The Queen City’s young professional group, The Network – an arm of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce – has named the president of Springfield-based Paragon Architecture Inc. its 2013 Young Professional of the Year.
Brad Erwin was honored during a June 6 luncheon at Hickory Hills Country Club.
Following a public nomination process and scoring by an independent panel of judges, Erwin; Sara Cochran, assistant director of the Edward Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at Drury University; and Ben Hackenwerth, associate superintendent of educational operations for Springfield Public Schools, were chosen as finalists, according to a news release.
“It’s cool. It’s fulfilling. It’s rewarding,” Erwin said of winning. “The impact of young professionals on this region is outstanding and to even be in the same category as Ben and Sara is humbling.”
This is the second year for the award, which recognizes a member of The Network for his or her professional leadership and community, civic and philanthropic involvement. This year’s judges were Shaun Burke of Guaranty Bank; Tom Hilmes of CNH Reman LLC; and Marissa Weaver of Missouri State University.
Paragon Architecture designs structures in the public and commercial sectors focusing on sustainable design principles with notable projects including Bandana’s BBQ restaurant in Nixa, the Springfield Regional Police and Fire Training Center, the Missouri State Crime Lab in Jasper County, the Greene County Morgue and the Stone County Library.
Through the AIA, Erwin also assisted in the Joplin tornado response and has worked with several communities and school districts to apply for grants to design and build tornado safe rooms, which now protect close to 53,000 people.
The Young Professional of the Year award was created in 2012 to celebrate The Network’s fifth anniversary and is given to a young professional between the ages of 21 and 40. CoxHealth’s Teresa Coyan was the inaugural winner.
Erwin, a 2011 Springfield Business Journal
40 Under 40 honoree, helped form Paragon
in 2010 preceding the merger of Creative Ink Architects with Buxton Kubik Dodd Creative, according to SBJ archives. He currently serves on the executive committee of Partnership for Sustainability, the Care to Learn Advisory Council and as board treasurer for the Springfield chapter of the American Institute of Architects, according to the release.
