The People Behind Your Project
MEET THE TEAM
The people behind every project Forge takes on.
Ezgi K. Talarico
Eric Eichler
Principal and Founder - MBA, LEED APPrincipal, MBA“Having worked on both the construction and project management sides, I understand where things can go wrong, and how to prevent it.”
“We are there to be your partner, not just to represent you. We immerse ourselves in understanding your goals and priorities. We become part of your team, not just a consultant on the outside of it.”
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Eric Eichler has worked on building projects that will stand for generations. He founded Forge Projects because owners who are building something that lasts deserve an advisor who thinks the same way.
Eric started on the construction side, spending his early career at a general contractor and learning from the ground up how buildings actually come together and where deals go sideways. It wasn't until an MBA in Prague that everything shifted, pointing him toward owner’s representation
His career spans universities, religious institutions, schools, nonprofits, and commercial owners and developers, with expertise covering every phase of project delivery from conceptual budgeting through construction management and contract administration. Walking through certain buildings at the University of Chicago, you are walking through a significant chapter of that work.
Eric is well-respected across those same communities as a partner who makes the most complex projects land. Referrals at Forge come from every direction, from clients, yes, but just as often from the architects and contractors who have been in the room with Eric and seen what disciplined, transparent project management actually looks like in practice. That is the reputation he has spent decades building. It is also, in every meaningful sense, what Forge is.
Outside of work, Eric is a lifelong and competitive soccer player who has coached his daughters for years. He travels with his kids whenever possible and never misses a chance to see live music. The buildings he has helped deliver will be standing long after the projects that nearly derailed them are forgotten, and so will the firm he built.
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Ezgi Kosereisoglu Talarico has spent her career learning how buildings actually get built and using that knowledge to make sure her clients never have to find out the hard way. She started in the field. Before the strategy meetings and the owner's rep engagements, there were job sites, submittals, and the unglamorous work of understanding construction from the inside out. That foundation followed her through a decade at Gilbane Building Company, where she rose through preconstruction and into a senior executive role before deciding that her instincts were best put to work on the owner's side of the table.
She joined Forge to do exactly that. Today she leads Forge's Northeast practice, working directly with clients across higher education, cultural and commercial markets. Ezgi holds a degree in civil engineering and an MBA from Northeastern University. She thinks like a builder, plans like a strategist, and shows up like a partner, which is the combination that gets complicated projects across the finish line without the surprises.
Outside of work, Ezgi is a wife and mother of two based in New England, where her professional roots are and where she intends to build what comes next. She is happiest near the ocean, cooking for the people she loves, or anywhere there is good music playing. Gathering people around a table comes naturally — a nod, she thinks, to her Turkish roots. She serves on the Community Engagement Council for the Society of College and University Planners (SCUP) and is an executive committee member of the Northeastern Civil Engineering Alumni Organization (NUCEAO).
Chip Weir
Principal & Project Director -
Nearly four decades in construction gives you perspectives that can’t be shortcut. Arthur Weir has spent the last half of his career making sure his clients benefit from every one of them.
Arthur entered the industry in 1986, spending the first fifteen years on the construction side before transitioning to owner's representation through a combination of timing, trust, and a clear-eyed sense that this was where he could do his best work.
Over a career spanning nearly four decades, Arthur has focused primarily on private sector work, residential, hospitality, commercial, and beyond. He has delivered work across a wide range of clients and has built some of his most meaningful long-term relationships with family-owned businesses, individual developers, and growing firms navigating projects more complex than anything they have taken on before, clients who benefit most from someone who has seen where budgets quietly erode and schedules silently slip.
Arthur joined Forge in 2023 as Principal and Project Director, drawn by a firm where his background on both sides of the industry was an asset rather than a footnote. At Forge, Arthur brings that construction-informed perspective to every engagement, staying close to the work at every phase and making sure clients always have the full picture before they have to make a decision.
Outside of work, Arthur is most at home with family, outdoors when Chicago cooperates, and following sports with the enthusiasm of someone who has always believed that watching a great team execute a plan well is never time wasted.
