Guilliams

Gabe Guilliams
Keeping the lights on by design
34, Lighting Team Leader, North American Region
Buro Happold
New York

Guilliams began building and renovating single-family houses when he was 14 and soon realized that he wanted to pursue architecture or engineering as a career. He further refined that focus as a student at the University of Kansas and graduated with a bachelor's degree in architectural engineering and set his sights on the field of architectural lighting design. After several internships and a position with Arup's Boston, London and New York offices, Guilliams returned to New York, where Buro Happold offered him the chance to build a North American architectural lighting studio. Guilliams and his team regularly collaborate with architects, landscape architects and electrical, mechanical and facade engineers. Their work has included daylighting for the Louvre Abu Dhabi project and electric lighting design for the now completed Sperone Westwater Gallery in New York, the latter of which won the International Association of Lighting Designers Award of Excellence. He is an active member of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America; a regular presenter at the AIA and Designer's Lighting Forum in New York; a LEED Accredited Professional; and a member of the U.S. Green Building Council. Guilliams has also collaborated with several artists to illuminate their works for Bring to Light New York, a free, one-night installation exhibit in the city. His other activities include working with the ACE Mentoring Program and lecturing about lighting at a number of universities.

Hodge

Josh Hodge
Helping to turn C&D waste into energy
34, Project Engineering Manager
SAIC
Plainfield, Conn.

Hodge began his career with SAIC as a project controls engineer on multiple design-build projects nationwide, but he now serves as project engineering manager for a $225-million contract to design and construct a 37.5-megawatt facility in Plainfield, Conn., that is primarily fueled by construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Businesses and contractors in the region currently must pay to have their C&D waste shipped to landfills in the western part of the country, but this facility should make a significant impact by turning waste product into energy, Hodge says. Hodge's leadership has been recognized by company executives, and he was selected for and graduated from SAIC's Strategy for Advancing Internal Leaders (SAIL), an invitation-only leadership development program designed to enhance skills and business acumen of emerging organizational leaders. SAIC honored Hodge with a values recognition award for excellence in technical and program performance, saying that "Hodge's proactive leadership, communication skills and sharp attention to details resulted in effective and professional project execution." Prior to joining SAIC, Hodge served as an officer in the U.S. Army for five years. He was deployed to Iraq from 2005 to 2006, where he served as the contracting officer representative for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, managing several subcontractors for work including base security upgrades, electrical upgrades, several road construction projects and a multimillion-dollar facilities management contract.

James

Darris W. James
Pursuing a passion for design
36, Senior Associate
Gensler
New York

Starting out as a junior designer for corporate interiors at Gensler, James had an interest in the beginning stages of design projects. This led him to specialize in programming and planning and, ultimately, won him the opportunity to design JetBlue's Terminal 5 at JFK Airport. James is now a senior design strategist in his firm's consulting group, with responsibilities for building global client relationships while leading a team from multiple Gensler offices. James is involved in leading the firm's senior associates steering committee, serving on the regional learning council and the New York Project Management Committee. Keen on developing the next generation of industry professionals, James serves as an adjunct professor at the New York School of Interior Design. He also serves on the Interior Design Program Advisory board for the Art Institute of New York City, where he provides curriculum development and accreditation consultation. He has also given American Institute of Architecture accredited lectures and is a volunteer with AIA's New York chapter. His work has also appeared in several galleries, including The New York Center for Architecture, Gallery RIVAA in New York and the Brooklyn Brewery Exhibition Hall. In 2010 James received the AIA National Associate Award. James is National Council for Interior Design Qualification certified, a LEED Green Associate and is currently seeking certification in leadership and organizational development at New York University.

Lanzano

Giancarlo Lanzano
Pushing past the recession and Superstorm Sandy
38, Director of Construction Sales and Real Estate
DGC Capital Contractor Corp.
Mount Vernon, N.Y.

