Client Summit 2026 Recap: Pitchfest, FDD Awards, and Sprocket

October 8, 2026

Clockworks Client Summit 2026 brought our clients, partners, and team to Pittsburgh from September 15 to 17. The theme was “Smarter at Scale.” In three days, we toured a hospital command center, walked through the product roadmap, launched Sprocket AI Chat, handed out the 2026 FDD Awards, and heard ten Pitchfest stories.

Sarah Fisher, our VP of Marketing, said it best in her thank-you note to attendees:

“We went to Pittsburgh to talk about getting ‘Smarter at Scale’ and you took that idea further than we could have ever expected.”

If you were there, this is your recap. If you weren’t, here’s what you missed.

Key takeaways

Sprocket AI Chat launched. Ask your buildings questions in plain language and get answers backed by your own data. It’s now available to all Clockworks clients.
Mike Hoffman of the University of Arizona won Pitchfest 2026. His team fixed a new research building while it was still under warranty and now avoids about $50,000 a year in energy cost.
The University of Iowa, UT MD Anderson, and a large healthcare system won 2026 FDD Awards, along with Lawrence Trifiletti of LONG and Gardiner, our Partner of the Year.
Six organizations joined the Million Dollar $avings Club, each saving more than $1 million a year with Clockworks.
Clients shared real results across healthcare, higher education, life sciences, and commercial real estate, from compliance wins to energy savings.

Highlights from Client Summit 2026 in Pittsburgh.

What is Clockworks Client Summit?

Client Summit is our yearly event for Clockworks clients and partners. It’s three days of sessions, hands-on training, and conversations with the people who run buildings every day. Client Summit 2026 took place September 15 to 17 at The Atterbury Hotel in Pittsburgh.

Attendees came from hospitals, universities, life sciences companies, and commercial real estate. Our service partners came too. Some of them run Clockworks across hundreds of buildings.

Tuesday, September 15: Partner Pre-Con, a Hospital Tour, and Heinz Hall

Partner Pre-Con

The week started with a private Partner Pre-Con led by Tim Cramer, with Leslie Beu, Tyson Soutter, and Dennis Krieger. Partners shared how they use Clockworks to grow their service business:

Michael Mandilakis of Gardiner on pull-through, or turning findings into more service work.
Magnus Andersen of GK on saving his team time.
Joe Coady of EllisDon Facilities Services on managing a nationwide service.
Lawrence Trifiletti and the LONG Building Technologies team on onboarding buildings faster.

We also recognized our Clockworks Certified partners. Gardiner, our first certified partner, earned Silver. GK, our second, earned Bronze. MacDonald-Miller earned Gold, and LONG and EllisDon each earned Silver.

Gardiner Data Services took home two Pre-Con awards: Most Tasks Completed in 2026 (“1.4k and counting!”) and Most Costs Avoided in 2026 (“$1.2M and counting!”). The Deal of the Year went to LONG Building Technologies.

Want to see how partners use FDD to grow? Read about fault detection for service providers.

Inside a hospital Facilities Command Center

Next, attendees toured a new hospital tower and its Facilities Command Center, run by one of the largest health systems in the country.

See how fault detection works for healthcare facilities.

Welcome reception at Heinz Hall

We ended the day at The Garden at Heinz Hall, a former movie palace that opened in 1927 and is now home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

The welcome reception in The Garden at Heinz Hall. Photo by Simple Haus Video.

Wednesday, September 16: Day 1 of Client Summit

A panel session at Client Summit 2026. Photo by Simple Haus Video.

State of Clockworks and the product roadmap

Co-CEOs Nick Gayeski and Brian Day opened Day 1 with the State of Clockworks. Then Dennis Krieger walked through the product roadmap. This year’s releases included:

Self-Serve Deployments
Condition-Based Maintenance in Diagnostics and Tasks
The new Data feature
A Workflow Automation proof of concept
Sprocket AI Chat

In the Product Vision session, Nick and Alex Grace named three key automation use cases: condition-based maintenance, alarms, and control. You can follow every release on our product updates page.

AI in Action: Meet Sprocket

The biggest moment of the week came in AI in Action, when Tim Cramer and Dennis Krieger launched Sprocket AI Chat live.

