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Nicole Ferrini is the Climate and Sustainability Officer of the City of El Paso and is paid $176,428, the 18th highest salary of about 6,000 employees. Until last month, she was one of four finalists for the position of City Manager.
We began to notice Ferrini’s misrepresentations back in January, when she claimed the Office of Climate & Sustainability was created by Proposition C, which passed with only 50.63% voter support on November 8, 2022. In fact, the bond ordinance includes no reference to a Climate Office or Climate Director.
FALSELY CLAIMS SHE IS AN ARCHITECT
We also noticed that Ferrini has been claiming she is an architect, even though she holds only bachelors degrees in Interior Design and Architecture but no graduate degree.
We confirmed with the Texas Tech College of Architecture in El Paso that Ferrini earned her B.S. in Architecture in 2012 and was in the fourth graduating class, although her resume incorrectly states that she “was one of the first graduates of the College of Architecture here in El Paso.”
There is no undergraduate architecture program in the United States that is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board.
Just last month, Adam Powell published a report on the City Manager search in which Ferrini told him “she studied architecture, design and city planning at Texas Tech University, followed by a successful 12-year career as an architect.”
To call oneself an accredited and licensed architect, one earn an advanced degree, attain years of professional experience working under a licensed architect, and then pass a series of challenging examinations.
She did none of this.
Our research shows she made many blatantly false statements about her architecture experience and credentials in her capacity as a City employee, and we recently documented five in a video montage.
FALSIFIED HER RESUME
Most concerning, however, is the fact that Ferrini falsified portions of her resume while applying to be City Manager.
At the top of page 1, she claims she is a “Managing Director” of the City of El Paso but we have confirmed that she is nothing of the kind. There are three managing directors in the City’s organizational chart and none of them is Nicole Ferrini.
On page 5, she claims she was “Managing Principal” of PSRBB Architects between 2009 and 2014, but the firm’s principal architect, Bob Filarski, told us that Ferrini was never a managing principal of his firm and that “she was employed as a PSRBB Employee from January 2010 thru April of 2012,” for only 27 months. They hired her as a LEED consultant from March 2008 through December 2009 and from May 2012 through February 2015.
We also reached out to Tommy Razloznik, who was one of the three founders of PSRBB and served as CEO of its Commercial Group until 2020, including during the period of Ferrini’s employment.
Mr. Razloznik confirmed for us that Ferrini “never was a managing Partner at anytime of her employment.” He added, “She primarily did Interior/Building design, LEED coordination and assisted in various forms of marketing during her tenure at PSRBB Architects.” To his knowledge, “she was never presented by PSRBB Architects at anytime as an Architect during her employment by the Firm.”
COMPLAINT FILED WITH THE TEXAS BOARD OF ARCHITECTURAL EXAMINERS
We have confirmed that a complaint has been filed against Ferrini on behalf of the El Paso Chapter of the American Institute of Architects with the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners and that she is under investigation for misrepresenting herself as an architect in the state of Texas.
But what about the City of El Paso?
How is it possible that Human Resources failed to certify the accuracy of Ferrini’s resume and why is she still employed?
How many other resumes of City administrators include false or misleading information?
Will City Manager Dionne Mack act to restore public confidence in the City’s hiring procedures and accountability standards?
City PIO Laura-Cruz Acosta, who inexplicably defended Ferrini’s architecture experience in a comment to KVIA, refused to provide us with a statement, claiming this is a “personnel matter.”
We also wrote to Nicole Ferrini but did not hear back from her in time for this report.
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