Emily Kream
Project Executive & Principal - LEED AP BD+C-
Emily Kream spent the first phase of her career learning how buildings are designed. She spent the next phase learning how they're delivered. Her clients at Forge get the benefit of both perspectives. Emily trained as an architect at the University of Illinois and spent her early career at Solomon Cordwell Buenz, one of Chicago's most respected architecture firms, learning the full arc of how design decisions get made and executed on.
Over more than a decade in senior leadership at Tishman Speyer and The Irvine Company, she led design and construction management across the Midwest, rising to Senior Director of Design and Construction at Tishman Speyer with direct accountability for capital investment across a regional portfolio spanning commercial and residential assets.Her work spanned award-winning commercial redevelopments, complex lab and workspace repositioning programs, and large-scale portfolio execution.
She joined Forge because the breadth of work aligned with where she wanted to go, broadening her reach from that of a single organization toward a wider range of clients and project types, including community-focused and mission-driven work that a large developer rarely touches. Her architectural background gives her an ability to collaborate effectively with design teams, advocate clearly for owners, and assess projects from multiple strategic angles.
She brings depth in strategic repositioning, capital planning, and the kind of measured, relationship-forward stakeholder management that makes complex projects feel collaborative rather than contentious.
Outside of work, Emily plays soccer, is an avid concertgoer, and is a mother of two active boys. She travels whenever possible and makes the most of everything Chicago has to offer when she's home.
“It is important that we really understand their why from the outset so that we can advocate for them. It is not just about hitting schedule deadlines and staying within budget. It is about getting them to where they wanted to go.”
"This profession gives you something most don't: a legacy you can see. You can point to a building and say, I helped build that, and it will be there for a hundred years."
“You deserve someone who thinks like a builder, plans like a strategist, and shows up like a true partner. At Forge, your budget and schedule are the floor, not the ceiling. Our focus is always on what success truly looks like for you, and making sure every decision moves you closer to it.”
John Barlow
Senior Project Manager - LEED AP Controller
Andrea Oulehlova
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John Barlow has an architecture degree, a Peace Corps background, and an instinct about how systems work that extends well beyond construction. He has spent his career across design, finance, and delivery, and brings that full range to every project he touches, and that experience is something clients feel immediately.
He spent two years in Togo, West Africa, an experience he credits as one of the most formative of his life, before returning to the United States and taking a job in the facilities department at the University of Chicago. He found his footing in project management and built everything else from there. There, John worked on major capital projects, buildings designed to stand for generations. He went on to Grainger, then to Sterling Project Development in New York, where he served as an owner's representative for the banks' funding of large real estate projects.
When the opportunity at Forge came together, it was the right firm at the right moment in his career. At Forge, John is the Senior Project Manager and the team's utility player, equally comfortable with architects, contractors, and owners. He embeds in the team, works to understand everyone's needs, and his clients value him above all for his transparency. The buildings he has helped deliver are part of what keeps him here:
His advice to clients tends to come back to one idea: think long term. Ten thousand dollars on something built to last thirty years is rarely an expensive decision. The expensive decision is the one made without the full picture.
Outside of work, John plays volleyball, renovates his own two-flat, and writes detailed public policy for the city of Chicago. Problem-solving is not something he leaves at the office.
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Andrea Oulehlova is a seasoned construction and real estate industry professional who excels in all areas of project accounting and organizational administration. With experience at several major construction companies and real estate developers, Andrea is well-versed in cost management, pay applications, lien waivers, payroll, accounts payable and receivable, human resources, and corporate tax issues.
Andrea spent two years working for Toyota Financial Services in Prague, Czech Republic, and as a result has experience with both both financial and managerial accounting in addition to her expertise in the construction industry. Andrea also currently serves as Construction Controller at Vequity Construction in Chicago, Illinois.
Principal-Level Attention on Every Project.
Principal-Level Attention on Every Project.
The principals at Forge bring backgrounds spanning architecture, civil engineering, construction, real estate finance, and development, all applied from the owner's side of the table. That collective range means arriving at every project with the kind of perspective that only comes from having occupied multiple seats in the industry.
Forge Projects understands what architects need, what contractors are thinking, and what owners are risking, and brings all of that to bear on every engagement, every phase, and every decision that matters.
Ready to
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