Sprocket is our new AI chat experience for your building data. Ask in plain language and get answers backed by your data, with links straight to the diagnostics, tasks, and insights behind every figure. Sprocket also turns your building data into interactive charts right in the chat.

Sprocket is built on Clockworks Expert Systems AI, developed over 15 years across more than 650,000 connected assets. You can ask questions like:

“What should I focus on today?”
“How much energy am I wasting?”
“Show me the five hottest rooms.”

Sprocket is now available to all Clockworks clients. Find Sprocket in the left-hand navigation. Read Meet Sprocket AI Chat: Ask Your Buildings Anything, or learn more about AI in building fault detection.

Meet Sprocket AI Chat, launched at Client Summit 2026.

Net zero, compliance, and hands-on breakouts

Getting to net zero

Sam Collis and Jerry Gallegos led a session on net-zero goals with the Director of Sustainability at a pediatric health system.

The session also shared results from two clients:

MIT, our first-ever client, has used Clockworks for more than 15 years. Across 110 buildings and 22,000 pieces of equipment, MIT has made 481 corrective actions and saved 7,900 tonnes of CO2, worth $1.3 million.
A pharmaceutical site cut 1.28 GWh a year, saving £156,807 in annual utility costs, with a 3.7% site reduction in year one.

Track energy and carbon with Clockworks Energy Insights dashboards.

Clockworks Programs

Leslie Beu and James Donahue walked through Clockworks Programs with a facilities leader from one of the largest health systems in the country.

Critical compliance in healthcare

Leslie Beu led a breakout with Greg Norris of UT MD Anderson, Joe Coady of EllisDon, and a facilities leader from one of the largest health systems in the country. It showed what changes when teams stop waiting on alarms. A facilities team quoted in the session described the old way:

“We have alarms. We rely on the operators to notice. The overview of what happened only comes in after a week.”

Dave Summers of MD Anderson, also quoted in the session, described the new way:

“Facilities now resolves problems before pharmacy staff know anything was wrong. The phone call that used to start the process no longer happens.”

More breakouts

Condition-Based Maintenance and Asset Planning. Leslie Beu was joined by a facilities leader from a large healthcare system and Mike Hoffman of the University of Arizona. One example looked at 23,782 scheduled maintenance checks and found that “69% of that annual load can be automated, made condition-based, or deferred while the equipment stays healthy.” Read our guide to condition-based maintenance.
Shape the Roadmap. Rebecca Juergens and Dennis Krieger reviewed eight automation ideas with clients and gathered their feedback.
Combatting Alarm Fatigue. Nick Gayeski led a session on cutting through alarm noise. See why HVAC diagnostics matter for maintenance teams.
Foundations. Jodi Dowis, Xavier Locke, and Jerry Gallegos ran hands-on Foundations sessions. Keep learning at Clockworks Academy.

The 2026 FDD Awards

The FDD Awards celebrate the clients and partners getting the most out of fault detection and diagnostics (FDD). Here are this year’s winners:

Most Dollars Saved Annually: a large healthcare system. $1.73M saved in the past 12 months.
Most Carbon Saved Annually: University of Iowa. Iowa uses Schneider Electric’s Building Advisor, powered by Clockworks Analytics.
Innovation Award: UT MD Anderson. For starting an Alarm Council, scaling a critical compliance deployment, and engaging clinical teams.
Champion Award: a facilities leader at one of the largest health systems in the country. For the fastest expansion in Clockworks history.
Partner Champion Award: Lawrence Trifiletti, LONG. Lawrence also helped LONG win the Deal of the Year, the largest in Clockworks history.
Partner of the Year: Gardiner. Our first certified partner, with 330 buildings, 1.8k tasks, and $1.5M in persisted avoided costs.
Pitchfest 2026 Winner: Mike Hoffman, University of Arizona. Read about his pitch below.

Michael Mandilakis of Gardiner, our 2026 Partner of the Year. Photo by Simple Haus Video.

