Project Management Advisors Name Sonia Y. Cooke Company's First-Ever VP of Human Resources

Oct. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- CHICAGO, Ill. – Sonia Y. Cooke has joined Project Management Advisors, Inc. (PMA) in the newly-established position of vice president human resources.  She will provide strategic guidance and implementation of the company’s recruitment, staff development, and retention activities, and will manage and implement human resource policies and procedures.   PMA is a 40 person Chicago-based professional consulting firm that provides development management, project management and investor representation services for public and private sector clients, operating from Chicago (corporate headquarters), San Diego and San Francisco.

“We consider this an important strategic and tactical step in our continued efforts to grow our business, and one that underscores our long-standing commitment to our most valuable resource – our people,” said Gene E. Litterski, principal, Project Management Advisors, Inc. Litterski further explained that Cooke’s selection was an outward signal of his company’s commitment to identify, retain and grow the best and the brightest for an increasingly enlightened and engaged clientele group with national and international interests.

Recognized as a leader in identifying, securing and developing talent within the real estate/built environment profession, Cooke will apply her recruitment and talent development capabilities nationally.  With over 30 years of business administration experience as a senior level human resources and talent development executive, she most recently served as vice president of administration and human resources for The Rise Group, LLC, a Chicago-based program and project management firm acquired in December 2010 by ARCADIS, an international consulting firm.  There, she was a core member and key advisor to the executive leadership team, responsible for talent resourcing, recruitment, education, and training in the U.S.

Prior to her tenure with Rise, Cooke’s career path also includes serving as principal of administration for DLK Architecture, Inc.  There, she also was responsible for the coordination of special arts related project work for clients, and played a key role as the firm’s representative to civic and arts organizations.  As administrative director for the SOM Foundation (aka Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism) serving Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), she acted as a client representative during the restoration process, programming and planning when the SOM Foundation moved its headquarters into the historic Charnley House.

Today, Cooke’s civic engagement includes serving as president of the Friends of the Japanese Garden (a nationally recognized historic site from the Columbian Exposition). She is the former president for the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Design Administration (SDA), an affiliate of the American Institute of Architects.  Her interest in the arts continues as a student of painting and dance.  

The Worcester, Massachusetts native earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Clark University in Worcester, MA.  Today she calls Chicago home.

About Project Management Advisors, Inc.
Since 1993, Project Management Advisors, Inc. (PMA) has provided real estate consulting services to businesses in a wide variety of public and private sector industries.  PMA’s professional staff employs an approach to project assignments which combines an established team methodology with problem solving, collaboration and innovation.  PMA’s team has proven experience in nearly every aspect of the real estate industry, and from both sides of the table, including backgrounds in architectural design, asset management, brokerage, construction, development, engineering and planning.  PMA operates from offices in Chicago, San Diego and San Francisco and has managed more than $5 billion in project value for a diverse range of projects, among them commercial, residential, institutional, life sciences, municipal, not-for-profit and educational assignments. For more information, visit www.pmainc.com