DBIA Names 2026 Distinguished Leadership Award Recipients

Basic provides strategic leadership for complex projects focused on preserving and modernizing NYCHA’s aging housing stock. Through design-build and other delivery approaches, her team is advancing renovations that improve building performance, accessibility and resident living conditions while addressing long-term sustainability and climate resiliency.

Resident engagement is central to that work. Basic has helped shape guiding principles for NYCHA’s large-scale design-build program that prioritize design excellence, construction quality and transparent communication while keeping resident well-being at the center of project delivery.

Previously, Basic served as Director of Recovery and Resiliency at NYCHA, where she managed a $3 billion FEMA-funded recovery program following Superstorm Sandy. She led repair and resiliency work at 35 developments while helping develop strategies to better protect residents from future disasters and climate-related risks.

“I’m honored to receive DBIA’s Distinguished Leadership Award and grateful for the recognition of the work the New York City Housing Authority is doing to transform and preserve public housing across New York City,” Basic said.

“Comprehensive modernization requires more than delivering individual capital projects. It requires bringing residents, designers, builders, property management teams and community partners together around a shared vision. Design-build has given us an important tool to integrate that expertise, solve complex challenges collaboratively and deliver improvements that make NYCHA communities safer, healthier, more resilient and sustainable for generations to come.”

Gad has led or contributed to more than 20 national and state-funded research projects supported by organizations including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the National Science Foundation and the Construction Industry Institute. That work has informed national guidebooks, legal research, an American Society of Civil Engineers book on alternative project delivery methods and more than 75 peer-reviewed publications.

Before entering academia, Gad worked in contract administration, procurement and project coordination on major power and aviation infrastructure projects. She brings that industry perspective into the classroom through active learning and experiential opportunities designed to connect students more directly with professional practice.

“I’m truly honored to receive this recognition from DBIA,” Gad said. “My journey has been shaped by remarkable students, colleagues, Owners and professionals I’ve had the privilege to learn from and work alongside.

“Connecting education, research and industry practice and seeing each strengthen the other has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career. I’m grateful to the entire DBIA community for the relationships, collaboration and opportunities that have shaped this path. I look forward to continuing to learn, contribute and help prepare the next generation of design-build leaders.”

A DBIA instructor for 20 years, Reams has taught nearly 500 courses and was part of the team that developed new instructor and testing materials to support the release of DBIA’s updated Design-Build Done Right® Best Practices in 2023.

“I am deeply honored to receive DBIA’s Distinguished Leadership Award,” Reams said. “Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working alongside Owners, designers, contractors and industry professionals who share a commitment to collaboration and innovation.

“Design-build has transformed the way projects are delivered. I am grateful that DBIA has entrusted me for so many years to help educate thousands of skilled project professionals in the best practices for design-build project delivery that have been developed and championed by DBIA.”