Million Dollar $avings Club

The Million Dollar $avings Club recognizes clients and partners saving more than $1 million a year with Clockworks. Ten returning members were recognized, and six new members joined, including:

Gardiner: $1.56M a year
An urban public university: $1.45M a year
LONG Building Technologies: $1.35M a year
A major U.S. airport: $1.19M a year

A night on the rivers

That evening, we boarded the Gateway Clipper for a cruise, then headed to a rooftop dinner at Sienna Mercato.

Sunset on the Gateway Clipper. Photo by Simple Haus Video.

Thursday, September 17: Day 2 of Client Summit

Investing in FDD: how three clients made the case

Alex Grace moderated a panel on how teams win funding and grow their FDD programs.

A large public university. The university has 240 buildings, and 200 are eligible for FDD. It started with a 5-building, 3-year pilot and has grown to 24 buildings. Funding was approved after a 1-year payback. One slide summed it up: “ROI was quick. Funding is slow.” It also noted, “Engaging operations follows proof of success.”
A private research university. The university has about 12 million square feet across 90+ buildings. It piloted Clockworks in 2022 with 3 buildings (175,000 square feet). In 2026, it’s at 14 buildings (2.4 million square feet).
A global pharmaceutical company. The company launched Clockworks Professional Services in 2024 with one dedicated person across 12 sites. It has since reached 577 tasks, €1,442,738 in annual savings, 3,247 tonnes in annual carbon savings, and 15 sites on 3 continents. See a similar story in our pharmaceutical facility case study.

Building your own business case? Our building analytics FAQ answers common questions.

Managing multiple buildings

Joe Fullerton, Director of Account Management, and Katie Rossmann talked with three clients who manage large portfolios:

Melissa Morley, Building Analytic Response Coordinator, University of Iowa: 50 buildings, 7.6 million square feet, and 15,536 pieces of equipment.
Michael Mandilakis, Director of Data Services, Gardiner: 330 buildings, more than 1,800 tasks since January 2025, and more than 4,500 diagnostics every day.
An urban public university: 58 buildings, 7,540,824 square feet, and 10,566 pieces of equipment.

See how FDD works for higher education.

Pitchfest 2026: Stories From the Front Line

Pitchfest is where clients and partners tell their best Clockworks story. The rules: five minutes or less, two or three slides, and a live audience vote. The prize: the golden wrench. James Donahue, VP of Customer Success, and Katie Rossmann, Director of our Technical Operations Center, hosted ten pitches this year.

Mike Hoffman of the University of Arizona with the Pitchfest 2026 golden wrench. Photo by Simple Haus Video.

Winner: University of Arizona, Mike Hoffman

Mike Hoffman, Energy Manager at the University of Arizona, pitched the Grand Challenges Research Building. It’s a 130,000-square-foot academic research building with more than 350 pieces of equipment, including 4 air handlers, 20 fans, 6 pumps, and 318 zone units. The team onboarded it to Clockworks during commissioning, before anyone moved in. The first task came in October 2024.

Because the building was new, the team could fix problems while they were still under warranty. Fixes included relocating a thermostat, fixing heat recovery sensors, fixing power to the AHU-1 bypass damper actuator (done by a Climatec crew), tuning control loops, calibrating filter sensors, and fixing zone units that were fighting each other.

The result: about $50,000 in avoided energy cost every year. The room voted, and Mike took home the golden wrench.

A private research university

The team onboarded a medical research building atrium on May 20, 2026. Clockworks flagged an air handler running while every zone was unoccupied. The cause: the unit had a schedule programmed, but it wasn’t operating. Fixing it cut 5,200 hours of runtime a year from a 60 HP fan moving 30,000 CFM.

The team then found three more air handlers running 24/7. After the first fix, one unit was overridden back to 24/7 to avoid calls from the coffee shop, which needed an earlier start time. So the team adjusted the other schedules ahead of time for cleaning staff to avoid more overrides. The total: about $100,000 a year in avoided energy waste.

A large public university

At a research building, Clockworks flagged high differential pressure on three 50 HP hot water pumps. The pumps were cycling every hour, 24 times a day, and weren’t sharing the load. The team changed the second pump’s enable point from 95% to 80% and its disable point from 50% to 35%. That one change is worth $15,359 in annual savings.

A pediatric health system

The presenter summed up the pitch this way:

“A few hours of labor / $70,407 in savings / How’s that for ROI?”