When Lanzano joined DGC in 2005 and assumed responsibility for construction sales, he had no idea that the recession was about to hit and how it would affect the industry. Even so, he managed to help boost the firm's revenue by 25% in the last three years and helped win more contracts than ever for the company. Lanzano says he thrives on the complexity of large-scale construction projects and is able to effectively manage the logistical and technical complications that accompany real estate development and general contracting. He lists among his accomplishments work on Yankee Stadium and on the Barclays Center as well as entitling 200,000 sq ft of retail space in the Albany area. He recently gained acceptance to the Retail Contractors Association and is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, the New Jersey Association of Realtors and the Westchester County Association business group. Lanzano has also aided Taconic Innovation, an organization that assists autistic adults in the Westchester County area in finding suitable housing. Most recently, he has helped to coordinate Superstorm Sandy relief efforts in the New York region. He says this work has included using technology and social media to help construction professionals assist victims of the disaster. Other work in this area for Lanzano, who is himself a Sandy victim, included coordinating drop-off locations for community donations. As for the future, he says he is eager to contribute to rebuilding efforts in the hardest-hit areas.

Nardiello

Jaimee Nardiello
Making a case for industry
36, Associate Principal
Zetlin & De Chiara LLP
New York

Nardiello says that a post-undergraduate job with a major contractor opened her eyes to the potential liabilities faced by construction professionals during every phase of design and implementation and led her to focus her legal career on construction law. She regularly represents design professionals, contractors and construction managers in matters including managing complex, multimillion-dollar construction cases from inception to trial and in preparing contracts for high-profile projects throughout the New York City area. She says her work has included obtaining dismissal of a multimillion-dollar mechanic's lien on behalf of a developer; representing an architect in an $18-million claim by the owner of a sports facility; and representing a high-profile engineer in a multimillion-dollar claim for design defects in connection with a waste-to-energy facility. Nardiello also educates design professionals and other construction lawyers on code changes and legal processes that affect businesses. She also mentors law students and young lawyers. Her collaboration with experts in various fields caught the eye of the American Bar Association's Forum on the Construction Industry, which awarded Nardiello its ABA Women and Minorities Fellowship in 2011. Nardiello co-authored "The Bar Exam Survival Guide: The Insider's Handbook to Passing the Bar Exam" and has been ranked a 2011 and 2012 New York Metro Area Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine.

Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel
Updating company processes and standards
31, Managing Partner
Rosenwasser/Grossman Consulting Engineers
New York

As a summer intern at Rosenwasser/Grossman Consulting Engineers in 2000, Pimentel had a range of duties that included overall building analysis, field inspections and drafting. When he graduated Roger Williams University in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in engineering, he joined the firm as a full-time project engineer and, by 2005, he was co-managing such projects as 1600 Broadway and 147 Flatbush Avenue. Pimentel moved up to senior project manager, overseeing design and construction of the 1.2-million-sq-ft 440 West 42nd St. building and became a partner of the firm in 2010. Pimentel's work has included updating company processes and standards as well as implementing the use of Revit as an alternate to the firm's existing CAD standards. He says the process increased efficiency and reduced overall cost of preparation of construction documents. Among his other activities, Pimentel serves on the board of directors of the Structural Engineers Association of New York, serves on the structural codes committee for the Metropolitan New York chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies and is an active member of the American Concrete Institute, for which he serves on the BIM committee.

Schlendorf

Christine Schlendorf
Engaging client and student interest in design
38, Principal
Perkins Eastman
New York

As the managing principal for Perkins Eastman's K-12 Studio, Schlendorf has been creating educational spaces for more than 15 years. Her portfolio includes numerous public and private school projects, including Avenues: The World School in New York City. She was happy to be involved in the project at this stage in her career because it "allowed for the implementation of many of the educational innovations we have been seeing and which are close to my heart." She adds that the school is the first of many for the client, and she is looking forward to learning what worked well and what can be improved on for future facilities. Schlendorf is also president of the board of trustees of the Brooklyn Ascend Charter School, where her duties include adopting policies, selecting the school director, approving the budget and reviewing financial performance as well as helping to develop a strategic plan and monitoring its implementation. Involved in more than facility design with the schools she works with, "she has inspired the members of the entire K-12 Studio at Perkins Eastman to interact with schools in new ways, whether joining instructors in the classroom, working with organizations and their students to paint a school or mentoring and speaking to students about the architecture industry," says Mary-Jean Eastman, principal and executive director of Perkins Eastman. Schlendorf's other activities include work for The Peter Schlendorf Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation founded in her brother's name, whose mission is to enable students to reach their goals. The foundation has awarded more than $80,000 in scholarships during the past 16 years.

