30 Influential Architecture Leaders in California

Last updated: July 2026 California architecture has always asked more of its leaders than a clean drawing set. The state is large, urban, coastal, fire-prone, seismic, inventive, expensive, culturally diverse and environmentally exposed. That means the strongest architecture leaders in California are not only shaping buildings. They are also shaping how cities, campuses, homes, workplaces, civic assets and public places respond to pressure. A note on this list: I compiled it, and I am not on it. I work in leadership and Working Genius facilitation rather than architecture, and I put this together because the built environment is one of the clearest places to see leadership choices made visible. The people below are listed for their own work, not their connection to me. This list features 30 people rather than forcing the original queue target of 50. That count reflects the people I could place into a first-party, organisation-backed set without breaching the three-per-organisation cap. A larger reserve exists for future updates, and the companion LinkedIn post includes additional sourced names at a lighter mention-only bar. ## Why Architecture Leadership Matters In California Architecture leadership in California matters because the state turns design decisions into public consequences quickly. A school building in Los Angeles, a housing project in San Francisco, a civic complex in San Jose, a preservation project in Sacramento or a workplace in San Diego all sits inside competing pressures. Cost, carbon, equity, resilience, regulation, beauty, density and community trust have to meet in the same project. The leaders below are interesting because their roles put them close to those decisions. This is not a ranking. It is a curated list of people whose current roles, firm responsibilities and public-facing practice areas make them useful to know if you follow architecture, planning, design leadership or the built environment in California. ## How This List Was Compiled I started with first-party roster and leadership pages from California-based or California-active architecture practices. I prioritised partners, principals, managing directors, design principals, chief executives and studio leaders, then capped any one organisation at three featured people so the list did not become a proxy profile of one firm. The entries below are based on current first-party organisation pages checked during this run. The claims are intentionally restrained: role, organisation, location where the source states it, and practice context where the source page supports it. Several source pages also describe the leadership lens directly. HMC uses the phrase "Design for Good." WRNS Studio says "leaders emerge in various, often overlapping ways." EYRC Architects says its design philosophy starts with "a profound respect for a building's inhabitants." ## Global And Large-Practice Leaders ### 1. Kelly Farrell Gensler Kelly Farrell is Lifestyle Sector Leader, Managing Director and Principal at Gensler Los Angeles. The firm page places Farrell in a senior California leadership role at a large architecture and design practice. That combination gives the entry a clear scale-of-responsibility basis without needing to overstate the claim. Known for: lifestyle-sector and Los Angeles studio leadership. Source: https://www.gensler.com/people ### 2. Katie Buchanan Gensler Katie Buchanan is Managing Director, Design Director and Principal at Gensler San Francisco. The first-party roster connects Buchanan to both firm management and design leadership, which is exactly the kind of dual responsibility this list is trying to surface. The role sits at the intersection of studio direction, client work and design standards. Known for: San Francisco design and studio leadership. Source: https://www.gensler.com/people ### 3. Randy Howder Gensler Randy Howder is Regional Managing Principal at Gensler San Francisco. A regional managing principal role carries a substantial scale-of-responsibility signal because it sits above a single project or narrow design speciality. For this list, Howder represents the firm leadership side of California architecture practice. Known for: regional leadership in a major California design practice. Source: https://www.gensler.com/people ## Los Angeles And Southern California Practice Leaders ### 4. Steven Ehrlich EYRC Architects Steven Ehrlich is Partner at EYRC Architects. The studio page lists Ehrlich among the firm’s partners, placing the role on a current first-party leadership surface. EYRC’s California identity and partner-led structure make Ehrlich a useful inclusion in a list focused on architecture leadership rather than only public recognition. Known for: partner leadership at EYRC Architects. Source: https://www.eyrc.com/studio ### 5. Takashi Yanai EYRC Architects Takashi Yanai is Partner at EYRC Architects. The first-party studio page names Yanai in the partner group, which supports a clean role-based entry without needing unsupported superlatives. Yanai’s inclusion helps represent contemporary Southern California practice leadership in the featured set. Known for: design and partner