Building Success Together: The Power of Collaboration at Northstar
April 2025
After the inspiring reflections from Northstar’s women during our annual Women in Construction Week celebration, we turned our attention to recognizing the invaluable contributions of the men on our team.
We asked them to share moments when collaboration across diverse teams, including women and beyond, led to a breakthrough in solving a project challenge. Their responses highlight not only their technical expertise but also their commitment to fostering teamwork, mentorship, and innovative problem-solving.
Join us as we explore their experiences and the impact of diverse collaboration in driving project success.
Jason Atwood: A large-scale graduate student housing project for a prominent university faced a significant budget challenge following a pandemic-related delay. Rising construction costs, inflation, scope creep, and increasing interest rates pushed the project well beyond its target budget. Led by a team of strong female leaders, the project team worked collaboratively to value-engineer critical components. Input from architects, engineers, the ownership team, and builders ensured a diversity of perspectives, resulting in creative cost savings ideas and a 10% overall budget reduction. This strategic effort, founded in diversity, paved the way for project approvals and eventual construction, which is now underway.
Pat Burns: Whether realized or not, collaborative moments occur daily on all projects. Everyone on the project team brings a unique perspective based on their previous experience. The key to overcoming challenges successfully is to be open-minded, listen to the entire team’s potential solutions, and work together as a team to implement the correct solution.
Dominic Caporale: A collaborative breakthrough in a project occurred when we needed to replace a section of 8″ steel condenser water pipe inside a wall of a recently renovated unit. The task required careful planning to safely cut into the wall, remove the damaged section, and weld in a new piece of pipe to fix a leak, while ensuring the newly renovated living room remained clean and undisturbed. The leak was located above a soffit made of large MDF panels, adding to the complexity. This project required coordinating the entire team and the tenant, as the space was occupied. We devised a plan to construct a temporary work area using fire-rated sheets, plywood, plastic, and hardboard without blocking access from the staircase to the rest of the unit. Over three days, the team successfully completed the work safely, efficiently, and without damaging the high-end finishes. This achievement was only possible through collaborating with the contractor, Northstar, and the tenant.
Chase Connell: Throughout my career as a Construction Manager and OPM, I’ve been a part of successful, high-profile projects with diverse project teams in terms of race, religion, gender, and people that identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2014, during my first Drexel-sponsored Co-Op in Manhattan, the senior project manager, a seasoned male figure in NYC civil construction, retired mid-project. The late twenties female project manager was asked to assume his responsibilities entirely. During this unexpected transition, she quickly instilled confidence in the foremen and their crews by exhibiting a deep knowledge of the project and utilizing collaborative decision-making when unforeseen circumstances arose. As a 19-year-old brand new to the industry, she exemplified what a project manager should be. Her efforts and success on that project garnered her the Employee of the Year award in 2015, and she is one of the reasons I pursued a career in the construction industry.
Nick Dunn: On a recently completed project, we faced a critical roadblock with our permanent power energization at risk of being delayed, which could have set back our entire delivery timeline. We worked closely with a lead female engineer from a utility company, who took charge of coordinating plans and meetings with city officials, our contractor, and internal utility representatives to ensure alignment on the design and construction strategy. In Cambridge, we had to go through the Pole & Conduit Committee, which meets only once a month to approve designs before projects can enter the construction queue. Without timely approval, we risked being delayed an entire month, significantly impacting our schedule. While collaborating with her on design and approvals, we also relied on our project manager from the institute. She leveraged her professional relationships to escalate the urgency with the utility company’s leadership, ensuring that once we secured design approval, the required deliverables stayed on schedule, which is a very challenging task to manage. Through proactive planning, strong communication, and a solutions-focused approach, we were able to meet our critical deadline despite earlier utility-related setbacks. This experience demonstrated how effective problem-solving, relationship management, and strategic coordination can drive project success. We were fortunate to have the support of these team members to keep the project moving forward.
Tom Fanning: My most recently completed project is a complex 118,000 GSF build-to-suit lab project for Bedford Campus. This was a highly collaborative project team that generated a complex, high-quality building on schedule and under budget to significant accolades from the client, the Town of Bedford, and the residential abutters. Two lynchpin members of the project team were two rock star female professionals who actively and aggressively managed the day-to-day activities of the project team to a great outcome for the client. These two women are consummate professionals who consistently drove the project team.
