The Northstar Journey: A Story of Growth and Progression for Five Newly Promoted Team Members
February 2026
At Northstar, success goes beyond completing projects or meeting deadlines; it’s defined by continuous growth, collaboration, and leadership at every level. Our culture is rooted in learning, responsiveness, meaningful relationships, and guiding both clients and project teams toward predictable, successful outcomes.
Leadership remains committed to fostering a mindset centered on thoughtful decision-making, teamwork, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. We believe in fully integrating into our clients’ cultures, delivering exceptional service, and approaching each challenge as an opportunity to grow. Every project is a chance to elevate our work and the people behind it.
This year’s newly promoted team members exemplify these values in action. Through their commitment to development, collaboration, and leadership, they have gone beyond their roles to contribute to the continued growth and evolution of the Northstar experience.
Dom Caporale, Project Manager
Over the past two years at Northstar, I’ve focused on taking full ownership of my responsibilities by anticipating challenges, following commitments through to completion, and proactively managing assigned scopes of work. This level of accountability has helped keep projects on track and drive successful outcomes. I also prioritized proactive communication and team support by keeping stakeholders aligned, escalating risks early, and assisting team members as needed. By maintaining a solution-oriented mindset, I contributed to overall project success, strengthened collective team performance, and built trusting relationships with project team members.
Emily Clayton, Project Manager
During my time at Northstar, I have focused on prioritizing strong communication and relationship-building with both clients and contractors on the Harvard University Housing account. By leading project meetings and maintaining open, consistent communication, I helped build client trust and ensure expectations related to scope, budget, and schedule were clearly understood.
I have developed strong working relationships with contractors, architects, engineers, and property management teams by proactively addressing issues, facilitating problem resolution, and supporting coordination across all phases of the project. Through timely responses and collaborative discussions, I helped drive alignment and accountability. This relationship-focused approach supported effective project delivery and success.
Cameron Feeley, Project Manager
Throughout my four years at Northstar, I have had the opportunity to grow both personally and professionally by steadily taking on greater ownership of my work and managing more tasks independently. What began as learning processes and leaning on peer and senior support has evolved into effectively leading initiatives, anticipating project needs, and guiding outcomes from planning through close out.
A meaningful part of this growth has been the relationships I’ve built with my colleagues and mentors. I have been fortunate to work alongside teams that are collaborative, supportive, and deeply invested in one another’s success. The guidance, feedback, and trust I’ve received have played a key role in shaping my professional development and reinforcing a culture of continuous learning and shared achievement across the firm.
As my role has developed, I have focused on strengthening my ability to manage budgets, schedules, and quality with attention to detail, while proactively solving problems and supporting relationships across project teams. I have also made it a priority to build strong relationships with our clients by taking the time to understand that each client and each project is unique, and by tailoring my approach to meet their specific goals, challenges, and expectations.
I am grateful to the teams I have worked with and to Northstar for creating a collaborative, learning focused environment that encourages growth, leadership, and the delivery of consistent, high-quality outcomes for our clients and communities.
Olivia Pedro, Assistant Project Manager
This time last year, I spent a lot of time reflecting on what it should look and feel like to be an Assistant Project Manager and what level of responsibility, ownership, and confidence that role requires. Starting at Northstar on the Boston Children’s Hospital account gave me the opportunity to learn closely from three project managers whose approaches to organization, communication, and having strategic foresight set a strong foundation for how I wanted to show up on projects. During that period, I was deeply focused on mastering the fundamentals: managing budgets, tracking schedules, preparing meeting materials, and truly understanding how day-to-day decisions affect budgets, schedules, and the project’s quality. That experience gave me both clarity and motivation around the kind of project manager I aspired to become.
As I grew more confident, supporting an additional account allowed me to apply those fundamentals to new, more complex situations and better understand where my strengths lie. In working toward promotion, I was intentional about completing processes end-to-end. Initially, with guidance, and then independently once I felt confident, because I wanted to be someone the team could rely on without hesitation. I sought opportunities to take real ownership, whether that meant leading parts of meetings, coordinating with consultants, tracking all aspects of the budget, or flagging risks before they became issues. Ultimately, my goal was not just to perform my role well, but to think ahead, support the broader team, and contribute meaningfully to project outcomes. I believe that consistency, curiosity, and thoughtful preparation for project-related activities directly supported my readiness for, and promotion to, an Assistant Project Manager role at Northstar.
Dhruvi Rana, Assistant Project Manager
At Northstar, my team consists of various project managers, each possessing their own management style shaped by their unique backgrounds and experiences. In working closely with other project managers, I observed their ability to manage difficult projects, mitigate potential conflicts, conversate with clients, and their overall conduct as project managers. By doing so, I leveraged other project managers’ management styles and began cultivating my own, deploying the skills mentioned above in my own independent projects.
In closing, these promotions underscore the strength of Northstar’s culture, one built on collaboration, accountability, and ongoing professional development. Each promoted team member represents the progressive growth and leadership that continues to drive our organization forward.
