Member Profiles 2006 – June 2007

These profiles first appeared in SkyLines between January 2006 and June  2007.  All profiles were written by Arnhild Buckhurst.

Lisa Rondon is a native New Yorker who was raised in the Bronx but has settled on Staten Island, where she lives with her husband and 12-year old son. She has a BA degree in Business Administration from Lehman College and studied Human Resources Practices and Techniques at New York University School of Continuing Education.

Lisa started her career as an accounting coordinator with LaSalle Partners, planning to work towards a CPA certification. She quickly realized, however, that her interests were in the human resources field, and in later positions she has been able to utilize her skills in both human resources and financial management. She is currently Director of Administration and an Associate at Magnusson Architecture and Planning, as well as an equity partner in the firm’s development company, Melrose Associates, which focuses on rebuilding communities with affordable housing.

For fun, Lisa prefers to spend time with family and friends and, in particular, attending her son’s football games as he is one of the starting players. She has recently taken up golf and likes to play once a week, and she also enjoys travel and interior design.

Membership in SDA has many rewards, she says. Members share useful information and are able to offer advice relative to basic day-to-day responsibilities. The various meetings and events organized by the New York Chapter SDA – luncheon round tables, program meetings and other programs, are always inspiring. Lisa is the chair of the Round Table Lunch Committee and last year she joined the Canstruction® Committee and contributed greatly by collecting the major share of the raffle prizes. She finds the Canstruction® team and all the volunteers a remarkable group of people who deserve recognition for their hard work.

A native of New Jersey, Leah Kaplan lives in Hackensack NJ. She graduated from Douglass College of Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies in 1981.

Leah started working at National Reprographics Inc. (NRI) as a summer intern in 1979 while in college, and stayed with them for two summers and one winter session. In August 1981, she started working at NRI full time as a Production Manager trainee and in 1983 she joined their Sales team. Leah has served on the Quality Improvement Team at NRI, was a member of the team that went to the finals of the Association for Quality and Participation’s National Team Excellence Competition, and has been a company Mentor.

Leah plays an active role in the AEC community – she was one of the original members of “Build A Belief – the Design and Building Industry Cares,” the AEC umbrella team for AidsWalk NY, joining other SDA members such as Glenn Wing, Mark Prendergast and the late George Young. In the eight years Leah worked on the committee, the Build A Belief team was always in the Top Ten of the highest fundraising teams in NYC.

With the SDA, Leah has been involved with Canstruction since its inception. In the past 14 years, Leah has worked on her company’s team (often as Captain) and has worked on the event’s organizing committee. She also coordinates all the in-kind donated production work NRI does for Canstruction. In addition, she has been one of Canstruction Executive Director Cheri Melillo’s right hand each fall to help ensure the success of each year’s effort. Not only that, but she is a fantastic resource on all questions about printing and equipment for all SDA members.

Leah serves on the Board of Directors of her Co-op Association. She enjoys going to movies and to see live theater, and she loves to travel. One of her favorite destinations is St Maarten.

Leah is very proud to be an associate member of the SDA. In addition to serving on the Canstruction committee, Leah is on the PR/Marketing committee and writes for the newsletter Skylines. She is one of SDANY’s strongest fundraisers and an indefatigable recruiter for SDA membership by encouraging her customers to avail themselves of the SDA because of the valuable benefits it provides its members.

Let’s make a difference: Leah registered for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, a 39.3 mile walk over two days in October 2007. She is responsible for raising $1,800.

Pat Leyden has worked in the administrative field for over thirty years, in a variety of industries, including legal, market research, building consultancy and architecture, and ended up working for one of the great engineering companies, Flack + Kurtz. She originally worked as the administrative assistant to Norman Kurtz from 1979 through 1984. She rejoined the firm in 1998, was made a Senior Associate in 2004, and a Vice President in 2007 for the New York office employing 240 staff. Pat’s scope of responsibilities ranges widely, from administrative systems to human resources functions, and she is often called upon to handle special projects for the company as a whole. The firm has 400+ employees in the U.S. and is part of the WSP Group of London, an international company of 8000 employees.

A Bronx native now living in Westchester, Pat loves cities and their histories; her hobbies are reading and walking. She is married to Jim Leyden and the mother of Maggie – 22 – who has just completed college; and Michael who’s 18 and will be starting college in the fall. Pat is particularly pleased that her son will be going to school in Chicago, which means that she will have many opportunities to combine visits to him with touring the legendary body of architectural work in that city. A third generation Irish, she is also looking forward to seeing the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Chicago – one of the biggest in the country. (Remember Harrison Ford in The Fugitive?)

When asked what she likes best about the SDA, Pat says that for her, the SDA turned out to be a real growth opportunity; she believes that the immense networking value has enabled her to expand her horizons and she thoroughly enjoys the opportunity to interact with a group of such tremendous professionals. In her career she has found that whatever the industry, the systems and the administrative issues are the same, and the exposure to other industries has been invaluable. But she has a love for the construction field because there you can see the fruits of your labor when the job is done and forever afterwards — a sentiment that I think we all share to a great degree.

Originally the Corresponding Secretary and Program Chair, Pat then became a Vice President and Chair of the Membership Committee and is currently President of the SDA New York Chapter. She participates in all of the organization’s many activities, including the Program Committee and Canstruction®.

Ross Arnel has been an Associate Member of the SDA since 1992, when he and Jennifer Greene were seated at the “children’s table” at Ye Olde Waverly Inn for their first SDA Holiday Party. Since that humble beginning, Ross has been very active in the organization, and there are very few meetings that he has missed in the 15 years he has been a member. In addition to his near-perfect attendance record, he has also presented a number of seminars on employee benefits issues, and organized speakers on health-related subjects such as group health insurance, long term care, flex spending, disability insurance and AFLAC. Ross has been an active member of the Program Committee for over ten years and received the first and only Special Recognition Award in December 2003 “for his generous contributions and years of service to the NY Chapter of the SDA.”

