Becky Blankenship Hill

Becky Blankenship Honored as DBIA Fellow

The Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) has recognized Hill International, Inc. First Vice President Rebecca “Becky” Blankenship as a DBIA Fellow. Recognized throughout the Western U.S. as a design-build delivery expert, Becky serves as First Vice President at Hill, working out of the firm’s Spokane and Seattle, WA, offices.

Becky Blankenship Hill

According to Jim L. Whitaker, Chancellor of the DBIA College of Fellows, “DBIA Fellow status recognizes the achievements of our most accomplished Designated Design-Build Professionals.” The honor places Becky among the nation’s top design-build practitioners: Currently, there are only 43 Fellows in the country.

Only 2% of all DBIA Designated Design-Build Professionals are inducted into the DBIA College of Fellows. Fellow status recognizes individuals’ career achievements and promotes design-build and DBIA best practices. A national jury of peers elects Fellows based on strict requirements including a minimum of ten continuous years as a Designated Design-Build Professional and notable career contributions to the design-build profession and the DBIA organization. Becky’s career contributions come from her comprehensive background, including roles in engineering, architecture, and construction.

In Becky’s role as an owner advisor at Hill, she often applies her expertise during the planning phases, where she helps clients identify which delivery method is most appropriate for their project. In Washington, where she does most of her work, Becky also helps public clients acquire State approval to use alternative delivery methods. She then supports clients throughout procurement, helping clients select strong and capable design-build teams. Often, Becky leverages progressive design-build (PDB) procurement, which involves hiring a design-build team very early in a project’s lifecycle. Finally, Becky leads the implementation of design-build delivery through design, construction, and closeout, using her thorough understanding of design-build to mitigate risk, capture opportunities, and realize efficiencies.

JollyGoodFellowBy leveraging the unique advantages of design-build, Becky contributes to substantial cost and schedule savings for her clients. Notable examples of Becky’s design-build projects include the award-winning John J. Hemmingson Center at Gonzaga University; the Student Union Building at Washington State University’s Tri-Cities campus; the award-winning North Mason Regional Fire Authority’s Headquarters Fire Station 21 in Belfair, WA; the City of Richland’s City Hall in Richland, WA; and the Sound Transit E360 East Link Light Rail Extension in Bellevue and Redmond, WA. In each case, Becky helped drive a design-build program to guide these communities in making the most of limited resources while improving emergency, transit, and other public services and reducing the burden on taxpayers.

“All of us at Hill are simply thrilled to see Becky receive this well-deserved acknowledgment from DBIA,” adds Hill Senior Vice President, Western Region Manager Greg Heinz. “Becky has devoted a substantial amount of her career to advancing the practice of design-build project delivery, with emphasis on progressive design-build. All of us who have had the opportunity and pleasure to work with Becky—coworkers and clients alike—agree that we’re better for the experience. I’m proud to work with her and am excited to see what she’ll accomplish next.”

“I’m honored to be recognized in this way by DBIA and to join this prestigious group of Fellows,” adds Becky. “The work DBIA does to help owners understand the design-build process is vital to helping everyone in the industry realize the benefits and risks of alternate delivery for their projects and, ultimately, for their communities.”

Becky was recently honored at the 2023 Design-Build Conference & Expo in National Harbor, MD. For more information, click here: https://dbia.org/design-build-conference-expo/.

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