Hord Coplan Macht announces retirement of Founder/CEO Lee Coplan, FAIA, and names successor

Hord Coplan Macht, an award-winning integrated architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and planning firm, announces the retirement of Founder and Chief Executive Officer Lee Coplan, FAIA. Lee leaves behind a long and celebrated career leading the practice over the last four decades while bringing innovative design strategies and leadership to the architecture and design community. As Lee steps down, he has embraced the emergence of new leadership and looks forward to the firm's continued growth and evolution as Tim Barnhill, current Chief Operating Officer, steps into the CEO role. 

“It has been an honor to serve as CEO of such a wonderful and diverse firm through many periods of growth and expansion,” says Lee Coplan. “With Tim’s extensive background in leadership and commitment to Hord Coplan Macht’s vision and mission, I have no doubt the firm is poised for success during and after this transition.” 

Accomplished business leader and architect, Lee co-founded Hord Coplan Macht with Ed Hord and Carol Macht in 1977. He was instrumental in the firm’s growth and development, expanding the practice across five offices in the U.S., all while striving for design excellence and maintaining a collaborative, trusting community of talented and dedicated team members. Maintaining a close-knit environment within the expanding firm is imperative to Hord Coplan Macht’s mission and will continue to be a central focus under Tim’s leadership as CEO. 

Throughout his career, Lee championed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, making a conscious effort to improve diversity within the firm and across the architecture and design industry. Since 2018, 67 percent of Hord Coplan Macht’s new hires have been from groups underrepresented in the profession, including women and people of color. Under Lee’s leadership, the firm established the Hord Coplan Macht Scholarship Fund at the School of Architecture and Planning at Morgan State University to benefit students from the historically black university. As a member of the AIA’s Large Firm Roundtable Equity, Diversity, and Inclusiveness Task Force, Lee, along with others from the most influential design firms in the country focus on bringing attention to and solutions forward for inequity in the industry. In 2019, Lee was named Leader in Diversity by The Baltimore Business Journal.  

Lee’s attention to all facets of design and business is sought by organizations beyond Hord Coplan Macht, where he serves on the Board of Directors of LifeBridge Health, as Vice President of the Board of the Aaron and Lillie Straus Foundation, and as President of the Camp Airy and Louise Foundation. Lee is also a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland Baltimore County and is on the Board of Visitors of Stevenson University. 

“I am honored to be taking over for Lee and will continue his legacy by staying true to our core values and goals as a company while designing great projects and making a difference in our work,” says Tim Barnhill. “While we seamlessly usher in this new phase, it is an exciting moment for Hord Coplan Macht as we continue to grow and create inspiring spaces through innovative design.” 

The firm’s leadership under Tim Barnhill will be committed to building on the legacy of quality work, client collaboration, community engagement, and entrepreneurship instilled in the firm by Lee.  

About Hord Coplan Macht   
Hord Coplan Macht is an integrated firm offering planning, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and environmental graphic design with offices in Baltimore, Maryland; Charlotte, North Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Hilton Head Island; and the DC Metro area. The firm combines the goals of creating functional yet inspiring spaces with the principles of innovation, thoughtful design, technical strength, collaboration, and financial responsibility to uphold clients’ best interests and deliver high-performing environments for the future. HCM is an award-winning design firm priding itself on leading a collaborative programming and design process that results in beautiful, environmentally responsible, user-friendly spaces. The firm’s process is guided by the belief that all successful projects start by listening (and hearing) to what users and stakeholders really need and ultimately desire.