Thirty-four-year architectural veteran Russ Drinker, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, joined the leadership team in HOK’s San Francisco office on Sept 4. as a new senior vice president and management principal.

As a pre-teen growing up in a 150-year-old Victorian farmhouse surrounded by an apple orchard in Saratoga, California, Russ built tree houses and forts. By the time he began studying architecture at the University of California in Berkeley in 1976, he had graduated to designing and constructing 2,000-square-foot solar homes.

“I had no business doing this, but I designed and built a custom house while an undergraduate at Berkeley,” said Russ. “It taught me about designing buildings from the inside-out and about sustainability. And I …

Twenty-year architectural veteran Stan Chiu, AIA, LEED AP, an industry leader in lean design and integrated project delivery (IPD), joined HOK’s Los Angeles office on Sept. 4 as a new senior vice president and management principal.

After earning his B.A. from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and a master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 1992, Stan was awarded a fellowship to study in Japan, with a focus on comparing traditional and contemporary creative processes. He worked for a black-cape architecture firm in Tokyo and also as a carpenter on an island off Kobe, Japan.

“I have always been interested in the creative process,” said Stan. “Especially how a …

We just hosted a great group of Penn State design students who participate in a group called SEED.  One of the participants reached out to me afterwards to ask for job advice and how to stand out in a crowd.  I get asked this sort of thing a lot so I figured I would share here too. Please add any words of advice I forgot!

1. Highlight real job experience if you’ve got it. Student projects are nice but real experience will set you apart.
2. Take the LEED GA exam if you have the time to prepare and the money to pay for the exam.  Everyone says they are into sustainability, but the credential

…

…OK, a lot of the time Oprah is pretty smart. 

The reason I say Oprah is smart today is (once again) due to an article I ran across on CNN: “The New Rules for Succeeding at Your First Job.”  There are some great ones in here (like “never stop taking notes”), but there were a couple that REALLY stuck out to me:

“Think About Presentation” – Oprah suggests that you format everything beautifully.  I agree.  For starters, do not EVER give your boss something that hasn’t been spell checked and read to make sure you didn’t say “panty” instead of “pantry.”  She doesn’t want to see it, and she wants to …

Someone recently asked me, “What would you tell me if you had just five minutes to mentor me?”  
This got me thinking about how important it is to slow down for a few minutes every now and again to share a few things you’ve learned along the way with others.  Here are a few things I will share with you in our five minutes together:

• Mentors don’t just have to be people.  I have learned a lot from “The Donald” and his Apprentice show and from Cathie Black’s book “Basic Black” about how she climbed to the top of Hearst Magazines.
• Surround yourself with good influences…friends, colleagues, leaders outside HOK.  Soon you’ll take on their traits

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Beth Bernitt joined HOK in 1993 as an interior designer. She eventually served as the director of interiors for the Florida practice before being named management principal of HOK Florida. In 2002, Beth left her position at HOK to accept a new job as corporate marketing director at The Beck Group, a leading U.S. construction, development and design services firm.

We’re elated to report that, in March, Beth boomeranged back to HOK as our new chief marketing officer. In this new role, she is providing global strategic leadership for all HOK’s marketing, communications and business development efforts. Beth is based in Tampa but working across all 25 offices. In …

Rob Firth joined HOK’s London office in January after working in leadership roles for Capita Architecture and Austin-Smith Lord. His experience in strategic planning and practice development will be key to HOK’s plans to strengthen and expand the firm’s position in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. To learn more about Rob, we asked him five questions.

1. What attracted you to HOK and what will your role involve?

What attracted me was HOK’s great reputation and long and successful history of design quality and putting people first. I also was attracted by the wide portfolio of sectors and projects and the fact that HOK is a sufficient size to influence …

There are many different ways to find a job opening these days.  Websites such as Monster or Career Builder are a available . Checking the company’s website is a must and don’t forget word of mouth.   Well how about this… new job via blog!

Dallas is looking for a Marketing Professional with 5 years experience in marketing for architects, engineers, or contractors(preferred).

Responsibilities include:

• Gathers, inputs and formats information and graphics, proofreads text, assembles and binds proposals and other documents to support the Marketing department and office-wide needs.
• Assembles, writes and coordinates proposals and qualifying statements.
• Prepares materials for client presentations and interviews.
• Maintains and updates existing marketing materials and files.
• Maintains marketing/client databases and visual library.
• Coordinates work with outside vendors, consultants,

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This week two new HOK leaders were in St. Louis to meet with different Corporate groups as part of their “on-boarding” process. Their days were packed and I’m sure they left here beyond exhausted, but it was fantastic to meet them face-to-face.

Carl Galioto, FAIA, joins HOK from SOM, where he was firm-wide partner in charge of SOM’s Technical Group. He’ll wear three hats as a member of the HOK New York management committee, chair of HOK’s project delivery board and leader of our buildingSMART initiative.

Jeff Goodale, RA, ACA, is the new co-leader (with John Eisenlau) of HOK’s Justice group and is based in Chicago. Jeff …

Hey there Chirayu! He and lots of other Life at HOK bloggers show up in this new video:

It’s Friday, and yeah…no questions.

I think it may be my credentials that are making some wary about submitting something for my advice. Maybe what I have to do is open this Friday thing up to everyone.

I am sure I am not the only one that asks sometimes why they would ask me to Blog. I can think of about 50 other people in the Toronto Studio that deserve this more then me, and I am sure quite a few cringe in St. Louis when they see something posted that has no merit, or info about HOK.
But if anyone has any sort of story, doesn’t matter if you work for HOK or not, and think that it could be relevant on …

“Just remember, whatever you do…don’t just sit there smiling.”
“Ok…got it” I tried telling myself.

“Umm, sorry…are you lost?” said the receptionist “Oh no, it’s my first day. I am waiting for, (scrambling through papers)…umm Cara. Yeah Cara” Damn, I should have known that, I kept telling myself. Remember to smile, people like people who smile.

It was my first day, and I was scared. My first ‘real’ job in the big world, and I was standing in the Lobby wearing what I thought was the most sophisticated shirt and pants combo ever. (I think I was just happy that I woke up and remembered to put clothes on in the first place.)

“Hi Justin” said with a bubbly voice.
I think i …