened as the role moved from project controls to procurement, construction and program leadership.
- Project / site execution
- Project / portfolio leadership
- Engineering / supply interface
- Hydrogen / carbon-capture programs
Location evidence
Select or hover a location to see the organization, program context and the nature of the involvement. Full project evidence lives on the Projects page.
Locations are classified by the nature of the involvement, not by equivalent scope. Project and construction sites are shown separately from the organizations projects were led from and from engineering, fabrication and procurement interfaces.
Brazilian experience spans capital investment and front-end definition, project controls, risk and constructability, and industrial-gas and CO₂ project delivery across multiple locations — shown individually rather than as a single national marker.
Locations in full
Campana, Argentina
Siderca
Air separation unit (ASU)
Project controls
Project / site execution
Ouro Branco, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Gerdau
Air separation unit (ASU)
Project controls
Project / site execution
Camaçari, Bahia, Brazil
Oxiteno do Nordeste
CO₂ plant
Project controls
Project / site execution
Iguatama, Minas Gerais, Brazil
WM Calcium Carbide
CO₂ recovery plant
Project controls → acting construction manager
Project / site execution
Rio de Janeiro · COMPERJ, Brazil
ALUSA · Petrobras
Petrochemical complex
Risk & constructability management
Project / site execution
São Paulo, Brazil
Votorantim Siderurgia (consulting assignment)
Steel capital portfolio
Capital investment analysis — FEL & front-end definition
Project / portfolio leadership
Tonawanda, New York, United States
Praxair · Linde
Global project organization
Project controls across a global project portfolio
Project / portfolio leadership
Ecorse, Michigan, United States
U.S. Steel
Air separation unit (ASU)
Project controls
Project / site execution
La Porte, Texas, United States
Celanese
Air separation unit (ASU)
Project controls
Project / site execution
McIntosh, Alabama, United States
Olin Corporation
Grey hydrogen SMR
AWP champion — live mechanical-phase pilot
Project / site execution
Nederland, Texas, United States
OCI
Blue hydrogen SMR
Construction & AWP program leadership
Project / site execution
Taylor, Texas, United States
Samsung
Semiconductor / industrial infrastructure
Project procurement, then construction-program exposure
Project / site execution
The Woodlands / Greater Houston, Texas, United States
Construction & AWP program organization
Lead construction / AWP program management — current base
Project / portfolio leadership
Hillsboro / Ronler Acres, Oregon, United States
Intel
Industrial gas / semiconductor
Project controls, later project procurement
Project / site execution
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
TSMC
Air separation unit (ASU) / semiconductor
Project controls
Project / site execution
Colorado, United States
Rocky Mountain Barrel
Industrial gas / beverage
Project procurement
Engineering / supply interface
Pittsburg & Central California, United States
Linde Gas US · Gallo Glass
Industrial gas
Project procurement
Engineering / supply interface
Tennessee, United States
Industrial gas project portfolio
Project procurement
Engineering / supply interface
Mississippi, United States
LCO₂ storage
Project procurement
Engineering / supply interface
Alberta, Canada
Dow
Clean hydrogen program
Construction-program interface
Engineering / supply interface
Mexico City, Mexico
Engineering centre · industrial gas
Engineering coordination on distributed project execution
Engineering / supply interface
Germany, Europe
Engineering · fabrication · supply
Engineering and supply interface — not site execution
Engineering / supply interface
APAC procurement network, Asia-Pacific
Global procurement centre
Supply and organizational interface
Engineering / supply interface
Middle East procurement network, Middle East
Global procurement centre
Supply and organizational interface
Engineering / supply interface
What I do
Three responsibilities, one continuous system
Define the right project
FEL, business case, CAPEX/OPEX, scope definition, ROI, portfolio selection.
Deliver the project right
Contracts, risk, controls, procurement, constructability, WFP/AWP, commissioning readiness.
Build the system that repeats it
Leadership, information management, digital workflows, governance, traceability, team capability.
Career progression
How I learned to see projects
Seven operating perspectives, from hands-on engineering to building the systems that repeat delivery. Each one changed the questions I ask about a project — the sequence matters more than the job titles.
- 012004 – 2005
Engineer the system
Votorantim Metais — consulting assignment via Engenharia Projeto e Consultoria S.A.
“How is an industrial system actually specified and built?”
Electrical designSpecificationsSingle-line diagramsAutoCADField verificationRead the chapter - 022008 – 2010
Define the investment
Votorantim Siderurgia — consulting assignment via Engenharia Projeto e Consultoria S.A.
