Susan Wright, IBI Group Gruzen Samton Architects

What was your greatest professional accomplishment in 2013? 2013 was a great year for our firm. We restructured our staff into three studios based on our key market sectors: housing, education and transportation. Earlier this year we hired a fantastic residential design architect named Alexander Briseno - he and I are expanding our housing studio each month. I love working in the new studio format because we benefit from teamwork of a smaller group while still working within a larger firm. What was your most notable project, deal or transaction in 2013? After two years of design and financing efforts and then two years of construction my greatest professional accomplishment for 2013 was the completion of a 92-unit residential building for low-income seniors for Selfhelp Community Services. There is nothing quite as rewarding as helping deserving people find a new home. And we got our permanent Certificate of Occupancy within a year! Its all good. 2013 was a great year for our firm. We have been extremely busy with zoning and feasibility studies during 2013. If a quarter of these projects break, I'm going to need to hire more talented staff!