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Lina Telese joined Jaros, Baum & Bolles in 2015 as General Counsel and is responsible for all legal matters at JB&B. She provides proactive professional advice on critical strategic, legal and internal policy issues. She is part of the executive team, interacting closely with the firm’s partners and providing legal support to the Accounting, Human Resources, Marketing and Information Technology Departments. Ms. Telese is responsible for the firm’s contract negotiations and oversees the firm’s litigation support, risk management, employment and licensing compliance affairs.
Prior to joining JB&B, Ms. Telese was a partner at Zetlin & DeChiara, LLP, a leading national construction law firm. She has more than 20 years of legal experience, including over 15 years in architecture, engineering and construction law, with a targeted focus on construction contract drafting and negotiations for sophisticated building projects. She has counseled clients on general business matters, risk management, professional licensing, corporate organization and ownership transition as well as insurance issues.
Ms. Telese is the past president of the Association of Real Estate Women (AREW) in New York (now CREW NY) and in 2014 received AREW’s Founders’ Award. She remains active in both the local chapter and national network of CREW. Ms. Telese is also a member of the board of directors of the Women Builders Council (WBC) and served as Co-General Counsel of WBC in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2009, 2014 and 2016 Ms. Telese was recognized with WBC’s “Outstanding Women in the Building Industry” award and in 2013 she was recognized as one of the Top Women in Real Estate by Sokol Media, Inc. Ms. Telese was selected for inclusion on the New York Metro Super Lawyers list in 2013. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association and American Bar Association and is admitted to practice law in the States of New York and Connecticut. She is also a member of Legal Counsel Form of the American Council of Engineering Companies national and local chapters, and of the Association of Corporate Counsel She is actively involved in both organizations, and is an Honorary AIA of the State of New York.
Kashif Fakih serves as Regional Director, EMEA at JB&B and has over 15 years of international experience on major projects in the U.S., Middle East, Asia and the UK. Having lived and worked in New York, Dubai and Mumbai, Mr. Fakih has extensive experience in the design, delivery and management of mixed-use developments, master planning, residential, retail, commercial, education and civic projects.
With a client base that includes international developers, architects, private clients and government bodies, Mr. Fakih has developed a reputation for delivering significant value to some of the largest and most complex projects around the world. His knowledge of design programs and the construction life cycle provides clients with simplified innovative solutions at every stage of a project.
Mr. Fakih’s team-oriented approach to design leadership and management underscores his attention to detail as well as his adept use of the latest industry technology, as illustrated in signature projects such as Abu Dhabi Plaza and Msheireb Downtown Doha. Abu Dhabi Plaza in Astana is planned to be one of the most important landmarks in Central Asia. It will have direct access to the Metro, will include 568 apartments, 190 hotel rooms, and 100 serviced apartments as well as a mall and offices. He was also extensively involved in the design of Msheireb Downtown Doha Phase 4, which is located in the downtown area of Qatar’s capital city. The entire project is set to occupy 310,000 sq mt with a total cost of construction amounting to $5.5 billion.
Mr. Fakih holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree and a Masters degree in International Business.
Select projects include:
Joe Muschio serves as a Senior Associate in JB&B’s HVAC Department. With over 35 years of experience, he has led the mechanical engineering team in infrastructure and fit-out projects across a broad spectrum of building types and market sectors, primarily in New York City, including financial institutions, hospitals, residential low- and high-rise projects, cogeneration plant and commercial properties as well as restaurants and dining facilities.
With a special focus on the coordination of design efforts, he has applied his engineering expertise to the efficient layout of equipment rooms, the strategic placement of exterior equipment and routing of duct distribution on a wide range of projects, among them NYU Langone Health, 35 Hudson Yards, the Ford Foundation and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and maintains considerable involvement in construction administration and site observation as well.
Mr. Muschio earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and an active member of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Select projects include:
—Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
Joe Guerrero serves as a Senior Associate at Jaros, Baum & Bolles. Since joining the firm in 2007, he has worked in the Electrical Department on a wide variety of projects, including healthcare facilities, life sciences, high-rise towers and infrastructure upgrades.
Mr. Guerrero has provided essential contributions to the firm’s healthcare and life science projects, among them NYU Langone Health’s Energy Building, as well as capital infrastructure improvements, radiation oncology, campus MEP mitigation projects, and lab renovations in New York City. He has also demonstrated his expertise on high-rise towers, including Two Manhattan West and Towers 3 and 4 of the World Trade Center along with the below-grade parking fit-out.
Mr. Guerrero is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Binghamton University.
Select projects include:
Jonathan Koop joined JB&B in 2012 and currently serves as a Senior Associate. He has designed HVAC systems for a wide variety of building types, including commercial office, educational, healthcare and cultural.
Mr. Koop has led the design and construction administration phases of Trinity Commons, a 27-story owner-occupied and speculative office tower. He has also led the HVAC design for an 11-building expansion to the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México University campus in Mexico City. He has provided design expertise for large-scale infrastructure upgrades, such as the boiler and chiller plants for The Durst Organization at 1133 Avenue of the Americas and the boiler plants at the Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility. He is currently serving as project manager for the new all-electric 343 Madison Avenue office building in New York, NY.
Mr. Koop earned his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Villanova University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York.
