Shepherd

Benjamin Shepherd
Creating sustainable health care master plans
36, Associate Director
Atelier Ten
New York City

Shepherd's career in sustainability consulting and green development started early, when he participated in design of the first carbon neutral and LEED Platinum project at Yale University, the showcase Kroon Hall, while earning an M.S. degree in environmental management. Since joining Atelier Ten in 2006, he has consulted on more than 100 high-performance building and planning projects, including one of the first outpatient facilities to potentially achieve LEED for Healthcare certification in New York City. Other notable projects include Newark Liberty International Airport-Terminal A and the New York University Langone Medical Center master plan. Shepherd also played an integral role in developing an "environmental framework" for Harvard Business School, which Sharon Black, its planning director, termed "possibly the single most usable document I've reviewed during my 20-plus years" at the Ivy League school. Shepherd teaches sustainability design at Cornell University and Pratt Institute and has given back to his Brooklyn community, Bedford-Stuyvesant, by leading fundraising, design and rebuilding of the historic but damaged Hattie Carthan Community Garden and by his assistance to Green City Force, a youth outreach program that prepares local young people for green economy careers by training them to do energy audits for low-income residents.

Sheridan

Jessica Sheridan
Reaching the community through architecture

38, Project Manager
Gensler
New York City

Sheridan's experience as a project manager and architect at design firm Gensler has earned her multiple leadership positions—for client, company and peer-group programs. She has worked to expand and coordinate sustainable design at Gensler and is the point person for its design project consistency and intern mentoring management. She organizes study groups for interns taking architect registration exams and has a task force role with the National Council for Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) to "re-envision" changes in testing and internship development. Sheridan's mentoring includes coordination of an effort to spark rebuilding in Far Rockaway, Queens—hard hit by Superstorm Sandy—through a design charrette for Gensler interns and students from college architecture programs and local high schools. Seven proposals were submitted to government officials. In early January, Sheridan joined the American Institute of Architects' national board as New York regional director after serving as associate director of the New York AIA chapter and editor-in-chief of E-Oculus, its online magazine. She also lectures for Cornell University on registration issues and is preparing a white paper on how architects can aid clients in maneuvering the complex insurance process for post-Sandy rebuilding projects.

Vineyard

Preston Vineyard
Sharing his bridge design expertise with the region and world
35, Senior Bridge Engineer
Buckland & Taylor/COWI
New York City

Vineyard has brought his expertise and leadership in bridge construction not only to the New York region as a key design manager for the cable-stayed New NY Bridge (also known as the Tappan Zee Bridge) but also to projects around the world through volunteer missions for Engineers Without Borders and Bridges to Prosperity. In his current position as senior bridge engineer for design firm Buckland & Taylor/COWI, Vineyard is managing design services during the construction phase of the nearly $4-billion replacement Hudson River crossing. His latest project management challenge follows design management roles on complex and conventional bridge projects—including the raising of the Bayonne Bridge roadway, the new American Tobacco Train stress-ribbon pedestrian bridges across I-40 near Raleigh, N.C., and preliminary design of the new St. Croix River Extradosed Bridge in Stillwater, Minn. Vineyard also is an active participant in professional groups, presenting and writing often on technical subjects. He was recognized last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers' New York Metro section among its 1,600 under-35 members. Vineyard's pro bono work has taken him to Bolivia to lead the design of a 500-ft suspended footbridge in a remote village and to rural Kenya as technical lead for design of a community water distribution system.