Case Studies Region: Northeast

Nicholas Crupi has a favorite way of describing his department, and it is not the kind of line you expect from a facilities director. He calls it Noah’s Ark. Walk through the boiler rooms and mechanical closets of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools, and you will find two of nearly everything: spare pumps, backup systems, […]

On a Tuesday afternoon at Macopin Middle School, a cluster of students who once dreaded the school day now race through the hallway to beat the bell — not for gym class or lunch, but for a converted woodshop humming with monitors, headsets, and the sound of friendly trash talk. The room used to smell […]

There is a phrase locals use to describe Baltimore that Will McCullough has heard more times than he can count: Smalltimore. The idea is simple — in a city where industries overlap and careers span decades, nearly everyone eventually crosses paths with everyone else. For McCullough, vice president at Gold and Company, that observation is […]

Dean Donati understands that facilities management is not simply about buildings. It is about people, consistency, and trust. At RiverWoods Manchester, a continuing care retirement community in New Hampshire, that perspective carries added weight because the physical environment is inseparable from residents’ quality of life. His role demands both operational rigor and emotional intelligence, balancing […]

On many campuses, the most visible changes are the ones people notice immediately. A renovated building opens its doors. A redesigned space suddenly becomes part of a student’s daily routine. New construction reshapes the skyline and creates excitement across the institution. What often goes unnoticed is the extensive coordination taking place before construction crews ever […]

One Christmas, Danny Pineda received a gift card—not for himself, but for his dogs. It came from a client. That a client remembered the dogs says something about the kind of relationship Pineda builds, and something about the kind of work he does. At S. Donadic Inc., a high-end residential general contracting firm specializing in […]

A high school counselor in New Jersey once accidentally enrolled a sophomore in a junior/senior sports marketing class. The student was Brian Araujo, a teenager of Portuguese descent with a lifelong obsession with soccer. He could have been moved to another class. Instead, he stayed — and something clicked. Sitting among older students, absorbing the […]

Christopher Durkin was 10 years old when he first learned that a leaky faucet was actually an opportunity. His grandfather, a self-made landlord who built a successful but modest 20-unit portfolio from nothing, would load him into the truck on weekends and hand him a wrench before he’d even hand him breakfast. There was no […]

At the center of Comcast’s ambitious push to expand and fortify broadband access across the southern United States is Donovin Brown, regional vice president of construction and engineering for the company’s Big South region. Elevated to the role in January 2024 after a 25-year career with Comcast, Brown now leads all new construction and plant […]

Jeff Pearl did not come to agriculture by design. He arrived through opportunity, timing, and a willingness to step into something unfamiliar. Today, as facilities director for Nourse Farms, he is helping guide one of the most ambitious infrastructure expansion efforts in the U.S. berry propagation industry. His work sits at the intersection of construction, […]