What’s your favorite part about your job/the environmental field? What I love about my job is that there’s never a dull day. We have so many different projects and services that we provide in the environmental field, so there’s always some new project or challenge. It’s very cool what we take on day-to-day.
I also love interacting with clients; having the opportunity to help our clients be successful is one of the most satisfying parts of my job. Lastly, as Executive Director, I love getting to work with our amazing environmental group and help them succeed, grow, and share in their wins.
Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on in your career? Since we cover such a wide spectrum of projects, it’s hard to pick just one, but successful brownfield redevelopment projects are especially satisfying. Getting to see a blighted site become a redevelopment that’s enjoyed and used by the community is very gratifying. These projects also have some real complicated challenges we need to figure out, which are equally satisfying to solve – from researching a site’s history to determining the extent of contamination and how it moves through the environment to creating a plan for remediation, there’s a lot of challenging work that goes into a brownfield redevelopment project.
I also love our transaction-based projects. It’s nice to be able to work closely with clients to make sure they understand the environmental risks associated with potential real estate transactions and it’s always gratifying to come together with clients to make sure closes happen. We are viewed as a truly valuable resource by clients during these transactions, which is always a great thing to be.
What trends/changes are you seeing in the environmental field? On the brownfields side, there’s more federal and state funding available now, so projects are gaining momentum. It’s been great to see so many brownfield remediation and redevelopment projects happening.
I’d also say PFAS is definitely at the forefront of the industry’s mind. There’s a lot of discussion and planning going into how we deal with PFAS now as well as in the future. It is likely to be listed under CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) soon, which will officially define PFAS as a hazardous material. Once that happens, things will change in terms of how we handle PFAS so we need to be out in front of it, ready for that change to take effect.
You’ve been at BL for a long time, what’s your favorite part of BL? We say it all the time, but it’s the culture that employee ownership creates. We’re all in this together, working for the same positive result regardless of our position, location, or department. That’s what makes BL so unique.
What do you like to do when you aren’t working? When I’m not working, I still like to stay busy and active. I love spending time with my family, grilling and smoking, and landscaping. I also love to travel – there’s still a lot of destinations on my bucket list I want to go see.