CSI Leadership

Leadership is not a spectator sport! Chapter Leaders who rise to Regional Leadership positions may serve in the following capacities.

NER Board of Directors

President Oliver R. Wilhelm, AIA, CSI Oliver Wilhelm has over 40 years of experience as a Registered Architect, planning and designing diversified projects including industrial plants, manufacturing facilities, warehousing, commercial buildings, retail spaces, educational facilities, and residential projects. Mr. Wilhelm is currently a Partner at W/Studio Architects, LLC. (WSA) He previously honed his array of professional skills, including the design of innovative architectural solutions in food processing, cold storage, and distribution facilities with Cybul & Cybul Architects. During his long tenure there, Mr. Wilhelm ascended to Partner and the company became Cybul, Cybul, Wilhelm (CCW) Architects, LLC. Mr. Wilhelm is proud to integrate innovative planning and design along with sustainability into every project, earning several awards and recognition for excellence as lead architect on such projects as The Chelsea Car Wash in New York City, the COTE award-winning Greyston Bakery, and a nationally renowned restaurant. He has been the lead architect on projects such as the Atalanta Foods Corporation expansion, the Hunts Point Produce Market Toll Plaza, the LEED Gold Brooklyn Navy Yard redevelopment and historical renovation, the new, state-of-the-art FreshDirect facility, as well as a major expansion to the Baldor Specialty Foods facility. Prior to joining CCW, Mr. Wilhelm was the principal of Wilhelm Architects, which specialized in design/build concepts of projects, as well as the prototypical architectural services. Completed projects include a first-class restaurant, residential additions, and custom renovations (design/build), and the project management of a 50,000 SF school facility in the upper west side of Manhattan.

Vice President Kristin Norwood is a licensed architect and a specification writer. She is an Associate and the senior specifications writer at SMMA based in Cambridge MA. Kristin has over 40 years of experience in architectural design and construction. She is Vice President for the North East Region of CSI and a Director on the Boston Chapter of CSI (Construction Specifications Institute). She is also a CDT (Certified Document Technologist) through the CSI Certification Program.

Kristin is a technical leader within SMMA. She assists multidiscipline design teams in producing the written portions of the construction documents. She custom tailors specifications for each individual project, maintains SMMA’s specification masters and knowledge base, and serves as a resource for product and materials evaluation. Kristin also works with SMMA’s sustainability team to implement the latest developments in high performance envelope research and building science into SMMA’s design work.

Secretary Barton Ross, CSI, CDT, AIA, AICP, LEED AP Barton Ross is an historic architect and president of Barton Ross & Partners, LLC Architects, where he leads preservation projects across the Mid-Atlantic Region. His professional work has been recognized by the Society of Architectural Historians, the Vernacular Architecture Forum, the American Institute of Architects and the National Park Service. He is a qualified Historic Architect per the Secretary of the Interior’s Code of Federal Regulations, 36 CFR Part 61 and a Peer Professional for the GSA’s Design Excellence Program. Barton is a Past-President of the New Jersey Chapter of CSI, serves on the Institute’s Certification Committee, and has chaired the Region’s Award Committee since 2021. He is a graduate of the Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design and received master’s degrees from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Treasurer Roger Hoyt, RA, CSI, CDT, MCPPO Roger is a registered architect and has over twenty-five years’ experience with small and medium-size architectural/engineering firms in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Following a tenure as Resident Engineer with DCAMM, Roger joined Construction Monitoring Services (CMS, Inc.) as field representative/project manager in 2017 working on municipal projects in central and eastern MA. Roger recently concluded multiple terms on the Ashburnham Planning Board serving as member, chair, and Associate Member and currently serves as chair of the Bylaw Review Committee. Roger was the Planning Board’s representative to the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission and served on the MRPC’s executive board. A member of CSI’s Worcester Chapter since 2020 and currently holds the position of Director.

Immediate Past President Frank Mruk : Frank Mruk is an architect, technology strategist, and founder of the Center for Strategic Innovation and the Center for Smart Building Technology. He currently serves as Senior Director of Building Innovations at NRMCA. Educated at Pratt Institute and the University of Oxford, Frank has taught at SVA, RISD, Parsons, and NYU, and served as Associate Dean of Architecture at NYIT. Earlier in his career, he was VP of Strategy for Morgan Stanley and directed the New York City office of Turkish architect Emre Arolat.

Marketing Support Administrator Terri Bracken CSI NE Region

Institute Director – Frank Mruk
Boston Director – Kristin Norwood
Buffalo Director – Jim Bourgeois
Hartford Director – Dave Newman
Housatonic Director – Roy Olsen
Long Island Director – Paul Commesso
Metro NY Director – Erin Spadavecchia
Northern New England Director – John Gant
New Jersey Director – Barton Ross
Rochester Director – Allison Shannon
Syracuse Director – Kevin Phillips
Vermont Director – Rebecca Campbell
Worcester Director – Maria Smith

Region Administrative References

Board Meetings

FY27 Spring

NECSI FY27 SUMMER BOARD MEETING AGENDA
2026 NERCSI Summer Meeting Minutes

FY26 Fall

FY25 Spring

FY25 Fall

FY23 Spring

FY23 Fall

FY22 Spring

FY22 Fall

FY21 Spring

FY21 Fall

FY20 Spring

FY20 FALL

FY20 Fall Board Meeting Minutes

FY19 SPRING

FY19 FALL

FY18 FALL

President’s Message

As I am embarking on my Presidency over the Northeast Region of CSI, I would like to commence by extending gratitude and best wishes to Frank on his journey from Northeast Region to the CSI National Board. Your leadership was inspiring and I will work to maintain that level leadership. We will work to continue the development of S.W.O.T. “Strengths; Weakness; Opportunities; Threats;” concept that was developed at the Fall Retreat last year and hopefully we can implement and expand upon the concept and take to next level.

Strengths:
The knowledge that our senior CSI Members bring to the table.
Weaknesses:
Engaging the millennials into CSI, infusing the knowledge cited above into innovative ideas new concepts as we move into the next generation and avoiding the “the old school mentality.”
Opportunities:
Make the above weakness into a strength at the Chapter level guided by the NECSI team.
Threats:
We stay in the status quo.

The 2026-27 Executive Committee welcomes Kristin Norwood as Vice President along with returning team members Barton and Roger. Kristin will bring innovative ideas to EX COMM, and we will work as team to make NECSI better in the upcoming year. Our Team includes Terri our Marketing Support Administrator, who effortlessly manages our events and keeps us in line. It is an honor to be selected to preside the NECSI and will preside as a team. Our doors are open to all Chapter leaders in the NE Region to share any and all issues that we can work together as a team to resolve.

In conclusion, I am seeking the approval from our Team to set up a monthly Teams meetings with Chapter Leaders and Committees Chairs at mutual agreed upon time to openly discuss current events.

Thank you and look forward to growth and development of the NE CSI and all our Chapters!