At DLA we realize that our people are what make the firm stand out. Last week, the partners hosted a luncheon to thank everyone for their dedication and recognize that each person on the team contributes unique talents and skills to making us best there is.

The event was also an opportunity to recognize important milestones for individuals that have dedicated their career to making DLA the amazing architectural firm that we are.

Jose Pareja: 5 years at DLA

Jose Pareja celebrated his 5 year anniversary

With us for 5 years, Jose is new to our exceptional team of licensed architects, recently attaining the major accomplishment of earning his license. Jose is a knowledgeable individual, extremely dedicated to his task at hand.  His dedication to his work and to our clients is recognized and greatly appreciated.  Architect for and resident of Community High School District 218, Jose is leading the team for one of the most distinguished projects that we’re currently working on. The Science Addition at Shepard High School will be an amazing space, and with Jose on task, it will undoubtedly be done well.

Matt Lowe celebrated his 10 year anniversary

Matt Lowe: 10 years at DLA

Matt was accelerated into leading our Design Department as a result of the unfortunate loss of one of our own last year, Director of Design Kimio Nagasawa. Before he left to do his battle with his cancer, Kimio shared his high level of respect for Matt with the partners. He saw Matt as an exceptional designer with a great deal of potential. Kimio encouraged the partners to select Matt to head the Design Team, which they did. Matt has made his mark on our projects with his design concepts. He has a great eye for design and is especially good at discovering how to express a client’s personality in a space. As a designer Matt has been involved with many projects and a highlight would be the new Fulton School in District 146. The design was well thought out and most important, the client loved it. He recently completed the Learning Environments for Tomorrow program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was truly inspired, which can only mean exciting things for his future designs.

Tracy Biederstadt celebrated her 15 year anniversary

Tracy Biederstadt: 15 years at DLA

Tracy has moved quickly through the ranks at DLA, from the drafting trenches through running her own projects and managing her own clients. Tracy has the ability to manage difficult, complex projects so that they are done exceptionally well and on time, resulting in pleased clients. She’s undertaken massive additions and renovations to buildings over a century old; not an easy task.

Today, she is our resident expert for Early Childhood projects, recently completing Elgin Child and Family Resource Center, Aurora Early Learning  Center, and the new facility for One Hope United in Joliet.

Hilarion Amaro celebrated his 15 year anniversary

Hilarion Amaro: 15 years at DLA

Hilarion is a person you know will work very hard in making sure that every detail is working the way it should for his projects.  He follows with what needs to be done and that it will be done without error.  Hilarion started out working on the Union League Boys’ and Girls’ Club camp project  and took charge of the project immediately. Hilarion has since completed a number of successful projects, including many for Oak Park School District 97. He is a hardworking individual who is especially skilled with making sure the design incorporates the client’s priorities.

Sandy Warren celebrated her 25 year anniversary

Sandy Warren: 25 years at DLA

What Sandy does for DLA is hard to summarize in a short description. She tackles the specialized, miscellaneous tasks that arise in an architectural office exceptionally well. She is a very organized individual keeping the accounting and project finances in order. Since she is an expert on pay applications, she is involved with just about every project in the office. She deals with all things Human Resources with aplomb, even though most of us can’t understand those insurance forms even after the third go through. As Office Manager, Sandy is invaluable to the firm.

Rich Kocek: 1 year at DLA

Richard Kocek and David Dillon were both recognized for one year with the firm. Rich has flourished in his time with us in the design department and with production. He is a very dedicated and hardworking individual sticking it out to get the job done. His talent in design and working with 3-d tools is something that we depend on. Dave is an important part of our Business Development efforts. He is expanding our efforts into different markets. He’s nurtured relationships and contributed to the firm’s success in welcoming new clients to the DLA family.

Dave Dillon: 1 year at DLA

Each of these talented individuals was recognized for their service to DLA. Those celebrating a 5 year anniversary received a key chain, a glass cube for the 10 year, and a clock for the 15 year anniversary. To recognize 25 years, Sandy Warren was presented a vacation. These gifts are a symbol that reflects to each employee that they have accomplished something important during their time here with DLA.