President of MG2 (Seattle, WA), a global architecture, design, strategy, construction, and branding studio.
By Liisa Andreassen
Correspondent
Hazzard first joined MG2 in 1993. He says that they’re always looking to grow their shareholder base and to bring younger contributors into the fold – people who want to grow the company and take over when the old guard retires.
“It will be exciting to watch as the next generation leads the firm and the industry into the future,” he says.
Assembling teams. Like many other AEC firms, MG2 is seeing a workforce shortage, not necessarily in the younger generation, but certainly among those with 12 to 15 years of experience. Hiring an in-house recruiter, whose full-time job is to identify good candidates, has helped the company to meet this challenge.
“Our internal recruiter understands the company roles, responsibilities, and skills needed and has taken the burden of screening people and setting interviews off our principals’ plates,” Hazzard shares.
At MG2, leaders work to ensure they’re putting the right people in the right jobs.
“When we’re assembling teams, we’re looking for three distinct skill sets: leadership, project management, and technical acumen,” he says.
For example, the project lead works directly with the client, so it’s essential to be a good communicator. The project lead also works with the project manager and keeps track of the big picture to ensure the project moves in the right direction. Project managers are involved in the details and the project architect, who is on the technical side, makes sure the team delivers quality documents and deliverables that communicate design intent, including the sets of drawings that go out to the contractor.
“So, to be sure we have the right people for the job, training is important,” he says.
MG2 has internal training for project management and the technical side of their work and for up-and-coming leaders, there’s a very specific one-year program – CORE 4. Individuals must apply and be accepted into this training program, the bulk of which incidentally, centers around communication.
A focus on DEI. Hazzard believes that if companies aren’t addressing the fact that they must grow with diversity, equity, and inclusion in mind, then they’re not helping to build the industry.
“There was a time – in fact, I was in school – when there were 90 percent men and only 10 percent women earning architecture degrees. Universities made a big decision in the ‘80s and ‘90s to recruit women, and today the ratio is closer to 50-50. In fact, MG2’s leadership team skews female with women holding the positions of chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and chief branding officer,” he says.
On the flip side, he shares that, as a profession, they have not been very successful with the DEI quotient for Black, indigenous, and people of color.
“To improve that number, we have to start at the base,” he says.
MG2 is involved in the curriculum of Howard University and engaged with recruiting and studio support at Florida A&M University. They have also set up an endowment with Howard.
Supporting client growth. Retail is at MG2’s foundation. The company works with major retail corporations such as Costco, Target, and Home Depot and these major U.S. retailers make decisions that affect huge numbers of people across the country and around the world.
“They have their own corporate goals and growth programs, and we take pride in partnering with them to, for example, introduce innovative ways to be more efficient or offer new design ideas to be more effective, that will help them meet their goals. Supporting their growth is exciting,” Hazzard says.
Its new MG2 Advisory looks at retail programs through a data-driven lens using general and proprietary data, consumer insights, etc. to peer into the future, offering not just who the consumer is and what they want to buy today, but also what, where, and how they will shop down the road.
“We’re constantly evolving and growing and that energizes the whole firm,” Hazzard says.
In its commercial work, which includes multi-family residential, high-rise, hospitality, and mixed-use markets, MG2 contributes to the urban environment. This gives teams in all seven offices the opportunity to contribute to the urban and built environments where they work and live.
“Our employees say there’s nothing like walking down the street with family or friends and pointing to an MG2 project. Whether they’re in marketing or architecture, design or finance, they’re proud to have played a part,” he says.
Acquisition meets national need. MG2 recently acquired Oregon-based Studio C Architecture to expand their housing market. For the next 20 to 30 years, this will be a growth sector.
“We recognize the fact that housing is a nationwide need,” Hazzard says. “And, we wanted to expand our commercial work into affordable and senior housing too. So, in addition to a passion for their projects, Studio C principals Jim Walker, AIA, and Brian Bennett, AIA, bring an expertise that immediately adds depth to the housing market that we are already working in.”
Moving forward, MG2 is prepared to continue to create transformative experiences for its clients and staff, alike.
