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Ari Palgharwala, Paul Herman and Anna Kneller. The remaining two new hires included marketing
coordinators in Jill Congiusti and Jenna Moran.
The theme of 2017 for the Northern Region was that of “the large project”. The long-awaited PK-
12 school projects finally got underway in earnest. A new Elementary school for the Cicero School
District, a new Freshman Center at Morton West and major renovations at Morton East. The
Municipal group worked on a major expansion to the Wheeling Park District facility, and two new
fire stations for Elk Grove Village. In Higher Ed, we completed the Concert Hall at Wheaton
College. Those 7 “large projects” alone comprised almost $175 million dollars in construction costs.
That volume of work kept us busy all summer and into the fall and eventually necessitated a seven-
week overtime effort late in the year. Everyone pulled together to meet the end dates. A huge
thank you to the entire staff on a job well done.

Facilities were again a focus for the region. Our Chicago lease was due to end and then the
building asked us to vacate our space early to accommodate another tenant. We decided that
downsizing the Chicago location was in our best interest, so at the end of 2017 we moved into a
smaller footprint within the same building at 200 West Jackson. Supporting the Strategic Initiative
of geographic expansion, our municipal team was able to acquire work across our northern
border of Wisconsin. As is almost always the case in our profession, if you want to be a real player
in a specific location, you must have a physical presence in the community. In the later months
of 2017, a search for office space in the City of Milwaukee took place. 2018 should see FGM
having a new home in the state of Wisconsin.

The accomplishments made by our people are key to our vitality. This past year, Dan Purpura was
elected as the new president of our local Northeast Illinois AIA chapter for this current year. Elba
Villalobos received her Master’s degree in Accounting and one of our newest employees, Jake
McLaughlin, received the Schiff Fellowship Award that goes to a graduating student for their
outstanding portfolio. Congratulations to the three of you.
Southern Region:

We had 8 new hires in the Region. These hires include Paul Luzecky as a Design Leader for the
Region, Laura Severine as an Interior Designer for the Region, Annalise Smith as a Business
Development Leader focused primarily in our St. Louis expansion, and 5 new ARCH I’s, including
Matthew Foster, Juliana Schafer, Maegan Mifflin, Jenna Kues and Austin Weitnauer.

The Geographic Expansion efforts in St. Louis paid dividends in FY17 in the growing of our Missouri
PK-12 Education and Municipal Practices with some very significant wins in each market. We now
have 7 new clients in PK-12 and a variety of new clients in our Municipal Practice that are not just
Fire Service, including the City of St. Peters Golf Club House and Banquet Center and City Hall
work, the City of Des Peres police and other 911 facility work. We are becoming a formidable
competitor in an area where we have traditionally been overlooked in the past and, I can now
officially say after 2 years of effort, we are a St. Louis firm. Now that the Missouri ball is rolling, there
are many good things to come in 2018 and our future. The Market Reports that follow will show
the progress. Thank you to everyone who played an active role in the growth and success in
Missouri!
In September, based on some feedback from staff, and the fact almost half of our staff are in their
first year at FGM, we began a Workplace Experience Team. The team is comprised of 6 members
from the Region with varying levels of experience. Laura Severine leads the committee. The
mission of the team is to improve the overall workplace experience and further enhance the FGM