leadership at EYRC Architects. Source: https://www.eyrc.com/studio ### 6. Patricia Rhee EYRC Architects Patricia Rhee is Partner at EYRC Architects. The studio page places Rhee in the firm’s current partner group, giving this entry a simple and verifiable foundation. The role is enough to justify inclusion in a California architecture leadership list because it reflects active responsibility inside a recognised practice. Known for: partner leadership at EYRC Architects. Source: https://www.eyrc.com/studio ## Sustainable And Housing-Focused Practice Leaders ### 7. Jennifer Devlin-Herbert EHDD Jennifer Devlin-Herbert is Principal and Partner at EHDD. The first-party people page identifies Devlin-Herbert in the firm’s principal and partner group, which gives the entry a clear role basis. EHDD’s work across civic, education, cultural and sustainable design contexts makes the firm’s leadership group relevant to this topic. Known for: principal and partner leadership at EHDD. Source: https://ehdd.com/people/ ### 8. Brad Jacobson EHDD Brad Jacobson is Principal and Partner at EHDD. The firm’s people page places Jacobson in a current senior leadership role, giving this entry a direct first-party basis. The inclusion also supports Bay Area representation in the list. Known for: EHDD principal and partner leadership. Source: https://ehdd.com/people/ ### 9. Rebecca Sharkey EHDD Rebecca Sharkey is Principal and Partner at EHDD. The first-party roster links Sharkey to a current senior firm role. This entry is intentionally restrained: the verified point is the leadership role, and any project or outcome claim should wait for the final claim-capture pass. Known for: partner-level leadership at EHDD. Source: https://ehdd.com/people/ ## San Diego And Cross-Border Practice Leaders ### 10. Ricardo Rabines Safdie Rabines Architects Ricardo Rabines is Founding Partner at Safdie Rabines Architects. The firm’s people page identifies Rabines as a founding partner, which gives this entry both current role evidence and a practice-building merit signal. The San Diego-based firm adds geographic spread beyond Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Known for: founding partner leadership at Safdie Rabines Architects. Source: https://www.safdierabines.com/people/ ### 11. Taal Safdie Safdie Rabines Architects Taal Safdie is Founding Partner at Safdie Rabines Architects. The first-party people page places Safdie in the founding leadership of the firm. That role makes the entry relevant without needing to reach for unsourced adjectives or awards. Known for: founding partner leadership at Safdie Rabines Architects. Source: https://www.safdierabines.com/people/ ### 12. Eric Lindebak Safdie Rabines Architects Eric Lindebak is Partner at Safdie Rabines Architects. The firm’s own people page names Lindebak in the partner group, which is the core evidence for this entry. The inclusion keeps the list from focusing only on founders while still staying with senior practice leadership. Known for: partner leadership at Safdie Rabines Architects. Source: https://www.safdierabines.com/people/ ## Housing, Urban Design And Community Practice Leaders ### 13. Katie Ackerly David Baker Architects Katie Ackerly is Principal and Sustainable Design Director at David Baker Architects. The first-party people page pairs Ackerly’s name with a role that is especially relevant in California, where housing and sustainability pressures often meet in the same brief. This is a strong role-based inclusion. Known for: sustainable design leadership at David Baker Architects. Source: https://www.dbarchitect.com/about/people ### 14. David Baker David Baker Architects David Baker is Principal at Large at David Baker Architects. The firm’s people page provides the current role, and the practice itself is clearly centred on architecture and urban design. Baker’s entry belongs in the list because the role carries both founder-level recognition and ongoing firm identity. Known for: architecture and urban design leadership. Source: https://www.dbarchitect.com/about/people ### 15. Amanda Loper David Baker Architects Amanda Loper is Principal at David Baker Architects. The first-party roster identifies Loper as a principal, giving this entry a direct role basis. The inclusion also adds another senior voice from a firm closely associated with housing, urban and community-oriented work. Known for: principal leadership at David Baker Architects. Source: https://www.dbarchitect.com/about/people ## Civic, Education And Public-Impact Leaders ### 16. Lilian Asperin WRNS Studio Lilian Asperin is Partner at WRNS Studio. The firm’s team page places Asperin among the partner group, and the studio’s San Francisco presence makes the role clearly relevant to California architecture leadership. The entry stays focused on current responsibility rather than unsourced reputation. Known for: partner leadership at WRNS Studio. Source: https://wrnsstudio.com/team/ ### 17. Tim Jonas WRNS Studio Tim Jonas is Partner at WRNS Studio. The first-party team page names Jonas in the partner group, giving the entry a clean verification path. WRNS Studio’s partner list also helps widen the featured set beyond the most commonly repeated