Cordoba Corporation is thrilled to celebrate World Architecture Day, which was established by the International Union of Architects (UIA) in 1985 to be held on the first Monday in October to coincide with UN World Habitat Day.
This year’s theme for World Architecture Day is “Clean Environment for a Healthy World,” which is focused on addressing issues involving housing, public spaces, and the environment in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, we are recognizing four of Cordoba’s architects in our Education and Facilities Sector focused on planning and designing enhanced educational environments at our state’s colleges and universities. We hope you enjoy getting to know our talented, dedicated and hard-working architects who are truly Making a Difference in creating sustainable and thoughtful learning spaces for California’s college students.
Gene Directo is a Program Director who recently celebrated his 10th anniversary with Cordoba Corporation!
He has over forty years of comprehensive management experience in large capital programs and projects including the design and construction of residential, commercial, civic, educational, and healthcare projects in public and private sectors. Gene also has extensive experience in design, design review, tenant improvements and construction administration with a specific emphasis on historic renovation.
Gene is currently managing several major projects at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) that are funded by the Los Angeles Community College District’s (Build LACCD) Measure CC bond program. He has a Master’s degree in Architecture from Cal Poly Pomona and is a Licensed Architect in the State of California. He also holds a certificate from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
Gene is an adult volunteer/mentor runner for Students Run LA (SRLA), whose mission is to challenge at-risk secondary students to experience the benefits of goal-setting, character development, adult mentoring and improved health by providing them with a truly life-changing experience: The training for and completion of the Los Angeles Marathon.
John Duong, AIA, CCM, LEED AP has 15 years of experience managing and designing a wide range of project types, including higher education, K-12 education, health care, commercial, industrial factory-warehouse, and residential design / construction of new and existing facilities.
John serves as the Program Director for the Bond Management Program at Long Beach City College, where Cordoba Corporation is responsible for the program and construction management of the District’s $1.5 Billion Bond Program. As Program Director, John currently oversees $300M of active bond construction projects in design or construction. John is directly responsible for the oversight of 22 Bond Management Team members and he directs activities such as planning, financing, project controls, project design and construction and long-range scheduling for over 30 large scale projects on two campuses.
John earned in B.Arch. from Cal Poly Pomona. He is a registered Architect in the State of California, a Certified Construction Manager, and LEED Accredited Professional.
Deborah Wylie has over two decades of experience focused on creating spaces for higher education to support student success.
Her extensive experience and education are reflected in her ability to strategize, collaborate, and create facilities that optimize campus resources.
Deborah is working on all nine campus projects for BuildLACCD, Los Angeles Community College District’s $95 billion Building Program. She is providing expertise in strategizing planning, programming, and schematic design, while also updating Master Plans for all campuses to further project delivery.
Currently, Deborah is leading efforts at East LA and Southwest Colleges on Master Plan updates to support accreditation; and recently completely a Phase 1 Feasibility Study for Cal Poly Pomona collaborating with HGA Architects.
Deborah earned her B.A. in Architecture and M.S. in Structural Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Long Beach State.
Emil Zordilla, AIA, LEED AP is an experienced Director of Facilities Planning and Campus Architect with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education and government sector industry.
He is skilled in University Master Planning, Capital Outlay, Feasibility Studies, Space Utilization, Landscaping, and maintenance of existing systems.
Emil’s higher education experience includes managing the planning and design of campus facilities; leading in-house and consultant design teams; developing and supporting Master Plans, policy, and design standards; engaging community stakeholders; administering design consultant contracts for major and minor capital projects; supervising maintenance grounds workers, central plant, sustainability group, and collaborating with in-house trades for project delivery; partnering with department heads and office of the provost; and providing oversight of space utilization and Global Information Systems initiatives.
A talented business development professional, Emil has a Master’s degree focused in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Southern California.
