Diane is Global Co-Chair of Gensler. Since 2005, the collaborative leadership embodied by Diane and
Global Co-Chair Andy Cohen has been fundamental to setting the company apart as a leading design firm. As a hands-on leader, Diane oversees Gensler’s global platform and its day-to-day operations, with 6,000+ people networked across 55 offices, serving more than 3,500 clients in over 100 countries. Diane is focused on Gensler’s global talent strategies, performance, and organizational development to ensure that we serve our clients with the world’s top talent. She is the catalyst for Gensler’s Research program, for which Diane is committed to delivering value to clients through strategies and innovations like Gensler’s Workplace Performance Index® (WPI).
A registered architect, she graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. Diane received an Outstanding Impact Award from the Council of Real Estate Women and is both a Regent of the American Architectural Foundation and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Her insights have appeared in the
Financial Times,
Harvard Business Review, the
Washington Post, and
The Economist; and she was a featured speaker at
Bloomberg Businessweek’s CEO Conference as well as the United Nations’ COP27 Climate Change Conference.
In her role, Diane serves as a key contributor to what is acknowledged, by its peers, as the most admired architecture firm in the world, pioneering project types and design innovation strategies for the next century and acknowledged by
Fast Company as one of “The World’s Most Innovative Companies” and by
Forbes as one of “
America’s Best Large Employers 2024.” In 2022, she was honored with the World Trade Center Institute’s Global Visionary Award. That same year, she and Andy were included on
Forbes’ inaugural “
Future of Work 50,” recognizing leaders shaping the office of tomorrow, today. In 2021, they were named to Business Insider’s list of “
100 People Transforming Business,” which honors business leaders in 10 sectors who are innovating, sparking trends, and tackling global challenges. And in 2016,
Business Insider included Andy and Diane on its inaugural “
Creators” list, which recognizes the world’s 100 top creative visionaries.
Diane is a member of Gensler’s
Board of Directors, serving as its Chair of the Executive Committee, and is a former board chair. She is also on the Board of Directors of Boston Properties, where she holds the position of Chair of the Sustainability Committee and Member of the Governance and Nominating Committee. Additionally, she is a trustee of The MIT Corporation as well as a member of its Risk & Audit Committee.
