Boston Higher Ed & Student Housing

Jay Doherty began his career at Cabot, Cabot & Forbes in 1981 as a project manager and held a succession of staff and managerial positions, culminating in his promotion to president of the firm in 1998. Jay has served as Chairman of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), the leading voice for commercial real estate in Massachusetts, and is currently a Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of The Massachusetts Business Roundtable (MBR). Jay graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1981 and with a BA from Middlebury College in 1975.

Marc Robillard, Assistant Vice President, Auxiliary Services, joined the University in 1982 as Assistant Director of Housing and in 1983 was named Associate Director of Housing. In 1987 Marc was promoted to Director of Housing, a position he held for 23 years. Promoted to Executive Director of Auxiliary Services in 2011, Marc was responsible for BU Housing and Vending Services and for leading special projects related to both housing, dining and vending operations. In 2017 Marc was promoted to Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Services and currently serves as project manager for the renovation of Myles Standish Hall. In addition, Marc oversees project planning for large and small residences and leads improvement initiatives for campus dining, Terrier Card, and housing security systems. Marc is also responsible for managing the integration of Auxiliary Services functions related to the Wheelock College merger.

With more than 25 years of experience, Jack Callahan leads CohnReznick’s Construction Industry Practice. He has significant knowledge and experience in accounting, corporate taxation and business consulting matters within the construction community. Jack serves clients in most construction sectors including: heavy highway, general contractors, construction management, specialty contractors, building trades, and building supply and equipment companies. He has worked extensively with public agencies and major construction owners to develop successful fiscal and integrity monitoring programs that enable contractors to improve the profitability, safety, and integrity of construction programs. He was a lead partner for CohnReznick on the monitoring and investigative work performed at Ground Zero and at the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub. Jack joined CohnReznick in August 2005 after serving as the managing shareholder of a leading private New Jersey accounting firm. He began his career with a national accounting firm and founded his own firm in 1996. As the managing shareholder for that firm, Jack built the company into a 16-person accounting and consulting firm focused on serving the needs of the construction industry. Jack is an active member of many industry associations and has written a variety of construction related accounting, tax, and business articles.

Bill Whitney has been Vice President for Real Estate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts since 2007. He is responsible for property acquisition; major capital project planning; permitting, including Institutional Master Plan (IMP) and Art. 80 project-specific approvals; project design and construction management; leasing as lessee and lessor; overseeing the college’s physical plant and campus planning offices and serving as a member of the President’s Cabinet. Among the real state projects recently completed by Berklee are 1) revitalization of a block of Boylston Street near Berklee’s campus, including construction of outdoor dining terraces and other public improvements, and retail leasing of the ground floor of buildings owned or master leased by Berklee to such retail tenants as Boloco, Pavement Coffee House, Boston Burger and J.P. Licks, 2) substantial rehab of 1108 Boylston Street to create new classrooms and music rehearsal rooms, 3) substantial rehab of portions of the interior and facade improvements to 150 Massachusetts Avenue, the college’s largest academic and student housing building, and 4) 160 Massachusetts Avenue, a $100 million, 155,000 sf newly constructed mixed-use development, including 369 beds of student housing, a 400 seat dining hall and music performance facility, three new recording studios and other music technology space and ground floor retail space. Prior to joining Berklee, Bill was a Vice President of The Druker Company, Ltd., a privately held, Boston-based firm that acquires, develops and manages real estate; Director of Planning of the New England Aquarium and Assistant Director for Urban Design and Development of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

