Join the Society for Design Administration New York Chapter (SDA New York) for an in-person panel discussion about how four forward-thinking firms have handled the evolving recruiting and employee engagement landscape. Owners and principals will receive strategic best practices and key techniques that can be used day-to-day.
In AEC, our people are key—both the great people we have on staff today, and the potential new employees who may join us. The last several years have been a time of intense change, causing firm leaders to react by rethinking their recruiting and retention practices, and their approach to flexibility and work/life balance. What have successful firms done in hiring the right people? How have they then crafted a quality of life to enable everyone to succeed?
Speakers:
Sara Grant, AIA, LEED AP, ALEP, Partner, MBB Architects
Elizabeth Kim, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners
Mary Beth Lardaro, Director of Human Resources, Senior Associate, Dattner Architects
Patty McCaffery, PE, LEED AP, Principal, Meyers + Engineers
Moderator:
Simon Goodhead, PE, Principal, The Coxe Group
Key learning objectives include:
1. The intersection of fit and technical/ design capability in hiring.
2. How marketing and HR teams are integral in attracting and retaining the right talent.
3. Why leadership presence can tip the scales in engagement.
4. Approaches to staffing, considering our deadline-driven business needs.
*Food and light refreshments will be served.*
About the Speakers:
Simon Goodhead has a deep history in operations and leadership, he brings a different perspective to the A/E/C industry. Having spent the first half of his career in engineering with Buro Happold and Arup, he has been through the full construction process while growing a business. He has extensive knowledge and background in operational leadership, strategic planning, and mergers and acquisition. Goodhead has experience being employed by, and consulting for, multiple types of ownership structures, including partnerships, proprietorships, employee owned, and private equity. As Goodhead describes it, “I have always enjoyed the combination of business and design. The better design firms understand their people and help them develop professionally. The better the people, the better the designs.”
Sara Grant has been designing and advancing equitable, healthy, and sustainable environments that bring together and empower diverse and communities for twenty years. She is a passionate architect, researcher, and educator who leads a collaborative practice around a shared vision of inclusive design, civic engagement, and rigorous, research-driven decision-making. In her architecture, research, and leadership, Grant focuses on work that promotes the design of flexible, age-appropriate learning spaces that facilitate and inspire the freedom to move, explore, learn, and collaborate. She employs deliberate design processes that are research and data driven, and that celebrate community members as experts in determining their own built environment. Driven by her commitment to sustainable and equitable design, Grant also works to ensure that MBB creates sustainable design solutions finely tuned to the unique conditions and challenges of every project so that they are efficient and environmentally responsible. She has participated in panels on Active Design Methodologies and presented her award-winning research on the design of equitable public space to national audiences. She serves as Co-Chair on the Van Alen Program Leadership Council, as a mentor in the GSAPP Alumni Mentorship Program, and on the AIANY Committee on Architecture for Education, and she is IRB board certified. Sara joined MBB in 2004 and became Partner in 2015. Grant was designated an Accredited Learning Environments Planner in 2021.
Elizabeth Kim is a versatile leader in BBB’s institutional studio, consistently providing design vision for projects at many scales. In varied project and professional roles, Kim promotes the highest level of design and creativity, from concepts and planning through materiality and architectural details. Her passionate pursuit of architectural and technological innovation is further expressed through her leadership in BBB’s RED (Research Exchange Develop) initiative. Kim’s clients include major universities, cultural, and not-for-profit institutions such as Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dartmouth College, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, and New York Public Library. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Architecture from Barnard College and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University, Graduate School of Design. Kim has been with BBB since 2007.
Mary Beth Lardaro supports the firm’s civic mission by nurturing a workplace culture that prioritizes mentorship and professional development and inspires designers to do their best work. She leads recruitment, policy development, benefits, compensation and pay equity, and coaching. Lardaro earned her Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Drew University and is currently working towards a graduate degree in Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.
During Patty McCaffery's 27-year career as a professional engineer based in the New York area, she has completed projects in a various market sectors including corporate interiors, performing arts, cultural and most notably the federal market sector. McCaffery has successfully led a design practice focused on working with the federal government both internationally and domestically having completed projects in 40+ countries on 5 continents. Her portfolio of completed work has ranged in scope and complexity from master planning studies to major renovations and new construction. McCaffery has executed projects through a variety of delivery methods including design-bid-build and design-build. Most recently, Patty was responsible for overseeing the engineering design of three new diplomatic campuses totaling over $1 billion dollars in construction.
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Society for Design Administration
