George W. Hellmuth, AIA, LEED AP, Executive Vice President

George is the son of one of the founding partners of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum. His grandfather and great uncle were also architects practicing in St. Louis. He augmented his architecture degrees from Yale and City College of City University of New York with an MBA earned from Eastern New Mexico University while also serving as a civil engineering officer in the U.S. Air Force. During his military service George was awarded an Air Force Commendation medal for his work at Khorat Air Force Base, Thailand, in support of doubling its facilities in less than a year.

George started his architectural career at the St. Louis home office of HOK with dual roles. As Director of Finance he provided financial advice and helped negotiate mergers with other practices. As a consultant within HOK’s planning group he participated in national and international planning projects.

George relocated to HOK’s New York office in the late 1970s and for about five years was HOK’s marketing principal in the New York region. He moved down to Washington, D.C. to help open HOK’s office there in 1982, and for the next 25 years he was a key individual responsible for developing what became a major, thriving practice with a very strong portfolio of government, private sector and international projects.

George departed HOK in 2007 under terms that specified a two-year non-compete period. During this time, George helped support his daughter’s biotech/pharmaceutical industry executive recruiting business. Once eligible to re-enter the architectural profession, he did so for one year as a Principal/Mid-Atlantic Region Director with Manhattan-based FXFOWLE Architects. About a year ago George moved over to Perkins + Will/Washington, D.C. as principal and the market sector leader for commercial, civic and corporate clients.

George had the opportunity to work with PageSoutherlandPage Principal James Wright at HOK during the three years preceding James’ establishment of the PageSoutherlandPage Washington, D.C. office. Like James, George is a strong advocate of the utilization of rational building programming methodologies and team driven, user interactive design, so he welcomed the recent opportunity to join PageSoutherlandPage. As Regional Director of Business Development, George works with firm professionals to build and strengthen client relationships and design excellence in the Mid-Atlantic area.