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Jennifer Bognet, VP, Bognet Construction

COLUMN = CONSTRUCTION

Jennifer Bognet is the vice president of Bognet Construction, and is responsible for many strategic and operational aspects of the company, including client relations, business development, marketing and communications, human resources, and community outreach. She works closely with the executive team to ensure the effective execution of corporate strategy and goals.

In this role, she defines and deploys evaluation and measurement tools and processes, and uses her expertise to enhance Bognet’s project-delivery system, with a focus on continual improvement.

Jennifer is very active in commercial real-estate organizations such as CREW, NAIOP, DCBIA, and the Washington Board of Trade, along with their related committees and events. Her drive, leadership, and dedicated focus on complete client satisfaction continue to differentiate Bognet Construction from its competitors.

About Bognet Construction

Bognet Construction, founded in 1998 by Jim Bognet and Jeff Kaiser, is a $50 million company based in Arlington, Virginia. With its team of project managers, superintendents, and support staff, the commercial builder completes tenant interiors and base building projects for some of the regions largest corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, including Freddie Mac, Chemonics International, and General Dynamics. Most recently, Bognet Construction built the offices for Visa International and ManTech International, and it has completed multiple projects for the General Services Administration and related federal agencies.

Bognet Construction is committed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects, a standard for “green” building design. Most of the company’s project managers have completed their LEED accreditation—something the owners believe is critical as they move forward. For details visit www.bognet.com.

When I was younger I thought success was being a star, driving nice cars, having groupies. But today I think the most important thing is to live your life with integrity.

– Ellen DeGeneres

Anything not worth doing well is not worth doing.”

– Warren Buffett

You only live once. But if you do it right, once is enough.”

– Mae West

Everyone is a mirror image of yourself—your own thinking coming back at you.”

– Byron Katie

Inspiration and genius — one and the same.”

– Victor Hugo

You must learn to be still in the midst of activity 
and to be vibrantly alive in repose.”

– Indira Ghandi

We are not meant to resolve all contradictions, but to live with them and rise above them.”

– William Blake

An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.“


– Roy Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries

Success is about finding a livelihood that brings joy, self-sufficiency, and a sense of contributing.”

– Anita Roddick

The good ideas are all hammered out in agony by individuals, not spewed out by groups.”

– Charles Brower, Advertising Hall of Fame

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!”

– Andrew Carnegie

A truly forgiving person is someone who experiences all the anger merited by injustice and still acts with fairness and compassion.”

– Martha Beck

Why am I whispering when I have something to say?”

– Eve Ensler

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”

– Carl Rogers

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!”

– Andrew Carnegie

Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.”

– Annie Dillard

I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun.”

– John D. Rockefeller

I have spent a good part of my life convincing people that a blank sheet of paper is the greatest opportunity in the world, and not frightening at all.”

– Marty Skler, executive vp, Walt Disney Imagineering

The quality of your life is directly related to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably live with.”

– Tony Robbins

A person who learns to juggle six balls will be more skilled than the person who never tries to juggle more than three.”

– Marilyn vos Savant

Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.”

– Thomas Dunn

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

– Dalai Lama

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.”

– President Calvin Coolidge

If you do not tell the truth about yourself
, you cannot tell it about other people.”

– Virginia Woolf

As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.”

– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

A people who mean to be their Governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

– James Madison

A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.”

– Carlos Castaneda

The awakening to the mystery of life is a revolutionary event; in it an old world is destroyed so that a new and better one may take its place.”

– J.J. Van Der Leeuw, The Conquest of Illusion

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. 
Now put foundations under them.”

– Henry David Thoreau

The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”

– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., U.S. Supreme Court justice

Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost.”

– Robert H. Schuller

A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.”

– Albert Schweitzer

The follow-your-gut mentality of the entrepreneur has the potential to take you anywhere you want to go or run you right out of business.”

– Bill Rancic, "The Apprentice"

Do you have the desire to create something new; the strength of conviction to believe your creation will be successful, and the reservoir of energy necessary to thrust it into the marketplace?”

– Steven Schussler

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. 
Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.”

– Mary Jean Irion

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

– Martin Luther King Jr.

Treat the attainment of happiness in the same way an entrepreneur would approach building a business — with a vision, plan, goals, and a systematic approach.”

– Ted Leonsis

Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.”

– Basil King

Don’t follow, lead. Don’t copy, create. Don’t start, finish. Don’t sit still, move. Don’t fit in, stand out. Don’t sit quietly, speak up. (Not all the time, sure, but more often.)”

– Seth Godin

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do.
 Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”

– Ella Fitzgerald

Part of your destiny is to live in the zone of maximum satisfaction.”

– Martha Beck

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”

– Carl Rogers

When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.”

– Henry David Thoreau

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”

– Albert Einstein

The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”

– Bruce Lee

When you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

– Nelson Mandela

We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.”

– General Omar Bradley

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something.”

– Nolan Bushnell, founder, Chuck E. Cheese's