Build Better with Anastasia Barnes

On season 4, episode 3 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talks with Sarah Tarbet, senior associate at Jones Architecture, and Jennifer Burton, senior project manager for the Office of Planning at the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance (or DCAMM) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Tarbet and Burton share more about a project currently underway at Massasoit Community College...

On season 4, episode 2 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Amin Najjar, CEO of Sustainable Buildings at Veolia North America. Veolia's mission is to resource the world, helping its customers address their environmental and sustainability challenges in energy, water and waste.  Najjar talks about how Veolia is helping companies improve energy efficiency, including upgrading the building...

On season 4, episode 1 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talks with Dr. Aisha Francis, the president and CEO of Franklin Cummings Tech in Boston. In 2021, she became the first female president in the more than 100-year history of the college. Dr. Francis believes in the ability of effective organizations and well-supported individuals to transform underserved communities for the better. She s...

On season 3, episode 4 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Luciana Burdi, director of capital programs & environmental affairs at Massport, to discuss her journey, the challenges she's overcome as a woman in a male-dominated industry, and her vision for the future of commercial construction. Additionally, Burdi talks about how Massport has tackled challenges in the wake of the COVID pa...

Teach to Work: Equipping the Next Generation of Young Professionals On season 3, episode 3 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Patty Alper, president of marketing and consulting company Alper Portfolio Group. She is working to address the workforce shortage in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries by educating students through mentorships and meaningful on-the-job...

In Season 3, episode 2 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Christopher Grallert, president of Green City Growers, a company whose mission is to provide inspiring shared experiences for employees, customers, and community members that educate and enable people to grow food sustainably. Grallert shares more about how the team at Green City Growers is furthering their goal of creating inc...

On season 3, episode 1 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talks with Matt O'Malley, the first-ever chief sustainability officer for Vicinity Energy. He discusses Vicinity's Clean Energy Future, Net Zero Carbon plan, and how the company is working with its customers, communities, and local government to decarbonize its operations across the country and reduce the impact of the energy sector on...

On season 2, episode 16 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talks with Reverend Jeffrey Brown, co-founder of My City at Peace and associate pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, and Tom O'Brien, founding partner and CEO of The HYM Investment Group . They recently presented a proposal to the City of Boston for Parcel 3 in Roxbury that would set an example of a truly diverse and equitable...

On season 2, episode 15 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Marc Margulies, principal and senior partner at Margulies Peruzzi , and Joe Finn, president and executive director of the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance . They are working to change the ways in which homelessness is addressed in Massachusetts, something that continues to be a complex issue and one that demands immedi...

On season 2, episode 14 of the Build Better Podcast, Anastasia welcomes Meredith Sandland, co-author of the book, "Delivering the Digital Restaurant." Previously, she served as the chief development officer at Taco Bell, and as the COO of Kitchen United.  Sandland has created and driven disruptive growth at both Fortune 100 and start-up companies, and has spent a decade navigating changing consume...

On season 2, episode 13 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talks with Marc Perras, associate principal at Jones Architecture , and Jon Rossini, project manager at Bond Building Construction , about the new $23 million, 33,000sf building for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) , located on Main Street in Brockton, Mass. The building is the Commonwealth...

On season 2, episode 12 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Barry Reaves, the Boston Planning & Development Agency 's (BPDA) first ever director of diversity, equity, and inclusion. He is responsible for the development and oversight of the BPDA's racial equity and diversity priorities, and works to establish collaborative partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to foster...

On season 2, episode 11 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talks with Edward Palleschi, the undersecretary for the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Palleschi instituted OCABR's Licensee Recognition Program, which highlights businesses licensed or registered in Massachusetts. He shares more about the program, and the companies tha...

On season 2, episode 10 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Jason Jewhurst, partner and principal at Bruner/Cott Architects , and Patrick McKenna, senior project manager at Community Solutions, to talk about the adaptive reuse conversion of the former Swift Gold Leaf Factory in Hartford, Conn. Jewhurst and McKenna share how they reimagined the factory into a venue generating opportunit...

On season 2, episode 9 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talks with Scott Burnham . He is an author, entrepreneur, consultant, and founder of Reprogramming the City, a global initiative encouraging cities to repurpose and reuse existing urban assets to improve quality of life and ecological health.   With the recognition that adaptive reuse is an important approach to sustainability and addre...

On season 2, episode 8 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Pascale Sablan, associate at Adjaye Associates in New York City, and the founder and executive director of Beyond the Built Environment , an organization that addresses the inequitable disparities in architecture and within communities most underserved by the profession. Sablan talks about the importance of representation, and...

On season 2, episode 7 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Dan Diehl, CEO of Aircuity , a company providing accurate ventilation for healthy and sustainable buildings. He talks about the ways both new and existing building projects can have a focus on energy efficiency while prioritizing indoor air quality, and how the pandemic has fast-tracked this important issue, with owners and CEO...

On season 2, episode 6 of the Build Better podcast , Anastasia welcomes Rohan Freeman, founder and president of The Freeman Companies , a multi-disciplinary engineering design and construction services firm in Connecticut.   In 2014, he established the UCONN School of Engineering "Freeman Companies BRIDGE Endowed Engineering Scholarship," to support minority and female students with an interest in...

On season 2, episode 5 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Lisa Ulbrich, vice president for Commodore Builders, a construction management firm based in Boston. In addition to her career in construction, Lisa is passionate about addressing alcohol and substance use disorder. She is a certified interventionist and executive recovery coach, and has personal experience with overcoming addi...

On season 2, episode 4 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talks with Emily Soloby, founder of Juno Jones and co-owner of the AAA School of Trucking . In addition to designing work boots and gear specifically for women, Emily is passionate about advancing women in nontraditional fields.   She started the community, Hazard Girls , a positive and inclusive group of women who connect to support an...

On season 2, episode 3 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Bolanle (Bola) Williams-Olley. Bola is a partner and the chief financial officer at architectural firm Mancini Duffy, the founder of the SheBuilds Movement, and a mom of two. As a CFO, Bola is setting an example for women in the AEC industry. She talks about her passion for giving back and her advice for those wanting to make a...

In the second episode of season two, Anastasia talks with Yiselle Santos Rivera, a senior medical planner and the director of equity, diversity, and inclusion at HKS Architects ' Washington D.C. office. Yiselle is the co-founder of  Latin American Interior Designers, Engineers and Architects  (LA.IDEA), and the founder of Women Inspiring Emerging Leaders in Design (WIELD). She shares her thoughts...

In the first episode of the second season of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Julia Gamolina, founder and editorial director of Madame Architect , a platform highlighting women that advance the practice of architecture from all backgrounds, levels, and corners of the field. She is also the director of strategy for Trahan Architects in New York City.   To date, Julia has published over...

On episode 26 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Tyler Shannon, architect and data scientist, and Kate Bubriski, director of sustainability and building performance at Arrowstreet. Shannon and Bubriski joined Anastasia to talk about the Living with Heat report that was published in November of 2019. The project was led by the ULI Boston/New England Climate Resilience Committee, whose...

In episode 25 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomes Dan Titus, CEO of HRP Associates, an environmental consulting firm headquartered in Farmington, Conn. As more AEC professionals begin returning to their places of work during the pandemic, Titus helps break down the requirements and recommendations for safe workplaces and offers guidance on effective protocols for staying in compliance...