A native of Scarsdale, New York, Ross now lives in Edison, New Jersey with his wife, Chris, and two daughters – Michelle and Samantha. They find Edison a perfect place to raise a family, and Ross can pursue his interest in tennis (he has captained USTA teams) and biking. He is a huge sports fan who also loves going to the theatre and comedy clubs. His favorite occupation is spending time with his family and friends. For several years he was on the Board of Directors of the United Synagogue of Hoboken.

He is a graduate of Widener University in Chester, PA, with a degree in American History. While at college he lettered in tennis for four years and was a radio DJ and had his own comedy program on the radio – the Comical Bank — with a large crowd of regular listeners. For the first few years out of college he worked in retail (at Gimbels as an assistant buyer and then at Wamsutta in sales), but then decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and enter the insurance business. Although his mother said that she would leave them both if they decided to work together, Ross after 7 months with The Equitable did join his father at Mass Mutual — he says he misses his mom, but business is business! Through this work, Ross found a special interest and niche with Employee Benefits, and after five years went out on his own and started Arnel Associates LLC, specializing in serving the design industry, a field he learned to love through his mother’s work as an interior designer. In 1993 he attained the designation of LUTCF (Life Underwriting Training Council Fellow) – a program which he credits with teaching him how to grow his business and to market it successfully.

Ross enjoys sharing his more than 20 years of knowledge in the benefits industry with other members of the SDA. He loves going on the tours, where he has the opportunity to visit new places and buildings and listen to specialists that he would not otherwise meet. He really enjoys the luncheon round tables where so many interesting subjects and issues are discussed. He is looking forward to the next 15 years with the SDA!

Annie Tan graduated from Pratt Institute with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1997. While still in school, she worked for Rogers Marvel Architects as an intern, then took a full-time job there after graduation, where her assignments were primarily model making, site surveying and preparing base drawings. It did not take long for Annie to shift gears and try management – which started with managing the NYC Department of Design and Construction Requirements Contract. With the firm growing rapidly, she soon found herself as the Contract Administrator. In July 2006, Annie made a change in her employer and joined Copper, Robertson & Partners’ accounting department as a Project Accountant. Her employer changed but her life passions did not change, as detailed here.

In 2002, Annie joined Women in Canoe. Founded in 2000, Women in Canoe is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established as a dragon boat club to empower female athletes with the opportunity to develop and improve paddling skills and to compete at an international level. Then, in 2003, she heard about the Society for Design Administration and decided to join. After one year with these organizations, Annie was elected a board member for each, in the SDA she serves as the Recording Secretary. Annie strongly believes that with her dedication and hard work she is able to make significant contributions to each organization. The two are so different, yet share many similarities. The primary goals for both are to educate its members, share knowledge and make a positive difference for the members. The SDA makes a difference by sharing knowledge, and its members help and support each other in the profession of design firm administration. Women in Canoe makes a difference by training its members to lead a healthy lifestyle and to support each other on and off the boat. And both organizations share the passion of making a difference outside its membership.

The SDA created and runs Canstruction, where the creativity of its members is used to raise canned goods to fight hunger. Members of Women in Canoe share the sport of dragon boating with youths (14 – 18 years old), teaching them hard work, commitment and determination. Dragon boating has been described as a floating support group, and Women in Canoe also share the sport with Breast Cancer Survivors (BCS) whose members prove that exercise and a healthy lifestyle help reduce the chances of reoccurrence of cancer. The two organizations build camaraderie amongst its members. They assist each other in struggles, share their strengths and, above all, strive to make a difference in the world. Annie recommends that we all strive to make a difference by being active and sharing our thoughts and knowledge in the SDA, and by volunteering for events such as Canstruction. For more information, visit www.womenincanoe.com, or contact Annie at atan@cooperrobertson.com.

Omar Vega got his first employment in an architectural firm when he joined Beyer Blinder Belle through a temp agency. This was in 1999 and he was looking for a day job to pay for school – Monroe College – where he studied Computer Science at night. Later on, in 2001, he also studied Electronics Computer Technology at Devry University.

From this modest beginning as a temp with the firm, he has never had to look back. With his interest and knowledge of technology he soon became the point person for these services within the office and he was always encouraged to take on additional responsibilities for the firm. For instance, he once shared some information about certification courses in telecommunications with the BBB director of employee relations, the next day he found himself enrolled in the course and on a flight to Dallas!

He got involved in setting up the firm’s Washington, DC office and overseeing the implementation of data and voice network, and soon found himself so busy that he had to get an assistant. He was also encouraged to get engaged in employee relations which now takes up a major portion of his work.

In his spare time, Omar is president of the Adult Ministry of Missionary Church of Christ near his home in the Bronx. There he is, among other endeavors such as playing the drums and conga, involved in making a film about the Prodigal Son, set in the present. Omar believes that his interest and success in the Ministry has been of enormous help and influence in his work in employee relations. Providing services for people such as advocacy, support and guidance has been really meaningful for him.

Omar and his wife Loida have a beautiful son, Justin. When not at work and not involved with church, family and local community affairs, he also plays softball, though it is hard to see how he can find the time, given all his professional and personal commitments.

Since joining SDA, Omar has been an active participant. He is on the Principals’ Breakfast Committee, he hosted a several events at BBB for the SDA including Membership Drive parties and educational programs.