The Big Picture

>>Andrea Tyson likes to say she is sailing around the world. As vice president of strategic planning at WilsonMiller Inc., she doesn't actually have time to circumnavigate the globe all at once. Instead, she and her husband, Bruce, make their journey one geographical area at a time.

"We choose a different cruising destination each year and skipper a boat for two or three weeks as part of a flotilla," explains Tyson, 63. "We've seen Tahiti, Bora Bora, Tonga and New Zealand. We've also sailed the Ionian Sea and next spring we're going to Spain for the America's Cup. We're doing it piece by piece, but it's a chance to grow and to see the big picture."

That ongoing life project and focus on the big picture is similar to Tyson's latest professional undertaking; she is the new chairperson of the Urban Land Institute's Southwest Florida District Council. The ULI is a nonprofit research and education organization that promotes responsible land use and best management practices among real estate development professionals. It has more than 30,000 members across the country.

As chairperson of the district council, Tyson will network with leaders in this area and nationally, looking for solutions to the local development industry's stickiest problems. She will also help make sure those ideas are passed along so Southwest Florida builders, engineers and developers can see the big picture, too.

"The ULI is a great networking resource and provides a tremendous amount of expertise from its members," says G. Russell Weyer, Tyson's predecessor as district council chair. "We're not a lobbying group, and we're a neutral party in all issues. What we've tried to target locally is to be a convener, to bring different viewpoints together to look at land-use issues."

Finding technical solutions to difficult problems and then spreading the word is a job for which Tyson is well suited. The Massachusetts native holds a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture from the University of Massachusetts and a master's in civil engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She also has more than two decades' worth of experience in strategic business planning.

"I was working for a design-and-build firm in the late 1970s and early '80s when the company I was at decided to cultivate me in marketing and business development," says Tyson, whose gift for friendly conversation makes her a natural in that role. "My career has evolved to where I now get to use both my right brain and my left brain. I know strategic planning but I also know the industry's specific roles and technical nuances."

Both Tyson and her husband had been working in the planning, design and engineering industry in Boston when they decided to relocate to Naples in 1995.

"We both found jobs at the same company, which is growing in leaps and bounds," she says.

Bruce is a planner and senior project manager at WilsonMiller while Andrea helps develop strategic business plans that make the firm one of Southwest Florida's fastest-growing companies.

"Andrea's very focused and a lot of her focus has been on green building and green development," says Weyer. "I think you'll see the council move more into that area now, with more and more programs. When she puts her arms around things, she really moves them forward."

Though the practice of using environmentally friendly materials and sustainable land planning has been around for years, implementing those ideas on a large scale is just now becoming feasible, says Tyson. In the past, the concept's newness and the high cost of green building materials has led to a somewhat hodgepodge, experimental approach. That's changing.

"Especially in the last year, we've really started to see the concepts take hold," she says. "'Sustainable' had been a word without metrics, or measurables, but we now have standards for green building and development, which can be recognized and certified by the Florida Green Building Coalition."

Just as important, building green has become more realistic economically because more green building materials are being produced, says Tyson. At the same time, homebuyers are more aware of the practice and demand is increasing.

"People know about and value green building now and the market will pay a premium for sustainable practices."

Nurturing the success of green building is just one of Tyson's goals. Another is to help the ULI's Young Leaders Group gain momentum. Currently, the group has 45 members who are working to find solutions to the region's affordable-housing dilemma, among other projects.

"The council builds awareness and educates, within the land development community and the community as a whole, for the responsible use of land and the environment," says Tyson. "It's all about doing the right thing for the right reasons."