Select projects include:
JD DesLoges serves as an Associate Partner at Jaros, Baum & Bolles and is responsible for leading and overseeing electrical teams in both the New York and Boston offices. Originally born in Boston and raised in the Boston area, Mr. DesLoges now resides in New Jersey and splits his time between the two offices on a bi-weekly basis.
Since joining the firm in 2004 and establishing the Boston office’s Electrical Department in 2020, he has managed and led the design of electrical systems for various commercial office occupancy, life science, residential, data center and critical infrastructure projects in both New York and Boston.
Mr. DesLoges has provided expertise on office projects for leading financial institutions, such as Nomura Holding Americas, Barclays Capital and Ziff Brothers Investments in New York. He has led the design of NYC high-rises, such as One Vanderbilt and One Madison Avenue. His experience in the Boston region includes commercial amenity spaces at One Wall Street, 200 Clarendon Street and 890 Winter Street. Mr. DesLoges has also provided critical input for cutting-edge healthcare and life science facilities, such as the base building and fit-out for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s facilities in upstate New York and life science developments at 200 Staples Drive in Framingham, MA, and One Charles Park in Cambridge, MA. His major residential projects include The Greenwich Lane and 111 West 57th Street in New York City and The Brooklyn Tower in Brooklyn, NY.
Mr. DesLoges earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology. He also earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Fairfield University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of New York and Massachusetts as well as being licensed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Missouri.
Select projects include:
John Koch serves as a Partner at JB&B. He has worked as an Electrical Engineer on a wide variety of projects spanning numerous industry sectors, including healthcare, life science, building infrastructure upgrades, commercial office and financial. As part of JB&B’s healthcare team, he has played a significant role on some of the city’s most prestigious and multi-faceted medical centers, including the Memorial Sloan Kettering, Hospital for Special Surgery, and NYU Langone Health campuses in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island.
Mr. Koch’s comprehensive grasp of electrical engineering is complemented by the enthusiasm and expertise with which he applies it to complex design challenges. He is particularly adept at negotiating the balance between addressing a client’s immediate needs and intuiting project needs that may not present themselves for another ten to fifteen years. It’s this commanding sense of the industry and of his craft that has afforded him the ability to factor non-engineering elements into uniquely future-flexible designs. Understanding that the patient experience is central to every healthcare project, he’s a staunch advocate of using building intelligence technologies to provide patients with more control, from adjusting the room temperature and ordering the day’s meals to obtaining diagnosis information or video-chatting with the nurse on call.
As a key player in the firm’s healthcare sector, Mr. Koch has been afforded the opportunity to speak on many national and regional panels, the most recent being ASHE’s PDC Summit in New Orleans on the “The Crossover Medical Office Building”. He has also co-authored articles that have been published in Engineered Systems (ES) as well as HFM Magazine, establishing his voice on an industry-wide level.
Mr. Koch is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the U.S. Green Building Council. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Manhattan University.
Select projects include:
John Carioto serves as a Senior Associate at Jaros, Baum & Bolles and works with the BATC Department on a variety of high-rise office buildings, educational institutions and medical facilities.
Mr. Carioto has taken the lead on the building automation and temperature controls design of commercial building core and shell and fit-out projects, laboratory core and shell and fit-out projects and healthcare fit-out projects. He has applied his expertise toward innovative facilities such as The Shed in New York, and has also assisted JB&B in the construction of major office buildings such as
61 Ninth Avenue. He has also taken the lead on large-scale BMS upgrades and replacements, and supported implementation of analytics projects.
Mr. Carioto is a registered member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Select projects include:
John Stapleton serves as a Senior Associate for JB&B FieldTM. Mr. Stapleton joined the firm in 1993 and is actively involved in the testing and commissioning of critical systems, UPS installations and switchgear. Mr. Stapleton has contributed to many projects in the financial sector.
Mr. Stapleton’s notable projects include the development of many financial institutions, such as several Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs buildings. He has also contributed to multiple Barclays developments in New York and the Royal Bank of Scotland in Stamford, CT.
Mr. Stapleton holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the City University of New York College of Staten Island. He is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
Select Projects
Joëlle Jahn is a Senior Associate leading the JB&B Deep Carbon Reduction Group in the firm’s Boston office. Ms. Jahn has worked closely with clients to provide energy and carbon benchmarking, decarbonization strategy, renewable energy analysis, and broad sustainability consulting for a variety of client types. She brings an ability to organize, analyze, and manage data while leading clients to develop net-zero energy and carbon goals. Ms. Jahn has project management experience on a variety of project types, including master planning, commercial mixed-use, higher education, science & technology, multi-family residential and cultural buildings.
Ms. Jahn has expertise in the Massachusetts Energy Code and its climate action policies, including BERDO and BEUDO. She has led sustainability permitting for over 20 million sq.ft. of real estate in Boston and Cambridge. As part of this work, she has managed decarbonization and district energy studies, envelope performance analysis, electrification strategy and green building certifications. Possessing a variety of green building rating system credentials including WELL, Fitwel, LEED, Living Building Challenge and Passive House, she leverages these frameworks to help project teams develop sustainability and decarbonization solutions that foster a healthy, resilient and equitable built environment.
