RAND Structural Team Leader and Director of Technical Design James Vignola, PE is one of Engineering News-Record's 2021 Top 20 Under 40 Young Professionals in New York.
RAND is proud to announce Structural Team Leader and Director of Technical Design Jimmy Vignola, PE has been named one of Engineering News-Record's 2021 Top 20 Under 40 Young Professionals in New York. ENR's 20 Under 40 winners are recognized for leadership, career excellence, and community service.
James, also known as Jimmy, graduated from Manhattan College with a Bachelors in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Structural Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. He began his career at a boutique structural engineering firm in 2004 and since then has worked mostly at large multidiscipline A/E/C firms where he consulted on numerous infrastructure and capital improvement projects, and several resiliency efforts. Jimmy has extensive experience in all types of construction, from new construction of modern family homes to large scale institutional buildings and renovations of all sizes, including many exterior envelope restoration projects.
Career and Leadership
Brought on as Director of Technical Design at RAND Engineering and Architecture, DPC in 2018, Jimmy was additionally made Leader of RAND’s Structural Engineering Team in 2020. As Structural Team Leader, Jimmy oversees and manages a team of twelve and provides mentoring for junior staff and interns. He is a New York State Licensed Professional Engineer, has a Special Inspector certification as a Structural Bolting Inspector, and is certified as a Qualified Retaining Wall Inspector (QRWI) by the New York City Department of Buildings. In addition, Jimmy has served on the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) Board of Directors since 2013, including terms as Treasurer from September 2016 to August 2018 and as President from September 2019 to August 2020. SEAoNY has approximately 500 members and 15 active committees. Within the association, Jimmy has participated on numerous committees – Programs, SEER, Website, Sponsorship, Publications and Student Outreach. In 2019, as President of SEAoNY, Jimmy hosted a delegation of civil engineers from Tianjin, China to facilitate an open exchange of ideas and discussion of industry issues and educational opportunities.
Community Service
As the parent of a congenital amputee, Jimmy has been involved with the Camp No Limits organization as a fund raiser since 2016 when he attended with his young son for the first time. Camp No Limits is a non-profit organization that provides a traditional summer camp experience for children with limb loss and limb differences; their goal is to educate and empower children and their families, and to help them achieve a healthy, active, and independent lifestyle. He hopes to raise awareness for the community and effectuate improvements for people living with limb loss and limb differences.
Recently, Jimmy joined the Board of Limb Kind Foundation, a group dedicated to giving all children the same opportunities despite physical differences and to regain their motivation and determination of being able to achieve anything. Limb Kind has mostly been focused on international outreach, starting in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Jimmy has joined the Board to help develop the physical center where children in need of prosthetic care in the U.S. can come for care without worrying about out-of-pocket expense.
At SEAoNY, much of Jimmy’s efforts have been on the Student Outreach Committee, which promotes professional development for students interested in structural engineering. The Student Outreach Committee makes ongoing efforts to give students and universities the opportunity to network with the professionals of SEAoNY and integrate students into the structural engineering community. Jimmy participates in a program called “Shadow a Structural Engineer” where he hosts four students for two days at RAND to educate them from a professional stance and answer their questions regarding the engineering industry. Jimmy’s commitment to all these organizations is rooted in his belief that all volunteers desire to contribute to our communities, industry, and society, and exchange ideas and educate each other.
Projects
Jimmy has worked on many large scale projects featuring a wide range of scope items throughout his career. Most recently, he has been involved in the rehabilitation of 435 West 19th Street in Manhattan into a new residential condominium development with a several-story addition, and 517 West 29th Street, a ten-story, 60-unit new construction residential building in Manhattan.
To see all of ENR's Top New York Professionals of 2021: https://www.enr.com/articles/51072-enr-new-york-top-young-professionals.
