As the firm enters its 140th year, HLW announced a new global leadership team, appointing three new managing partners: Ed Shim, AIA, NCARB; Sejal Sonani, AIA and Bennet Dunkley, AIA, RIBA. Joining them are John Mack, AIA, FIIDA, senior partner, as well as Cristen Colantoni and Bronte Turner, who have both been elevated to senior principal, and Patrick Kinzler, managing principal.
Established in 1885, HLW has been led by partnership since 1900, when founder Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz joined with Andrew C. McKenzie to pioneer the design of a new building typology. From that foundation, the firm has grown into a dynamic global architecture practice and steward of the built environment.
“As HLW’s reach has widened, our approach to shaping the course of its direction has evolved,” said Susan Boyle, who with John Gering, FAIA, has led the firm as managing partners for 27 years. “Broadening HLW’s leadership team to reflect the scope of our practice heightens our ability to excel in all areas of the business with tighter focus and greater agility.”
As part of the transition, Boyle and Gering as managing partners emeritus will continue to provide guidance on strategic matters as board members.
“We are immensely proud to entrust Ed, Sejal, Bennet, John, Cristen, Bronte, and Patrick with the future of HLW,” said Gering. “They have each made substantial contributions to the firm’s transformational growth during their tenures, and this historic redefinition of collaborative leadership at HLW is both a celebration of their accomplishments and a testament to our confidence in their power to continue driving us and our client partners forward.”
In his 20 years with HLW, Shim’s creative dexterity and technical discipline has deepened the firm’s design impact and driven the growth of its multifamily and mixed-use development sectors, HLW said. Sonani, since joining HLW in 2012, has been instrumental in expanding the firm’s presence on the West Coast, while strengthening the firmwide adaptive reuse and building repositioning portfolio. Dunkley’s international background and growth-oriented mindset have been key to advancing HLW’s culture of interdisciplinary synergy, as well as maturing its presence in the education sector and leading the firm into new markets, including healthcare and Critical facilities, since joining in 2018.
Mack, who has assumed the global design director role, will strengthen the synergies between its design studios and specialty partners across all of the firm’s offices. Colantoni will oversee HLW’s company-wide culture, while maintaining her focus on building lasting client relationships in the technology market. Turner will continue advancing the firm’s EMEA footprint, in addition to providing executive oversight of its specialty partners: Ark, Beyond, Brandx and Spark.
