What advice can you offer to someone who is interested in a career in your industry? Earlier in my career, I would sometimes find myself too focused on just the design aspects of a project without taking into account the outside pieces of the project, whether they were constructibility, the clients needs and desires, or designing something that was financially viable. I would recommend anyone working in land development not get stuck in the engineering bubble – talk to clients to see what they need out of a project to make it successful. At DiPrete we like to “walk in our client’s shoes” because we realize that most professionals can handle the engineering design, but what sets us apart, is designing and permitting a project that best meets the clients needs. 

Which project, deal, or transaction was the “game-changer” in the advancement of your career? One of the first projects I managed was called Kettle Point, which is a 40-acre mixed-use development on the East Providence waterfront. It ended up as a mixture of medical office and residential buildings with three different developers ultimately building out the project. It was formally a fuel terminal, so there were remediation concerns and since it was on the Narragansett Bay, storm-water treatment was a major aspect of the design. It was a lot of work to balance the overlapping regulatory requirements and balance the needs of the different developers, but these pieces helped me see the project from many different angles. By finding the balance between the inputs and goals, we ended up with a beautiful, cohesive development that is currently in the final phase of construction. 

What led you to your current profession? From a young age I always had the desire to figure things out, which led me to engineering school. When I started working for an engineering company specializing in land development projects, I found it very interesting to see all the pieces that go into the final product. However, it is the non-engineering aspects of a project that I really enjoy seeing which has since led me to a project management/client services focused role. I enjoy the challenge of seeing the bigger picture of a project.