On the show today, we have the honor to speak with Patrick MacLeamy, who led global architecture and engineering firm HOK from its San Francisco office. Patrick started at the firm as a junior designer and eventually became its CEO, witnessing the firm’s growth from a single midwestern office to 27 locations across the globe offering architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and more.  

MacLeamy joined HOK St. Louis in 1967, then helped establish the firm’s San Francisco outpost in 1970, later becoming managing principal of that office and then the firm’s CEO in 2016. MacLeamy led many signature projects at HOK, including Moscone Center in San Francisco and King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia. Over the years, he worked as a designer, project manager and even marketer at HOK, soaking up knowledge of all three disciplines. Trained as an architect, MacLeamy is a self-taught executive, who attributes his success to his ability to communicate clearly and his interest in “boring” things like financial metrics and digital standards, that architects often ignore.