Meet KAREN FEENEY, a long-time Allen team member who works on Business Development and on our Sustainability Team.
What do you do at Allen Construction?
I started working at Allen Construction, then Allen Associates, a little over 15 years ago. Over the years, I have managed our marketing – now in Sharon’s very capable hands – and business development efforts. I work on building and maintaining relationships with our past clients and architect partners. I also submit award applications for our projects, write our internal monthly (ESOP) newsletter, and manage our Sustainability efforts. Most recently, I drove the effort to have our Santa Barbara office certified as an “Innovator” Green Business and wrote our Company Sustainability Plan. As a part of that plan, we are developing a list of Preferred Green Building Standards we want to see implemented on all of our projects, as well as working to build All-Electric homes for our clients.
How did you get started in the construction field?
Dennis Allen and I first met when I was a land use planner at Santa Barbara County and helped him process a variance to build his passive solar home in Mission Canyon. Dennis and I reconnected when I worked at the Community Environmental Council, where Dennis had built our passive solar office building on the Mesa. I later hired him to build the Watershed Resource Center at Arroyo Burro Beach, an educational space focusing on reducing creek and ocean pollution. We wanted it to be a green building and worked with Blackbird Architects to design it. Dennis inspired me to have the Center on a green building tour, so we had that connection as well. When I was ready to leave CEC, I came to Dennis and asked him how I could get involved with the green building industry. He offered me a job and I signed up!
Where do you live?
I live in “No-leta” (between Goleta and Santa Barbara) with my boyfriend, an “old” high school sweetheart. We reconnected, discovered we were both divorced, and the rest is history. I have two grown children from my first marriage: Erin, who is an architect in San Francisco designing affordable housing projects, and Ryan, who lives in San Diego with his wife, Sara. Ryan is in “business intelligence,” helping his company track and analyze information to help make financial decisions. He tells me, “Mom, I am NOT in IT!” Ryan was married last summer. We would have traveled to Australia for the wedding if it wasn’t for COVID. I feel grandchildren in my future!
Karen and her friends having a socially distanced Housewarming Party / Happy Hour.
What do you like to do outside of work?
My love for exercise and being outdoors is what has gotten me through the pandemic. I try to walk about five miles every day. There are great paths in my neighborhood near More Mesa. Or you can find me walking along the Waterfront, around Deveraux Slough, up and over the Riviera, or on Mountain Drive (to name a few of my routes). Sometimes I have to do my walking in the dark, just to get it in these days. I also stand-up paddle every Sunday, ride my bike, and play golf. These are all activities I can do with friends, masks on of course, which allows me to satisfy my need for social interaction.
Karen and her family at the Truckee Train Tunnels
Your proudest achievement:
In addition to being a mom to two beautiful and successful young adults, my biggest professional accomplishment was bringing Earth Day back to Santa Barbara in 1990. (Santa Barbara was the site of the first Earth Day in 1970, after the Oil Spill in 1969.) As a staff member at the Community Environmental Council (CEC). I attended a conference at Asilomar (near Monterey) and heard Dennis Hayes, the founder of the Solar Energy Resource Institute and a former energy advisor to President Carter, make a dire presentation about the state of the environment. He basically said, since it was in such bad shape, there was a good chance it, and humankind, would not survive long past the next millennium in 2000. He encouraged everyone to go back to their hometowns and hold an Earth Day, to raise community awareness and inspire actions in support of the environment. I returned to Santa Barbara and asked my boss, Paul Relis (founder of CEC), if he would let me organize an Earth Day event. He said if I could get the people to help me and the funding to do it, he would support me. The end result was an Earth Day, held at Santa Barbara City College in April 1990 where over 30,000 people came to visit informational booths promoting the environment and listen to a concert with Jackson Brown, Christopher Cross, and Loggins & Messina. Earth Day has continued in Santa Barbara every April since then.
ANOTHER NOTEABLE ACHIEVEMENT: As a result of the support Karen has provided over the years, as a Board member and organizing ArchitecTours, AIA Santa Barbara recently made her an Honorary AIA Member for life.
What was the last book you read?
I have been in the same book group with friends for over 35 years. We read eight to ten books every year. A recent book I enjoyed is “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennet. It’s rated 4.3 (out of a maximum 5 points) on Good Reads, for all you book lovers out there. (FYI - that’s a high rating.) It is the story of twin, mixed race girls, one who passes for white and the other as black, and the lives they live as a result. “The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons (why) people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.” Our book group had a great discussion after reading it.
Karen on the Fall Colors Bike Tour
We wouldn’t know it to look at you, but….
I love to sing, primarily in the shower or when I am driving, with the radio on and when others aren’t listening.
What advice would you give someone starting out in the construction industry?
I would have never thought before I joined Allen Construction, that construction is such an extremely interesting and complex industry. In order to be a builder, not only do you need to know how to use tools and be able to actually construct something, you need to manage budgets, schedules, AND people. You have to be a problem solver every day. In fact, you almost need to be a marriage and family counselor in order to resolve issues that might come up between your clients, between you and your clients, or with trade contractors, and suppliers. And, finally, if you want to be a great builder, you need to be an artisan, in order to build beautiful homes for your clients. I am so amazed when I visit a project we have completed. They are so gorgeous!