Giving Back
1. The application portal for the SAME 2021 Engineering and Construction Camp season has opened. The deadline is March 15th, 2021. SAME has been supporting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) events for more than 30 years and conducting camps for almost 20 years. SAME camps offer a unique curriculum that features hands-on activities conducted in a competitive environment to promote teamwork, leadership, project management, and problem solving.
Awards & Accolades
2. Fidelity National Title Agency announced that one of its valued partners, Andrew Bloom, CEO/Senior Partner/Co-Founder of BVO Luxury Group at Keller Williams Arizona Realty, has surpassed a historic milestone of $1B in closed MLS residential real estate deals. Bloom becomes the fourth real estate professional in Arizona history to surpass this distinguished mark. He stands at $1,011,771,291 in sales volume as of December 31st, 2020.
Boards & Commissions
3. The 2021 SAME Phoenix Post Board Members have been announced. They are:
- Bruce Preston, TSK – President
- Carmel Patterson, KOMAN Holdings – VP of Programs
- James Kirk, Weitz Companies – VP of Membership
- Jacquilyn Navarro, KOMAN Holdings – Secretary
- Deacon White, Luke Air Force Base 56th Civil Engineering Squadron – Treasurer
Promotions
4. Derek D. Koller, who has spent his entire professional career serving clients in Tucson and Southern Arizona, was recently promoted to Principal by Terracon Consultants, Inc. Koller has been instrumental in growing the firm’s Tucson office since joining Terracon in 2014 and has been the Tucson Office Manager since 2018.
5. Achen-Gardner Construction announced the promotion of Mike Gewecke to Field Operations Manager. In his new position, Mike will expand his management responsibilities to all of Achen-Gardner’s superintendents, crews, and field operations.
6. Velocity Retail Group has promoted Morgan Danhoff from Associate Vice President to Vice President. Since joining the firm in 2015, Danhoff has consistently grown her knowledge and advanced in her role within the company.
7. Säzän Group, Inc. promoted Richard Toms to Associate. Toms has developed and fostered new client relationships out of their Tempe office since it opened in 2018. His current projects include a Design-Build pharmacy upgrade in Tempe and a 240-unit multifamily community in downtown Phoenix.
8. Lesa LaRocca has been promoted to Division President, North Central and Southwest at Avenue5 Residential. LaRocca will continue to lead senior vice presidents and vice presidents of operations overseeing more than 100 assets and 25,000 units spanning southern Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Texas. Additionally, she will continue to partner with multifamily owners to maximize portfolio expansion and revenue opportunities throughout the division.
9. Ben Mlinar has been promoted to Division Manager at Rosendin‘s Tempe Regional Office, where he is responsible for overseeing SW Region operations. Mlinar recently served as a Project Executive overseeing hundreds of office and field personnel spanning various projects, including high-profile jobs for some of the nation’s largest tech giants.
10. Brandon Stephens has been with Rosendin for 17 years and was recently promoted to Operations Manager overseeing Rosendin’s Nevada, Arizona, and Texas offices.
11. Stephanie Roldan was recently promoted to the Director of Lean Culture at Rosendin. Roldan leads Rosendin’s Respect for People and Continuous Improvement culture, simplified as “Lean Culture.” This responsibility includes developing, setting, and leading the strategy on creating an inclusive environment and sense of belonging for employees.
New Hires
12. Richard McDowell has joined Kidder Mathews’ property management services division and has been named senior vice president, director of engineering and sustainability. In this role, McDowell will oversee all aspects of Kidder Mathews’ facilities and building engineering program, including business development.
13. Consultant Engineering, Inc. has recently hired Trish Sumrall as Project Controls Manager. In this role, she will lead CEI’s corporate contract needs and responsibilities in addition to expanding project controls to better support their company’s growth. Sumrall brings to the CEI team, 20 plus years of experience in the construction and engineering industries with a focus on project management and project controls management. She has a robust background in document control, data management, scheduling, project management information systems, process improvement, and change management.
14. Scot McLean has joined Gilbane Building Company in their Phoenix office. McLean has spent his entire career developing markets both domestically and abroad. He focuses on the needs of the customer, allowing him to succeed through win-win relationships that are built on trust.
15. ORION Investment Real Estate begins 2021 with the expansion of its Retail Division. Joining ORION are veteran brokers Mary Nollenberger, Nicole Ridberg and Kevin Weller. Nollenberger most recently served as the Director of Leasing and Retail Investment Sales for a national brokerage firm where she specialized in trade area feasibility, brand development, and strategic expansion. Ridberg has been in the industry for 18 years and has been an integral part of development teams that have built more than 500KSF of award-winning multi-tenant projects. Weller is an active member in the Commercial Real Estate market closing many deals over his first few years.
16. Kathleen Curiel has joined the Tempe office of RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture as an Administrative Coordinator.
17. Larsen Baker, LLC announced the addition of Isaac Figueroa, CCIM as its Director of Leasing and Sales. Figueroa will head up all leasing and sales for Larsen Baker’s 3MSF real estate portfolio.