Mike DavisPrincipal, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility
What motivated you to become Bergmeyer’s first Director of Corporate Social Responsibility?
I wrote a blog post about that recently. First, there was my “aha” moment while representing the AIA at COP26. I realized that businesses have as great a role to play in battling the climate crisis as governments do. And at about the same time last year, it was becoming clear to me that my role as a “bridge” President between Dave Tubridy and Rachel Zsembery had been fulfilled. It was time for the next generation of leaders at Bergmeyer to step into our executive positions, and I was ready for a new gig. So in true Bergie fashion, I got to write a job description for myself. The position of Director of Corporate Social Responsibility was created.
What do you hope to achieve in this new job, and how’s it going so far?
I’m having a great time! I’ve been engaged in what I call “serial volunteerism” for my entire 35-plus-year career, so it’s immensely gratifying to have the firm invite me to make social responsibility part of our normal business practices. Our new mission statement – “B the Change” – just launched. It lays out what we will be committing our time and resources to: strengthen our communities, support organizations that advance social justice, being part of the fight against the climate crisis, and opening doors to careers in design for more young people. Everything I hoped I could accomplish in my new role is getting done.
Have you really worked at Bergmeyer for your entire career?
Almost. I worked in Boston at Finegold Alexander (they were Anderson Notter Finegold at the time) for a couple of years in between my degrees, then at a firm in New Haven (Herb Newman Associates) while I was in grad school. After grad school, I started at Bergmeyer and have stayed ever since.
Anything you would’ve done differently?
Not much. I’ve had a pretty straight-lined career path. I knew I wanted to be an architect since junior high. Both of my degrees are in Architecture. I admire people who have taken long and winding roads to get to where they are, but I wouldn’t want to trade places with them. I love architecture, and I love Bergmeyer, so I wouldn’t change any of that. OK, I never lived in New York City or learned to speak French or play the piano. But those things could still happen.
Lightning round. Favorite city besides Boston?
Oh, there are so many great cities to love! But if pressed for a choice, I’d have to say New Orleans. Aaron Neville calls it “one of a kind.” I agree.
Favorite season?
Winter. You can’t ski in the Summer.
Salty or sweet?
Salty! I can walk by a box of chocolates no prob, but go weak at the sight of a dish of nuts.
What’s your walk-on song?
Iggy Pop, “Lust for Life.” That drum solo intro is all I need.
Any advice for the fifty-year-old version of yourself?
Stay the course! Despite your youth, you’ve managed to make some very good decisions so far. Don’t blow it now!
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The AIA 2030 Commitment: Get SMART
I started writing this blog just over four years ago on a dare. I accepted a challenge, and my part of the bargain was to write regularly about my design firm, Bergmeyer, and our adoption of the AIA 2030 Commitment. Seventy-two posts later, I’m still volunteering for big, hairy, audacious challenges. Still haven’t learned.
The AIA 2030 Commitment: A New Perspective
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The AIA 2030 Commitment: Research
If you’re an architect or designer working in the built environment, I’d guess science wasn’t your favorite subject in high school. Acutesqueamishness was an impediment for me. Forget cutting frogs open, I still can’t even look at a needle. My career in the biological sciences was over before it began.
The AIA 2030 Commitment: The Whole World is Watching
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Whenever someone says the word “feedback” I become momentarily distracted. I mentally flip into “air guitar” mode and imagine that I’m Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock playing the Star Spangled Banner . . .
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Do you have a favorite recreational activity? Does it involve equipment? Golf clubs? A tennis racket? A bicycle, perhaps? I’m a skier. Skiers are serious equipment geeks! But the phrase you hear around the lodge is: Good skis don’t make a good skier.
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Last Tuesday, we had our big Mayoral primary election in Boston. First time in twenty years that Thomas M. Menino wasn’t on the ballot. Given the historical significance of this race, you’d think voter turnout would be off the charts. It wasn’t. 113,222 ballots were recorded, 31% of registered voters.
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Left field for the Boston Red Sox. As major-league baseball positions go, it’s legendary. From 1940 to 1990, only three guys played left field for the Sox, all of them All-Stars. Ted Williams played it for 22 seasons from 1939 to 1960. Carl Yastrzemski, 23 seasons from 1961 to 1983. Then Jim Ed Rice, 15 seasons from 1974 to 1989. And all that was before Manuel Aristides Ramirez Onelcida.
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I have a friend who’s a climate-change denier. He calls climate science “junk science”. He gets in my face about carbon dioxide. CO2belongs in the atmosphere, he says. The difference between atmospheric CO2 at two hundred something or three hundred something parts per million is infinitesimal! Why waste US taxpayer dollars on some misinformed quest to micro-manage infinitely small quantities of a naturally occurring substance?
The AIA 2030 Commitment: Shrink the Change
I was in Denver last week for the 2013 AIA Convention. Denver’s a great town. Lively, walkable downtown, excellent public transit and some pretty interesting buildings. I recommend David Adjaye’s Museum of Contemporary Art up in Lodo near the Cherry Creek Trail. Nice. Libeskind’s DAM? Been there, seen that.
The AIA 2030 Commitment: Sharing
Urban bike sharing companies like Hubwayand CitiBike are all over American cities.Zipcar is so widely visible it’s almost a generic term. For vacationers, “Aribnb” has taken couch-surfing to a whole new level. Have you heard of NeighborGoods yet? Got a ladder? Need a ladder? How about Sidecar? “Share a ride with someone awesome”. This idea has traction.
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Imagine this: The lobby of your office building is flooding with water. It’s rushing in through broken storefronts and will soon be over your head in depth. Something in the basement explodes, rocking the whole structure. The power goes out, and you scramble up a fire stair seeking safety.
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Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m the 2013 President of the Boston Society of Architects. This voluntary one-year position is of course by no means comparable to the truly awesome office to which you were just re-elected. But we both serve with the hope that we can do lasting good.
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The AIA 2030 Commitment: Organizational Learning
I’m not asking what YOU know about sustainable design. What you know is between your ears. What an organization “knows” is different.
The AIA 2030 Commitment: Who Benefits?
The man standing at the microphone made a scribbling-across-his-palm gesture to signify writing and paused for us to feel the impact of his impassioned and imploring expression. We – speakers at a panel presentation – squirmed in our seats waiting to see which of us would address this “question” from the audience.
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I’m writing this post from Burlington, Vermont, at the 2012 AIA New England conference. I love Vermont, it’s my getaway state. Like a second home. My blood pressure always goes down when I’m in the Green Mountains.
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I love Chicago. Great city. Millennium Park, the Art Institute, the Drake Hotel, all that fabulous Sullivan and Richardson. And the blues at Buddy Guy’s. And the boat tours.