Brendan FitzGerald: A diverse group solved a challenging issue on a project during the roof renewal program at a university’s complex. We had removed and abated the old roof system on one of the buildings within the complex and needed to alter the new tapered insulation plan to create enough pitch to the roof drains. The building was long and narrow, which made for a difficult layout to shed water without creating abnormally high roof edge details. The field engineer on this project for the envelope design team came up with a solution called a “cricket,” which essentially created a two-way pitch detail in the shape of a diamond down the middle of the roof. The roofing contractor and our PM team were both stumped on how to accomplish this within the required roof edge height, and this recommendation solved our problem. This method ended up being used throughout the complex, leading to the success of many projects.
John Fodera: On a development project, we hit a major roadblock when the contractor struggled to procure the curtain wall system, which was dealing with product line issues. To get things back on track, the contractor brought in a project manager to take the lead on the manufacturing process and find ways to make it more efficient. She quickly identified key problem areas, including material deliveries not being scheduled effectively, the detailed engineering process needing closer attention, and specific panel locations having to be adjusted to improve interior constructability. She worked closely with a diverse group of engineers, procurement teams, and construction crews to tackle these challenges head-on. Not only did she address these issues, but she also organized and maintained a structured manufacturing schedule that greatly impacted the overall project timeline. With a clearer production flow and better coordination, the contractor improved efficiency across the board, ultimately completing the project just seven weeks behind schedule, a major achievement given the initial setbacks. This was a perfect example of how collaboration and strong leadership can turn challenges into success.
Dan Govoni: Fortunately, most collaborative moments I’m part of are with diverse groups. Since diversity of thought is fundamental to productive conversations in the problem-solving process, nearly all breakthrough moments I’ve participated in have involved collective contributions. Women, in particular, have often led or been key contributors to countless breakthrough moments.
Chris Guilmet: Working on a core-shell project, post-LOI signature from our client, the engineering firm worked on adding 60 tons of steel to the building to meet the reinforcing criteria needed for sensitive lab equipment. They had two women on the team working hand-in-hand with the MEP trades, reviewing steel penetrations and reinforcing onsite. Upon reviewing the overall cost and presenting the cost to the client, a new solution was needed. They came up with the idea and breakdown to modify large steel modifications within the steel factory in Canada before shipping to side, reducing the modification costs by a quarter.
Jim Hogan: As project managers involved in a variety of project types, we are constantly problem-solving different issues that arise during the course of design and construction. One of the keys to successfully identifying and solving issues is assembling and fully engaging our partners at the A/E, GC, and subcontractor level, regardless of gender, race, or creed. By surrounding yourself with good people ensuring that all parties are involved in decision-making, we ensure predicable outcomes for our clients. Recently, I was involved with a 50,000 SF ground-up life science building that experienced a series of challenges, including zero lot line construction, abutter foundation SOE coordination, constructability issues of façade elements, and delays to permanent power delivery. By keeping all the project vendors involved, the project was able to solve each of these problems in a diligent manner.
Dan Mallard: During the construction of a complex build-to-suit manufacturing facility with office space, the client’s program shifted, requiring us to re-design the manufacturing area mid-construction. The diverse makeup and experience of our project team, engineers, and architects allowed us to streamline the process with daily design meetings to hit the client’s turnover dates. Specifically, we worked with their end users and team managers of different backgrounds to identify areas needing specific MEP and structural requirements (i.e., thickened concrete slab, epoxy rebar, dedicated exhaust, etc.). Delivering the space on time would not have been possible without the diversity and dedication of all teams involved.
Steven Ng: In various situations in real estate development and construction, diverse teams of people from different genders, backgrounds, and cultures often bring unique perspectives, leading to breakthrough innovations. In a more collaborative and interactive sense, when groups like these come together, their combined experiences and problem-solving techniques lead to innovation because they don’t rely solely on one viewpoint. A mix of skills, experiences, and identities brings holistic and more refined solutions. The diversity that stops the group/mass mentality from continuing with industry norms and “what has been done before over and over” or resigning to “it is what it is.” The singular group will seek the path of less resistance and stay with the easiest solution – no one is present to remind the group of the end goal, vision, and expectation.
Andrew Pace: In a recent large Time & Materials (T&M) project nearing its completion, our team faced significant challenges during the financial closeout process. With an overwhelming number of slips being submitted constantly, keeping up and maintaining organization became nearly impossible. Our team recognized the urgency and raised the issue with the relevant coworkers and my boss. Her leadership and ability to understand the complexities of our process were key. She successfully aligned everyone involved, streamlined the workflow, and ultimately guided us through to efficiently close out the project financially. Without her proactive approach and clear direction, we would have struggled to reach a timely and successful resolution. This experience truly highlighted the power of collaboration, where a diverse group, each contributing their expertise and perspectives, could overcome a major project challenge and achieve a breakthrough.
