Jessica Leonard

Jessica Leonard has more than 15 years of experience leading and managing master plan projects for large, complex institutions. A skilled leader of workshops and stakeholder meetings, Jessica believes that everyone’s voices must be heard, and that the best project outcomes result from an inclusive, engaging design-centered process. She finds satisfaction in helping institutions find clarity and a compelling vision for the future.

Jessica is passionate about working across multiple disciplines in the firm to help provide the best design solutions for clients. Thanks to her foundation in architectural design, she can think and design at multiple scales, develop insight into programmatic relationships, and understand building condition challenges. She believes design should be welcoming, inclusive, and inspiring, understands the importance of implementation, and how to design projects that will meet user needs.

Jessica enjoys working with large flagship public, R1, and land-grant universities across the country and she has extensive experience with the Smithsonian Institution, having led and managed projects for the National Zoo, NASM, NMAH, Pan-Institutional Collections Space Study, Pod 6, and the Dulles Collections Center. In her spare time, she enjoys guest lecturing at the University of Maryland and working as a mentor with SHARPkids, a program she founded in Baltimore City.