WX honors Aine Brazil as Woman of the Year

WX honors Aine Brazil as "Woman of the Year"

NEW YORK—WX, New York Women Executives in Real Estate, will honor Aine Brazil, managing principal of Thornton Tomasetti, as "Woman of the Year" at the organization’s 2006 Annual Dinner on Nov. 16.

Brazil is among the most recognized and celebrated structural engineers in the nation, and the most prominent woman in her field. Her contributions to real estate development are evident throughout New York, including 731 Lexington Avenue (The Bloomberg Building/Beacon Court) for Vornado, 5 Times Square for Boston Properties, 15 Metrotech in Brooklyn for Forest City Ratner, and 745 Seventh Avenue for Rockefeller Group Development Corporation. Brazil has directed engineering marvels such as New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Greenberg Pavilion and served the city with her work on the initial rescue and recovery mission at Ground Zero.

One of just nine managing principals at the 500-person international engineering and design firm responsible for the world’s tallest three buildings (the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur, Shanghai 101, and Taipai 101), world-class sports facilities, and other complex structures spanning the globe, Brazil brings more than 28 years experience in the design and construction of high-rise office and residential buildings, hotels, air-rights projects with long-span transfer systems, hospitals, and parking garages.

"We are extremely proud to honor Aine Brazil as our Woman of the Year," said Sherida Paulsen, president of WX. "She is a remarkable professional, setting the highest standards for structural engineers and establishing a new bar for the role women can play in the field of real estate development."

Brazil is a board member of both NEW (Non-traditional Employment for Women), a nonprofit organization that trains women for jobs in the building trades, and for ACE (Architecture, Construction Management, and Engineering) New York. She has taught as an adjunct professor at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities such as Princeton, Columbia, and Manhattan College, and has served as a guest lecturer at Cornell and Yale.