Gary Pelletier: On a recent TI fit out, there was an issue with locating power feeds for workstations up through the floor slab where the area below was an occupied bank that also had (as most banks do) a vault. Although this arrangement was known, it was not considered during the space layout. Only when planning the power feeds was the issue brought to the surface. The teams from the furniture dealer (all women) and architectural firm (women designers) devised methods for minimizing locations of floor cores and re-arranged powered furniture with non-powered furniture to avoid area over vault. This all occurred within a relatively small footprint and limited daylight openings to allow for a more open feel space feel. The result still needed to be pleasing to the customer and serve their goal of creating collaborative areas in the space. In the end, the space performed as expected and met all expectations.
Christian Riegle: I worked with a team trying to solve how to deploy robots faster and more safely. For some context, the drives (type of robot) showed up at the site on pallets and would have to be manually pushed off the pallet before they could be charged or programmed. This took time and was a safety risk for anyone doing it due to the weight of the drives. The client put a team together to try to solve the issue. A member of the team came up with an entirely new code that allowed the drives to retain a charge from the distribution hub to the site. She wrote it from scratch over the course of a couple of months with input from various other teams. Once tested and incorporated into the robot’s software, the robots could be turned on and programmed immediately upon opening and then drive themselves off the pallet and to a charger. Ultimately, this cut drive deployment time down by roughly 80%. We went from doing 100 drives per week to roughly 500. A site usually would have 4,000-6,000 drives, which was a massive savings in deployment costs and time.
John Schena: Early in my career, I worked for a local real estate firm in Boston experiencing tremendous growth. This was because the outsourcing of facility operations and project management services was growing increasingly popular, creating opportunities with large corporate clients who appreciated the level of service we provided locally. This created opportunities outside of the Boston Market with one high-profile global technology firm. This required us to consistently deliver our high-quality services in other U.S. and Canada markets. Growing rapidly, we quickly realized the tactical delivery of those services was our expertise. The challenging part was defining and delivering these services according to a very consistent and specific documented process with all internal and external stakeholders, who were spread out across both the U.S. and Canada. We quickly identified all the necessary experts, which included a very diverse group of people from multiple geographic areas, disciplines, and backgrounds; all who very much appreciated the importance of a successful rollout of this program. The level of respect and consideration grew very quickly. with everyone working towards the same clear goals and objectives set by our client. We often traveled together, ate together, and collaborated not just on work related items. These relationships still exist today, some as simple as an exchange of a note catching up on our lives during the holidays. The program, from both our perspective and the client’s perspective, was very successful! It was built on common goals and everyone’s respect and trust in one another, which is still alive and well today. Many years later, we have all gone our separate ways, but we always appreciate those opportunities to connect.
Steven Smith: Some of my most rewarding collaborations happen when unforeseen challenges threaten project delivery. During a recent office renovation, late design changes and related long-lead material delays disrupted multiple trades and vendors, putting deadlines at risk. To mitigate delays, our diverse group of stakeholders convened to explore creative solutions. A furniture vendor noted her deliverables could be broken down into smaller tasks and asked if all others could do the same – everyone could! Then, working backward from the project’s end date, we mapped out the timing and physical space required for all final work. This reverse-planning approach clarified dependencies and allowed the team to re-sequence smaller tasks into an integrated schedule. By executing work in parallel rather than sequentially, we maximized efficiency, tightened completion dates, and mitigated all delays.
Andy Touchette: As project managers, we are constantly working to resolve issues for our clients and keep projects on track. One recent instance occurred during a project in which our team encountered a particularly unique and challenging engineering problem that remained hung up for multiple meetings. Despite our concerted efforts, we found ourselves unable to identify a viable solution that achieved our goal and was becoming a schedule risk. At this critical juncture, our client, who has a way of breaking down problems to uncover the critical elements, intervened. She proposed that we take a step back from the technical intricacies and re-evaluate the issue from a broader perspective around the primary goals. This shift in focus enabled us to uncover several potential solutions that had previously gone unnoticed. This breakthrough resolved the immediate challenge and underscored the significance of diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving in achieving successful project outcomes.
John Townsend: Everyday! I’m lucky to work with a diverse group of women and men who bring a deep breadth of knowledge, problem-solving skills, and, most importantly, diverse perspectives to the challenges that we face daily while managing projects. The diversity of perspective may be the most important catalyst for problem-solving. This is what makes a team work and helps us provide best-in-class service to our clients.
The stories shared by Northstar’s men underscore the power of collaboration in overcoming challenges, driving innovation, and delivering successful projects. Their ability to embrace diverse perspectives, leverage collective expertise, and uphold the values of the Northstar Way ensures we continue to lead as owner’s project managers. As they set their sights on the next one to three years, their aspirations and dedication to growth will undoubtedly shape the future of our industry.
