The Future is Shared: BNIM is an Employee-Owned Design Company

BNIM is proud to announce the firm is now an employee-owned design company. BNIM transitioned to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Trust in October 2023. The firm invests in a shared future by placing ownership in employees’ hands, strengthening a collective commitment to design excellence, leadership, and alignment with BNIM’s core purpose and values.

“An employee-owned design company has been a longtime vision for BNIM, and the firm looks forward to moving into this new future for the practice.” Principal Steve McDowell, FAIA, shares, “I couldn’t be more excited about and committed to our new structure and the evolving leadership transition that is part of this important change. BNIM is driven by the adage that ‘no one knows as much as everyone.’ We believe this is integral to our practice as BNIM employees deliver on our core purpose and values every day. The impact of this work is now further represented through co-ownership, providing employees with immediate and long-term benefits as they guide our practice forward.”

BNIM’s employee-owned structure is an equity-based, long-term benefit plan for all current and future employees. The leadership structure of the firm will balance continuity with a new ownership structure that enhances employees’ shared responsibility to clients and role in shaping the firm’s future growth and prosperity. Beginning an exciting new chapter for BNIM, this opportunity carries our firm’s legacy of work and values forward into a shared future together. New employee owners are already assuming roles of improving quality of innovative solutions and services to our clients and deepening commitments to BNIM.

BNIM Designer, Carleigh Pope, Assoc. AIA NOMA, shares her sentiments of responsibility for the work she does toward the greater BNIM core purpose, “Employee ownership is only a further reason to see longevity and reward in the work we do each day.”

Our core purpose to design and deliver beautiful integrated living environments to inspire change and enhance the human condition speaks to the idea of designing for a better world. An important part of our future together is our enduring core values, which are reflective of our history and ethos as a practice. These values guide our work with our clients and our communities, creating places where everyone can thrive.

BNIM’s Enduring Core Values

“This is a very special time in the history of our practice. We are excited and optimistic about this transition for the future of BNIM. As we celebrate and embrace our work as both co-owners and colleagues at BNIM, we will continue to make our practice better each day with our clients and partners as we seek to fulfill our core purpose.” Laura Lesniewski, FAIA, Principal

ABOUT BNIM

BNIM’s core purpose is: “We design and deliver beautiful, integrated environments to inspire change and enhance the human condition.” The services we provide—architecture, interior design, landscape design, sustainability leadership and consulting, graphic design, and planning—are guided by this mission. BNIM has been recognized with more than 500 awards for exceptional design and thought leadership, including the 2011 AIA National Architecture Firm Award, and the firm has emerged nationally as a leading resource for established methodologies, innovative technologies, and cutting-edge research in architecture, planning, and landscape design. Through a process of integrated design, which is both an organized collaboration between disciplines and an interweaving and interconnectivity of building systems, our team creates designs that are both environmentally responsible and achieve the highest level of design excellence.

For more information, contact Beena Ramaswami at bramaswami@bnim.com