By Joshua Burd
For a firm that prides itself on employee retention, Pradeep Kapoor is an obvious example.
He’s also a poster child for DMR Architects’ long-held focus on cultivating young talent and career development, a strategy that has become increasingly important in recent years. Kapoor, who joined the firm in 2001 and is now CEO and president, points to the growing number of employees who started there as interns or soon after college, providing a strong foundation for the future as it supports an evolving project portfolio.
“The one thing that I’ve realized with my own example and a lot of other people at the company — we all started here as we were starting our architecture career,” Kapoor said, later adding: “This happened very organically, but now I look back and we have so many employees that started here as an intern during their college years. And now some of them are project managers, some of them have completed their architecture licenses.”
The youth movement is well represented among DMR’s newest hires. The Hasbrouck Heights-based firm has welcomed nine new team members over the past year — part of a group that also includes seasoned design professionals — boosting departments such as architecture, construction administration, marketing and operations to help serve its clients in education, health care, multifamily and other longstanding practice areas.
The newest additions are as follows:
- Zara Khan, designer
- Sarah Nassery, administrative assistant
- Scott Layton, designer
- Emily Nix, marketing coordinator
- Changbum Park, designer
- Salome Idrovo, designer
- Rey Aponte, construction manager
- Robert Federico, senior interior designer
- Elizabeth Rochette, accounting manager
“We believe great design starts with great teams,” Kapoor said. “We’re proud to be growing —not just in size, but in the quality and character of the people joining our firm. Providing mentorship and opportunity has always been central to our culture, and it continues to bring fresh energy and ideas into our work.”
The firm’s internship program is central to that effort, Kapoor said, citing the many benefits it provides to prospective employees. For one thing, it allows DMR to train and identify the strengths of interns during their college years, giving both parties a head start when they become full-time staffers.
It also exposes them to its culture of longevity and diverse project portfolio, he said, so “you build people who want to stay and grow with the firm rather than just trying to find someone to address one type of project.”
“If they’re growing with the firm, they’re very adaptive to working on different types of projects,” he said. “That really helps us use the staff interchangeably.”
Those young professionals also have many departments to explore, from construction and design to production and interiors — all of which provide a strong foundation when they’re seeking an architecture license or other certifications. The firm cited one recent success story, Conor McCann, who served as an intern in 2019 while studying at New Jersey Institute of Technology and went on to join DMR full time after graduating.
McCann recently passed the Architectural Registration Examination — a rigorous six-part test that typically takes applicants more than 13 years to complete, yet he did so in less than half that time.
“When you take the architecture exams, they’re not testing you on one type of project,” Kapoor said. “They’re testing you as an architect who can handle any type of project … so because of our diverse portfolio, these young architects get experience in all different type of architecture projects.”
That includes core verticals across the public and private sectors, which DMR continues to support with its other recent hires. Among them is Robert Federico, a senior interior designer who will leverage some three decades of experience to support the firm’s portfolio of corporate and school interiors projects.
Kapoor also pointed to the addition of industry veteran Rey Aponte as construction manager, noting that he can serve as an owner’s representative for DMR’s many clients in education and elsewhere. That creates another layer of quality control and efficiency for its construction team.
“Bringing him on helps us bring that constructive perspective, so that we can serve the clients from the point of view of someone who understands construction as well as architecture,” Kapoor said, noting that the department has grown from two to seven people in recent years
DMR’s other new hires this year have bolstered its administration, marketing and accounting teams, which are key as it looks to continue its expansion in and around New York City and its home state of New Jersey, which it has served for nearly 35 years.
“Strategically, I would say New Jersey is always growing,” Kapoor said. “If the private work slows down then the public work definitely picks up more.”
DMR eyes continued growth, pipeline diversity as design firm marks 30th anniversary
