January 18, 2022

Celebrating 2021 AFG Excellence Award Winners

The Annual AFG Employee Excellence Awards Celebration is held at the close of each year and is an opportunity for staff to recognize their coworkers for a job well done.

Congratulations to the 2021 nominees and kudos for their hard work and dedication to AFG’s clients: Shawn Blough, CQM, Philip Brown Jr., Barret Chambers, CQM, Katrina DiLorenzo, Joe Dunn, CMIT, CQM, Sanaa Lotfaoui, John Newlin, Neha Patel, and John Schick, PE.

Shawn Blough, CQM, General Inspector

In addition to his assigned responsibilities as a General QA Inspector on the QA contract, Shawn has also taken on inspection duties under the CQM contract by filling in for employees who are PTO, and/or who have left the company.

He always takes on challenging projects on NIH QA and typically has one of the highest workloads of the team due to many Project Officers consistently requesting him.

Nominated by: Marcos Miranda, CCM, LEED AP, cGMP, Vice President & Joseph Earhart, CMIT, Project Manager


 

Philip W. Brown, Sr. Project Manager

Philip joined AFG in January 2021 for GSA Region 4 works and has already received multiple recognitions for going above and beyond his daily assigned projects.  He has led special training sessions with GSA, serves as a leader on our AFG Team of 14 PMs and Estimators, and was recently appointed to the Region 4 Transition Team for Kahua, GSA’s new project management software. He is one of the only non-federal GSA employees on the team. Philip jumps into a project with excitement, hungry for a challenge, and puts out the fires, often with a smile.

Nominated by: W. Dean Rowell, Vice President


 

Barrett Chambers, CQM, CMIT, Project Manager

Barrett has been with AFG since January 9, 2019. He has been the Ronald Reagan Building and managed the day-to-day activities of the $12M phase I renovation in support of USAID.  Barrett is now the lead on Phase II of a $23M renovation in support of USAID and also supporting the replacement of a Roof Top Unit at the IRS, the renovation of the HHS Kitchen at the Hubert Humphrey Building, the DOE Forrestal Roof Replacement projects.

Nominated by: John Thrower, Vice President


 

Katrina DiLorenzo, Project Admin/Office Manager

In 2021 Katrina has expanded her role in the northeast region as well as additional accounting responsibilities.  Now, Frank Jasper can experience that enthusiasm as Katrina now processes approximately 8 of Frank’s payments as he expands his group.

Even though based in the NYC Office, Katrina is now performing Project Administrator duties with Dean Rowell’s team on JJ Pickle Federal Building in Austin TX, the Whittaker Building in Kansas City, MO, and soon possibly the Abernathy Courthouse in Aberdeen, MS.  Within the NYC office, she continues to be the glue that keeps things moving smoothly. Katrina has also taken a more active role in HR issues following up on many HR items for Theresa.

Nominated by: Lew Ayers, CCM, Project Director


 

Joe Dunn, CMIT, General Inspector

Joe’s contributions for the 2021 year have extended beyond finishing the GSA 1800F Collocation project, which is planned to be completed by February 2022.  As a versatile asset, Joe has been assigned to several projects this year. He assisted with DHS Facilities Staff Augmentation while one of the DHS persons was undergoing medical leave of absence with a procedure.

After that assignment, he went on to assist with overseeing and managing the Cohen Roof Drain Leader Project through the summer and finishing in December. Joe has now joined the LBJ Federal Building Prospectus team to deliver (4) floors, new switchgear, and other small projects at the Department of Education in downtown Washington, DC over the next five years. He has also found time to represent AFG at this year’s CMAA Golf Tournament for raising funds for student scholarships.

Joe has prevailed during all the pandemic and COVID requirements providing on-site leadership and guidance for the customers and clients we serve.

Nominated by: Kai Goodrich, CCM, CHC, LEED AP, Vice President


 

Sanaa Lotfaoui, Staff Accountant

Sanaa joined AFG in December 2019 as a staff accountant supporting our Corporate Controller with Bank reconciliations, payroll, audits, general ledger, and other functions. When a senior project accountant left the company, Sanaa immediately stepped up to take on project accounting duties for 18 projects including project set up, contract management, Vision updates, AR development, GSA and DoD payment request uploads, and additional support to the other PA’s to make sure that the loss didn’t adversely affect our efficiency. Sanaa has also worked with our HR Payroll Group to ensure proper payroll reconciliation and compliance, and, all of the above, always with a smile on her face

Nominated by: Paul Cook, AIA, Business Manager, Rick Bierman, CPA, Comptroller & Neha Patel, Sr. Accountant


 

John Newlin, Project Estimator

John has been with AFG for approximately 4 years, starting with the Federal Group, joining HSD this year supporting NIH providing formal IGE estimating, and fully utilizing our new RS Means computerized databases.

Recently, John completed a very detailed $70M parametric estimate to support 2 NIH institutes for leased space in the Baltimore area.  John has met with many COR’s for a variety of projects over the last 8 months and many have requested him on follow-up or new projects.

Nominated by: Jeff Taylor, Project Director


 

Neha Patel, Sr. Project Accountant

Neha provides exceptional accounting support and is extremely responsive providing information in a very rapid manner. She has great attention to detail and an innate ability to provide accounting information in an easy-to-understand manner. An invaluable skill that Neha has is the ability to manage the diverse personalities of the AFG management team to achieve the mission. Her proactiveness in assisting managers to complete accounting tasks, consistently offering assistance, not just deadlines, is greatly appreciated.

Nominated by: Paul Szmurlo, PE, Sr. Vice President


 

John Schick, PE, Fire Protection Engineer, PM

John was hired by AFG about a year ago as a part-time licensed Fire Protection Engineer but was soon transferred to full-time status to take on various roles simultaneously on the Nix Project, VA Regional Office, and Byrne Roof in Philadelphia; the McMahon Fire alarm project in Bridgeport CT, and the Cleveland – Rudman Fire Alarm projects in Concord, NH.

John is a team player and took on these responsibilities without hesitation and has picked up the Google-Meets technology seamlessly. John gives us a specialization/qualification as a licensed Fire Protection Engineer which we are using to leverage GSA Life Safety modernization projects. John is considered a core member of our Region1 & Region 3 teams since he works well with others can navigate personalities and always jumps in to lend a helping hand.

Nominated by: Frank Jasper, CCM, Project Director


 

About AFG Group, Inc.

AFG Group, Inc. is a woman-­owned firm focused on multi-­disciplined program, construction, and relocation management, with a national portfolio of work in healthcare, laboratories, courthouses, educational facilities, and government buildings. With 30 years of business acumen, AFG has earned a reputation for providing strong expertise, responsiveness, and project execution that helps owners navigate through complex design, procurement, construction, and activation processes.