Ms. Jahn serves as technical advisor to the City of Boston’s Zero Net Carbon Zoning Code and co-chair of the Carbon & Energy Roundtable for Built Environment Plus. She is a published author for the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA), in which her design research seeks to influence passive strategies for climate-responsive emergency shelter design around the world. She has been a guest lecturer and design critic at the BAC, Wentworth, Northeastern School of Architecture, Cornell University, and the Academy of the Arts San Francisco. Ms. Jahn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Design & Analysis from Cornell University and a Master of Design in Energy & Environment degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Select projects include:
* Project experience prior to joining JB&B
Jenny Medovaya joined JB&B in 2025 and serves as a Director in the HVAC Department, where her responsibilities include design and project leadership, technical guidance, creating project strategy, technical guidance to the design team, responsibility for client satisfaction, management and oversight of project design and implementation, quality control reviews, code compliance, specifications, and proactive response to client needs.
She has more than 25 years of experience in the design and construction of healthcare projects, having worked for major healthcare institutions in the New York City region and overseas. Her knowledge of clinical function, expertise in infection control and patient comfort, and expertise with local codes, industry standards, construction operation and DOH requirements have been valued by a wide range of clients.
Ms. Medovaya earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering, at Polytechnic University. She is a licensed professional engineer in the State of New York and is a member of the AMFP Great NYC Association of Medical Facility Professionals as well as the Hospital Engineering Society of Great New York.
Select Projects
* Project experience prior to Joining JB&B
Jeffrey Arcara serves as a Director of Electrical at JB&B. Since joining the firm in 2011, he has led the electrical engineering work, as well as the entire MEP team as the Project Manager, on a wide range of projects, including commercial, residential, hospitality, educational and exhibition spaces. His responsibilities include project management, coordination, design, calculations, field observations and the preparation of construction documents.
Mr. Arcara has led the design effort for numerous complex and technical projects, including The Shed at Hudson Yards, which features an innovative movable structure as well as equally innovative MEP systems designed to support the structure’s flexibility. He is also experienced at navigating challenging technical and code-related issues.
In addition to his project work, he is a leader of the firm’s Knowledge Management & Strategy Team, serving as one of three team members devoted to promoting and utilizing the company’s knowledge assets, and is also Dean of the Electrical College for JB&B University, the firm’s in-house professional development program.
As a co-leader of the Electrical Standards Committee, Mr. Arcara has championed numerous improvements to the firm’s vast database of standard design materials as well as developed measures to enhance efficiency and quality. He has spearheaded the Revit content creation effort for the Electrical Department and is also recognized as a key resource for Revit knowledge at the firm.
Mr. Arcara holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, with a minor in Mathematics, from Bucknell University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York, a LEED Accredited Professional and a member of Urban Green Council.
Select projects include:
Chief Technology Officer
Jay Conti joined the firm in 1989 and serves as Chief Technology Officer at Jaros, Baum & Bolles. He is responsible for the management, strategy and execution of all IT functions within the firm, including directing all IT operations (e.g., support and maintenance of the infrastructure), researching new technology, capital project planning and delivery, application support, and disaster recovery systems and processes.
Mr. Conti graduated from Pratt Institute with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree.
Technical Lead
James McGarity joined Jaros, Baum & Bolles in 2001 and serves as a Technical Leader. Throughout his 40-year professional career, he has served as Project Engineer on a variety of commercial, educational, hospitality and institutional projects in both the public and private sectors.
Considered a trusted advisor by many of the firm’s clients, among Mr. McGarity’s notable projects are One World Trade Center, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center, 30 Hudson Yards and The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards, One Manhattan West and the TWA Hotel and Conference Center at JFK International Airport.
Mr. McGarity attended the State University of New York in Farmingdale as well as the NYU School of Continuing Education. He is a member of the American Society of Professional Engineers (ASPE) and is part of JB&B’s firm-wide technical standards group.
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Associate Partner
James Lin, an Associate Partner at JB&B, has been the leader of the firm’s residential practice since 2015. Tapping into his passion for creative problem solving through practical solutions, he strives to deliver efficient and sustainable buildings that maximize occupant comfort and well-being while achieving the client’s goals for the project. His leadership has enabled JB&B to successfully complete numerous construction projects of various types, including multi-family residential, private residences, office spaces, corporate headquarters, laboratories and luxury hotels.
Since joining the firm in 2001, Mr. Lin’s responsibilities have included HVAC design and project management. He has led numerous high-profile projects for various public and private developments, including the Hudson Yards Redevelopment and 111 West 57th Street in New York City, and the Royal Bank of Scotland in Stamford, CT.
Mr. Lin earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rutgers University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of California, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Delaware and Michigan. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and a Certified Passive House Designer. He is also a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
Select projects include:
Senior Associate, Technologies
JP Nguyen serves as a Senior Associate at Jaros, Baum & Bolles. He joined the firm in 2006 as a Telecommunications Engineer with JB&B Technologies, and throughout his career at JB&B has played a role in the engineering of multiple projects across various sectors, including corporate offices, residential buildings, tourist venues, healthcare facilities and financial institutions. He has worked on numerous high-rise corporate offices, including One World Trade Center and One Vanderbilt, among many others. He also has experience working on healthcare projects such as the MSKCC David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care in New York City and the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Care Center in Yonkers, NY, as well as extensive experience on residential projects, including Sven in Long Island City and The Greenwich Lane and 111 West 57th Street in New York, NY.
Mr. Nguyen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Villanova University.
