Commercial Observer Names Senior Project Manager Carolina Zapata Top Young Professional

Recognized as a rising industry leader, senior project manager Carolina Zapata was named to Commercial Observer’s Top Young Professionals—one of 20 AEC professionals selected nationwide. Read more about Carolina’s career below and in her feature here.

Carolina has delivered complex, large-scale projects for some of the most iconic and important institutions in New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbia University, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital to name a few. Spanning cultural spaces and museum galleries to state-of-the-art hospitals and higher education facilities, Carolina’s drive to exceed clients’ expectations and lead dynamic project teams is what fuels her, having a direct role in creating spaces that directly enhance and support the local community.

Carolina approaches every project as a true partner, elevating the client experience along the way. This approach has earned her the respect of clients, design teams, subcontractors, consultants, and vendors throughout New York. One of the biggest projects in her career exemplifies this. The renovation of the Church of the Epiphany, a 180+ year-old historic church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, included façade restoration, an all-new exterior envelope, new foundations, and full interior fit out of the historic space. Spanning 29,000 square feet, the building required new footings, underpinning, structural upgrades to steel and wood joists, and all-new MEP infrastructure. Carolina and the team added a new circulation core with an elevator and stairwells, modified the sanctuary for Episcopal services, installed an organ and sound system, and relocated stained glass from the Church of the Epiphany. The scope was a feat in itself, made even more impressive by Carolina’s successful mitigation of challenges brought on by the pandemic.

Carolina was one of the founding members that launched Shawmut’s Diversity Leadership Council—which implements inclusion and belonging initiatives across the company as well as on projects and in the community. She’s also a member of the firm’s Women in Construction Week committee—planning events inside and outside of Shawmut that promote the impact, opportunities, and benefits of diversity of thought in the AEC industry.