BEYER BLINDER BELLE ANNOUNCES ELIZABETH R. LEBER, AIA, LEED AP AS MANAGING PARTNER TO GUIDE FIRM’S VISION INTO NEXT GENERATION
Beyer Blinder Belle (BBB) announces that Elizabeth R. Leber, AIA, LEED AP has become Managing Partner as of January 1, 2021. Leber takes on this new role as she begins her twentieth year at BBB. She is the fifth Managing Partner to steer the firm, now in its 53rd year of practice, and will work alongside her eleven partners and Chief Operating Officer David Freedman, FCA, CMA. Leber steps into the role held for 16 years by Frederick A. Bland, FAIA, AICP, who will continue his much-valued relationship with BBB as Partner Emeritus. Leber’s new role affirms BBB’s successful transition to a third generation of leadership and ensures the firm’s future-looking strategic vision and sustainability.
“This is the time for Liz and the next generation of BBB partners to assert the firm’s direction. BBB is primed to evolve in response to the needs of our built environment and our communities. Liz has already proven in her career that she is equal to the challenge.” said Bland.
“My career has been and will continue to be focused on translating institutions’ missions into architectural reality,” said Leber. “I am excited to apply that same energy to the mission and management of our own firm.”
Leber will continue her work in planning and design for BBB’s institutional clients in New York, Boston, and nationally—her career-long passion. In her projects, Leber is dedicated to advancing institutions through forward-looking architecture and planning. Both within and outside the firm, she is recognized for approaching every challenge with a balance of creativity, pragmatism, and unfailing optimism. Expert at facilitating consensus around a cohesive vision, Leber will use these skills in her new role as Managing Partner.
Leber is a recognized national leader in bringing under-appreciated buildings back to life. Her adaptive reuse and renovation projects surpass updating of aging facilities – they are transformed into timeless settings for contemporary learning and engagement. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., Art History) and Columbia University (M.Arch.), Leber’s success lies in creating new spaces that are simultaneously familiar—rooted in the essence and character of a historic building—and unexpected.
Leber’s methodology has radically changed the way BBB approaches institutional projects and has been utilized successfully by many iconic museums, campuses, and non-profit institutions, including Harvard University, Harvard Business School, Dartmouth College, University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Toledo Museum of Art. In New York City, Leber’s reputation as a leader in mission-driven architecture and planning has led to commissions and relationships with many New York City-based institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, the 92nd Street Y, and the Henry Street Settlement, among others. On many of these projects, Leber has explored and advanced the intersection of preservation and development, evident with her work for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. With deft diplomacy, she facilitated air rights negotiations and development projects to benefit the historic assets on the campuses of three major religious organizations: General Theological Seminary, Church of St. Luke in the Fields, and Union Theological Seminary. At conferences and workshops, she has shared her particular expertise of this complex process with other institutions.
As a trusted advisor, Leber has served in the roles of master planner and peer reviewer for the Harvard Business School campus for 14 years and led projects for the $1 billion undergraduate House Renewal campaign at Harvard University. In 2015, Leber was appointed to the institution’s Design Advisory Pool, a panel of nationally-recognized architects, planners, and landscape architects who participate in the selection of architects for all major project commissions, as well as the peer review of projects during their design, contributing to ongoing excellence in architecture at Harvard. Leber’s deep understanding of the mission, operation, and architectural needs of business schools has inspired a body of planning and architecture work at peer institutions including the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College; the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. Further, her immersion in student life and residential architecture has led her to share her experiences and thought leadership through commissions at Amherst College and University of Pennsylvania.
Leber’s creative problem-solving is noticed by the profession to which she has contributed generously, including board membership on the Urban Green Council and Columbia University GSAPP Alumni Association.
ABOUT BEYER BLINDER BELLE
Founded in 1968, Beyer Blinder Belle (BBB) has offices in New York City, Boston, and Washington DC. The 170-person firm is acclaimed for revitalizing some of America’s most iconic public buildings and cultural institutions. A persistent exploration of historic, cultural, and civic meaning guides the firm’s work, while its design is contemporary and reflects the materials and technologies of today.
Planning, restoration, and the design of new buildings are the fundamental underpinnings of the practice. With extensive experience in restoration, BBB specializes in adapting existing structures for new uses and in sensitively integrating contemporary building systems within historic contexts.
BBB’s work has been recognized with hundreds of awards, including the American Institute of Architects Firm Award, the highest honor given to a practicing firm, as well as three Presidential Design Awards and the Preservation League of New York’s most prestigious commendation, the Pillar Award.
Media Contact: Christina Allan