VHB announced that Jeffrey Taub, CPSM, has been named regional marketing manager.
Taub joined the company in 2011 with the merger of VHB and Eng-Wong, Taub & Associates, where he was director of marketing and business development.
He has 13 years of marketing and corporate communications experience in the design and construction industry.
A Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM), Taub has been an active member of the Society of Marketing Professional Services since 2004, and previously served as president of the New Jersey Chapter.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Yeshiva University in New York City.
•••
Hoffmann Architects, Inc. announced the acceptance of a joint ownership opportunity by a member of the firm’s senior staff.
Owner and president of Hoffmann Architects, John J. Hoffmann, FAIA recognized the loyalty and achievement of senior engineer Steven J. Susca, PE with an offer of part ownership in the specialty design and rehabilitation firm he founded in 1977.
Susca joins the seven company executives who became shareholders in 2011: executive vice president Russell M. Sanders, AIA; senior vice president Arthur L. Sanders, AIA; senior vice president Richard P. Kadlubowski, AIA; senior vice president Craig A. Hargrove, AIA, LEED AP; chief financial officer Avi A. Kamrat; director of engineering Lawrence E. Keenan, AIA, PE; and senior architect Juan Kuriyama, AIA.
•••
Mancini•Duffy/TSC announced the retirement of firm president Dina Frank, AIA, IIDA.
Frank joined the practice in 1994 and assumed the presidency in 2003.
Theodore Hammer, FAIA, LEED AP, who joined Mancini•Duffy/TSC in 2012, will become the firm’s new president.
The firm also announced several promotions: Avery Miyasato Handy, CID, IIDA, who joined Mancini•Duffy/TSC as a senior designer in 1997 and Scott Harrell, LEED AP, who joined the firm as a project manager in 2004, have been named principals of the firm; and Eric Lahm, associate AIA; Ricardo Nabholz, LEED AP; Hannah Lee Hackathorn, LEED AP, and Michelle Walkowiak have been named Associates.
•••
Hollister Construction Services announced that the company’s chief executive officer, Christopher A. Johnson, has been named a winner in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 awards program in New Jersey.
The Ernst & Young awards program recognizes high-growth entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.
Since founding Hollister Construction Services in 2004, Johnson has overseen the day-to-day operations of the construction services practice.
Over the past 20 years, he has managed building projects in excess of 10 million square feet, and represents many of the major public, private and institutional property and business owners in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Johnson is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, with a B.S. in Management and Entrepreneurial Studies.I
In 2009, Johnson founded The Hollister Foundation, a non-profit designed to inspire professionals in the real estate and construction industries to support and fund children’s education and health programs.
•••
Sampogna Contracting announced the expansion of the firm with the addition of experienced engineer Brett Yonelunas, P.E., who joins as a project manager.
Yonelunas most recently served as the department manager for real estate due diligence and project engineer for civil engineering projects at Gibbons, Esposito, & Boyce Engineers, P.C. / HiRise Engineering, P.C.
He has extensive building experience that includes residential, retail, mixed-use, educational, health care and hospitality.
His immediate role will be project manager for a new state-of-the-art project in Manhattan with two towers of residential and an adjoining courtyard at 540 West 49th Street and 545 West 48th Street.
He will also assist in the procurement of new business.
Yonelunas holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University Maryland at College Park.
•••
COOKFOX Architects announced that Amanda Lehman and Brandon Specketer have been promoted to senior associates, and Arno Adkins and Luciana Spinola have been promoted to associates.
Arno Adkins joined COOKFOX in 2010. He most recently worked on a new office building along the High Line, 510 West 22nd Street, and he is currently working to design a new, ground up residential condominium tower on West 23rd Street.
Prior to joining COOKFOX, Adkins worked at TEN Arquitectos, and Imrey Culbert, both in New York City, and earned his B.Arch from the University of Cincinnati.
Amanda Lehman joined COOKFOX in 2006 and has contributed her expertise in historic preservation and sustainable design to a wide range of projects.
She is currently leading the post-Hurricane Sandy recovery effort at Historic Front Street, making the structures more resilient to future extreme weather events as well as more energy efficient.
Brandon Specketer, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, joined COOKFOX in the summer of 2006.
Most recently, Specketer made significant contributions to One Dekalb, Phase 1 of Downtown Brooklyn’s City Point, as well as the sustainable renovation and conversion of 130 West 12th Street, a LEED Gold pre-war condominium in the heart of Greenwich Village.
Luciana Spinola was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro and has over 20 years of professional experience working on a wide range of commercial, residential and institutional projects in all phases of design, production and administration.
She joined COOKFOX in November 2007 and currently plays a key role in the design of 150 Charles Street in the West Village.
•••
Skanska USA announced the promotion of Paul Haining to the newly created position of vice president of environmental, health and safety (EHS) for the firm’s civil business unit.
Haining has spent nearly a decade with Skanska, previously serving as EHS director for Skanska USA Civil Northeast.
He was an integral member of Skanska’s Croton Water Treatment Plant project team which was recently honored with Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) recognition from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Jack LaMantia has also been hired as EHS director for the building business unit’s Metro New York office.
