NYREJ’s 35th Anniversary:
Joseph DeFazio PE, Wendel

When did you discover NYREJ and what was your title and company name at that time?

I first started reading NYREJ in 2015. At that time, I was vice president of energy services.

How has NYREJ helped you, your firm or your industry?

NYREJ is a great platform to share successes with others in the industry whether that’s a great project that you want to showcase, a new team member that you want to welcome, or a fantastic employee that deserves to be spotlighted. NYREJ is an excellent source for keeping up to date with industry trends. From an industry standpoint, it provides a wonderful opportunity for young professionals to share a little bit about who they are and what they’ve been doing through the various spotlight opportunities.

Most memorable “15 minutes of fame” in NYREJ:

We love seeing our people have their moment to shine. While it’s always great to see our projects have their moment, it’s our people that form the foundation for our success. We’ve been very fortunate at Wendel to see many of our team members appear in NYREJ either through the spotlights like “Women in Construction”, or through articles sharing news when new team members come in. Several come to mind from the last three years, including Amber Holycross joining us as the vice president of architecture and being featured in the 2022 “Industry Leaders” spotlight, Mike Pietkiewicz becoming a director of project development, and several members of our architecture, construction management, and project management teams being recognized in the “Women in Construction” spotlight.

Favorite NYREJ spotlights:

It’s really nice to see the “Women in Construction” highlights. I think that there’s still a perception that women don’t play a very big role in the construction industry, when in fact, there are a lot of really talented women leading the way at their firms. I know that is the case at our firm!