Michael LeFevre

Michael Alan LeFevre, FAIA Emeritus, NCARB, LEED AP

Is formerly principal and managing editor with DesignIntelligence, the country's leading design think tank. He is a cross-industry professional with over 50 years in practice. After 30 years as a practicing architect he created a new boundary breaking position with a construction firm to build a bridge between design and construction. As vice president, Planning & Design Support, with Holder Construction Company - a leading national construction management firm, he was responsible for collaboration education and processes and developing of building information modeling services. A lifelong innovator, he holds a Masters in Architecture degree (Summa Cum Laude), University of Michigan, has won awards for design, collaboration and technology, and is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.

Formerly principal, Lord Aeck Sargent Architects and project architect / project designer, Heery International, in 2012, he was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows for “advancing the practice”. He is a past winner of Progressive Architecture Design Award Citations (1972, 1989), R&D Magazine Lab of the Year High Honors, AIA BIM Award, and multiple AIA Design awards. A top-rated keynote speaker, he has published and presented to more than 150 groups nationally and internationally and served on multiple advisory boards. He has served as adjunct faculty and a member of the Alumni Board of Governors at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and supported curricula development at various universities.

LeFevre has previously written and been published in Engineering News Record, Design-Build Dateline and other national publications. He is contributing editor for Architect+Action=Result, Designing Words and Winning Words by Rebecca W. E. Edmunds. He is a contributing author to Lean Architecture by Czap and Buchanan, and forthcoming monograph books on Phil Freelon and Terry Sargent. His debut book, Managing Design: Conversations, Project Controls and Best Practices for Commercial Design and Construction Projects (John Wiley & Sons) was released in 2019 - an Amazon best selling new release in category.

Featuring interviews with more than 40 industry luminaries, along with his own coping strategies - project design controls - this "self-help" book for design and construction collaboration offers case studies from high visibility projects, and insightful looks into design process and industry issues. With discussions of empathy, risk management, inclusion and new business propositions and technology's impact on practice, it offers questions and answers from industry leaders.

To learn more about how to "do the impossible", read Managing Design.