Bill Hellmuth named HOK’s new CEO

Bill Hellmuth, AIA, officially took over as HOK’s Chief Executive Officer on April 19, with longtime CEO Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, moving to chairman as part of a planned succession process that the firm first announced Jan. 25.

Hellmuth, who is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., studio, has been HOK’s president since 2005. The firm will be led by a design principal for the first time since 1990, when Gyo Obata stepped down to assume the role of chairman. Hellmuth brings insight on managing the creative process—balancing the art and the business to generate the best design solutions and most value for clients. He will continue in his role as HOK’s firm-wide president and design principal for projects in the Washington, D.C., area and worldwide.

“Design excellence will define our future,” said Hellmuth. “I joined HOK in 1991 for the opportunity to be part of a practice that had the opportunity to do the best design work of its time. We’re now creating design solutions that address some of the world’s greatest challenges. We’ll continue broadening the scope of our creativity and problem solving and using design thinking to strengthen our design culture. This will continue to attract the best people and clients to HOK.”
Read more about Bill Hellmuth and his vision for the future of HOK in this Q+A profile.

HOK has current projects in 75 countries, and it has designed major urban plans, buildings and interior environments. Current and recent projects include the 80-story Capital Market Authority Tower in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the Porsche Cars North America Experience Center and Headquarters in Atlanta; the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) in Anaheim, California; and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

HOK is a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm with 24 offices worldwide. DesignIntelligence consistently ranks HOK as a leader in sustainable, high-performance design and technology innovation.

Earlier this month, my colleague and I presented a session to a group of civil engineers and transportation agencies about the tech trends in the AEC space. Along with advice on how to prepare your plan for controlled collaboration, we also talked through some practical use cases. One such use case was especially interesting, as it outlined a challenge not unfamiliar to government agencies who are contemplating the leap from paper to digital processes: how to securely migrate workflows.

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