Ignacio Reyes, FAIA Discusses Succession Planning

To begin with, can you walk us through how your career evolved and ultimately led to the role that you hold today?

Absolutely.

As most folks, you know, you graduate, start working.

I became a project manager, ran projects, able to do a successful career as a PM doing projects in hospitality and institutional work like education and higher ed.

And some government work, things like things of that nature.

Little by little, I found a proclivity for working with clients and developing new opportunities, new businesses.

I was more the extrovert, always wanted to be with people and connect the dots that helped me connect into a more of a business development mindset as a principal that led me to become a global leader of business development and architecture for a large firm.

And then a few years ago, I was recruited to join DLR Group to take on this unique role where I could apply not just my architectural background, my recognition of design, understanding of the process, as well as my business development background of how businesses run, how to grow, how to factor in new opportunities and new structures and see the future for the strategy perspective and apply that towards the idea of acquisitions, looking for firms that would make sense for DLR Group that would help our business.

help us achieve our strategic plan and our goals and objectives and enhance our culture and design excellence.

So it's been a heck of a journey.

It's not one I ever saw mapped out ever in my life.

So it's been an incredible ride and I've learned so, so much.

And that's the one caveat I tell everybody is, you know, life is never so linear as you might tell it.

There's been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of ways.

There's opportunities in this profession to do so many things besides just the obvious.

starting with the big picture what are the most common ways ownership transitions happen in architecture firms today

well most common ways that you see transitions occurring are a couple of those couple of factors you can look at things from this perspective of the uh the more romantic ideal the more romantic ideal is that a firm owner has a practice for many many years and decides to transition that to the next generation leader in the firm that's we call that an internal transaction internal sale there is a financial and business component to any succession planning so you got to think about that in terms of the business mindset but that's the most wanted approach by most firm owners they want this idea of this internal transition to the next generation leader other things that firm owners can do they can obviously just close their doors that is that has happened to firms that don't plan well they just close the doors when they finish their work and everyone just goes away and people have to find their own jobs.

That sadly has occurred quite often.

They can transition their firm, sell it basically to a firm like myself or other bigger firms that are in need of a strategic goal.

Maybe that person is an expert in K-12 or an expert in country clubs or an expert in whatever it might be.

And that's an asset that a bigger firm wants to acquire and bring them into the fold.

And the other avenue, which is becoming very common in our society right now, is when private equity comes in and acquires the practice.

They call it investing in the platform, but really it's buying it and owning it and having the controlling aspect of it.

So private equity comes in.

They're like a banker investment group.