Business newsmakers: Aviles named BRPH president of architecture and engineering
Aviles named BRPH president of architecture and engineering
BRPH, a nationally ranked architecture, engineering and construction firm based in Palm Shores, announced that Raul Aviles Jr., is the firm’s new president of architecture and engineering.
Aviles has more than 25 years of experience leading midsize to large firms engaged in architecture, engineering and construction.
Most recently, he served as chief operating officer and corporate vice president of Latin America for AECOM in Phoenix, where he led the operations of a 650-plus-person multidiscipline international operation with a large portfolio of complex design and construction multimillion-dollar capital infrastructure projects.
Prior to that, he served as the delivery director and vice president of CDM Smith, where he was responsible for building the company’s West Coast Design Build Center and expanding operations.
“BRPH is experiencing phenomenal growth, and Raul has both the experience and the heart to lead our architecture and engineering team, as we continue to provide our clients with extraordinary solutions to their most pressing challenges,” said Brian Curtin, chief executive officer and chairman of the board for BRPH. “Raul’s empathetic leadership style embodies the core of our mission and values, in line with the mentality of the BRPH founders. We look forward to seeing the positive impact Raul will have on our team members and our clients.”
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Of his new role, Aviles said, “I am excited to lead our creative and innovative architecture and engineering team in a period of high growth and investment in the market. These are very exciting times at BRPH, and we have an amazing team of architects, planners, engineers, technicians and managers that are recognized among the most talented in our industry. We have a long and proud history of delivering outstanding results. I’m humbled to be entrusted with continuing our legacy and taking BRPH to new heights.”
Aviles holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Arizona, a master of engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, as well as numerous certifications in multiple states. He has published several papers and technical presentations on energy conservation throughout his career.
BRPH is a technically focused, creative architecture, engineering and construction company providing solutions to mission-driven clients’ programs. BRPH operates regional offices in Orlando; South Florida; Atlanta; Charleston, South Carolina; Huntsville, Alabama; Seattle; Phoenix; and Palmdale, California.
For more information, go to brph.com.
Credit Union appoints Jaenke as chief information officer
Space Coast Credit Union recently announced the appointment of Chad Jaenke as its new chief information officer and senior vice president. Jaenke has 25 years of leading and mentoring international information technology operations and security teams.
“I’m excited to be here,” Jaenke said. “I’m looking forward to leading this talented team in developing enhancements that benefit our operational efficiencies and ensure we’re at the forefront of security and technological capabilities.”
In his new role, Jaenke will lead various information technology divisions, which include operational systems, security, support and development.
“Chad’s wealth of expertise makes him well-positioned for SCCU’s leadership team,” said Timothy Antonition, president and CEO of SCCU. “We’re confident his future-forward perspective will elevate our information technology services.”
Jaenke joins SCCU from the largest full-service credit union in Georgia, where he served as vice president of information technology operations and service management.
He was responsible for overseeing the technical strategy of a 40-plus-person operations support department, achieving multi-million dollar expense reductions.
Jaenke was the 2021 Celent Model Bank Winner for Retail Digital Transformation and the 2021 Tekkie Award for COVID-19 Response; and was recognized for above-national-average member satisfaction.
Jaenke’s prior experience includes serving at the world’s leading company in air transport communication and information technology solutions, where he started as the senior manager of the Global Data Center and Network Operations, and ascended to the role of director of the global data center and infrastructure.
Jaenke graduated in 2007 from Metropolitan State University with a Master of Business Administration and in 1997 from DeVry University with a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications management.
Space Coast Credit Union, chartered in 1951, is based in Melbourne. It has more than 540,000 members with assets of more than $7 billion. The credit union has a service delivery network of 64 branches, nationwide automated teller machines, call centers and 24/7 access online.
Florida Marine Science Educators group honor Hunsucker
Kelli Hunsucker recently was recognized with the John Beakley “Marine Science Educator of the Year” Award by the Florida Marine Science Educators Association.
The association gives the award to an educator who has demonstrated dedication to promoting and developing marine science in Florida. The award started in 1986 before being renamed in 1999 in honor of Beakley, a marine science resource teacher in Palm Beach County and one of the Florida Marine Science Educators Association's founders.
Hunsucker said it was an honor it was to receive the award, which was made even more special because a former student nominated her.
“It just makes you feel really good. You don’t do what you do on a daily basis to receive recognition and awards, but you want to make a difference, and you’re hoping that what you’re doing is reaching people and making some kind of an impact,” Hunsucker said.
“I was very humbled when I found out that I was nominated and that I had received the award, that colleagues in the state thought highly enough of what I had done to recognize me and bestow this amazing achievement on me,” she added.
Hunsucker has been an assistant professor at Florida Tech since 2018, and has made an impact on the university through her instruction and three main areas of research: biofouling, ecological engineering and outreach.
She has been a part of research examining biofouling on ship hulls, as well as the use of ultraviolet-c light on those hulls to control fouling. She also has done research on ways to improve the water quality of the Indian River Lagoon.
The flexibility to develop programs that could stem outside of the university is one of the things Hunsucker enjoys about being a professor.
This led to the opportunity to do various educational activities in and out of the classroom, such as working with the Space Coast community through the Living Docks program.
Since 2016, Hunsucker, alongside ocean engineering associate professor Robert Weaver and Florida Tech’s Indian River Lagoon research team, partnered with the local community through the Living Docks program.
The program invites residents to wrap dock pilings with oyster mats. The mats facilitate the growth of oysters, barnacles and sponges, all of which are filter feeders that help remove excess nitrogen from waters by incorporating it into their shells and tissue as they grow.
“One of the things that I absolutely love about being a professor is that you have a lot of autonomy and ability to do many different things,” Hunsucker said. “Yes, you work at the university, and you teach the undergraduates, but also the graduate students, and there’s so much opportunity for outreach. So, you’re not just working with students at that collegiate level, but you also have the opportunity to reach high school students, middle school students, community members.”
The fieldwork Hunsucker has done with her students also has given them real-world experience that prepares them for a career.
She noted a recent graduate student who worked in one of the Indian River Lagoon programs.
Through the oyster restoration work that the student had done at Florida Tech, she is now working in Stuart, with a job that reflects some of the research she did at Florida Tech.
“So that experience that they’re getting while they’re at Florida Tech is really helping pave a career for them, and it’s not just her,” Hunsucker said.
“Other students that I’ve worked with more on the biofouling side and Navy-related projects have gone off to also have great jobs, whether in government for the Navy or at universities.”
Hunsucker hopes to continue to make an impact at the university and beyond. She has received a grant for two ocean-themed children’s books to promote literacy in kindergarten-age students.
She also recently applied for a grant that would help start a program to get students from across the university involved with hands-on science- and engineering-related projects in the lagoon and offshore.
She also is developing two new courses, Estuarine Ecology and Ocean Biology for Engineers.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: BRPH names Aviles as president of architecture and engineering
