Berman

Sarah S. Berman
Communicating industry's need to remain competitive
36, President
The Berman Group Inc.
New York City

With a New York University master's degree in urban planning, Berman has focused on providing communications services to the construction, design, real estate and urban development marketplaces. Since 2005 when she founded her company, its client list has grown to more than 100. It includes the Building and Construction Trades Dept. and the Urban Land Institute, and spans numerous markets such as carpentry, ironworking, painting, plumbing and sheet metal. Berman says the building industry, particularly labor unions and contractors, must market themselves to remain competitive. To that end, she has worked on initiatives that include development of a marketing "tool kit" for unions. Other projects include assisting the New York City Mayor's Office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency with communications for the Rapid Repairs program after Superstorm Sandy. As for community outreach, Berman's contributions include serving on the Salvadori Center's board of directors and executive board and working with nonprofits such as Helmets to Hardhats and Nontraditional Employment for Women. Her short-term goals include enhancing her firm's integration of cutting-edge technology and working with the Real Estate Technology forum to explore the use of new technology in buildings.

Button

Becky Button
Mentoring the next generation through interior design
39, Senior Designer
Gensler
New York City

It was a year-long trip across Europe that sparked a passion for design in Button, who had just received a bachelor's degree in modern dance from the State University of New York at New Paltz. On returning home she went on to follow that passion, obtaining a bachelor's in interior design at the New York School of Interior Design (NYSID). Currently, as part of Gensler's client relationship leaders committee, Button advises on best practices in client relationships and is writing guidelines to be used for training young designers. She is also in training herself for the firm's project management group and has been teaching for the last 10 years at NYSID. "I found that I loved teaching interior design as much as I loved practicing it, and I continue to serve as an adjunct professor in both undergraduate and graduate programs." Her other credentials include National Council for Interior Design Qualification certification.

Glazer

Breeze Glazer
Enhancing health care through sustainable design
30, Research Knowledge Manager, Sustainable Health Care Design
Perkins + Will
New York City

As his firm's national research knowledge manager for sustainable health care, Glazer focuses exclusively on sustainable design project management. In this role, he has worked closely with academic health care institutions including Duke University School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Medical Center. Glazer, who leads the firm's sustainable mechanical, engineering and plumbing design process, has overseen completion of more than 20 LEED-certified projects, including five Platinum certifications. One of his most notable projects was the first LEED-Silver project in New Orleans, a transitional homeless shelter completed in 2009. With a bachelor's degree and master's in architecture from Tulane University School of Architecture, Glazer teaches an applied research course at the New York School of Interior Design. He also has helped to develop a sustainable health care curriculum module for the Borough of Manhattan Community College and served as a thesis adviser for the sustainable real estate development program at his alma mater. He says his time spent at Tulane, in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, helped him understand "the opportunity we have as designers to have a positive impact on society by enhancing both human and environmental health."