By Zachary Flynn
Photo by Zachary Flynn
After more than three decades since his graduation from the Architectural Technology program, Jozef Urban has worked his way up to a directorial position–without any formal business education.
“Every day I like to get up. I never get tired or bored in 35 years of going to work,” said Urban. “There’s never a boring day.”
Urban’s path has taken him through a number of architectural offices in Edmonton as well as numerous positions at ATB Financial, where he is currently the Director of Facilities and Project Management. While he might be in a directorial position, Urban has no formal business education.
What separates Urban from the rest of the pack is his passion for professional development.
“Although it’s not relevant to my work today, I’m pursuing a certification as a PMP (Project Management Professional). So that’s a designation through PMI (Project Management Institute) that I’m working towards. Not because I need it for the work I do, just because I’m challenging myself to learn new things.”
Urban is also a registered spec writer with Construction Specifications Canada and has memberships to organizations like ASET (The Association of Science & Engineering Technology), IFMA (International Facilities Management Association) and BOMA (Building Owners Management Association).
“Continue to challenge yourself,” said Urban. “Although education starts at NAIT, it doesn’t necessarily end at NAIT.”
Even though Urban is currently in a directorial position at ATB, he spent over a decade in architectural drafting before working at the bank. He didn’t join ATB until 1994 as a consultant–nearly 10 years after graduating from NAIT. Since then, he has held a number of different positions, working his way from consultant to design manager to two senior management roles, and is now in his current role as Director of Facilities and Project Management. His journey at ATB hits the 25 year milestone in April of 2020.
“The journey is not a straight line from A to B, it kind of zig-zags from A to E, back to B, back to C back to F… But when you look back, it kind of all makes sense and it couldn’t have happened any other way,” said Urban.
