Bergmeyer Announces 2017 Promotions

We are proud to announce the promotions of our colleagues who have joined our leadership team as Associates, Senior Associates, and Principal. Each of these people play an important role in Bergmeyer's success and are integral to our dynamic firm culture. At Bergmeyer, we value a culture of collaboration and we encourage everyone to offer meaningful contributions to positively impact our projects and our company. We are appreciative of their talents, initiative, and commitment to making Bergmeyer a great design firm – and a great place to work. Please join us in extending our congratulations to these remarkable people!

Mare Weiss, IIDA, RDI, LEED AP
Principal

A connoisseur in everything retail, Mare Weiss is a strategic thinker and design leader at Bergmeyer. Her career spans nearly 25 years with a broad expertise in all aspects of retail design: from brand strategy, to prototype design, implementation, and visual merchandising. Her hands-on approach from start to finish has become an invaluable asset to our clients’ success. She guides teams through an engaging process and dialogue that reveals a brand’s true essence, leading to authentic retail experiences and deep emotional connections to brand.

She has shared her expertise at VMSD's International Retail Design Conference, the Architecture Boston Expo, Global Shop | Retail Design, Planning & Merchandising Expo and has led dozens of projects for retailers including Lord & Taylor, L.L.Bean, Brahmin, Sebago, Smithsonian, Hanna Andersson, Bed Bath & Beyond, Bates College, Bassett Furniture, and Lumen Optical.

With a BFA in Interior Design from Pratt Institute, she has shared her expertise in design as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University’s New England School of Art & Design and has served as a guest critic for many local design schools. Mare’s award-winning work has been featured in numerous industry publications and she is now serving as Past President of the New England Chapter of the Retail Design Institute.

William Spaulding, AIA
Senior Associate
Manager of Education and Training

A few years ago Bill decided to change his path and help guide Bergmeyer’s educational programs. His passion for learning and evolving the process is shadowed only by his eagerness to connect seekers of knowledge with those who know.

After being awarded a state funded grant, Bill led a team to develop and deliver training programs. These programs prepared our future leaders to connect with mentors and our project managers to share lessons learned. Bill believes that Bergmeyer has a supportive culture that encourages learning, development, and collaboration, allowing for anyone to share ideas and improve processes at any time.

Bill and his family live north of Boston and can often be found hiking, biking and enjoying winter sports. He is an active member of his community as chairperson of his town’s Planning Board and a coach for kids’ sports teams.

Brian Perlow, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, GGP
Senior Associate

As a dedicated architect and senior account manager, Brian is driven to achieve alignment in our clients' design, business, and sustainability goals. Relying on decades of experience in program leadership and a client-centric approach, he has led some of the firm’s largest national design programs through standards development, prototype design, and the creation of site-specific design solutions. His passion for sustainable design, high performance building, and community benefits has produced twenty-five LEED Certified projects to date for Bergmeyer at the Platinum, Gold, and Silver levels.

Brian holds a Masters of Architecture from San Francisco Institute of Architecture. Currently credentialed as a LEED AP BD+C and a Green Globes Professional, Brian is also a member of the AIA, BSA, and the Urban Land Institute.

Stan Kubinski
Senior Associate

Stan has over 20 years of experience in the design industry. He develops and manages relationships with a diverse group of clients including SONOS, WeWork, Toll Brothers, UPPAbaby, and Kit & Ace. Never interested in staying between the lines, Stan’s unique expertise and passion is in crossing market segment boundaries to bring – say – hospitality design to housing clients or workplace design to retail clients and vice versa. His project types range from prototype design to implementation and have gained recent national attention. His projects for DJ Khaled (the rap artist) and Jeff Kinney (the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series) made the Today Show, 60 Minutes, and the New York Times … to name a few.

Stan’s work has recently won awards from the Retail Design Institute, Chain Store Age, and the Association of Retail Designers. He and his family live south of Boston and he plays the role of “Soccer Dad”, traveling to far flung states for tournaments and playoffs.