LaMantia brings more than 41 years of experience to Skanska USA Building. He has extensive expertise in strategic planning, consulting and management for environment, health and safety programs for influential institutions, such as the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Engineering Design and Construction (NYCDEP BEDC).
Previously, LaMantia served as project EHS Manager for American Safety Consultants.
•••
VHB announced that Robert T. Kohler has joined the firm as a project manager in its Newark, New Jersey office.
Kohler brings extensive experience in the management of transportation planning and design projects throughout urban, suburban, and rural settings.
He has worked on numerous single- and mixed-use development projects that included residential, commercial, educational, and institutional uses, many of which have been designed in accordance with LEED certification requirements and sustainability principles.
Kohler holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy and Planning from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
•••
Thornton Tomasetti announced the promotion of Michael J. Squarzini, P.E., LEED AP, to managing principal of the international engineering firm.
Squarzini, who is based in the New York office, has been with Thornton Tomasetti since 1993 and is the firm’s East U.S. region leader. He also oversees the growth of the firm’s São Paulo office.
He has more than 20 years of experience in the structural analysis, design and review of a variety of building types, including sports facilities, transportation, commercial, education and healthcare facilities.
Squarzini is presently working on several high-profile new design and renovation projects including the Hudson Yards, 7 Bryant Park and Brookfield Place in New York and the new Baku Olympic Stadium in Azerbaijan, all currently under construction.
He is the past president of the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY), and currently serves on the board of the Salvadori Center,.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College and a master’s degree in structural engineering from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn.
•••
John (Jack) Kasarda, a leading airport strategist, has been named a consultant to the aviation group of Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Dr. Kasarda is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Director of the Center for Air Commerce at the University of North Carolina.
He has published more than 100 articles and 10 books on aviation infrastructure, logistics, and urban development.
Dr. Kasarda has B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina.
He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards from such organizations as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, International Civil Aviation Organization, and the World Bank.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his research on airport-driven economic development.
•••
URS Corporation has named Jeffrey P. Rosenstein associate general counsel.
Rosenstein will have company-wide responsibility, initially focusing on work involving design-build and public-private partnerships, with emphasis on the development of contracting principles and risk allocation strategies.
Rosenstein has more than 20 years of experience in construction law.
Prior to joining URS, he was a partner with Troutman Sanders, an international law firm. In addition to construction issues, his practice focused on energy and energy-related projects.
Previously, he was a partner at the law firms of Thelen Reid & Priest and Winston & Strawn.
Rosenstein received a J.D. from George Washington University after earning a B.A. from Colgate University.
•••
WSP has appointed Allan Alterman director of IT Operations and Infrastructure for the USA region.
Previously, Alterman was the managing director of the IT consulting firm Operations-View LLC and served such clients as New York University.
Before that, he was the executive director of IT Infrastructure at KPMG for their US Region, where he worked for 30 years.
•••
Thornton Tomasetti announced the promotion of Jeffrey Callow, P.E., LEED AP to vice president in the New York office of the international engineering firm.
He joined Thornton Tomasetti in 2001.
Callow has more than 12 years of experience in structural analysis, design, 3-D modeling and project management.
His portfolio includes high-rise commercial buildings, sports facilities, transportation infrastructure and cultural facilities, including Barclays Center in Brooklyn and Manhattan’s New York Times Building.
Callow holds a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Princeton University in N.J.
•••
McGowan Builders, Inc. has welcomed project superintendent Jozef Greczek.
Greczek has over 10 years experience managing multi-million dollar construction and renovation projects.
Before joining the McGowan team, Greczek held the position of project superintendent at The Bluestone Organization.
Previously,he served as the operations project manager for Mall Properties Inc., overseeing a $90 million renovation project in The Bronx, New York, and as the project superintendent for Wagman Construction Company, Inc., where he managed some of the largest construction sites in New York City.
•••
McGowan Builders, Inc. has welcomed new project manager Andrew Papataros.
Papataros joins McGowan Builders with over 20 years experience serving as a project manager at construction firms throughout the New York metropolitan area.
He has previously supervised and co-ordinated a diverse portfolio of projects. Before joining McGowan, Papataros held the position of senior project manager at Magnetic Construction Group Corp.
At Imperial Construction Group, he served as senior project manager, overseeing the construction of new schools and collaborating with New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation to complete health and safety projects.
Papataros earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering and LEED AP Certification from Manhattan College.
•••
Corporate interiors firm MKDA — which plans to open an office in South Florida later this year — announced that Suzanne Troiano, ASID, LEED AP ID+C, has joined the firm as project manager.
With over 20 years of experience, Troiano was most recently a project manager, interior designer and project architect at Gruzen Samton Architects.
Before that, she was a principal for Grand Street Design and a project designer at The Hillier Group and Griswold, Heckel & Kelly Associates.
Troiano has also lent her talents to Perkins and Will and The Mufson Partnership as a consulting architect and designer.
Troiano, a former principal dancer for numerous prominent dance companies, holds an AAS Degree in Interior Design from Parsons School of Design and a Liberal Arts Degree from Fordham University.
She is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), a Certified Interior Designer by the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ), and holds the LEED AP Interior Design + Construction (LEED AP ID+C) credential.
