“Since joining us five years ago, Wendy has had an incredible impact on our profile in Southern California,” said Kitchell CEM President Russ Fox. “She came to us with a broad base of experience in healthcare and has grown our footprint with municipalities, education, justice and other markets. Moving her into the Northern California region — closer in proximity to more of our public-sector work — is a strategic decision that will be a great benefit to our clients and our employee-owners.”
Cohen assumes the role previously held by Executive Vice President Mansour Aliabadi, who will transition out of the day-to-day operations.
Since joining Kitchell five years ago, Cohen has rapidly expanded Kitchell’s presence in Southern California. Under her leadership, Kitchell has become a source for entities seeking guidance for bond measures, long-term capital improvement plans and engineering assessments. She opened two new offices in Los Angeles and Riverside and dramatically grew Kitchell’s Southern California workforce.
She came to Kitchell after serving as Director of Facilities, Planning and Development at Escondido, California-based Palomar Health where she oversaw the execution of a $1 billion-plus master plan. A native of San Diego, Cohen has been a finalist for San Diego Business Woman of the Year and Outstanding Women in Construction & Design. She was honored by the American College of Healthcare Executives with the 2012 Regent’s Award for Early Careerist Healthcare Executive.
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Pokrywa joined Kitchell in 2015 after also working at Palomar Health. Pokrywa has been an integral player in growing the Southern California region, building relationships with clients in both the public and private sectors. He has facilitated major development programs from land acquisition and entitlement to construction and close-out, becoming a trusted adviser on fiscal and risk management, processes and procedures. Prior to being named Regional Executive, he was Program Director.
“Wendy and her leadership team have been largely responsible for building a book of business and a solid group of dedicated employee-owners who will continue to prosper under Kevin’s management,” Fox said. “We are fortunate to have this level of talent covering our entire state.”
