Urban recently announced that the Leadership Circle Class of 2011 will include the following initiatives, which will continue the firm’s goal of “Formulating Excellence® .” The Leadership Circle was established several years ago to provide opportunities for emerging leaders to pilot initiatives that are important to the individual and Urban.

Paul Dionisio, PE, will lead the “Design-n’ NYC Initiative” with the goal of developing Urban’s plan to land and commence design assignments in New York City. He will engage staff to aggressively pursue design work by enhancing Urban’s Client Database (Deltek compatible); assembling and screening present design project descriptions and resumes, and focusing them to target design work; and engaging clients through a visitation program, showcasing key talent with mini-seminars, technical papers, and presentations.

The “Centralize Design Project Schedule Management Initiative” will be undertaken byPeter Yilanjian, PSP. This initiative will establish centralized design project schedule management procedures to provide a standard, yet dynamic, product suited to internal and external client requests. The product will share specific, important project knowledge to all project owners, and provide added value and understanding of project status, allowing for proper forecasting and planning regarding anticipated workload.

Matin Haghkar will head-up the “E-Project Filing Initiative,” which aims to improve the way Urban files and organizes projects electronically. E-Project Filing will create one project directory template that can be applied to all disciplines at Urban.

Avi Lebovic, EIT, LEED® AP, will lead an “Ethics Initiative,” which aims to further elevate professional ethics at the firm. This effort will also look to promote the firm’s corporate social responsibility efforts, such as the Green Committee, ESOP food drive, youth mentorship, etc.

The “Social Media Outreach Initiative” will be Cody Lowry’s project. The goal of this effort is to determine the most effective way to integrate social media to achieve Urban’s strategic business goals, in addition to identifying and expanding on the potential benefits of social media to our business.