50 Years and 50 Memories
For fifty years, Ware Malcomb has been a place to call home for thousands of team members. Countless memories have been created, and more continue to be made each day. To commemorate our 50th anniversary, we created a team member survey to celebrate our awesome people and culture. We asked our team members:
What is your most memorable experience at Ware Malcomb?
“Presenting to the office designer a Future Proofing Presentation and last year’s April 8th presentation to the entire office. The responses I got from people make a lot of the hard work we do really worth it.” – Christopher Polaski (Design Manager, Boston)
“So far, it has been the Halloween and Mind Mapping Day. So much dedication to this one day! And of course, the Atlanta office outings! Always great to see other team members in person!” – Roderick Williams (Job Captain, Atlanta)
“Being given the opportunity to be part of opening our Houston TX office.” – Sergio Delgado (Project Manager, Dallas)
“Our team canoe trip.” – Mary Beth Peters (Senior Project Manager, Oak Brook)
“WM Cultivate, meeting and listening to the company leaders on their own unique growth paths.” – Arturo Ponciano (Studio Manager, Interior Architecture & Design, Princeton)
“Sharing experiences with other leaders, garnering relationships across North America that I value both professionally and personally.” – Michael Cody (Studio Manager, Architecture, Oak Brook)
“Loved scavenger hunt – Downtown San Diego with the team.” – Yamel Grijalva (Job Captain, Downtown San Diego)
“So far it has been working on a team of folks from Dallas and New York to develop an extensive design proposal in a week!” – Allison Stratton (Senior Interior Designer, Dallas)
“An easy answer are the many annual Holiday Parties I’ve been fortunate enough to attend in California. Being able to see coworkers from all offices together in one place, sharing a drink and a laugh with them, and closing out the year of hard work with a celebration is an incredible experience.” – Rob van het Hof (Design Technology Manager, Oak Brook)
“My most memorable moment at Ware Malcomb was my first Christmas Party. I find it amazing that a company cares enough to bring its entire team together for the holidays.” – Sandra Vaccari (Project Manager, Houston)
“All of our fundraisers in the Irvine office. My favorite was the pie in the face fundraiser in 2019.” – Kristen Lazatin (Senior Production Coordinator, Irvine)
“My first WM Leadership meeting in August 2017 was incredible. I felt so proud to be part of this elite group of leaders.” – Christina Kolkas (Regional Director, Vaughan)
“Collaborating with the architecture team to develop workflows with products and receiving compliments from the client about our efficiencies.” – Sam Bellomio (Senior Project Manager, San Diego)
“I love any team meeting where I get to collaborate with other offices- helps me to see the big picture of our overall WM goals and take a step back from the day-to-day tasks. – Caroline McNulty (Studio Manager, Interior Architecture & Design, Oak Brook)
“Being given the opportunity to grow a team (corporate accounts) and make it my own.” – Anita Gross (Associate Principal, Corporate Accounts, Irvine)
“There have been a few. So far, having the opportunity to speak at the leadership meeting in my first year in the first few months was a top highlight.” – Lynn Murray (Senior Corporate Recruiter, San Diego)
“So far it is the frequent “office fun” we do every month.” – Josh Dickson (Senior Job Captain, Phoenix)
“In my 90-day review lunch, I was able to be myself and express all my goals. They made me feel very appreciated and optimistic about future open doors to keep growing here at Ware Malcomb.” – Carolina Alfaro (Administrative Assistant, Phoenix)
“One thing that will always stick with me is the way that the company handled things while I needed to take care of my Mother last year. I will never forget how the people of Ware Malcomb were there for me and helped to ease my mind and reassure me about work concerns. It was one less thing to worry about during such a difficult time, and it made every difference in the world.” – Tom Glennon (Production Designer, New York)
“There are so many to choose from, but probably when I was asked to move to Atlanta and help establish a new production group and I decided to take the leap. I have also enjoyed getting to know coworkers over shared passions: running, reading, etc.” – Tanya Daly (Production Manager, Atlanta)
“Not sure I can choose one specific thing over my time here, but I’ve certainly enjoyed attending all the leadership meetings in IRV with other leaders in the company (especially in-person), bonding with them, forming relationships, and re-charging my energy & motivation for the next several months/year until we do it again.” – Grant Brandenburg (Director, Regional Operations, Oak Brook)
“Probably the first year I went to the holiday party. It was the moment I realized how big the company was. It was awesome seeing how diverse we are and how fun it is when we all get together.” – Clarissa Buendia (Job Captain, San Diego)
“Tug of war at the summer beach party!” – Cameron Trefry (Principal, Oak Brook)
“Participating in IIDA and team projects.” – Taylor Wilson (Job Captain, San Diego)
“The 1st big BTS project with Architecture – Wirtz Beverage. It was an awesome project coming out of 2010 when others were not building, high profile in the market, amazing clients, great support/team with GC!” – Dawn Riegel (Regional Director, Oak Brook)
“Lots of crazy memorable experiences in the field surveying, but most memorable to date was being at the WM Advance meeting with so many incredible leaders.” – Kimberly Arial (Director, Building Management Services, Irvine)
“Winning Firm of the Year at the NAIOP Chicago Annual Awards for Excellence event at Navy Pier.” – Brett Webster (Senior Project Architect, Oak Brook)
“The summer golf outing.” – Mona Gallegos Engstrom (CAD Technician I, Denver)
“Boat cruises during WM Advance meetings.” – Marlyn Zucosky (Regional Director, Princeton)
“My first year here in 2017, I won the Pumpkin Curving Contest – 1st Place.” – Aliza Kamrun (Job Captain, Irvine)
“The Phoenix office’s “dress like a pirate” day.” – Lauryn Greiner (Designer, Phoenix)
“AIA Gingerbread Building Competition.” – Brooke Saltus (Designer, Houston)
“My first holiday event in Irvine December 2018. I’ve never been to a work event in my past four firms whereas an employee I’ve truly felt valued and appreciated as much as I did. That plus seeing our entire network in one location was encouraging and inspiring – that we are a large team outside of our local org.” – Taylor Mack (Senior Job Captain, Oak Brook)
“Working on big projects and all the challenges. We had some hard days but overall, the projects taught me a lot and helped me to grow in WM.” – Viviana Orio (Senior Production Coordinator, Mexico City)
“Working on the RUHS project and in the Healthcare Group.” – Richard Gardner (Senior Project Architect, Irvine)
“The first mind map that I did with the Resource Group. I was stunned that a company would want my input on goals, culture and development for our group.” – Eric Namisniak (Project Architect, Irvine)
“Most memorable experience was traveling to see a final punch on a large manufacturing building. Learning a client’s template and visiting the final project.” – Maria Psarev (Senior Job Captain, Atlanta)
“Too many to name, but the Komen races are my favorite memories because they combine engagement, activity, and philanthropy.” – Leslie Espiritu (Director, Human Resources, Irvine)
“The WM Holiday Parties. Every one that I’ve attended has had the best memories.” – Joshua Thompson (Studio Manager, Interior Architecture & Design, Downtown San Diego)
“I always enjoyed the beer 30s because it gave me a chance to connect and socialize with the office.” – Jessica Cole (Marketing Manager, Irvine) 
