Director of Real Estate Development

Clover Development in Buffalo, NY

Jul 2022 — Jan 2023

(Laid off for financial reasons.) Led a national team of development professionals responsible for growth of Clover’s market-rate senior living apartment portfolio, including market research, site selection, due diligence, design, entitlements, permitting, and financial approval processes for all new land acquisitions, closely coordinating their work with civil engineers, architects, and in-house construction staff and legal counsel.

• Reigned in $4M in uncontrolled and untracked spending by instituting financial reporting tools and new contracting protocols that enhanced accountability and financial decision-making.
• Completely modernized Clover’s project management system, replacing a series of spreadsheets with a fully-integrated SharePoint platform, including a site submission and approval portal, a project tracking interface, and a project schedule tool.
• Developed and deployed interactive, automated project portfolio dashboard and reporting tools, leveraging real-time project data to create meaningful visualizations to inform C-suite decision-making.
• Authored a comprehensive operational manual that closed widespread policy and procedure gaps and mitigated material weaknesses in internal controls.
• Resurrected and stabilized 3 development projects that were on the brink of failure, resolving contractual disputes, design errors, and financial miscalculations.
• Quickly diagnosed fatal flaws in 2 development projects resulting in their immediate termination, avoiding millions of dollars in additional pursuit costs.

Senior Program Manager & Internal Auditor

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Buffalo, NY & Washington, DC

Aug 2015 — Jul 2022

Developed and managed national quality assurance audit and compliance programs for an $8B medical and cemetery construction program and $6B leasing program. Provided guidance on capital project management policy and procedures, and supported development of enterprise governance, including metrics development, risk analysis, and structured and repeatable reporting procedures. Trained dozens of construction management professionals on balancing the technical aspects of project delivery with personnel and customer service responsibilities.
• Achieved savings of over $100M by emergently intervening to vastly improve execution of numerous construction contracts from New York, NY, to Honolulu, HI, valued up to $206M.
• Successfully delivered 45 complex performance audits and internal reviews of construction, lease, and service contracts and internal controls, exposing and leading to the correction of operational inefficiencies, programmatic weaknesses, policy gaps, and fraud risk.
• Devised plan to unite VA’s 19 separate capital asset, construction, leasing, and facilities management components under a single command to optimize operations for 25K employees and $100B in capital infrastructure.
• Managed on-time, on-budget delivery of a $24M cemetery construction project.
• Facilitated turnaround and stabilization of a failing $105M mental health clinic construction contract by assigning responsibilities for deficiencies and improving team communications.
• Led audits on behalf of VA Office of Inspector General, such as an exhaustive analysis and documentation of findings associated with nine separate allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse for two separate hospital construction contracts totaling $180M.

Senior Urban Planner & Development Manager

U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in Washington, DC

Mar 2012 — Aug 2015

Oversaw capital/facility planning, master planning, physical security, architectural design, entitlement and permitting, and interagency coordination activities for a 96M-square-foot real estate portfolio. Steered efforts in cradle-to-grave management of multi-million-dollar professional services contracts.

• Modernized and managed a design quality control program that processed 2K renovation and new construction design packages annually through architectural, engineering, environmental, planning, and historic preservation approvals by 18 multidisciplinary subject matter experts.
• Managed 3 campus master plan contracts totaling $5.9M for 540 acres of federal land for the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Secret Service, translating programmatic needs into cost-conscious development frameworks.
• Co-led a multimillion-dollar subterranean metro rail station flood mitigation initiative in partnership with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
• Presented development projects before the National Capital Planning Commission and similar bodies, consistently achieving approval with compelling presentations and reasoned arguments.
• Shaped 5 major physical security design projects for agency headquarters buildings in Washington, DC, as GSA’s lead physical security design subject matter expert, applying latest methods and technologies to balance safety, aesthetics, and pedestrian/vehicle circulation.
• Presented at numerous industry forums hosted by the American Planning Association, American Institute of Architects, U.S. Department of Defense, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Urban Planner

U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in Washington, DC

Jan 2011 — Mar 2012

Provided organizational and project-level support and leadership on the technical processes of land development and used best practices to optimize projects’ physical form and economic impacts. Served as a liaison between the federal government and external stakeholders and acted as a subject matter expert to federal, state, and local government offices, transit agencies, business improvement districts, and private businesses on the planning, design, and construction phases of real property development projects that in any way involve or affect federal property or operations.
• Improved project outcomes and eliminated entitlement approval delays by co-developing the agency’s first regional planning division, authoring and instituting policies and practices.
• Resurrected a $3.6M federal courthouse physical security project after controversy stopped all work by facilitating a collaborative, consensus-based redesign with the community and federal stakeholders to achieve a now-much-celebrated solution.
• Led a detailed review of a $330M agency headquarters construction project which identified $3M in deficient work; subsequently managed correction of said deficiencies.
• Established and led a license and easement program granting non-federal entities use of federal land for roadways, sidewalks, vehicle access gates, and transit and utility infrastructure.
• Co-authored report, standards, and design criteria for large-scale, high-visibility physical security infrastructure projects at federal facilities in downtown Washington, DC.

Presidential Management Fellow (PMF)

U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in Washington, DC

Jun 2009 — Jan 2011

The PMF Program is a comprehensive leadership development program for advanced degree holders that involved completion of 160 hours of training and numerous developmental assignments.

• Drove 90+ instructional briefings with regional, county, and municipal officials on competitive grant applications and creation/implementation of sustainable planning initiatives.
• Launched a regional Planning Division by creating and publishing a compelling business case video that prompted GSA executives to establish this first-of-kind business unit.
• Achieved cost savings by co-authoring a business study of alternative financing options for land acquisitions, prompting reforms that enabled GSA to realize once-overlooked solutions.
• Improved conditions in the most distressed U.S. cities on a White House working group to prepare and implement housing, transportation, and workforce development plans.

Master of Regional Planning

Cornell University

Jul 2007 — May 2009

B.A. in English; Minor in Environmental Design

University at Buffalo

Jul 2003 — May 2007

Magna Cum Laude | Advanced Honors