Travis Schenk
Pittsburgh,PA
Summary
A seasoned site acquisition leader with over 18 years of experience leading projects and teams across the US to resolve complex planning, zoning, and permitting challenges associated with large scale land development projects. Skilled in building partnerships with federal, state and local jurisdictions and collaborating with internal and external project teams, senior leaders, and executives to develop strategies that improve processes, shorten timelines, and ensure entitlements for customers' projects. Highly successful at coaching individuals and teams to expand and perform beyond their current capacity.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Planning & Business Development Lead
AECOM
Pittsburgh, PA
10.2023 - 07.2024
- Led the Pittsburgh region's Business Development Team within the Transportation Planning Group to increase 2024 opportunities by $4 million within six months by cultivating relationships, designing promotional materials, and developing RFP responses.
- Formulated a comprehensive plan to boost the participation of underrepresented groups in metropolitan transit planning.
- Led the development of multi-million-dollar grant applications on behalf of several state agencies to take advantage of funding available through the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act (IIJA), and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), to improve state and local community assets
Manager Service Delivery
Crown Castle
Pittsburgh, PA
10.2013 - 08.2023
- Led multi-functional teams in three different regions, including the southeastern US, consisting of engineers, project managers, and planners, in successfully navigating construction projects through entitlement, including real estate negotiation, stakeholder and community engagement, zoning hearings, and permitting, reducing average cycle times by 30%, and increasing service gross margins year over year in all markets.
- Built and cultivated relationships with senior leaders and executives across functions, gaining and providing insight to create alignment, which allowed me to lead my teams to successfully identify data points, establish KPIs, create reporting, and predict "entitlement complete" dates with 95% accuracy
- Enhanced the team's individual employee satisfaction results by 5% annually, reaching a peak of 97%, by listening to feedback, instilling trust, building community, and removing barriers to the team's success.
- Participated in key discussions with the FCC, legal representatives, state and local jurisdictions, lobbyists, and politicians to facilitate national rule development to enhanced technology approval processes.
Real Estate Project Manager
Crown Castle
Pittsburgh, PA
10.2013 - 08.2023
- Company Overview: A real estate investment trust publicly traded on the NYSE that owns and operates a nationwide network of shared wireless communications infrastructure including over 40,000 tower sites, 85,000 route miles of fiber, and 115,000 small cell nodes
- Managed escalated complex zoning and permitting entitlement cases on high value, high risk towers in every market across the US
- Developed a team of high functioning zoning and permitting specialists to assist in handling escalations, built systems for tracking out-of-scope services, and strengthened partnerships with program management, legal, and engineering departments
- A real estate investment trust publicly traded on the NYSE that owns and operates a nationwide network of shared wireless communications infrastructure including over 40,000 tower sites, 85,000 route miles of fiber, and 115,000 small cell nodes
District Real Estate Specialist
Crown Castle
Pittsburgh, PA
10.2013 - 08.2023
- Company Overview: A real estate investment trust publicly traded on the NYSE that owns and operates a nationwide network of shared wireless communications infrastructure including over 40,000 tower sites, 85,000 route miles of fiber, and 115,000 small cell nodes
- Obtained zoning and permitting approvals for the company's ever-expanding telecommunications portfolio and was the subject matter expert for entitlement projects in the midwestern states including Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Western PA
- A real estate investment trust publicly traded on the NYSE that owns and operates a nationwide network of shared wireless communications infrastructure including over 40,000 tower sites, 85,000 route miles of fiber, and 115,000 small cell nodes
Executive Director
NeighborHope
Pittsburgh, PA
07.2010 - 11.2012
- Company Overview: A non-profit community development organization in one of Pittsburgh's historic neighborhoods specializing in housing and commercial real estate rehabilitation and youth leadership development
- Led the development and expansion of the non-profit's programming for housing rehabilitation, economic development, leadership development, and community garden by leveraging relationships with government officials and community stakeholders, coaching and leading staff, and developing long-term volunteer resources
- A non-profit community development organization in one of Pittsburgh's historic neighborhoods specializing in housing and commercial real estate rehabilitation and youth leadership development
Senior Strategic Planner
Environmental Planning & Design
Pittsburgh, PA
10.2008 - 06.2010
- Company Overview: An urban planning, landscape architecture, and design consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, PA
- Managed a multi-disciplinary team providing creative direction, technical problem solving, and strategic planning expertise for the firmʼs comprehensive planning, zoning and community development projects
- An urban planning, landscape architecture, and design consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, PA
Associate Planner
The Mellgren Planning Group
Fort Lauderdale, FL
01.2005 - 10.2008
- Project manager leading long-range planning projects, including authoring land development and zoning ordinances, corridor and comprehensive plans, creating multi-parcel site development projects, and the firm's adoption of GIS technology
Education
Master's of Urban And Regional Planning -
Florida Atlantic University
Fort Lauderdale, FLBachelor's of Political Science -
California University of Pennsylvania
California, PASkills
- Permitting Approvals
- Site Acquisition
- Coaching
- Strategic Thinking
- Leadership Development
- Land Development
- Management of Multidisciplinary Teams
- Zoning Law
- Federal Law
- Site Planning
- Community Engagement
- Strategic Planning
- Government Relations
- Strategy Development and Implementation
- Mitigation Strategies
- Business Development
- Comprehensive Planning
- Economic Development
- Forecasting
- Process Implementation
- Presentations
- Technical Problem Solving
- Community Development
- Collaboration
Certification
- AICP, 05/01/09
- Pennsylvania Certified Police Officer
- Act 120 Certification, 01/01/96
Volunteeringandleadership
- Boys and Girls Club, Pittsburgh, PA
- Connected By Good, Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh, PA
Timeline
Senior Planning & Business Development Lead
AECOM
10.2023 - 07.2024
Manager Service Delivery
Crown Castle
10.2013 - 08.2023
Real Estate Project Manager
Crown Castle
10.2013 - 08.2023
District Real Estate Specialist
Crown Castle
10.2013 - 08.2023
Executive Director
NeighborHope
07.2010 - 11.2012
Senior Strategic Planner
Environmental Planning & Design
10.2008 - 06.2010
Associate Planner
The Mellgren Planning Group
01.2005 - 10.2008
- AICP, 05/01/09
- Pennsylvania Certified Police Officer
- Act 120 Certification, 01/01/96
Master's of Urban And Regional Planning -
Florida Atlantic University
Bachelor's of Political Science -
California University of Pennsylvania
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