“Should we invest — and is this the best use of limited capital?”
FELCAPEX/OPEXROIWBSScope definitionRead the chapter - 032010 – 2011
De-risk the execution
ALUSA — Petrobras COMPERJ
“What can go wrong, what will it cost, and can this actually be built as drawn?”
ContractsQuantitative riskMonte CarloPrimavera Risk AnalysisConstructabilityRead the chapter - 042011 – 2020
Integrate the project
White Martins · Praxair · Linde
“How do we connect the project from approval through startup?”
Integrated project controlsEngineering interfaceProcurement & logisticsConstructionMechanical completionRead the chapter - 052020 – 2023
Secure the supply chain
Linde Engineering
“Are we optimizing purchase price, project outcome or lifecycle value?”
Strategic sourcingTCOGlobal procurement centersVirtual team managementTechnical & commercial alignmentRead the chapter - 062023 – Present
Create executable work
Linde Engineering — Construction & AWP
“How do we create an organization that consistently produces executable work?”
AWP program managementWorkface PlanningEWP · PWP / VWP · CWP · TWPIntegrated planningMaterial managementRead the chapter - 07Nov 2023 – Present
Build repeatable systems
Linde Engineering — Construction Digital Transformation
“How can execution knowledge become a repeatable digital operating model?”
Functional architectureWorkflow digitalizationDatabasesIntegrationsAnalyticsRead the chapter
Context
Selected project environments
The organizations and client environments in which the work was delivered — an indication of scale, sector and execution complexity rather than a client list.
- Hydrogen
- Carbon capture
- Industrial gases
- Semiconductor
- Petrochemical
- Steel & metals
- CO₂ processing
- Large industrial infrastructure
Linde
Employer · global engineering & projects
Praxair
Employer · industrial gas projects
White Martins
Employer · South American industrial gas
Petrobras
Client environment · petrochemical complex
Siderca
Client environment · steel / ASU
U.S. Steel
Client environment · steel
Gerdau
Client environment · steel
Celanese
Client environment · chemical
Intel
Client environment · semiconductor
Samsung
Client environment · semiconductor
TSMC
Client environment · semiconductor
OCI
Client environment · hydrogen
Olin
Client environment · chemical
Dow
Client environment · clean hydrogen program
Barrick Gold
Client environment · mining
ArcelorMittal
Client environment · steel
Votorantim
Consulting assignment · steel & metals
Company and client names and marks are shown solely to identify professional and project environments in which I have worked. No sponsorship, endorsement or affiliation beyond the professional relationships described on this site is implied.
Selected projects
Evidence, not adjectives
Each case separates what the project achieved from what I personally owned, influenced or coordinated.
Campana, Argentina
Siderca — Campana ASU
A globally distributed project executed as one system
Investment approval → startup
Read case studyMinas Gerais, Brazil
WM Calcium Carbide — Iguatama CO₂
Taking direct construction leadership on a post-startup redesign
Post-startup redesign → construction → commissioning readiness
Read case studyAlabama → Texas, United States
Olin Corporation → OCI — McIntosh → Nederland
From a pilot in the mechanical phase to an AWP organization on a major hydrogen program
Pilot → program scale-up
Read case studyConstruction digital transformation
I led the functional and solution architecture of a construction digital environment.
Construction, subcontracting, project-controls, commercial, AWP and field-execution requirements converted into a connected digital environment — functional and domain architecture, workflow design, data and integration requirements, and implementation leadership with an external developer.
- Functional architecture
- Enterprise integration
- Analytics
- 45Q compliance framework
Regulated programs
45Q carbon-capture compliance support · compliance architecture · audit-ready controls
Design principle
Digital transformation succeeds when complexity is handled by the system rather than transferred to the user.
Professional principles
How I think about projects
Operating principles formed by the work, not slogans.
- 01
A technically correct project is not necessarily the right investment.
- 02
A business case is only as reliable as the quality of project definition behind it.
- 03
The lowest purchase price is not necessarily the lowest project cost.
- 04
Optimizing one function does not necessarily optimize the project.
- 05
Restarting a project is not the same as resuming a schedule.
- 06
Workface Planning is not about creating more packages — it is about creating executable work.
- 07
Project controls is a decision system, not a reporting function.
- 08
Digital transformation succeeds when complexity is handled by the system rather than transferred to the user.
- 09
Compliance evidence is strongest when it is created as part of execution rather than reconstructed afterward.
Open to senior capital-project leadership conversations
Greater Houston, Texas · Available for executive employment opportunities, project leadership discussions and professional networking.