Janet Howard

Project Manager

Janet Howard recently joined the Benjamin West team in January of 2008. Janet brings with her many years of budget and project management experience. She came to Benjamin West from ARC Integrated Program Management where she was the Budget Manager for many large scale luxury hotel and condo developments. Her duties included budget development and cost tracking, management reporting, and financial modeling and analysis. She was also the liaison with the client’s asset management group and their lenders. During this time she added the hospitality industry to her already extensive knowledge of commercial development processes begun in Chicago.

After graduating from Northern Illinois University, Janet worked in Chicago for nearly 20 years for Andersen Consulting, which has since become Accenture, Inc. During this time, she was promoted through various financial roles and became Budget Manager in 1991. Shortly after that she was tasked with managing the budget for a large property development that the firm had bought in the suburbs, and as a result, spent her last 8 years in downtown Chicago as the Owner’s Rep for all of Andersen’s office space renovations in the region. This involved millions of square feet of space and daily interface with the firm’s contractors, designers, architects, FF&E vendors, art galleries, and the many various consultants used for their projects.

Janet also accumulated residential experience during this time by managing her own renovation business, focusing on historic restoration on the North Shore of Chicago.

Janet is well versed in both the business and creative sides of the development process, and understands the importance of each design component.