Select projects include:
Director, HVAC
Gina Semerad serves as a Director of HVAC at JB&B. Since joining the firm in 2008, she has worked on the design of multiple large-scale projects in New York City, with a focus on medical facilities, laboratories and other technically complex spaces. She has worked on numerous projects for NYU Langone Health, including both healthcare and life science sectors.
Ms. Semerad has taken a special interest in the impact of HVAC design on infection control. Her experience on multiple specialty projects has helped her evolve into a healthcare subject matter expert and technical resource for the firm. As a leader of JB&B’s Healthcare Community of Practice, she is involved in the internal design review process for numerous healthcare institutions and provides insight into their needs and trends. Ms. Semerad has worked on multiple projects utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of air flow distribution in existing operating and procedure rooms toward improved patient and healthcare provider safety. She has also helped develop creative solutions during the Covid-19 efforts for numerous large NYC hospitals.
Ms. Semerad earned her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Engineering in Systems Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York and a certified ASHRAE Healthcare Facilities Design Professional. She is currently a member of the ASHRAE Healthcare Technical Committee, ASHRAE SSPC 170 Committee, and contributor to the ASHE Sustainability and Decarbonization Foundations Task Force. She previously served on NYC’s Local Law 97 Hospitals Working Group, focusing on the unique energy demands of healthcare facilities. Since 2015, she has, in memory of her daughter, helped raise over $250,000 for research into safer and more effective pediatric cancer treatments through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
Select projects include:
Senior Associate
David Heimann serves as a Senior Associate at Jaros, Baum & Bolles. He has extensive experience on a wide range of projects, including office buildings, museums, universities, restaurants and exhibition spaces.
Some of Mr. Heimann’s notable projects include the design of electrical infrastructure for cultural institutions and schools, such as Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s Vagelos Education Center, City Tech Academic Building, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center. He has also played an integral role in the campus-style, multi-building development of Hudson Yards, not only in designing the large-scale office building 10 Hudson Yards, but also in integrating the systems connecting all the buildings on the site. In addition, he has designed the redevelopment of the landmarked James A. Farley Building (Moynihan Train Hall).
Mr. Heimann earned his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Binghamton University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York and a LEED Accredited Professional.
Select projects include:
Director, Electrical
Edgar Cortes serves as a Director in the Electrical Department at Jaros, Baum & Bolles. Since joining the firm in 1978, Mr. Cortes has served as the Project Engineer in the Electrical Department on a wide variety of projects in the financial sector as well as corporate headquarters and educational facilities.
Mr. Cortes has contributed his expertise in electrical systems design for major JB&B projects in the financial sector, including JPMorgan’s offices in New York and worldwide; Goldman Sachs’ offices in New York and New Jersey, and the Republic National Bank in Mexico City. Mr. Cortes has also assisted in the construction of premier corporate headquarters such as SOHIO’s corporate headquarters in Cleveland, OH, New York Life Insurance Company’s headquarters in New York City, and 30 Hudson Street in Jersey City, NJ. JB&B has utilized his experience for the construction of educational facilities such as the Jacobs Academic Building and Rogers Hall at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Columbia University Manhattanville campus master planning and central energy plant, Cornell NYC Tech campus central utility plant, as well as the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ. In addition, JB&B has utilized his experience for the construction of speculative office building/facilities such as One World Trade Center and the central electrical service for all of the adjacent stakeholders in New York City.
Mr. Cortes earned his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from City College of New York.
Select projects include:
Senior Associate, Process Engineering
Dan Davis serves as a Senior Associate at JB&B, with a primary focus on life science process engineering. Since joining the firm in 2022, he has been a driver in the firm’s growth in the life sciences industry. He has led the process utility efforts for a cell and gene therapy (CGT) contract development and manufacturing company (CDMO) multi-facility project. In addition to process engineering, he was the project manager for projects that included cGMP plasmid facilities, iPSC labs, PCR labs, and semiconductor telecommunication labs. Mr. Davis has supported previous clients by advising on the tech transfer of a vaccine facility. Prior to joining JB&B, his experience included being a lead and project engineer as an owner’s representative for a greenfield $400M vaccine manufacturing plant, followed by a retrofit of an existing GMP bacterial vaccine plant to a recombinant protein vaccine manufacturing plant utilizing both single-use and stainless steel equipment.
Mr. Davis brings to the firm a unique perspective, having experience both from the design firm side as an engineer and from the owner’s side as an owner’s representative, and has first-hand experience on how design decisions can impact a GMP/GLP facility down the road. This includes how these decisions follow through construction, start-up, commissioning and qualification (C&Q), validation, and operation. In addition to vaccine facilities, he has worked on a continuous manufacturing line for an OSD CMO, and he engineered the support systems for a flexible filling line that won an ISPE FOYA in 2017. Outside of manufacturing, his system ownership has included an entire laboratory process and layout that encompassed areas of analytical sciences, quality assurance, upstream, downstream, and molecular biology for pDNA, transfection, and development.
Mr. Davis earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University. He is engaged in the education community, providing support as a guest industry panelist for student presentations at Howard University and Villanova University.
Select projects include:
*Project experience prior to joining JB&B
Senior Associate
Daniel Colabello serves as a Senior Associate at Jaros, Baum & Bolles. Since joining the firm in 2008, he has been responsible for project management, including coordination, design, calculations, preparation of construction documents, and field observations on high-profile projects in the residential and financial sectors.