Anthony “TJ” DiFeo, Jr., LEED AP BD+C
Senior Associate

Anthony “TJ” DiFeo is as an architect with a mission. Tolerating no compromise in the quest to turn excellent design thinking into soundly constructed reality, TJ has led Bergmeyer’s commercial building and asset repositioning work to new levels of success. With an extraordinary range of project types on his resume, TJ is as fluent with structure, enclosure, and building engineering systems as he is with design excellence. Skilled in managing the many variables and risks inherent to commercial property investment, our clients value his ability to balance creativity with practicality and appreciate his unassailable focus on results.

Originally from Philadelphia, TJ earned his Bachelor of Architecture from Philadelphia University and has been part of the Boston community since 2005. Now ubiquitous in Boston’s commercial real estate scene, he is active in the Urban Land Institute, NAIOP, and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Emily K. Bowers, RDI, LEED AP BD+C
Associate

Emily Bowers excels at managing national multi-unit implementation programs for Bergmeyer’s retail clients. Exceptionally skilled with design teams, consultants, builders, landlords, and permitting agencies, she is unflappable in the face of demanding deadlines and competing priorities. She has worked with world-famous brands such as Columbia, Cannondale, Samsonite, Solstice, and Victoria’s Secret and has completed projects in more US states than any of us can count.

Originally from Ohio, Emily joined Bergmeyer in 2008 following her graduation from the University of Cincinnati. She served several years as the national treasurer for Alpha Rho Chi, a National Profession Fraternity for Architecture and the Allies Arts, stepping down in 2016 to welcome her daughter Caroline into the world.

Eric Kuhn, Affiliate IIDA, RDI
Associate

With nearly 30 years of design experience in the retail marketplace, Eric excels in designing user experiences. With a portfolio ranging from Macy’s to Hilfiger, Columbia Sportswear to Harley, Hilton to Planet Hollywood, and WaWa to Roche Brothers, Eric’s passion lies in guiding teams through the inception, development and manifestation of highly innovative solutions for strategically-oriented projects. As a retail market leader, Eric focuses on developing and serving key client accounts as well as lending his expertise to the firm’s hospitality and food service design projects.

A thought-leader in the truest sense of the term, Eric writes and speaks frequently on the rapidly-changing world of experiential design. He is a member of the Retail Design Institute, an Affiliate member of the International Interior Design Association, and a graduate of the Ohio State University.

Jason Cohen, LEED AP
Associate

With 20 years of professional experience, Jason Cohen brings a wealth of diverse experience and a broad technical knowledge base to Bergmeyer. He has worked on a wide range of project types including academic and multi-family housing, retail, commercial interiors and hospitality. He is also well-versed in historic preservation, having worked on several projects that won prestigious state and national preservation awards. Jason is as a strong mentor and technical resource at Bergmeyer where he leads our in-house quality assurance/quality control practices.

A proud Canadian now celebrating his dual US Citizenship, Jason grew up in Montreal, studied Architecture at McGill University, and moved to the Boston area in 1999. His interest in zoning regulations and land use inspired him to join the Watertown Zoning Board of Appeals where he uses his technical knowledge to serve his home community.

Rhiannon Hayes, BLLA, CORENET, NAIOP, NEWH
Associate
Director of Marketing

As Bergmeyer’s Director of Marketing, Rhiannon oversees the firm’s business development, marketing communications and strategy. She coordinates strategic positioning efforts in all our markets and positions the firm with key contacts and companies who will soon become Bergmeyer clients. Rhiannon thrives on being a connector to develop relationships between people, and between companies, with the goal of creating long term valuable business relationships. She is active in many professional associations in our real estate, retail, academic and hospitality markets. She currently serves on the NAIOP Program Committee and the CoreNet New England Communications Committee, managing the organization’s social media.

Rhiannon was born in Kingston, Jamaica, moving to Toronto, Canada, when she was 5 (for which she has never forgiven her parents). A graduate of Boston University, she also attended the Boston Architectural Center’s interiors program and worked for many years in the contract interiors industry. She was an early settler in Boston’s Fort Point Channel where she still resides and is an active member of the dynamic community.