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HOK Board Names Bill Hellmuth as Next CEO

Bill Hellmuth

Patrick MacLeamy remains as chairman, with the transition taking effect on April 19.

HOK announced today that its group board, as part of its planned succession process, has unanimously selected Bill Hellmuth, AIA, as chief executive officer, effective April 19, 2016. Based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, Hellmuth will collaborate with the group board to lead the firm’s design vision, business strategy and day-to-day management. He will continue in his role as HOK’s firm-wide president and design principal for projects in the Washington area and worldwide.

Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, who is stepping down from his position as CEO, will continue to serve as chairman.

“After 49 years at HOK and 13 years as CEO, I am happy to step aside for Bill,” said MacLeamy. “He has demonstrated exceptional leadership, brings broad global experience and has a strong vision for our future.”

“Our group board is thankful for Patrick’s outstanding leadership and grateful that he will continue to offer guidance as chairman,” said Tom Robson, AIA, HOK’s chief operating officer. “He has put in place outstanding design leaders, a robust growth strategy and a talented management team. HOK is 100 percent employee-owned and, because of Patrick’s leadership, has the financial strength to take advantage of growth opportunities such as our recent acquisition of 360 Architecture.”

“I joined HOK 25 years ago because I wanted to be part of a firm that was positioned to do the best design work of its time,” said Hellmuth. “Our sweet spot is the intersection of design excellence and thought leadership, combining design leadership with expertise in specific markets and building types across the world. We are living in a global market in which design is the differentiator. With organizations of all types embracing the power of design to influence their success, it is an honor to have this opportunity to work with our people to achieve the design excellence that will define our future.”

About Bill Hellmuth
Bill Hellmuth, FAIA, LEED AP, is HOK’s president and design principal for the Washington, D.C., office. With 37 years of experience, including 25 years at HOK, he is known for his creative design approach, problem-solving ability and client service.

Hellmuth joined the firm in St. Louis in 1991. Two years later, he was promoted to lead HOK’s office in Washington, D.C. He joined the firm’s executive committee in 2004 and was elected as HOK’s president in 2005.

As a strong advocate for sustainable design, Hellmuth began integrating sustainability into every project long before LEED certification became a benchmark. Today, he uses building science and sustainable design strategies to create high-performance buildings for clients around the world.

He has led the design of many landmark projects in the Washington area and abroad, including the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia; NOAA’s National Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in Riverdale, Maryland; the Chevy Chase Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland; the District of Columbia Consolidated Lab Facility; Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Headquarters in Abu Dhabi, UAE; Greenland Dalian East Harbor Tower in Dalian, China; Rhine Ordnance Barracks Medical Center Replacement in Kaiserslautern, Germany; King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and U.S. Department of State New Office Buildings in Moscow and Nairobi, Kenya.

Hellmuth received a Master of Architecture from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) from the University of Virginia. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, a board member and Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, and a GSA Design Excellence Peer.

About Patrick MacLeamy
Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, LEED AP, is HOK’s chairman and chief executive officer. He joined HOK in 1967 as a designer in the firm’s founding office in St. Louis. He relocated to San Francisco in 1970 to help establish HOK’s first regional office. After serving in leadership roles in design, project management and marketing, he was named managing principal of the San Francisco office in 1983. He joined the firm’s executive committee in 1995 and became chief operating officer in 2000. MacLeamy was elected CEO in 2003 and chairman in 2012.

During his HOK career, MacLeamy has overseen the establishment of several HOK regional offices in the U.S. and Asia. He has held leadership roles on several landmark HOK projects, including the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

MacLeamy, a pioneer in leveraging technology to support design quality, led HOK’s effort to organize the firm’s approach to technology through its “Tech 2000” initiative. He is a founder and chairman of buildingSMART International (bSI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming the building industry through the creation and adoption of open, international digital standards for information exchange. By advancing buildingSMART initiatives within HOK, he has positioned the firm to accelerate the industry’s adoption of a seamless information exchange network among all team members throughout the facility life cycle.

He served on the American Institute of Architects Large Firm Roundtable and is a past chairman of the Construction Industry Roundtable.

MacLeamy earned a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana. He studied abroad at the École des Beaux-Arts Supérieure in Paris and the American Academy in Rome.

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