Date Posted: 06.16.2026
From Los Angeles to San Francisco to Seattle, we’re celebrating a new round of promotions that reflects the talent, leadership and design excellence shaping our projects every day. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding individuals.
PARTNERS
Mithun has promoted Damian Possidente, Kristen Belt and Nick Wai-Poi to Partner.
Damian Possidente is a skilled architect and team leader with more than 25 years of experience creating vibrant TOD and campus residential, academic, workplace and mixed-use developments. His notable projects include UC Santa Barbara San Benito and East Campus Housing, two new on-campus residential communities for a total of 3,912 students, and The Now, a vibrant mixed-use commercial development on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip.
Architect Kristen Belt is committed to the creation of sustainable urban communities across the Bay Area, with an emphasis on affordable housing. Notable projects include transit-oriented developments like the AIA COTE Top Ten Award-winning Kapuso at the Upper Yard and collaboration with Valley Transit Authority (VTA) on new homes at Milpitas’ Great Mall Station, as well as affordable family housing in Menlo Park and Sonoma, each responding sensitively to local context and community priorities.
Nick Wai-Poi brings valuable technical insight to complex university projects and urban residential developments. His experience includes design of more than 6,900 beds of new student housing at UCLA including 901 Levering, Gayley Towers and Olympic and Centennial Halls; innovative agricultural research, teaching and outreach facilities like the UC Merced Experimental Smart Farm; and affordable housing for seniors at Philip C. Chin Commons in San Francisco’s Transbay neighborhood.
PRINCIPALS
New Principals are Ed Palushock, Sean Cryan and Tom Fitzgerald.
Architect Ed Palushock brings an analytical approach and decades of experience from programming through design to the delivery of high-rise developments that serve diverse tenants, residents, developers and the broader city fabric. His recent and ongoing efforts include the design of a new commercial office building in downtown Bellevue, Washington, several multifamily housing projects, as well as renovations to the iconic Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP).
Sean Cryan is a project manager with significant experience on complex projects from urban senior living at Horizon House to public infrastructure and industrial developments including the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 91, Longfellow Starts Here for Seattle Public Utilities and King County’s Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Facility. A sustainable design leader at Mithun, he directs the firm’s annual operational carbon calculations and the Build Carbon Neutral online tool.
Landscape architect Tom Fitzgerald is a talented site designer, mentor and project manager working on diverse projects ranging from parks to urban and campus housing communities. He is currently directing improvements at multiple California State Parks, including Humbolt Redwoods State Park, Big Basin State Park in the Santa Cruz mountains and Cal Citrus State Park in Riverside, and collaborating on UCLA Gayley Towers affordable student housing.
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPALS
Mithun has promoted Carolyn Spiess to Associate Principal.
Carolyn Spiess is a project architect with broad experience spanning higher education, student housing, multifamily residential, senior housing and mixed-use developments. Notable projects include student housing at UC Irvine Mesa Court Towers and the adjacent Oso Tower, affordable family housing at Gateway Rising in Menlo Park and the transit-oriented ARRAS development in Bellevue’s growing Spring District.
SENIOR ASSOCIATES
Mithun has promoted Claire McConnell, Gina Gage, Kerry Garikes, Maria Garcia Llop, Molly Schremmer, Toby Peterson and Veronica Macalinao to Senior Associate.
ASSOCIATES
New Associates are Abi Martinez Laredo, Alborz Nazari, Ana Cristina Garcia, Andrew Walker, Anna Evans, Audrey Maloney, Berenice Sanchez Colin, Brittany Porter, Brooke Orsen, Charlene Hobbs, Chris Lim, Connor Fahey, Devin Koba, Esther Jeong, Joan Chen, Juan Rodriguez Lopez, Ka Kit Chiu, Masahiro Inoue, Matt Kikosicki, Monserratt Cortés Macías, Rachel Cowen, Ryan Rideout, Shaela Nelson, Sheryl Bushaw, Wenjia Xu and Zoe Kasperzyk.