A children’s research hospital

A building automation engineer at a children’s research hospital shared that his team has completed 126 tasks in Clockworks worth $46,128. In one building, the local controls had no chilled water temperature reset. The team added one without any plant downtime, saving about $23,850 a year.

GK Norge: Magnus Andersen

At a car dealership in Oslo, continuous analytics turned technical findings into documented customer value: $40K in savings in the first 12 months. Three rooftop air handlers were about 15 years old and at risk of failure. Magnus laid out the business case to replace them: an investment of about $326K, $33K to $43K in annual savings, and a 7.5 to 10 year simple payback.

The Meridian Group: Richmond Mitchual

On March 24, 2026, Clockworks detected that two air handlers at 1400 L Street, SF-1 and SF-2, were running their fans 11.1 hours a day while the building was unoccupied. The root cause: a base building rooftop unit was following a tenant’s occupancy schedule for floors 11 and 12. On July 28, 2026, the team corrected the controls and scheduling logic, avoiding $16,517 and 82 tonnes of CO2e a year. Read how The Meridian Group uses FDD for asset management, or visit The Meridian Group.

MacDonald-Miller: Tom Ingham

At MacDonald-Miller‘s new Seattle office, the team cut unoccupied chiller cycles from 17 to 6. From Tom’s pitch:

“Our team’s work at this building demonstrates how building analytics can uncover problems, guide immediate improvements, and inform longer-term capital solutions.”

Read how MacDonald-Miller made the move to Clockworks.

A university retro-commissioning team

A retro-commissioning manager at a university called the pitch “The Economizer That Looked Fine (But Wasn’t).” The economizer damper was capped at 70%, and it was set to enable only below −20°F. It rarely gets that cold. The takeaways: “Clockworks flagged the behavior, not the settings,” and “Outcome-based FDD catches the hidden issues.”

Pilot for 169 buildings saves $124K/yr with Clockworks

A building manager created a three-month long pilot for an enterprise client, the early stage of a 169-building rollout with more than 10,800 pieces of equipment. One task fixed the hot water system enable logic, and the team standardized it across 13 sites. That task alone delivered $60K in annual savings for about 40 technician hours. Across the pilot, 63 tasks took 318 hours and saved $124K a year, a payback of less than 8 months.

Thank you to every presenter.

Roundtables, final breakouts, and the road ahead

Over a working lunch, attendees joined roundtables on eight topics. The final breakouts covered the new Data feature and Extracting All the Value with Jodi Dowis and Todd Whitmer.

Nick Gayeski closed the Summit with a look at what’s next for Clockworks. Read more about condition-based asset intelligence.

What’s next after Client Summit 2026?

Community of Practice. Watch for the new schedule on our Community of Practice page.

Thank you to everyone who came to Pittsburgh. See you at Client Summit 2027.

Not a Clockworks client yet? Request a demo and see what your buildings can tell you. You can also browse our upcoming events or read more on the Clockworks blog.

Frequently asked questions

When and where was Clockworks Client Summit 2026?

Client Summit 2026 took place September 15 to 17, 2026, at The Atterbury Hotel in Pittsburgh. A private Partner Pre-Con ran on September 15, and the main Summit ran September 16 and 17.

Who won Pitchfest 2026?

Mike Hoffman, Energy Manager at the University of Arizona, won Pitchfest 2026 and the golden wrench. His team fixed the new Grand Challenges Research Building while it was still under warranty, avoiding about $50,000 a year in energy cost.

Who won the 2026 FDD Awards?

A large healthcare system won Most Dollars Saved Annually, the University of Iowa won Most Carbon Saved Annually, and UT MD Anderson won the Innovation Award. A facilities leader at one of the largest health systems in the country won the Champion Award, and Lawrence Trifiletti of LONG won the Partner Champion Award.

What is Sprocket AI Chat?

Sprocket is the new AI chat experience in Clockworks. You ask questions about your buildings in plain language and get answers backed by your data, with links to the diagnostics, tasks, and insights behind every figure. It’s available to all Clockworks clients. Find it in the left-hand navigation.

Have more questions? Visit our building analytics FAQ.

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