For immediate release: May
1, 2006
Strategic management planner to become
Design Workshop’s new chief of operations
DENVER, COLO. — An architect
with a broad background in sales, marketing and strategic planning
will become chief of operations (COO) May 8 at Design Workshop,
an award-winning urban design, community planning and landscape
architecture firm. Douglas R. Parker, AIA, will work as a firm-wide
resource out of the firm’s Denver office. He inherits
the position from Gregory Ochis, who has worked as both president
and chief of operations for several years. Ochis remains with
the firm as president.
“We’re grateful to have Doug coming on board,” Ochis says. “We
believe that by helping support the firm’s operations, he will make a
significant contribution to our efforts to advance our vision of creating legacies
for future generations.”
Parker comes to Design Workshop from his post
as principal and senior consultant for Greenway Consulting,
a management consultant and research firm in the AEC industry.
He spent 18 years at Steelcase Inc., the world’s largest furniture
manufacturer, where he was director of sales and marketing
to architects and designers. Before joining the Grand Rapids,
Mich., company, he was vice president of design at RNL and
a principal and founder of his own architecture firm. Parker
has been the keynote speaker at many industry and associations
events and a featured speaker for corporate sales and marketing
development sessions. He has been a featured writer in Design
Intelligence and other association publications and has
lectured at numerous architectural and design schools, including
Harvard University, California College of Arts and Crafts and
Montana State University. Parker earned his bachelor’s
degree in architecture from Montana State, with later work
in strategic planning at Columbia University and Development
Dimensions International (DDI) of Pittsburgh. He is a registered
architect.
Parker’s professional affiliations include serving as
a board member of the American Society of Interior Designers
(ASID); leader of the ASID Industry Advisory Council; co-chair
of the development of International Interior Design Association’s
(IIDA) Design Congress I & II, and member of the IIDA Industry
Advisory Council. He is a member of the American Institute
of Architects and has served on its Interior Architecture’s
Professional Interest Advisory Committee. For exceptional service
to the development of the design professions, he was awarded
honorary fellowship in ASID, honorary membership in IIDA, honorary
membership in The Interior Design Educators Council, and senior
fellowship in the Design Futures Council. He was awarded the
prestigious Star Award by IIDA for his leadership and contribution
to the industry.
In his position as COO of Design Workshop, Parker
will have responsibility for the operational performance of
the firm’s
seven U.S. offices, working with the president, the management
team and local operations managers to maximize firm resources
and develop strategies and systems to boost quality and profitability
in support of the firm’s vision and mission. “I
am very excited about joining Design Workshop and supporting
a firm with such strong commitment to design excellence,” Parker
says. “This gives me a unique opportunity to combine
my business experience and design background.”
Founded
in 1969, Design Workshop practices sustainable design and planning
on sites ranging from urban infill, parks and open-space
projects to brownfield redevelopment and resorts. The firm,
which has been honored with more than 120 awards for design
and planning, has offices in Aspen, Denver, Santa Fe, Phoenix,
Salt Lake City, South Lake Tahoe and Asheville, N.C.
