Peter Rizzo Email & Phone Number

United States

Buffalo, New York, United States

• Directed a diverse team of 151 professionals in design, construction, skilled trades, custodial, and administrative roles serving a major university housing portfolio spanning 117 buildings and 2.5 million square feet.
• Oversaw an annual operating and capital projects budget totaling $58M, ensuring efficient allocation of resources and adherence to financial goals.
• Spearheaded a comprehensive workforce expansion initiative across all business units, optimizing staffing levels to enhance service delivery and meet industry benchmarks.
• Restructured Residential Facilities, introducing a streamlined operational framework and launching a Customer Service Team to bolster efficiency and customer satisfaction.
• Pioneered workplace safety initiatives through the establishment of a Safety & Health Committee, implementation of rigorous risk assessments, and enhancement of employee training protocols, fostering a safety-first.
• Developed and implemented a mission, vision, and values statement aligning Residential Facilities with institutional objectives, driving cohesion and purpose across teams.

Buffalo, NY

• Championed a national team of development professionals responsible for growth of Clover’s market-rate senior living apartment portfolio, including market research, site selection, due diligence, design, entitlements.
• Reigned in $4M in uncontrolled and untracked spending by instituting financial reporting tools and new contracting protocols that enhanced accountability and financial decision-making.
• Completely modernized Clover’s project management system, replacing a series of spreadsheets with a fully-integrated SharePoint platform, including a site submission and approval portal, a project tracking interface.
• Developed and deployed interactive, automated project portfolio dashboard and reporting tools, leveraging real-time project data to create meaningful visualizations to inform C-suite decision-making.
• Authored a comprehensive operational manual to close widespread policy and procedure gaps and mitigated material weaknesses in internal controls.
• Resurrected and stabilized 3 development projects that were on the brink of failure, resolving contractual disputes, design errors, and financial miscalculations.

Buffalo, NY & Washington, DC

• Developed and managed national quality assurance audit and compliance programs for an $8B medical and cemetery construction program and a $6B leasing program. Provided guidance on capital project management policy and.
• Achieved over $100M in savings by emergently intervening to vastly improve the execution of numerous construction contracts from New York, NY, to Honolulu, HI, valued up to $206M.
• Successfully delivered 45 complex performance audits and internal reviews of construction, lease, and service contracts and internal controls, exposing and leading to the correction of operational inefficiencies.
• Devised a plan to unite VA’s 19 separate capital asset, construction, leasing, and facilities management components under a single command to optimize operations for 25K employees and $100B in capital infrastructure.
• Managed on-time, on-budget delivery of a $24M cemetery construction project.
• Facilitated turnaround and stabilization of a failing $105M mental health clinic construction contract by assigning responsibilities for deficiencies and improving team communications.

Washington, DC

• Oversaw capital/facility planning, master planning, physical security, architectural design, entitlement and permitting, and interagency coordination activities for a 96M-square-foot real estate portfolio. Steered.
• Modernized and managed a design quality control program that processed 2K renovation and new construction design packages annually through architectural, engineering, environmental, planning, and historic preservation.
• Managed 3 campus master plan contracts totaling $5.9M for 540 acres of federal land for the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Secret Service, translating programmatic needs into cost-conscious development frameworks.
• Co-led a multimillion-dollar subterranean metro rail station flood mitigation initiative in partnership with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
• Presented development projects before the National Capital Planning Commission and similar bodies, consistently achieving approval with compelling presentations and reasoned arguments.
• Shaped 5 major physical security design projects for agency headquarters buildings in Washington, DC, as GSA’s lead physical security design subject matter expert, applying the latest methods and technologies to.

Washington, DC

• Provided organizational and project-level support and leadership on the technical processes of land development and used best practices to optimize projects’ physical form and economic impacts. Served as a liaison.
• Improved project outcomes and eliminated entitlement approval delays by co-developing the agency’s first regional planning division, authoring and instituting policies and practices.
• Resurrected a $3.6M federal courthouse physical security project after controversy stopped all work by facilitating a collaborative, consensus-based redesign with the community and federal stakeholders to achieve a.
• Led a detailed review of a $330M agency headquarters construction project which identified $3M in deficient work; subsequently managed correction of said deficiencies.
• Established and led a license and easement program granting non-federal entities use of federal land for roadways, sidewalks, vehicle access gates, and transit and utility infrastructure.
• Co-authored report, standards, and design criteria for large-scale, high-visibility physical security infrastructure projects at federal facilities in downtown Washington, DC.

Washington, DC & Chicago, IL

• The PMF Program is a comprehensive leadership development program for advanced degree holders that involved the completion of 160 hours of training and numerous developmental assignments.
• Drove 90+ instructional briefings by reporting to regional, county, and municipal officials on competitive grant applications and creation/implementation of sustainable planning initiatives.
• Launched a regional Planning Division by creating and publishing a compelling business case video that compelled GSA executives to establish the initiative.
• Generated cost savings by co-authoring a study of alternative financing options for land acquisitions, prompting reforms that enabled GSA to realize once-overlooked solutions.
• Improved conditions in the most distressed U.S. cities by working with the White House on an investment program to implement housing, transportation, and workforce development plans.

Tonawanda, NY

• Served as an appointed official on an advisory body responsible for comprehensive oversight of the natural and built environment for a community of 75,000 residents located immediately north of Buffalo, NY.
• Facilitated radioactive waste remediation programs and projects with state and federal agencies to eliminate residual hazards from the World War II-era Manhattan Project.
• Drove environmental improvement initiatives by conducting an advanced community air quality testing program and facilitating radioactive waste remediation programs and projects.
• Streamlined transparent communication by leading public meetings and fielding all broadcast and print media interviews, professionally and diplomatically addressing controversial issues while earning the public’s trust.

Master Of Regional Planning, City And Regional Planning

Earned a Master of Regional Planning with concentrations in both Economic Development Planning and Government, Politics, and Policy Studies

Bachelor Of Arts, English

Activities and Societies: Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society; Mortar Board International Honor Society; Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society.

High School Diploma