Former President of Ankrom Moisan Dave Heater has stepped into the role of Vice President of Business Development. Building on decades of leadership at the firm, including his tenure as President, Dave now leads efforts to expand the firm’s reach in both existing and new markets, deepen client relationships, and drive strategic long-term growth across the West Coast and beyond.
Having recently celebrated his 35th anniversary with Ankrom Moisan, Dave Heater is a man who wears many hats. He’s a foundational figure at the firm with deep ties to its history, having joined the firm at a time of pivotal growth and expansion as an architectural intern.
As Ankrom Moisan grew throughout the 1990s and early 2000’s, it became apparent that we could not be contained in a single location. Moreover, we were hungry for work in areas outside of Oregon. When Ankrom Moisan made the choice to open an office in Seattle, Washington back in 2006, Dave led the charge, being the first employee to relocate there and establish a presence in the city. By the end of the first year, the Seattle office had already grown to a staff of 27 people.
A young Dave Heater
In 2015, when firm founders Stewart Ankrom and Tom Moisan decided to retire, Dave was tapped to step into their shoes, serving as the bridge between the firm’s founding and its future. It was a pivotal time for Ankrom Moisan, and Dave’s leadership took the firm to new heights and new locations – another new office was opened the following year, this time in San Franscisco, California.
Dave with firm founders Tom Moisan (left) and Stewart Ankrom (right).
This past summer, after 10 exciting, growth-filled years serving as Ankrom Moisan President, Dave stepped down, handing his title and responsibilities to Murray Jenkins. The leadership transition fulfilled a succession plan set in motion by founders Tom Moisan and Stewart Ankrom, who envisioned a firm built to evolve, empower future leaders, and thrive beyond their tenure.
“Dave’s leadership has shaped so much of who we are as a firm, from growing our presence in new markets to building a culture grounded in trust and collaboration,” said Murray Jenkins, President of Ankrom Moisan.
Murray Jenkins and Dave, outside of the Portland office.
Now, Dave intends to replicate what he did for the Seattle office, moving himself and his family to San Francisco to grow Ankrom Moisan’s presence in California’s Bay Area.
With that physical move comes another change for Dave: a new role. Not just new to him, Dave is pioneering a new position within Ankrom Moisan’s leadership hierarchy – Vice President of Business Development.
As the first design professional at Ankrom Moisan dedicated solely to business development across all studios, Dave will bring a unique combination of institutional knowledge, client insight, and design expertise to this new position.
“Stepping into this new role allows me to connect people seeking design excellence to our incredible talent, while enabling our teams to remain focused on delivering the outstanding design work they are known for,” he said. “This transition builds upon my last two positions. I’m helping to deepen our client relationships, building trust with our teams, and helping to expand our work into new regions.“
“When the Seattle and San Francisco offices were first established, the firm was exposed to new opportunities that we didn’t have access to in Portland,” he said. “This new role continues that mission, allowing me to take the next step and prove to clients why we can help them succeed nationally, not just in the locations where we have a physical office.”
“I will leverage my previous experience as Ankrom Moisan’s President to discuss our services, ongoing and completed projects, as well as our active regions, with potential clients,” he added. “My goal is always to talk about what makes us unique and differentiates us as a firm, hopefully initiating the start of new collaborative relationships.”
“I plan to build on the robust network we’ve assembled over the last 30 years of working in California to expand our presence and business development efforts in the state and elsewhere.” – Dave Heater
He has developed a three-part strategy to accomplish this, focusing on (1) growth through work that satisfies our existing clients and keeps them coming back, (2) elevated project designs that causes us to be sought out, and (3) networking events that introduce Ankrom Moisan to new clients.
Dave, speaking at the 2023 January Celebration in Ankrom Moisan’s Portland office.
Overall, Dave aims to continue the work that he has done throughout his career, from his early days to his presidency, in his new Vice President of Business Development role; growing Ankrom Moisan’s presence, stature, and reputation across the West Coast.
With talks of another location being established in Austin, Texas, surely it won’t be long before Dave up and moves again.
Employee Spotlight: 2025 Q2 HOWNOW Champion Mike Stapleton
Mike Stapleton, Senior Associate, enjoys the work he does as a Technical Designer. He started with Ankrom Moisan about eleven years ago, or as he puts it, “long enough to know that time flies when you’re having fun.” Working on a wide range of architecture projects, he has put a lot of effort into embracing and spreading Ankrom Moisan’s How’s – an effort which has landed him in the spotlight as 2025’s Q2 Reward & Recognition HOWNOW Champion.
Mike at his desk in Ankrom Moisan’s Portland office.
In that time, he’s grown to deeply care about the people that he works with. “Every day I get to interact with talented, passionate teammates who care deeply about the work we do and about each other,” he said. “That sense of purpose and connection keeps me inspired and working here at Ankrom Moisan.”
Continuing, Mike stated that his favorite part of working at Ankrom Moisan are the moments of collaboration he shares with his colleagues. “Architecture isn’t created in a vacuum,” he said. “We share openly, support each other, and make space for everyone’s unique perspectives. It’s amazing what we can create when we all work together!”
Spurred by the passion that results from healthy collaboration, Mike views inspiration as something that doesn’t begin – or end – with just one person. “Seeing others light up about an idea or a project sparks something in me,” he said. “I think inspiration is contagious, and there’s no shortage of it here at Ankrom Moisan.”
In the decade-plus that he’s been with the firm, Mike has grown by following the firm’s Hows. “I’ve learned to listen with greater intention, lead with heart, and embrace change rather than fearing it,” he reflected. “Each challenge has been a stepping-stone, and each success has been shared with others.”
