Kim Marie Neuscheler

Neuscheler

Boosting education, training and networking for women
39, Project Manager
Turner Construction
New York

Kim Neuscheler is one of Turner Construction's senior women in operations, but she began her career on a different path. With a bachelor's in architecture from Rice University, Houston, she joined New York-based Voorsanger & Associates Architects early on in her career. She became team leader on an office renovation project that won an Interior Design Award and was published in McGraw-Hill Construction's Architectural Record. After a few years, however, she switched careers to construction and joined Turner, where she now focuses on the health-care industry. Her activities within the firm include mentoring staff and teaching classes for the company as well as co-chairing a committee that recently organized a leadership conference on women in the construction industry. Outside of the firm, she is involved with the New York-based Women's Initiative for Self-Employment, which aims to help women launch businesses and create jobs within their local communities. Neuscheler helps to create alliances between organizations to boost women's education and involvement in the construction industry. "Largely what it comes down to is proper education, training and networking," she says. "If I can be of some help in providing an opportunity for others to realize their dreams, then I will try and do so." She has set a goal of obtaining her professional architectural license this year.

Jeffrey E. Schechtman

Schechtman

Setting anchor in leading a business unit
39, Ports & Intermodal Market Leader
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Glastonbury, Conn.

Leading Parsons Brinckerhoff's national ports and marine group, Jeffrey Schechtman has worked on numerous projects and provided direction for the firm's activities in this sector. After receiving a master's in civil engineering from the University of California at Davis and a bachelor's in civil engineering from Columbia University, Schechtman joined Parsons Brinckerhoff as a structural engineer in 1995. Two years later he was tapped to be one of the first members of the firm's newly formed ports and marine unit. He has been leading the group since 2007, with responsibilities that include oversight, management and design and coordination services for domestic and international facility projects. Schechtman's projects include Project Harbour, which required the review of expansion opportunities associated with the acquisition of four container terminals in New York Harbor and Vancouver, British Columbia, by an investment group and the Protection and Rehabilitation of Sanitation Facilities in New York City, for which he served as deputy project manager and lead engineer. He is on the American Society of Civil Engineers' Ports and Harbors committee and serves as ASCE vice president. His other professional associations include the American Association of Port Authorities, the North Atlantic Ports Association and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. Schechtman says he places a lot of importance on mentoring and serves as a mentor at his firm.

Dana Robbins Schneider

Schneider

Maintaining an energetic focus on sustainability
34, Vice President
Jones Lang LaSalle
New York

It was during Dana Robbins Schneider's first semester at the University of Virginia's School of Architecture, Charlottesville, that she knew she would focus her technical expertise on sustainable design. She went on to study interdisciplinary environmental sciences and architecture while taking technical courses, and most of her career has been focused on sustainability work. In her current position as a leader of Jones Lang LaSalle's Northeast Energy and Sustainability Practice, she has served as project manager for the energy retrofit and LEED certification of the Empire State Building, where she continues to work with the owner on implementation, measurement and verification of results. She is also her firm's national Data Center Energy and Sustainability Services Committee Lead as well as a member of the national Sustainability Committee.Her other activities include work as a technical resource expert for the Clinton Climate Initiative's Climate Positive Development Program. Her affiliations include membership in the U.S. Green Building Council's Technical Advisory Group.

Seth Wolfe

Wolfe

Taking a holistic approach to structural design
39, Associate Principal
Arup
Edison, N.J.

An associate principal and structural engineer who believes in a holistic design approach where the whole project team works together, Seth Wolfe began his career with Arup in 1995 after earning a bachelor's degree in architecture engineering from Pennsylvania State University. His project-based responsibilities include structural design, supervising other engineers in structural analysis and design, and managing large multidisciplinary project teams. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Arup's 50-person New Jersey office and is also a supervisor and mentor for the firm, responsible for structural graduate recruiting. Sustainable design has been a focus throughout his career, and he has worked on many environmentally responsible buildings, including the Queens Botanical Garden Visitors Center, a building with a large canopied forecourt and auditorium. The project won the New York City Green Building Design Award and earned LEED-Platinum certification. He recently led a structural sustainability initiative in Arup's New York group that involved updating technical documents and training staff. Wolfe is a licensed professional engineer in New York and a LEED Accredited Professional. Wolf is active within the industry, presenting lectures at conferences, including the annual Structures Congress. He also volunteers his time to help college students, participating in architectural studio reviews at Columbia University and at Parsons The New School for Design.

Joseph Zambito

Zambito

Pursuing curiosity on the road to choosing a career
27, Project Engineer
AECOM
New York

Joseph Zambito has had a fascination with mechanical systems since he was a kid, spending hours in his grandfather's garage taking things apart, reassembling them and learning how they worked. He says it was that curiosity that led him to pursue an engineering career. He attended Manhattan College, earning a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 2010. Zambito currently works as a project engineer in his firm's energy business department. His projects include work for the New York City Housing Authority's Hot Water Heater Replacement program and the award-winning Wards Island Water Pollution-Control Plant. He was selected as a project engineer to work on his current project, the Rikers Island Cogeneration Plant. Zambito has traveled the United States under his firm's contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, using his technical knowledge to mitigate damages and provide economic relief for communities ravaged by natural disasters. In 2008, while still in school, he worked closely with the Engineers-Without-Borders, New York Chapter, doing research in conjunction with Columbia University and traveling to Uganda. He has now been to Uganda twice with Columbia students to design and install engine components for agricultural equipment and rainwater harvesting systems for a war-torn school. AECOM has presented him with its Making A Difference award for exemplary work within the company.