Mr. Colabello has experience on projects for top residential buildings, including the residential base building and fit-out for Sven in Queens, 130 West 12th Street, 250 Water Street, 278 Eighth Avenue, 42-02 Orchard Street, 300 East 50th Street, 335 Eighth Avenue, and 760 Madison Avenue, as well as the residential complex base building and fit-out for The Greenwich Lane, all in New York City. He also contributed to projects for major financial institutions such as the ING headquarters relocation, Credit Suisse’s infrastructure upgrades at 11 Madison Avenue and Nomura Holdings America’s infrastructure upgrade, along with major healthcare projects such as Hospital for Special Surgery and Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital, all in New York City, and NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island.
Mr. Colabello earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the New York Institute of Technology. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York.
Select projects include:
Director, Plumbing and Fire Protection
Cristin Lucena serves as a Director of Plumbing and Fire Protection at JB&B. Since joining the firm in 2009, Ms. Lucena has managed a wide range of projects, including commercial offices, residential buildings, educational facilities, hotels and gallery spaces.
Ms. Lucena’s responsibilities include managing the design of plumbing and fire protection systems on large-scale projects, supervising team members, preparing construction documents, and coordinating with clients and other design professionals. Her notable projects include a number of luxury residential projects and cultural institutions, including 15 Hudson Yards, 111 West 57th Street and The Shed.
Ms. Lucena holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Fairfield University. She is an active member of the Plumbing Foundation City of New York as well as of the ACEC New York Plumbing Code Committee.
Select projects include:
Senior Associate
Christopher Pell serves as a Senior Associate with JB&B Field™, a division of JB&B that integrates nine distinct field-related services into a singular comprehensive offering. Since joining the firm in 2016, he has been a driving force behind JB&B Field™’s commissioning service, leveraging his years of experience in oilfield operations to cultivate a diverse portfolio of projects in the vibrant landscape of New York City.
Mr. Pell’s proficiency in building commissioning and related services spans various sectors, encompassing commercial office, life science, healthcare, data center and LEED green building projects. Notably, the projects on which he has managed commissioning activities include 270 Park Avenue, Moynihan Train Hall (Phase 3), One Madison Avenue, West End Labs, various NYU Langone Health locations and the 2.8 million sq.ft. 3 World Trade Center. Drawing on this rich experience, he continues to spearhead JB&B Field™’s commissioning projects across all sectors.
Beyond his technical acumen, Mr. Pell sees JB&B Field™ as a way to bridge the gaps that too often exist between members of construction project teams. Serving as a trusted resource for building Owners and operators, he fosters meaningful relationships to help clients navigate the complexities of constructing and operating new spaces.
During the unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Pell played a pivotal role as a member of the project team for the SUNY Old Westbury Alternate Care Facility. His adept management of onsite field services and design coordination during the one-month design-build showcased his resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity.
Mr. Pell holds a Bachelor of Science degree (cum laude) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah and is a Certified Commissioning Professional with the Building Commissioning Certification Board. In 2020, Mr. Pell was recognized as a top young building commissioning professional by the Building Commissioning Association’s 20 Under 40 program.
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Associate Partner
Christopher Horch joined the JB&B’s HVAC Department in 2002 and now serves as an Associate Partner. His current responsibilities include project management, coordination, design, calculations, field observations and the preparation of construction documents. Mr. Horch has led the design of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems for university, financial, commercial and life science developer and research facility projects worldwide.
He has provided expertise for major life science projects such the Alexandria Center for Life Science, Innolabs, New York Structural Biology and the New York Genome Center. His experience at JB&B includes work on major financial institutions, including various sites for major financial clients in New York and New Jersey. His developer building and infrastructure experience includes One Vanderbilt, 460 West 34th Street, TWA Hotel at JFK International Airport and 1212 6th Avenue. He has assisted JB&B with the construction of premier research facilities, such as cyclotron projects at both NYU Langone Health and Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Mr. Horch earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and is a licensed Professional Engineer; a LEED Accredited Professional; and a Certified Energy Auditor. He is a member of ASHRAE, a member of the Young Professionals Committee of the New York Building Congress, a member of the NYC Builds Bio+ Life Sciences Committee, and a member of the New York City Mechanical Code Committee. Mr. Horch also serves as an Expert Peer Review Committee member for the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).
Select projects include:
Senior Associate
Christopher Hsu serves as a Senior Associate at JB&B. Since joining the firm in 1986, he has acted as the Project Manager on a wide variety of projects, including high-rise towers, educational facilities and financial offices.
Mr. Hsu’s expertise on high-rise towers includes infrastructure upgrades to 32 Avenue of the Americas and 55 Water Street as well as the construction of the Taishin Bank Tower in Taipei, Taiwan and Tower 3 of the World Trade Center in New York City. He contributed his expertise to the construction of PSAC II, a critical operation facility for New York City 911 Call Center, and has provided critical input for educational facility projects, including the Sterling Memorial Library renovation, the new Music Library at Yale University in New Haven, CT, and Sunset Park High School in Brooklyn, NY. Mr. Hsu has also worked on offices for leading financial institutions, such as UBS’s offices at 1285 Avenue of the Americas in New York City, UBS’s Stamford Forum offices in Stamford, CT, and offices for the McGraw-Hill Companies in New York City.
Mr. Hsu is a certified Occupational Safety and Health Conductor in both Construction and Manufacturing by the Department of the Interior, Republic of China. He earned his A.S.E.E. from the National Chin-Yi Industrial College in Taiwan, Republic of China.