household architecture names. Known for: partner leadership at WRNS Studio. Source: https://wrnsstudio.com/team/ ### 18. Sam Nunes WRNS Studio Sam Nunes is Partner at WRNS Studio. The firm’s own team page lists Nunes among its partners and separately notes WRNS Studio’s founding story. That first-party role evidence is the basis for inclusion in this list. Known for: partner leadership at WRNS Studio. Source: https://wrnsstudio.com/team/ ## Urban Design And Bay Area Leadership ### 19. Qian (Kevin) Yi Heller Manus Architects Qian (Kevin) Yi is Principal and CEO at Heller Manus Architects. The people page names Yi as CEO and describes focus areas including sustainable building technology, urban neighbourhood development, housing design and transportation facility design. That makes this one of the stronger role-plus-practice entries in the list. Known for: CEO leadership at Heller Manus Architects. Source: https://www.hellermanus.com/people ### 20. Clark Manus Heller Manus Architects Clark Manus is Founding Principal at Heller Manus Architects. The first-party profile identifies Manus as a founding principal and former AIA president, with work connected to San Francisco and Oakland’s built environment. Those are strong California leadership signals, subject to the final re-fetch. Known for: founding leadership and civic design involvement. Source: https://www.hellermanus.com/people ### 21. Jeffrey Heller Heller Manus Architects Jeffrey Heller is Founding Principal at Heller Manus Architects. The firm profile states that Heller founded the firm in 1984 and describes a practice spanning architecture and urban design. For this entry, the current founding-principal role is the main verified claim. Known for: founding principal leadership at Heller Manus Architects. Source: https://www.hellermanus.com/people ## Long-Established California Firm Leaders ### 22. Christopher C. Martin AC Martin Christopher C. Martin is Chairman at AC Martin. The team page places Martin at the top of the firm’s leadership roster, giving this entry a direct first-party basis. AC Martin’s long California presence makes the chair role relevant to a statewide architecture leadership list. Known for: firm chair leadership at AC Martin. Source: https://www.acmartin.com/team-members ### 23. Tom Hsieh AC Martin Tom Hsieh is CEO/President at AC Martin. The firm’s team page identifies Hsieh in the chief executive role. That current role makes Hsieh a straightforward inclusion in a people list focused on active architecture practice leadership. Known for: executive leadership at AC Martin. Source: https://www.acmartin.com/team-members ### 24. Michael Chang AC Martin Michael Chang is Managing Principal at AC Martin. The first-party team page names Chang in a senior leadership role, which is the core evidence for this entry. The inclusion helps represent operational and principal-level leadership within an established California firm. Known for: managing principal leadership at AC Martin. Source: https://www.acmartin.com/team-members ## Institutional And Education Design Leaders ### 25. James Krueger HMC Architects James Krueger is Director of Design at HMC Architects. The leadership page states that Krueger oversees design and leads strategies to improve the impact of HMC’s work. That is a direct design-leadership claim from the firm’s own page and a useful fit for this list. Known for: design direction at HMC Architects. Source: https://hmcarchitects.com/who-we-are/ ### 26. Mandi Roberts HMC Architects Mandi Roberts is Design Principal at HMC Architects. The firm page describes Roberts as co-leading the Los Angeles Design Studio and focused on community-oriented projects. This makes the entry a strong California-specific inclusion. Known for: Los Angeles design studio leadership. Source: https://hmcarchitects.com/who-we-are/ ### 27. Brian Nichols HMC Architects Brian Nichols is Design Principal at HMC Architects. The leadership page connects Nichols to the firm’s Los Angeles studio and educational environments. The first-party evidence is enough for a restrained entry, with project-specific claims held back unless they are directly supported by the source page. Known for: education design leadership at HMC Architects. Source: https://hmcarchitects.com/who-we-are/ ## Preservation And Adaptive Reuse Leaders ### 28. Carolyn Kiernat Page & Turnbull Carolyn Kiernat is Principal at Page & Turnbull. The people page identifies Kiernat as a San Francisco principal. Page & Turnbull’s preservation and architecture focus gives this inclusion a different lens from large commercial practice or housing-led studios. Known for: preservation architecture leadership. Source: https://www.page-turnbull.com/meet-our-people/ ### 29. John D. Lesak Page & Turnbull John D. Lesak is Principal at Page & Turnbull. The first-party people page places Lesak in the Los Angeles office, which supports the statewide spread of the list. The entry is strongest as a preservation and adaptive reuse leadership inclusion. Known for: Los Angeles preservation architecture leadership. Source: https://www.page-turnbull.com/meet-our-people/ ### 30. Ruth Todd Page & Turnbull Ruth Todd is Principal at Page & Turnbull. The firm’s