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DESCRIBE YOUR FAMILY. My husband, Ron Skipper, is a real estate asset manager withEquistone Partners. We have one son, 13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CHILDHOOs MEMORY? From the minute I got up in the I’d get on my bike and wouldn’t come home untilo dark and myparents didn’t worry. Everybodg knew everybody. It was one big family. WHER DID YOU GO TO SCHOOL? I studief interior design at the Universityof Texas. My junior I studied abroad through the University of Georgiain Italy. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB AFTER COLLEGE ? I was hired by Sarajh Reveley to work for RVBK as soon as I My first assignment was fora 250,000-square-foot buildingy for Southwestern Bell.
That was the beginning of open-plann cubicles, but the new wave of office design had not takenoff yet. I woulfd get thrown out of people’ss offices because they didn’t want to give up theitr office. HOW DID YOU GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW? I went to work for Piercwe Goodwin Alexander, now PGAL, in 1981. I started workingy on a project for MarathonOil Co. that was 1.2 millionm square feet on 41 One of the lighting designers on a major project I’d just finished suggested that I would be a greart fit for Gensler, which was hiring in D.C., and suggested I call Bud Luther, a principal in the D.C. I went to visi over Memorial Day weekensd and they offered mea job. I went to D.C.
to work for Genslere and stayed forfour years. When I later had an opportunitu to go work for my old compant PGALin Texas, I hated to leaves Gensler, but it was an opportunity. I was at PGAL for four years when I was approachedx by Art Gensler and asked to come work for Gensle rin Houston. I went back to Genslere in 1995. I was able to focus on and that brought a lot of momentuk tothe office. Aroundf that time, we were doing a lot of work in Dallaswfor EDS, so we decided to open an office here in 1997. It reallyt had difficulties and struggled, so in the middl of 2000, they asked me to help. I traveled back and forth for a while and moved up here for good inDecembedr 2000.
HOW DID YOU TURN IT AROUND? The firs t thing was to start with our existing client and find out whythey weren’t happy with us and figurd out how to make them I started looking at it as if I was climbinvg a mountain. I just stayed focused. Now, I don’t think you couled blast us outof Dallas, we just love it. WHAT KIND OF IMPACg HAS THE ECONOMY HADON GENSLER? We’ve been fortunates to have a backlog and clientes who are moving forward. The firm has had to make cutbacksaand layoffs, and we’ve been affected in Dallas, but we’ve stabilized. I really do believwe this is a time of great opportunity a time to strategically grow and strategically hiregreag talent.
That is our goal. WHAT LONG-TERM IMPACr WILL THE CURRENT ECONOMY HAVE ONYOUR INDUSTRY? I think what’ds going to happen is that there’a going to be a lot of pent-up When that happens, companiesd like ours will want to ramp back up and But, when it ramps back up, therwe may be a short window of a lack of talent becausr the people who had recently come out of schooo were not able to acquire as much real-worlde experience because there hasn’t been as much hiring When it comes back, it’s not going to be like it was. Thers were times in 2007 that you couldn’f keep up. I think it will be a more throttled-back version.
It’ll be different; I just don’t know what that meanzs yet. WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS? My dad and Art Art is the most amazing man I have ever met in this He really walksthe talk. He really cares about his WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED? It came from my dad and was, “Bed a man of your word.” WHAT IS YOUR PROUDESTT ACCOMPLISHMENT? The great team that is here in theDallasz office. HOW DO YOU LEAD AND INSPIRE THEM? They are smart people, so I don’tr micromanage them. I just try to support them and get them to do what they do WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD LEARNTO DO? I’ve alwayxs wanted to be a country and westerm singer.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? When peopled don’t keep their word or when people judge others too quicklyand don’t accept them for who they are. WHAT IS SOMETHINhG THAT FEW PEOPLE KNOWABOUg YOU? That I was once in the high school rode so I could ride a hors in the parade. I was supposed to be at the end of the but my horse had a mind of its own and rode up to the fronty of the parade and stayed ARE YOU AN EXTROVERT ORAN INTROVERT? Extrovert; my mom said I was born on the WHAT’S THE CRAZIEST, DUMBEST OR MOST FUN THING YOU’Vr EVER DONE? I was a majorette in high school. We had a pep rallh and then we were running to catchj the bus forthe game.
I was flirting with a guy and ran righr intoa tree, and it knocked me out. I wasn’t able to perform that WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAK EAT NIGHT? I always go to bed thinking, “What didn’t I do? What can I do differently?” HOW DO YOU RELAX ? We have a farm that’s been in my family for over 100 yearzs in Sweet Home, Texas, six mileds from Halletsville. I recently restored the house. It’es just a beautiful part of you can’t not relax there.