Select Projects
Partner
Chris Colasanti is committed to a philosophy of building system design that maximizes best practice in efficiency and sustainability while contributing to the ongoing health and well-being of the building’s users. He has applied this philosophy on a wide range of building typologies, among them a new hospital for NYU Langone Health, The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards, and the Museum of Modern Art expansion as well as “firsts” such as the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, NYC’s first LEED Platinum building. His approach in each of these has been idea-driven, challenging the status quo, with an awareness of the built environment as a complex organism. Mr. Colasanti leads the Deep Carbon Reduction Group at JB&B, which maintains a comprehensive focus on delivering energy- and carbon-reduction solutions for clients to meet the rapidly changing policy requirements in New York and beyond through effective energy-efficiency and capital improvement strategies.
Mr. Colasanti earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, is a LEED Accredited Professional, and is a Certified Energy Auditor of the Association of Energy Engineers.
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Director, Building Automation and Temperature Controls
Bruno Franceschini serves as Director of Building Automation and Temperature Controls at JB&B. Since joining the firm in 1989, he has specialized in the design of building automation systems as well as their installation and operation. His designs have integrated complex individual systems, such as lighting, security, vertical transportation, SCADA and fire alarms, into key centralized systems.
Mr. Franceschini earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree from Polytechnic Institute of New York. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York and a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional as well as a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
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Partner
Brian Towers joined Jaros, Baum & Bolles in 2000 and became a Partner in 2022. He has acted as Project Engineer and Project Manager on a wide variety of complex engineering projects. His experience includes large data center facilities, offices for major financial institutions and high-rise towers.
Mr. Towers’ leadership has helped establish the firm as a premier construction firm for data center facilities. He has worked on a wide range of data center projects, including Morgan Stanley, zColo, Telehouse and Sullivan & Cromwell. Mr. Towers has also worked as Project Manager on assignments to create large office spaces for major financial institutions in Jersey City, NJ and Lower Manhattan. He has experience leading design and construction of high-rise towers, such as 30 Hudson Yards, 2 World Trade Center and the 7 Bryant Park office tower.
Mr. Towers holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is LEED Accredited Professional and a licensed Professional Engineer in Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and New York.
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Director, Energy Analysis, Deep Carbon Reduction Group
Brian McKinney brings to the firm considerable experience in providing modeling services and design support for a wide array of high-profile and high-performance buildings. Prior to his career in building analysis, he worked as an architectural designer, with a focus on improving the quality of low-income housing. With a strong background in energy analysis, daylight analysis, thermal comfort studies and life cycle assessment, his career has arced toward a specialization in buildings that successfully integrate high performance in energy consumption, carbon emissions, occupant comfort, and client financial objectives.
Since coming to JB&B, Brian’s primary focus has been in starting and developing the energy modeling practice at the firm. As the first energy modeler with the Deep Carbon Reduction Group, he has played a key role in defining the work the team does and in creating the means and methods to do it. He continues to spearhead the analysis and development of new ideas, strategies, and technologies within the firm, applying them to his work on a wide range of projects in healthcare, life science, commercial, and residential spaces.
Brian has a Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and an ASHRAE Building Energy Modeling Professional (BEMP).
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* Project experience prior to joining JB&B
Associate Partner
Charlie Murphy serves as an Associate Partner at JB&B, where he heads up the firm’s Boston office. His leadership of JB&B’s Science & Technology/Life Science Community of Practice has established him as a point person with major life science clients and made him an instrumental part of the firm’s expansion in Massachusetts.
With a career originating in New York City, some of his notable projects include NYU Langone Health’s Science Building and Cure at 345 Park Avenue South. Charlie’s passion for sustainability and a low-carbon future has inspired him to push the envelope on traditional design and develop unique solutions for each of his projects, including the design of low-carbon buildings.
Mr. Murphy is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, and is a LEED Accredited Professional. He is currently a member of the ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.10 (Laboratory Systems), I2Sl and NAIOP Massachusetts. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Loyola University Maryland.
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Senior Associate
Ariton Popinara serves as a Senior Associate at Jaros, Baum, & Bolles, where he has worked on a wide range of projects, including commercial office and residential developments, exhibition spaces, multi-building campus infrastructures, and airports.
Among his more notable projects are The New Terminal One at John F. Kennedy International Airport, JPMorgan Chase’s new headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, and the Hudson Yards Redevelopment, including 10, 20 and 35 Hudson Yards. His expertise is also evident in the firm’s work on various airport traffic control towers across the United States for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Mr. Popinara earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Science from the College of
Staten Island. He is a LEED Accredited Professional.
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Director, Technologies
Beth Muller serves as Director, Information Technology at JB&B, working in technology design and project management with JB&B Technologies. Ms. Muller’s projects span across multiple market sectors, though specializing in healthcare, life sciences and research centers. Some of her most recent projects include NYU Langone Health’s Kimmel Pavilion, Science Building, Smilow Research Center and Center for Women’s Health; Jefferson Health Honickman Center; and Columbia University’s Jerome L. Greene Science Center.
Her wide-ranging experience in other market sectors includes education centers, financial institutions, museums, hotels, resorts and public transportation projects, including the design of the Department of Transportation’s office at 55 Water Street, Moynihan Train Hall and the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art. Ms. Muller is also experienced with designing world-renowned hotels and resorts such as Baha Mar Resort in Nassau, the Bahamas.
