Deborah Byrnes
President
Retail Resources Inc.
Retail right hand and trusted outsider, Deborah has consulted for Westfield, Mills Corp., Legal Sea Foods, Yale University and Harvard University. Her reputation for innovation and for creative yet practical solutions has created an enviable client roster, based on early experience working for Saks, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. Learning property management at Faneuil Hall in its heyday added new skills, beyond merchandising, leasing and design. Today she consults internationally, works to create great places and spaces, and coaches merchants and restaurateurs to excellence, focusing on both image and income, often solving problems with both smart and realistic solutions.
Justin Hill
Senior Principal
MulvannyG2 Architecture
Justin (AIA, LEED AP) has 20 years of retail store design, design adaptation, and construction experience that has required a continual reconsideration of how retail stores communicate brand value to their customers. He is an expert at how store design repositions retailers according to changing demographics, economics, and sites. His Fortune 500 clients include Kohl’s, Target and Costco Wholesale, each strategic clients and business partners for MulvannyG2. As a Retail Market Leader, he communicates new design trends and seeks new relationships for the firm. He also represents MulvannyG2’s retail expertise in the marketplace through conference engagements, marketing, and research. His analysis has changed how MulvannyG2 makes decisions and executes store delivery, creating designs precisely attuned to retailers’ current and future needs.
Tipton Housewright
Principal
Omniplan
Tipton leads the firm’s award-winning retail design practice. He brings innovative solutions to transformative retail destinations that create value for customers, retailers and owners. He believes in the power of architecture and design as a strategic tool to create memorable and timeless spaces that enhance their communities. His portfolio includes such notable projects as NorthPark Center, World Financial Center and Galleria Dallas. Tipton has served as President of the Dallas AIA and the Dallas Center for Architecture and is active in various civic and community organizations in Dallas. In 2010, he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Kathleen M. Jordan
Principal
Gensler
Kathleen is a principal in Gensler’s New York office, and a leader of its retail practice with over 24 years of experience across the United States and internationally. Kathleen has led a broad range of retail design projects as both an outside consultant and as an in-house designer. She has led projects from merchandising/planning, through concept and design development, and through construction documentation and construction administration. Her experience includes a full range of retail formats, from 400 square-foot shop-in-shops, to 300,000+ square-foot department stores, and many of her projects have earned national and international design awards. She currently authors a monthly blog posting called “The Art & Science of Shopping” as a vehicle to express her views on retail-in-action as found across the globe.
Ronnette Riley
Principal
Ronette Riley Architect
Ronnette is a vibrant designer and energetic member of the New York architecture community. She brings commitment to design quality and an ability to translate clients’ goals into effective solutions. Her 15-person firm, founded in 1987, has won over 60 design awards and completed a wide range of hospitality, retail, institutional and residential projects. Recent recognized projects include The Tracy Reese Boutique, The Westin Ottawa Hotel renovation/addition and the Davis & Warshow Soho Showroom. Retail clients have included Apple, The Coca-Cola Co. and Restoration Hardware. She is past chair of the AIA National Committee on Design, is currently co-chair of the NY Chapter AIA Design Awards Committee and an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts. Riley spent eight years in the architectural practice of Phillip Johnson and John Burgee. She served as Project Architect for the “Lipstick Building” at 53rd and Third in Manhattan, responsible for design through final construction, and Republic Bank, now the Bank of America Center in Houston.
George Tremblay
Principal
Arrowstreet
For over 30 years, George has led numerous teams in commercial and institutional development projects throughout the United States and abroad. His goal is to create value and build community by balancing his passion for attentive client service with excellence in design. He is particularly interested in mixed-use projects where the value of the end product exceeds the sum of the individual components. Some of his recent work includes revitalizing South Boston, Revere Beach, and Bridgeport, Connecticut waterfronts with mixed-use developments anchored with retail venues as well as repositioning underperforming urban retail environments, exemplified by the deconstruction of the mall in downtown Worcester, Mass. Prior to Arrowstreet, George worked with Ben Thompson on retail and mixed-use projects in California and Japan.