Giving Back
1. Achen-Gardner Construction participated in the Arizona State University Career Fair on Feb. 13. The employee-owners talked to students about the company’s expertise and discussed challenges in the industry, while providing details about career opportunities.
Boards & Commissions
2. James Singleton and Alfonso Juarez were elected as the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Maricopa Planning & Zoning Commission at its meeting on Feb. 24.
Company News
3. CBRE announced the opening of its new office at 2502 E. River Road in Tucson. The company recently moved into the new space from its long-time location off North Campbell Avenue. Located in the 12-building office complex on the southeast corner of East River Road and North Hacienda del Sol Road, the stand-alone building features nine offices, collaborative workspaces, huddle rooms, conference rooms, a breakroom and a wellness room.
Promotions
4. Jeff Popour and John Geigley have been promoted at United Southwest Companies. Popour, after 30 years of truss manufacturing and 10 years with United Southwest, has been named President. John Geigley, who has 25 years of experience in framing and truss design and manufacturing, has been promoted to General Manager.
5. Achen-Gardner Construction recently promoted Kevin Nunez to Senior VP and Mike Gewecke to VP. According to the company’s announcement, “These changes reflect Kevin and Mike’s exceptional leadership and will serve to best manage our recent growth while ensuring continued high-quality services on all our projects.”
6. Arrington Watkins Architects announced the promotions of Erin Giles, Genevieve Miller and Arielle Mason to Associate. Giles, who joined the firm in 2021, specializes in Public Safety, while Miller and Mason focus on both Public Works and Public Safety. Miller has been with the firm since 2020, and Mason since 2019. All three are now on track to become Principals.
7. Ruben Mendoza has been promoted to Associate at VLMK Engineering + Design. He has worked as a structural engineer for more than 12 years.
New Hires
- Glendale has appointed Trent Dutry as its Interim Director of Economic Development. Previously, Dutry worked for the Phoenix Suns and Enchant Christmas. Dutry is replacing Jessi Pederson, who is retiring to focus on her family.
- Lukrom announced the hiring of Mark Dickinson as its Senior Regional VP. Dickinson served in the U.S. Navy for 18 years. He also has more than 20 years of experience working for private equity, private debt and real estate investment firms.
- David Jarand, Kevin Jarand and Anthony Ruiz have recently joined Edge Realty Partners. David will serve as the Senior VP, while Kevin and Ruiz are to be Senior Associates. David has more than 30 years of experience in the industry. Kevin is a second-generation commercial real estate broker. Ruiz began his commercial real estate career in 2016.
- Newmark announced the firm hired three new leading office leasing advisors: Senior Managing Director Brett Abramson, Managing Director Chirs Latvaaho, Director Chris Beall and Brokerage Services Specialist Jen Harrison. The three bring decades of collective industry experience across the Phoenix metro area and beyond.
12. Landscape architect Jeff Prince has joined the team of Huitt-Zollars. Prince has 27 years of experience in landscape architecture and has worked on 400 projects domestically and abroad.
13. FCL Builders hired Alexia Valdez as a Project Estimator on its Western Region team. Valdez will join the company’s pre-construction group and provide conceptual and final budgets, value engineering and assist with trade partner selections for projects.