Ms. Muller is a Registered Communications Distribution Designer and a certified RFID Associate. She earned a Master of Science Degree in Project Management from George Washington University. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Facilities Planning and Design and Management from the School of Architecture at the University at Buffalo. In 2017, Ms. Muller was recognized by the Women’s Builders Council as an Outstanding Woman in Building and holds an executive committee position on the National Board for the Women in Healthcare Organization.
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Partner
Anthony Montalto serves as a Partner at JB&B. Since joining the firm in 2002, he has been involved as a Partner-in-Charge and Project Manager on numerous commercial office and healthcare projects, with a special focus on the life science sector for both academic and commercial laboratory projects. Some of his notable academic projects include NYU Langone Health’s Science Building, along with various other major campus renovation projects, as well as projects with Columbia University Irving Medical College, SUNY’s Downstate and Cobleskill academic campuses, and CUNY’s Fiterman Hall. He also served as Partner-in-Charge for the Weill Cornell Medicine campus, including the new Belfer Research Building and various other campus renovations. Other commercial laboratory projects on which Mr. Montalto served as the Partner-in-Charge include New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute, Cure at 345 Park Avenue South, Hudson Research Center at 619 West 54th Street, and West End Labs. Among other notable projects are Moynihan Train Hall, 61 Ninth Avenue and the One Madison Avenue redevelopment.
Mr. Montalto is genuinely engaged in putting a human face on engineering in both the community and the classroom. He is a co-founder of the firm’s in-house professional development program, JB&B University, and has a longstanding association with Habitat for Humanity, of which he is currently a board chair for NYC and Westchester. He headed up the design/construction peer review team for Habitat’s Sydney House project, a multi-family project located in Bronx, NY, the largest in the organization’s history, and also serves on the Real Estate Council and gala planning committee.
Mr. Montalto holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering at Villanova University, and is co-founder of the Cross-Learning Alliance, a collaborative educational initiative among ASHRAE New York, AIA New York and Urban Green Council. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in a dozen U.S. states and a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional.
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President, JB&B Environmental
Al Barba joined JB&B in September 2021 as President of the newly formed JB&B Environmental. He brings over 34 years of progressive leadership and management within a customer-oriented technical sales and service industry based on chemical and environmental engineering. His unique combination of skills includes a strong technical background with multiple professional and technical licenses and accreditations as well as direct sales and sales management expertise.
A consummate team builder with a focus on water systems design, implementation, quality and compliance, he has worked with clients at all levels of their organizations to implement programs with respect to the long-term operation and life cycle of client assets in the healthcare, commercial, residential high-rise, institutional, data center and manufacturing vertical markets. He has worked extensively in the New York metro, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S., as well as in Canada, with many different organizations, large and small, to bring value to their operations as a trusted advisor.
In his role with JB&B Environmental, Mr. Barba will be developing and growing the firm’s newest business line in Environmental Consulting Services focused on quality and compliance for two of our most vital natural resources: water and air. These essential services will include water and air quality testing; third-party oversight of program implementation; and a focus on keeping our valued clients’ water and air systems operating safely, efficiently, and in compliance with local, state and federal codes as well as extending their systems’ useful life.
Al Barba has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union School of Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Environmental Engineering in the State of New York, a Certified Water Technologist with the Association of Water Technology, and a LEED Green Associate. He obtained HACCP certification from NSF for Water Management Plans aligned with ASHRAE 188P; holds Certified Pesticide Applicator licenses in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut; and is a Certified Pesticide Applicator trainer in the State of New York. He has received numerous awards for sales and management excellence.
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*Project experience prior to joining JB&B
Senior Vice President, HR
As Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Jaros, Baum & Bolles, Aimee Totaro serves as a strategic business partner and advisor to the firm and is responsible for setting the people and organizational strategy. She plays a key role as a change agent by enhancing the firm’s culture, fostering and growing a diverse talent base and expanding professional development programs.
Ms. Totaro graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and has worked as a human resources professional within the technology, market research and professional services industries.
JB&B has a solid range of experience in the design of MEP infrastructure upgrades across market sectors and building types, from office buildings of all sizes to critical operations centers and data centers, sensitive healthcare facilities, and residential and cultural facilities. Tapping into our knowledge base of older building systems as well as state-of-the-art building technologies, we hone our focus toward optimal building operations and sustainability. The key to a successful building infrastructure upgrade is astute recognition of the limitations a project poses: tight operating conditions, maintaining building operations during the upgrade, compatibility with legacy systems, code upgrades, and the maintainability of the new system. JB&B’s reputation for acute analysis and expert execution has kept us at the cutting edge of the upgrade services sector.
JB&B has been responsible for the design of numerous interior spaces, including trading floors, amenity spaces and office technology spaces. JB&B provides an engineering staff with a proven record of innovative design and experience in the latest techniques of energy conservation, system technology, and fire and life safety systems, as well as the expertise to balance the technical and sustainability requirements of an interior space with the comfort of the people who will be living and working in it.
Director of Finance
Roberto Acosta serves as Director of Finance at Jaros, Baum & Bolles. His responsibilities include providing the firm with strategic financial planning, forecasting, analysis of firm operations and performance, and striving for excellent service to clients and the JB&B team.
