New Leadership for Thriven Design’s Asset Preservation Studio
Principal Alkesh Taylor will lead as Director of Asset Preservation and Director of Engineering
MARCH 12— Today Thriven Design announces a new structure for its Asset Preservation studio, a forward-focused reorganization designed to optimize project workflow and underscore the firm’s core commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration. Thriven Design Principal Alkeshkumar (Alkesh) Taylor, PE, LEED® AP, will serve as Director of Asset Preservation and Director of Engineering, providing a single point of contact and leadership for clients and all Thriven Design employees engaged in Asset Preservation work. He will oversee both Architecture and Engineering teams and will draw upon more than 25 years of industry experience to foster creative and sustainable solutions that prioritize client goals.
Alkesh is a graduate of Drexel University, where he received degrees in Architectural and Civil Engineering. A certified HERS and PHIUS+ Passive House Rater, Alkesh has focused much of his career on projects incorporating energy conservation methodologies and approaches, as well as projects emphasizing sustainability, preservation, and adaptive reuse. In the Director of Asset Preservation and Director of Engineering roles, Alkesh will leverage his experience with architecture, engineering, and energy projects and the relationships that he has built as Project Manager and Project Engineer on many of our projects since joining Thriven Design in 2009.
He will be supported in his leadership of the new interdisciplinary Asset Preservation studio by Senior Associate Milton D. Smith, RA, who will continue to serve as Project Manager and Project Architect, and Associate Principal Ryan Wolfe, PE, who will take on a new leadership role as Manager of Engineering. Together they will directly supervise Asset Preservation’s A/E work.
Principal and Former Director of Asset Preservation, Eugene ‘Geno’ Schiavo, AIA, PP, LEED®AP, and Principal and Former Director of Engineering, Stephen Finkelman, PE, LEED® AP, CEM, will continue in their Principal roles at Thriven Design and will provide technical guidance and mentorship for the Asset Preservation and Engineering project teams.
“This new structure for Asset Preservation with Alkesh as the combined leader of both engineering and asset preservation is a natural evolution and smooth transition from how we work now, and I think Alkesh brings great vision and experience to this new role,” said Eugene ‘Geno’ Schiavo, AIA, PP, LEED®AP. “I have every confidence that the future holds great things for Asset Preservation at Thriven Design.”
“I have worked with Alkesh for almost 20 years and can attest that he is the right person with the right experience to combine the leadership of the Firm’s Asset Preservation and Engineering disciplines into an integrated group providing the best possible results for our Clients and their Projects,” said Stephen Finkelman, PE, LEED® AP, CEM. “Working in concert with Geno, I look forward to contributing guidance and mentoring to this combined effort. The successful work Geno has established within the Firm’s Asset Preservation group over the years will be enhanced by Alkesh’s leadership.”
Thriven Design’s Asset Preservation studio specializes in the assessment, design, value engineering, renovation, repair, and enhancement of existing buildings and building systems. It champions reuse, prolonging the viability of key community assets, and offering project partners the “greenest” of design options, when compared to demolition and new construction.
By preserving existing assets, it underscores the sustainability commitment of Thriven Design. Preservation minimizes both the embodied energy and saves on new energy resulting in a significantly smaller energy footprint and a small carbon footprint.
Thriven Design professionally differentiates itself from other Asset Preservation providers by sending architectural and engineering project managers to perform field reconnaissance. This use of a team of design professionals leads to a more comprehensive understanding of the existing conditions and more accurate cost estimating that is complete for all related assessments, evaluations, new construction, and general condition costs.
Over 50 years Thriven Design has provided asset preservation services in 11 states, and has partnered with more than 20 housing authorities, government agencies, property developers and owners nationwide.
Explore more of Thriven Design’s Asset Preservation portfolio here.
