Wearing a hard hat to one meeting and a suit and tie to the next is not unheard of for Joseph Castillo, who relishes his role as director of design and planning at Certified Site Safety, a White Plains company that provides occupational risk and safety management services for construction firms. Being able to bounce between the worlds of architecture, engineering, and construction is what Castillo loves most about his job. And he is well qualified for it, having earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in Architectural Engineering Technology from Boston’s Wentworth Institute of Technology (2006), and one in Architecture from New York Institute of Technology (2012).
Castillo began at the firm just three years ago as a junior project engineer; today, he oversees the entire engineering department. “To reach such a position so quickly is a great achievement and shows his personal skill development,” co-worker Michael Benjamin says of Castillo.
Castillo has designed the safety plans for many notable buildings in New York City, including the 68-story Marriott hotel at 1717 Broadway. He’s also overseen site safety personnel at Croton Water Treatment Plant. In addition, Castillo—who travels extensively in his free time (Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Belize, and Honduras are just some of the places he’s seen) and wants to have visited all seven continents within the next five years—also assists with staffing the company’s field personnel, and oversees the marketing division.
He credits the firm for providing him with great mentors and growth experiences, but he’s certainly not done advancing. “I don’t see a ceiling for myself. I’d like to be an executive at this company, and I feel that is within my grasp, so I am definitely shooting for the stars,” he says.
