BL Companies, an employee-owned, multidisciplinary architecture, engineering, environmental and land surveying firm, announced that Kent Schwendy has joined the firm as its executive director of architecture, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering (ASMEP).
With more than 35 years of leadership experience across engineering, planning, architecture, real estate development and construction, Schwendy will lead the firm’s architecture and building engineering disciplines across its 18 offices, strengthening collaboration between teams, deepening client relationships and positioning the practice for continued growth.
“Kent is a skilled and accomplished engineer, but he’s also a tremendous leader and strategic thinker,” said Carolyn Stanworth, president and CEO of BL Companies. “Doing commendable work, fostering future leaders and growing the business are top priorities at BL. Kent excels in all these areas, and many more. He’s a team builder, and he understands how great design, strong client service and sound business decisions fit together.”
Schwendy was most recently president and CEO of the Corporation for Independent Living (CIL), a role he held for over a decade. Prior to that, he spent 17 years at consulting engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill, rising from project engineer to partner and senior vice president.
He has experience leading a nationwide multidisciplinary practice of engineers, architects, planners, landscape architects and environmental scientists. He’s also directed master planning efforts as well as adaptive reuse planning and design for dozens of historic structures and industrial complexes.
Schwendy began his career as a utility engineer with the New York State Department of Public Service before serving as a captain and civil engineer in the U.S. Air Force in the early 1990s. He deployed as an Air Base Combat Engineer in support of Operations Desert Storm, Southern Watch and Vigilant Warrior, and served as lead structural engineer for Dover Air Force Base, where his projects included converting a World War II aircraft hangar into a museum.
In addition to being a licensed professional engineer, Schwendy is also a LEED-Accredited Professional, Congress for the New Urbanism Accredited and a Certified Construction Specifier and Certified Document Technologist through the Construction Specifications Institute. He serves on the Civil Engineering Advisory Board at the University of Hartford, has been a guest lecturer at the University of Connecticut and is a course facilitator for eCornell.
He is graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with concentrations in structures and transportation.
