Lucinda Sanders will serve as OLIN’s newly elected Chair of OLIN’s Board of Directors. In doing so, she and her Partners have invited Tiffany Jo Beamer and Richard Roark to lead the practice as co-CEOs.
At OLIN, our highest level of leadership comes from our Partners, who are active practitioners, and from our Directors, who help to guide the practice. Sharing the CEO role means that Tiffany and Richard will maintain the capacity to continue their project work, nurturing their relationships with clients, teams, and colleagues while contributing to OLIN’s steadfast vision—to create places that enhance life.
For the last two years, Tiffany and Richard have acted as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Purpose Officer, respectively, expanding their depth of influence through OLIN’s everyday practice. While they will each continue the work of these roles, they will take on the augmented authority to co-lead the studio—guiding strategy, building culture, inspiring innovation, and continuing to position the practice toward success in the many years to come.
“Tiffany and Richard have consistently demonstrated leadership inside and outside of the practice, upholding OLIN’s values and culture and propelling the practice and profession forward to meet the contemporary demands of our world with intelligence, compassion, and artistry.” — Lucinda R. Sanders
As co-CEO, Tiffany Beamer leads with compassion and creativity, as well as a concern for both the highest level of craft and sustainable performance. This speaks to her achievements as a designer and a trusted, human-centered manager. Projects—from Emerald Riverside in Shanghai, to Simon and Helen Director Park, to Google Bayview Campus—each exemplify a unique sensibility rooted in the arts as well as her talent as a SITES accredited professional. Alongside leading projects, Tiffany has cultivated her strengths as a people manager known for her intuitive style, founded on deep listening and fostering collaboration, and informed through executive leadership training at Harvard Business School. Her role as Board Member of The Cultural Landscape Foundation demonstrates her dedication to the profession and investment in future generations of landscape architects. Last October, Tiffany was inducted as a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects for excellence across more than twenty years in practice.
“OLIN has been my professional home for more than 20 years, and I cannot imagine myself anywhere else. More than anything, this is a stewardship position —of the practice of landscape architecture, of OLIN’s legacy, and of the careers and well-being of each of our employees. The challenge is a privilege, and one that I am honored to take on.” — Tiffany J. Beamer
Richard Roark established his CPO legitimacy, stepping naturally into the co-CEO role, through passionate and consistent representation of the OLIN ethos. Richard creates powerful rubrics for decision-making, distills the standards that align our Partner group, and promotes a culture of research and innovation through projects and OLIN Labs. He inspires OLIN people—in collaboration with clients, professional colleagues, and communities alike—to plan, design, build, and steward a resilient future. Richard’s leadership on projects from the Los Angeles River Master Plan and Caño Martin Peña Comprehensive Infrastructure Master Plan, to Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and ResilienCity Park are testament to his commitment to environmental and social justice as well as the degree of detail, finesse, and excellence that define the broader OLIN portfolio of work. Richard is a SITES Accredited Professional, Certified Planner, and a 2025 inductee into the Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
“I’m deeply humbled to share this leadership role with Tiffany. Cindy and our Board have set an incredibly high standard for what this practice can achieve. Our work has always focused on realizing design that meets the needs of this moment while carrying the insight and resilience to grow, evolve, and help cultivate an enduring future. On behalf of our Board and our practice, that is the work we are committed to researching, planning, designing, and building!”
— Richard Roark
As CEO for two decades, Lucinda Sanders is largely to credit for OLIN’s leadership position within the profession and OLIN’s reputation for turning complex problems into coherent solutions—landscapes, urban places, and systems—that benefit human wellbeing while honoring our natural world. She passes the baton of OLIN’s Chief Executive position, while assuming the position of Chair on OLIN’s Board of Directors and continuing her design practice. As a past president of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF), Lucinda is esteemed for co-founding and developing LAF’s transformational Fellowship for Leadership and Innovation program. She maintains ongoing influence as Chair of the Board at the McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology, as well as an adjunct professor at the Weitzman School of Design. Lucinda is a sought-after lecturer, writer, and, through myriad other contributions to the discipline, a model of dedication to advancing the profession.
“In this 50th year of OLIN, it is one of the greatest honors of my life to have held the role of CEO for nearly 20 years, working with the talented partners, directors, and current and former employees and ushering OLIN into the future. I look forward to continuing work with my valuable clients and projects, engaging in some reflective writing, and assuming my new role as Chair of the Board of Directors.” — Lucinda R. Sanders
