New York and New England People: May 2023
Jimmy Oddo has been appointed commissioner for the New York City Dept. of Buildings. Kazimir Vilenchik, agency acting commissioner, will return to his role as first deputy commissioner. Oddo had served in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration as chief of staff to the deputy mayor for operations.
Cyrus Izzo has been named president and CEO of New York City design firm Syska Hennessy Group, while Gary Brennen becomes chairman. Izzo and Los Angeles-based Brennen were firm co-presidents.
Manuel Millan has joined design firm STV as vice president and architectural director in its national buildings practice. Based in New York City, he was vice president and principal architect at Systra A+E.
Dawne David-Pierre is now director of operations of Moody Nolan New York. She previously served as interim director of operations.
The Concrete Industry Board of New York has elected Maggie Kwan as board president, succeeding Benjamin Pimentel. She is AECOM Tishman senior vice president for civil and structural engineering, previously overseeing work on such projects as 7 World Trade Center.
AECOM has hired Christopher “Kip” McMahan in Boston as campus planning leader in its East region higher education group. He was assistant vice chancellor for campus planning and design and university architect at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Steven T. Halverson, former president of design-construction consultant The Haskell Co., has joined the board of Gilbane Inc., Providence, R.I. He formerly also chaired the Construction Industry Roundtable and the Design-Build Institute of America.
WXY architecture + urban design, New York City, announced the fellowship appointment of Farida Abu-Bakare, director of global practice, to the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. She is Toronto-based. The firm also promoted Amy Hau to managing principal and named Robert Young associate principal.
Charlie Nordstrom has joined design firm COWI North America in New York City as associate technical director specializing in floating offshore wind. He had headed offshore wind for Alphabet’s Google X/Makani project, leading design, deployment and testing of the world’s first offshore airborne wind turbine, the firm said.
Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, Warwick, R.I., has hired Sanjiv K. Sinha as CEO to lead its community-based investing business for green stormwater, climate resilience and related work. He was chief sustainability officer and senior vice president of ECT, a consultant.
Woodard & Curran, an Auburn, N.H., water and environment consultant, has hired Chaly Jo Moyen as its first chief strategy officer. She was chief strategy officer of Conagra Brands and president of two its units.
Dakota Partners in Waltham, Mass., has elevated Gary Williams to executive vice president of construction from director. He also was a project manager at KBS.
The Building Trades Employers Association (BTEA) New York City, has elected Elizabeth Crowley president and CEO. A former New York City Council member based in Queens, she also worked as a union restorative painter. Crowley next month succeeds Lou Coletti, who led the 1,200-member group of mostly union general contractors and specialty trade firms since 1997. He is set to start a technology consulting firm, said BTEA.