He has worked as Controller in the AEC Industry in New York City. His creative, analytic, and inclusive approach have allowed him to be a strategic thought leader by focusing on economic drivers, their impact on a firm’s success, and the well-being of the team.
Mr. Acosta received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and holds an MBA from the University of Illinois.
JB&B’s decades of data center expertise are being applied to meet the demands of today’s AI-driven, high-density computing environments, where liquid cooling is making a comeback. As facilities transition from air to water-cooled systems, our team provides the technical leadership, innovation, and carbon-conscious design needed to navigate challenges in power, HVAC, and utility coordination. From retrofitting legacy enterprise data centers to future-proofing colo facilities, our deep experience ensures performance, scalability, and sustainability remain at the forefront.
JB&B provides state-of-the-art engineering design for everything from gymnasiums to dormitories, from K-12 to higher education facilities. Along with its singular vision combining quality with sustainability and comfort, JB&B approaches academic projects with a gut instinct for how engineering solutions can support the learning process, and its designs are fine-tuned to create an environment—with just the right lighting and just the right audiovisual services—conducive to an occupancy requiring not only comfort but focus.
JB&B’s hospital and healthcare experience ranges from small community hospitals and clinics to large complex medical centers, expansions and renovations of older hospitals, and the design of over 8,000 bed spaces. JB&B provides an engineering staff with a proven record of innovative design, experience in the latest techniques of laboratory safety, energy conservation, system technology, fire and life safety systems, as well as the necessary expertise to handle the magnitude and complexity of any project.
With its proven record of innovative design and reputation for quality, JB&B has applied its unique engineering talents to millions of square feet of hospitality projects, from resorts and casinos to hotels and restaurants, from Midtown Manhattan to the Caribbean. JB&B engineers recognize the delicate interplay of comfort and safety concerns intrinsic to hospitality projects, and apply their vast experience in system technology and energy conservation toward designs that, hospitable in their own way, are user-, client- and environment-friendly.
JB&B has a wide range of experience in the transportation sector, from the original TWA Flight Center at JFK International Airport to the Transit Hall at the World Trade Center. JB&B provides an engineering staff with a proven record of innovative design, experience in the latest techniques of safety, energy conservation, system technology, fire and life safety systems, as well as the necessary expertise to handle the magnitude and complexity of any project.
With its proven record of innovative design and reputation for quality, JB&B has applied its unique engineering talents to an extensive range of retail and restaurant projects, from high-end boutiques to shopping meccas with major-name anchor stores, and from exclusive four-star bistros to food tourist favorites. JB&B engineers recognize the delicate interplay of comfort, safety and aesthetic concerns intrinsic to retail/restaurant projects, and apply their vast experience in system technology and energy conservation toward designs that whet the appetite for user-, client- and environment-friendly spaces.
JB&B has an impressive portfolio of pre-eminent residential projects, ranging from private residences to large-scale condo conversions and high-rise residential towers. With their command of cutting-edge technologies and innate sense of exactly what a project demands, JB&B engineers approach residential projects with an aim toward balancing the practical requirements of the built environment with the primary requirement that it’s an environment in which people will be living—comfortably and safely.
JB&B’s museum and cultural projects are as varied as the arts they support, from multi-use performance venues and premier art museums to natural history institutions and public art installations. JB&B engineers apply their comprehensive grasp of state-of-the-art technologies to the unique engineering issues raised by cultural projects, where, along with occupant comfort, there are added concerns about the presentation and preservation of artworks and artifacts. This pushes the engineering envelope beyond our usual standards for efficiency, safety and sustainability and demands new ways of thinking through areas such as lighting, ventilation, and temperature and humidity control. In some cases the building itself is considered a work of art, and our engineering team is fully conversant with the special regulations and code mandates for landmarked architecture. JB&B excels at cultural projects because it considers engineering an art.
JB&B has provided the design for millions of square feet of low- and high-rise commercial office buildings both in the United States and around the world, assembling top-notch teams of engineering professionals fully conversant in the unique challenges of high-rise engineering to create structures that honor both the safety and comfort needs of their occupants. With a strong focus on client-friendly design solutions and a firm commitment to sustainability, JB&B taps into its vast experience with the latest in energy conservation techniques and life safety systems to create a balanced built environment from subcellar to observation deck.
JB&B has been responsible for the design of numerous amenity spaces for commercial office, residential and mixed-use buildings, including fitness and wellness centers, business centers, game rooms and outdoor terraces. JB&B’s engineering staff leverages its innate sensibility for innovative design with well-grounded experience in energy conservation, system technology, and life safety systems to provide designs that address the unique technical and sustainability requirements of amenity projects, applying quality engineering to quality-of-life spaces.
JB&B has over 50 years experience in the airport and transportation sector, from Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center to The New Terminal One at JFK International Airport. JB&B provides an engineering staff with a proven record of innovative design, experience in the latest techniques of safety, energy conservation, system technology, fire and life safety systems, as well as the necessary expertise to handle the magnitude and complexity of any project.
JB&B has been responsible for the design of numerous amenity spaces for commercial office, residential and mixed-use buildings, including fitness and wellness centers, business centers, game rooms and outdoor terraces. JB&B’s engineering staff leverages its innate sensibility for innovative design with well-grounded experience in energy conservation, system technology, and life safety systems to provide designs that address the unique technical and sustainability requirements of amenity projects, applying quality engineering to quality-of-life spaces.
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