William Davenport

Griff Davenport, AIA, is Chief Executive Officer of DLR Group, an integrated design firm with more than 1,000 employees in 26 locations around the world. He collaborates with senior leadership to craft the firm's growth strategies and chairs the firm's executive leadership team. Griff has played an instrumental role in developing and driving the growth of DLR Group's vertical markets and its geographic footprint around the world. He joined DLR Group in 1980 and experienced the firm’s employee-ownership culture as it evolved from a traditional C-corporation, to the establishment of the firm’s first ESOP, to the establishment of the firm’s S-ESOP structure in 2004. Griff was named Managing Principal in 2005, CEO in 2014, and is a member of the firm’s board of directors. Today DLR Group is 100 percent employee owned. For nearly 30 years, mergers and acquisitions have evolved as an important growth strategy at DLR Group. Griff has been actively involved in the firm’s acquisition efforts since 2005 which have added more than 400 professionals and eight new geographic locations to DLR Group. He has been involved with the identification of acquisition/merger candidates and the subsequent activities of valuation, negotiations, and post-closing firm integration. Key to this growth strategy is a relentless focus on forging and transferring a DLR Group brand that reflects and amplifies the firm's commitment to design excellence and a culture of employee ownership. DLR Group is an integrated design firm delivering architecture, engineering, interiors, planning, and building optimization for new construction, renovation, and adaptive reuse. Core areas of design expertise include Criminal Justice, Culture and Performing Arts, Energy Services, Healthcare, Education, Hospitality, Retail, Sports, and Workplace. Our promise is to elevate the human experience through design. DLR Group actively supports the goals of Architecture 2030.