people page lists Todd as a San Francisco principal, giving this entry a direct organisation-backed source. Todd’s inclusion helps close the list with a preservation and architecture practice perspective. Known for: principal leadership at Page & Turnbull. Source: https://www.page-turnbull.com/meet-our-people/ ## Notable Voices We Almost Included Several additional people were captured from first-party roster pages and are strong candidates for future updates. They include senior leaders at Gensler, EYRC Architects, EHDD, Safdie Rabines Architects, David Baker Architects, WRNS Studio, Heller Manus Architects, AC Martin, HMC Architects, Steinberg Hart, Marmol Radziner, Feldman Architecture, Aidlin Darling Design, Perkins&Will and MBH Architects. Some of those names appear in the companion LinkedIn post as Tier 2 mentions. They are not featured entries in this list because the blog set is capped at 30 and the three-per-organisation cap applies. ## Common Mistakes To Avoid The first mistake is treating this kind of list as a fame list. Fame is not the same as current leadership. Architecture has many legendary names, but a current people list needs current first-party evidence. A retired, departed or historic architect can still matter enormously, but that is a different editorial category. The second mistake is letting one firm dominate the list. California has enough architecture depth that a single organisation should not provide half the names. That is why this list caps each organisation at three featured people. The third mistake is making claims the source does not support. If a roster page says someone is a principal, that supports the role. It does not automatically support claims about being the first, largest, most influential or award-winning unless separate evidence supports those words. ## Implementation Guide Use this list as a starting map, not a final verdict. If you are hiring, partnering, interviewing, researching or building a California architecture network, start by looking at the organisations represented here. Then follow the role pages, project pages and firm news pages behind the people. The real value is not only the names. It is the pattern of responsibilities they hold. For future updates, the cleanest next step is to complete the formal verification pass: confirm current roles, run departure and successor checks, verify organisation names, map every project or award claim, and add a few additional people from architecture schools, civic design offices and public-sector design leadership. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Is this a ranking of California architects? No, this is not a ranking. It is a curated list of architecture leaders in California, grouped by practice context and supported by first-party roster pages captured during the run. ### Why does the title say 30 instead of 50? The original queue target said 50, but the safer editorial choice is to publish the honest featured count. This list uses 30 because that count can be selected from the current first-party evidence while maintaining organisational spread. ### Why are some additional names only in the LinkedIn post? The companion post has two tiers. Tier 1 mirrors the featured blog people. Tier 2 includes additional real names from sources fetched during the run, but it makes no claim beyond mentioning them by name and organisation. ### Can this list be expanded later? Yes. The current longlist already contains more than 100 sourced candidates. A later update can expand the blog once the same truth gates are completed for additional people. ## Final Thoughts Architecture leadership in California is not one thing. It includes the person shaping design quality inside a global practice, the principal carrying preservation work through approvals, the partner leading housing and community work, the founder still setting a studio’s tone, and the design director pushing a team toward better public outcomes. This list is intentionally conservative. It names 30 people with first-party role evidence and leaves the broader field visible through the Tier 2 LinkedIn mentions. That is the right balance for this stage: useful, honest, and clear about the source basis behind each inclusion. ## About The Author About me: I am a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, certified through The Table Group, and the author of Step Up or Step Out. I work with leadership teams on clarity, trust, decision-making and team rhythm. If that is useful for your team, you can reach me at jonno@consultclarity.org. ## Sources Gensler people page: https://www.gensler.com/people EYRC Architects studio page: https://www.eyrc.com/studio EHDD people page: https://ehdd.com/people/ Safdie Rabines Architects people page: https://www.safdierabines.com/people/ David Baker Architects people page: https://www.dbarchitect.com/about/people WRNS Studio team page: https://wrnsstudio.com/team/ Heller Manus Architects people page: https://www.hellermanus.com/people AC Martin team page: https://www.acmartin.com/team-members HMC Architects leadership page: https://hmcarchitects.com/who-we-are/ Page & Turnbull people page: https://www.page-turnbull.com/meet-our-people/