As a principal with Bruner/Cott & Associates, Scott Aquilina provides strategic planning and design leadership for new, revitalized and expanded buildings for educational and cultural institutions. Scott has led multi-disciplinary teams through planning, design and construction for wide variety of academic clients, including the New England Conservatory of Music, Princeton University, and Cornell University. He is the principle-in-charge for the new Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine and is leading a feasibility study for a New Performing Arts Center on behalf of the City of Nashua, NH. His projects have been recognized for design excellence from national and state chapters of the AIA and the Society for College and University Planning. Scott lives along the Boston Marathon route in Newton with his wife and two children. For over twenty years, he has been an active member of Grace Episcopal Church in Newton Corner, overseeing care of the 1873 landmark building as a member of the Property Committee. Scott also volunteers as an adult mentor on the Diocesan Youth Council, a youth group which provides leadership training and faith based retreats at its camp in Southern New Hampshire. Scott is an enthusiastic fisherman and can be found fishing for bass with son Patrick from his two-man inflatable kayak on summer evenings.

As Director of Higher Education at SGA, Jacob leads all projects in the institutional market sector. These include projects in student life, student residences, classroom facilities, faculty and administrative spaces, student health and wellness and lifestyle centers. Passionate about sustainability, Jacob is leading the design of the first two passive house residence halls in Massachusetts – Wheaton College’s Lower Campus Dormitory and Williams College’s Garfield House - as well as a number of other projects including, adaptive reuse, technology in design, high performance buildings and corporate lifestyle trends.

Trisha Filippone is Vice President of Business Development and Client Services for Education. She works closely with regional and national leadership to develop client relations and implement growth strategy for the company’s Northeast Region, specializing in public and private K-12 education, as well as higher education, with a focus on Public Private Partnership delivery. She has spent the last 13 years in higher education, at institutions including Harvard, MIT and UMass, and over 32 years working on developing, financing, and constructing nearly $10 billion of assets in Massachusetts. She is a recognized leader in the industry and a Subject Matter Expert on Public Private Partnerships. Prior to joining Suffolk, she served in various positions at the University of Massachusetts including Executive Director of the University of Massachusetts Building Authority (UMBA). As Executive Director, Filippone oversaw an ambitious $3.1 billion growth plan that includes the building and renovation of academic and research buildings, dormitories, and athletic facilities on all five UMass campuses. She was involved in numerous capital projects to improve teaching, learning and student life. Filippone joined UMBA in 2012 as CFO and assistant secretary-treasurer. As CFO, she managed all aspects of finance, including controller, treasury, risk management, business systems, and capital planning. In addition she served in various positions at The Broad Institute, including CFO and assistant treasurer, senior financial officer and controller. Previously, she was director of Allston Finance at Harvard University and 12 years at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Filippone is a member of the Massachusetts’s Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Treasurer’s Club of Boston, Financial Executives International, Boston Women in Public Finance, Professional Women in Construction, and the Society for College and University Planning.

Mike Davis, FAIA, is Bergmeyer's President. Committed to sustainable design at its deepest level, he is also an effective advocate for progressive public policy and a staunch defender of the quality of the public realm. In addition to his many civic and professional involvements, Mike is a recent President of the Boston Society of Architects, is currently Chair of the BSA Foundation, and is chair of the Boston Civic Design Commission. Experienced in adaptive reuse and new construction, Mike has been Principal-in-Charge of some of Bergmeyer's most significant housing, mixed use, institutional and commercial building projects. With an imaginative view of a project’s potential and a firm understanding of the many variables involved in community building, he provides our clients with clear vision and valuable insight. At home in his cherished Boston neighborhood, Mike is ebullient about the city. He sees Boston as an increasingly diverse and multicultural world-class center for the rapidly-expanding 21st century creative economy. Still proficient with sketchbook, tracing paper and magic markers, he has also earned master's status in social media and Tweets and blogs more than he probably should. Mike holds a BS in Architecture from Penn State and a Master of Architecture from Yale University.

Colleen Arria is a Principal and Interior Designer with Stantec. She co-leads the workplace design practice in the Boston office and brings 20 years of experience across workplace, commercial mixed-use, institutional, multi-family and student housing design. She believes and strives to make design an inclusive and holistic process, enabling clients to discover how their goals and culture can be supported and transformed through collaborative placemaking.