Sonja Haviland honored with PAVE Rising Star Award

At the 18th edition of the PAVE Annual Gala last night, Sonja Haviland was honored with the 2014 Rising Star Award! The award was created in 2007 to recognize the achievements of individuals who have demonstrated talent, vision, and implementation in the retail environment. The event, which took place on December 3 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, brings together retail design industry luminaries and industry supporters together for networking, dinner, awards and an after party.

Since joining Bergmeyer in 2011, Sonja has excelled in retail environment design. She played a major role in the success of Lord & Taylor in Boston, Cannondale in New York, and most recently, Brookstone prototype designs for international airports in Los Angeles and Portland.

After initially getting an arts education at Gettysburg College, Sonja found her knack for interior design at Parsons The New School for Design. She went on to become an interior designer in New York and later in San Francisco before relocating to Bergmeyer in Boston for new opportunities and professional growth.

Sonja was one of three finalists among several more submissions in the awards program this past October. The 2014 Rising Star Awards judges panel included:

• James Bellante, Senior Vice President, Visual Merchandise Presentation, Macy’s Denny Gerdeman, President, Chute Gerdeman Nancy Jackson, President, Architectural Systems Inc. Linda Lombardi, Vice President, Global Store Design & Visual Merchandising, Godiva Chocolatier Brad Somberg, President, B+N Industries Patricia Sheehan, Editor in Chief, VMSD

In the picture above is Sonja (center) after receiving the award, alongside Joe Nevin (left) and Mare Weiss (right). Also in attendance was Rachel Zsembery (behind the camera), who spearheaded the nomination for Sonja’s submission.

About PAVE

Founded in 1992, the Planning and Visual Education Partnership’s (PAVE) objective is to encourage students to study in the field of retail design and planning and visual merchandising. Additionally, PAVE seeks to encourage retail management, store planners, visual merchandisers, architects, and manufacturers to interact with and support design students. These objectives are accomplished through competitions, projects, seminars, workshops, and grants and scholarships funded by the annual Gala and other fundraising activities. PAVE is a 501(c)(3) educational foundation administered by A.R.E.