Overview
Walter P Moore President and CEO, Dilip Choudhuri, was honored as a Design Futures Council Senior Fellow at the recent Leadership Summit.
The Design Futures Council (DFC), a built environment industry leadership consortium, today announced the newest cohort of inductees to its exclusive Senior Fellows program. The new fellows were formally introduced at the DFC’s Leadership Summit on the Business of Design, an online event on November 11th and 12th. The Senior Fellows program, which now includes some 200 distinguished leaders, honors its members’ significant contributions to the built environment industry disciplines.
To be inducted, candidates must: 1) have a consistent and successful career in built environment industry professions extending a minimum of 20 years; 2) achieve indisputable leadership in business, design, education, technology, and/or innovation that has raised the performance of the organizations these professionals have led; and 3) be recognized by peers at the Design Futures Council as bringing their whole selves to the DFC community, offering insights and opinions that count, sharing presentations that move the community and interpersonal conversations not lost upon the whole. By so meaningfully raising the bar, these leaders secure others in their work, inspire them in their craft, and empower them to collectively make the world a better place.
The following people have been selected for the DFC Senior Fellow Recognition for 2020:
- Jim Anderson, Principal, Chair, Dialog Design
- Niles Bolton, Chairman and CEO, Niles Bolton Associates
- Pat Cermak, President & COO, Wight & Company
- Dilip Choudhuri, President & CEO, Walter P Moore
- Fiske Crowell, Principal Architect, Sasaki
- Don Davies, President, Magnusson Klemencic Associates
- Randy Deutsch, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Peter Devereaux, CEO, HED (Harley Ellis Devereaux)
- Ted Hyman, Managing Partner, ZGF Architects
- Peter MacKeith, Dean and Professor, Fay Jones School of Architecture, University of Arkansas
- Rob Miller, Director, School of Architecture, University of Arizona
- Adrian Parr, Dean, College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs, University of Texas, Arlington
- Katherine Peele, Chief Practice Officer, LS3P Associates
- Bradford Perkins, CEO, Perkins Eastman
- Scott Poole, Dean, College of Architecture + Design, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Ignacio Reyes, Vice President, Chief Development Officer, Leo A Daly
- Angela Watkins, Principal, Shepley Bulfinch
“There’s such an incredible group of people that have become senior fellows of the Design Futures Council through the years that it really is a great honor, to be considered among that group of people,” said Lauren Della Bella, president of Cincinnati-based architecture firm SHP and a previous inductee. “The lack of competition that exists and the desire for everybody to help raise everyone else up — and raise up the profession as a result — is one of the most positive things that exists within the group. There’s tremendous value in having so many resources in one location that can bring a wide variety of different ideas together.”The DFC Senior Fellows not only help one another excel professionally, but also stand as exemplars for younger emerging leaders. Said Luis Rico-Gutierrez, architect and dean of Iowa State University’s College of Design, “For me specifically — as a new American, an immigrant, a Latino, a member of a group often underrepresented in the profession, of a group often not included at the table — I feel responsible for keeping the door open, encouraging others to participate and work towards the same goals. They should know that if I can be a senior fellow, they can also be one.” For Gutierrez, responsibility is an ever-increasing part of the role: “When you become a senior fellow, you renew your commitment to the profession, to the environment, to design. You commit never to give up, never stop working on what is best for our fellow humans, our students and future leaders, for our peers, and for the planet.”
Through virtual and in-person spaces, the DFC creates context in which leaders from member firms can work with one another — as well as with leading thinkers from outside industries — to tackle complex challenges and opportunities across the industry. By convening summits on central issues, including sustainability, education, and business leadership, the Council promotes collaboration across multiple disciplines. Together, its members and senior fellows uncover insights that move the built environment industry toward social and environmental wholeness.
