My employment history is not linear.
Much like design, it moves about, circles back, departs to develop related but tangential and meaningful ideas, and repeats in some ways. Timelines overlap between corporate and volunteer positions, self-employment and part-time gigs. Gaps exist where less relevant but no less purposeful positions occupied my time and provided professional development.
There's even an 8-year stretch during which I obtained a related degree (geology) and worked outside the field after which I returned to landscape architecture a stronger practitioner. Life was chaotic at times but I never really strayed that far.
Today, with dual degrees and associated experience I understand landscapes in ways that others don't. I understand the natural processes that act on landscapes and how the materials that landscape architects work with respond to those processes.
My employment history detailed below - not despite it's non-linear path but because of it - points to three things:
1, My employment history demonstrates deep subject matter expertise and business acumen across an array of landscape architectural services.
2, I am experienced in leading projects, developing business, managing clients, overseeing construction, and leading teams.
3, Through my varied experiences I have gained the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes to effectively deliver solutions to an array of clients, regardless of service sector.
2, I am experienced in leading projects, developing business, managing clients, overseeing construction, and leading teams.
3, Through my varied experiences I have gained the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes to effectively deliver solutions to an array of clients, regardless of service sector.
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE EXPERIENCE
Landscape Architect / Designer
Boulder and Denver, Colorado, and Portland, Oregon
2002-2012, 2020-present
• As sole proprietor, I performed all services from inception through completion including writing and negotiating contracts, initiating projects, developing proposals and scopes of work, establishing and maintaining lines of communications with clients, subconsultants, and contractors, marketing my services, generating and developing leads, managing, designing, and documenting projects, managing finances, collecting fees, and overseeing construction.
• Guided clients to successfully navigate the processes of architectural and historic review boards in their local communities.
• Formulated and negotiated budgets and schedules for subcontractors to meet project fee and schedule goals.
• Collaborated with contractors to resolve project issues, ensure industry expectations for quality were met, and ensure contractors met client expectations.
• Provided construction oversight and review to ensure contractors met client and industry expectations for quality.
Senior Project Manager
Design Concepts, Lafayette, Colorado
2020
• Provided day-to-day leadership and production in design and management of staff and resources on public school projects, ensuring design and construction documents met programmatic, budgetary, scheduling, and public agency clients’ technical requirements.
• Communicated and interacted with clients and interdisciplinary team members, provided appropriate advice on landscape design and construction-related issues, led and participated in project team meetings, coordinated solutions across a range of creative, technical, personnel, and contractual issues, administered bidding and construction, and identified marketing opportunities to grow business.
• Coordinated and provided oversight of activities of internal and external interdisciplinary team members to ensure professional expectations for quality were met, responded to inquiries from team members and clients, led and participated in project team meetings, and coordinated solutions across a range of creative, technical, personnel, and contractual issues.
• Initiated and headed a firm-wide program to expand the firm’s expertise in and develop new business in green infrastructure.
Volunteer Landscape Architect
Architects Without Borders, Portland, Oregon
2007-2009
• Developed, coordinated, and produced a master plan, phase one landscape design, and construction documents for housing, recreation fields, church, and school, using AutoCAD software to facilitate universal coordination.
• Led, managed, and coordinated site and landscape designs from inception through construction documentation to ensure solutions of culture-appropriate quality and constructability.
• Facilitated and coordinated timely design review of projects through communications with organization leadership and clients.
• Resolved issues related to cultural norms, sourcing and allotment of available materials, construction time frames, funding limitations, and best practices on foreign soil by establishing project plans, goals, and objectives with client representative and coordinating and communicating with interdisciplinary team members.
Senior Project Manager
MIG, Portland, Oregon
2007-2008
• Provided technical, creative, and regulatory leadership to integrated and geographically distributed consultant teams as primary point of contact in both prime and subconsultant roles.
• Led design, master planning and construction documentation efforts and provided expert advice to architectural and engineering partners on multiple local and regional park and institutional design projects.
• Led business development of a 4-person design team of landscape architects and designers.
Project Manager / Landscape Designer
Davis Partnership Architects, Denver, Colorado
2005-2007
• Applied broad design and management expertise on a wide variety of projects with diverse scales, funding sources, partnerships, complexities, existing conditions and attributes, politics, and locations.
• Initiated, developed, and delivered planning and design documents, contract documents, specifications, cost estimates, and reports for projects with individual fees to $660K and construction budgets to $3M.
• Collaborated with internal and external architects, engineers, designers, specialist consultants, developers, public agencies, non-profits, and contractors for +40 corporate, public, and private development clients on higher education, institutional, healthcare, mixed-use, parks, recreation, and technology projects.
• Managed, coordinated, and tracked communications and documentation on +$10M of commercial landscape construction involving architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, and other disciplines from inception through construction.
• Managed and coordinated up to 4 support staff on project design and production teams.
Project Manager / Landscape Designer
Robert Howard Associates, Boulder, Colorado
2004-2005
• Prepared contracts, including scopes, schedules, and budgets, and designs and cost estimates for dozens of prospective projects.
• Managed, coordinated, tracked, and oversaw +18 contracted design and construction projects through timely and customized service, including corrective actions with respect to budget, schedule, and client interests.
• Developed expertise in construction problem solving through close collaboration with internal construction managers and foremen.
Project Leader / Landscape Architect
Civitas, Denver, Colorado
2000-2002
• Designed, managed, and built higher education, healthcare, mixed-use, and institutional projects for public and private sector clients in collaboration with architects, engineers, designers, specialists, developers, public agencies, and contractors.
• Developed, managed, and delivered project proposals, contracts, reports, communications, planning and design documents, construction documents and specifications, and cost estimates for projects with fees up to $200K and construction budgets up to $2M. Routinely managed, coordinated, and delivered multiple concurrent projects from inception through completion.
• Managed and coordinated up to 4 support staff on project design and production teams.
related Experience
Research Scientist
University of Colorado-Boulder
2016-2018
• Conducted, published, and presented collaborative research to archive, analyze, and process geophysical data into products that spatially describe the seafloor, subsurface, and near-shore environments.
• Worked within federal government protocols, schedules, command structures, and funding sources to acquire and manage resources, establish workflows, ensure quality, document processes, and develop and implement solutions and ensure their accessibility.
• Built high-resolution digital elevation models of US and select international coastal regions to solve business, humanitarian, disaster relief, environmental, geospatial, and other problems: www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/coastal/