Shannon

Jeremy Shannon
Driving aggressively toward passive house design
34, Principal Architect
Prospect Architecture PC
Brooklyn, N.Y.

At the age of 6, Jeremy Shannon already knew he wanted to be an architect. But he didn't discover how he would focus that ambition until he read a New York Times article about the Passive House (PH) building standard. He says the standard, which calls for reducing energy consumption, was a major contributor to guiding his professional and community action choices. "With buildings using up 60% of our energy produced, a scale factor improvement from current construction methods is needed, and this change has to happen now," Shannon says. "The Passive House Standard with its 90% reduction in heating loads is the change that is needed." At 27, Shannon earned his license in architecture and left a position as project architect at Robert Stern Architects to start his own design-build company focusing on sustainable design and construction. He was the first architect to receive Building Performance Institute training. By 2009, he became one of the first 50 U.S.-trained PH consultants as well as one of the first 20 builders trained worldwide as Passive House Tradespeople. Shannon teaches architecture students at Parson's The New School for Design and is often a guest speaker on low-energy buildings. Working in partnership with his wife, Carla, Shannon founded New York PH Meetup.com, which has become the largest Passive House group in the country. Due to the early success of the meetup, Shannon was asked to be a founding board member and vice president of the Passive House Alliance and helped found NY Passive House that he says is now one of the country's largest paid PH membership groups. Shannon is also a board member of the NYS PH organization. In addition to the non-profit Passive House work, Jeremy and his wife operate an architectural firm and construction company that designs and builds Passive House projects in New York City.

Speanburg

Nathan W. Speanburg
Marching on in both construction and military service
33, Project Superintendent
M+W U.S. Inc.
Watervliet, N.Y.

Speanburg began his career with M+W Group around the same time that he joined the Vermont Army National Guard, which he continues to serve in as brigade engineer officer in the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Speanburg earned a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla in 2005. During his tenure at M+W U.S., Speanburg moved up the ranks quickly, starting as assistant superintendent. When he became project superintendent for the $1-billion GlobalFoundries Fab 8 project in Malta, N.Y., he was directly responsible for more than $100 million worth of work set for completion within a two-year time frame. More recently, Speanburg has transitioned into preconstruction and as a construction manager for site infrastructure and development. A part of M+W's Group Talent Program, Speanburg also helps to train and mentor young employees. He is also one of only 10 U.S. employees that are named to the firm's Injury-Free Workplace Leadership Team. "Nathan's experience in managing risk and communicating safety procedures to colleagues in both the U.S. Army and on the construction site was the primary driver for his nomination to the team," says Alan Asadoorian, M+W U.S.

Thurston

Jeremy Thurston
Taking construction management to the top
35, Chairman/CEO
The Hayner Hoyt Corp.
Syracuse, N.Y.

Starting as a Hayner Hoyt laborer in 1998, Thurston soon moved on to other positions including assistant to project managers, project manager, field operations manager and, ultimately, to president in 2008 at the age of 31. Since taking the helm at Hayner Hoyt, Thurston has helped keep the company's revenues fairly steady during the recession, from $74 million in 2008 to $75 million in 2011, but he projects a whopping 73% revenue increase in 2012. Under his direction, the company has also entered new markets in the health care area. A former board member of the New York State Associated General Contractors, Thurston's other activities include being a member of the Greater Syracuse Board of Leadership, which promotes community service for young professionals, and a member of the Young Leaders, a support group for Syracuse's local Salvation Army Board. He holds a bachelor's degree in construction management from Utica College.