Aside from the collaborations he does for senior housing, office, and affordable housing projects, among others, Mike’s favorite type of work is anything that challenges him to think outside the box. “It’s in those moments that I can explore new ideas and embrace change that I enjoy my work the most,” he said. Touching on how to support him in those instances, Mike emphasized trust. “Knowing that my team trusts me – and that I can trust them – creates the freedom for me to take risks, try new things, and keep growing. Ankrom Moisan provides great support and guidance when needed.”
When 2025’s Q2 Reward & Recognition awards were announced, Mike was not expecting to see his name among the winners. “It was surprising, humbling, and heartwarming, all at the same time, to find out I had been recognized,” he shared. “It kind of felt like getting a big group hug from the entire Ankrom Moisan family.”
Mike’s Reward & Recognition nomination video
As the HOWNOW Champion for Q2 2025, Mike clearly embraces the shared values of Ankrom Moisan. When asked which of the How’s has been the easiest for him to embrace, he said that trust has been by far the easiest to adopt. “From day one, I’ve felt supported by our managers and leadership, and that support has given me the freedom to work in ways that feel natural and effective to me. That trust extends to career growth, too. Being open and honest about your career goals really does create opportunities here at Ankrom Moisan. In my experience, if you share what you are striving for, doors will open.”
His advice for young professionals who may just be starting out their careers and are looking for ways to embrace the firm’s values is this: “Be yourself – it’s your unique perspective that’s your superpower. Stay curious, be open to feedback, and don’t be afraid to have fun along the way – that will only make your work that much more inspired.” Continuing, he added “Ankrom Moisan is full of opportunities. There’s always something exciting happening! Follow your curiosity, find a few things that spark your interest, and dive in. One of the best parts about being here is the flexibility – you’re encouraged to explore, experiment, and if something doesn’t quite fit, you can pivot and try something new. Every step is a chance to learn and grow.”
Mike at Ankrom Moisan’s 2024 ski day
Since he has done such an excellent job sharing the spirit of the firm by embodying our How’s, Mike’s hope for the future of the Reward & Recognition program is that it continues to celebrate the heart and spirit of Ankrom Moisan. To Mike, that means appreciating one another, amplifying what makes us unique, and reminding us that recognition is as much about the journey as it is about the result.
Mariah Kiersey Steps into a New Role
Mariah Kiersey, Senior Principal, has a long history with Ankrom Moisan, having first joined the firm in 2004. Over the years, she’s built a broad foundation of expertise across office, retail, community, campus planning, and urban design, using those experiences to shape the projects and studios she supports.
Recently, Mariah embraced a new chapter as Healthcare Studio Co-Leader, partnering with Principal Ashlee Washington. While the role is new, healthcare design is not unfamiliar territory for her. Her first project in the sector was OHSU’s Pediatric Dentistry School more than 20 years ago, and she has contributed to healthcare projects nearly every year since. In fact, since 2020 she has been actively supporting the Healthcare Studio, making her transition into a dedicated leadership role a natural next step.
Sitting down for a “90-day review,” Mariah shared insights about stepping into her new role, collaborating with Ashlee, and their shared vision for the future of Ankrom Moisan’s Healthcare Studio.
Q: You’ve been at Ankrom Moisan a long time, but what has surprised you most about our healthcare team in your first 90 days?
A: I knew that the healthcare team had a strong rapport, but it really is impressive how they support each other. When life throws somebody a curve ball, the team is there to pick up their work, and they know who has the expertise to step in when needed to cover our projects, keeping our clients happy. They’ve got each other’s backs to a degree that I haven’t really seen elsewhere. The other thing that really struck me was how the healthcare team balances the seriousness of the work we do with our daily routines since we deal with a lot of heavy topics – designing spaces for patients receiving cancer treatments, extents of ligature resistive throughout a space, and going through the process of cleaning up all the various bodily fluids. It’s been nice to see how the team can uplift each other after having those conversations without making light of the situation.
Q: In three words, how would you describe your leadership style?
A: Collaborative, empowering, and supportive.
Mentoring is a big thing that’s been really important for me – empowering the team and being there to mentor them. I’m not going to drop them right into the deep end. I’m there to help them and give them the tools they need to be successful.
Collaboration is first and foremost, maybe even more so with the healthcare studio. The only difference is that you’re collaborating with a much wider range of user groups as well as the quantity. It’s not just collaborating with the same types of consultants that you find in other studios, or your teammates; you’re also collaborating with specialty doctors and nurses and all their equipment on an even bigger scale as well as zooming into the smallest details. Even though we could be talking about one room when trying to coordinate how a patient checks in and walks through the space before leaving, there might be 40 people on a call; and while I need them all to be there, they each really only need only a little piece. It’s collaboration on a different scale. It all fits together in the end.
Mariah Kiersey in the Ankrom Moisan Portland office materials library.
Q: What do you bring to the Healthcare studio from your previous involvement with the Office/Retail/Community (O/R/C) studios?
A: I think it comes down to complex project deliveries. Instead of dealing with not just complex rooms like for a high tech company and their testing, it’s dealing with diverse stakeholder needs and managing them, as most of these have not been a part of a design process before. There’s a balancing of creativity with technical precision. Where we can be creative in healthcare is much different than other studios. When I worked on a lot of workplace projects, we had a very tight budget where we had to be creative with design was shown, but there were so many options. With healthcare there are different types of constraints due to cleanability requirements so we are limited with what materials can be utilized. I’m used to having all the options there and working with those kinds of financial constraints, it is learning to manage those new constraints.
There’s also the cross-collaboration between our studios here. One project we’re working on right now will have a behavioral health outpatient clinic, primanary care, office space for the healthcare staff, but also supportive housing and their supportive amenities. So, there’s the housing portion and the clinical side, and all of the supportive places in between. It’s a project that’s shared between studios, and because it’s ground-up I’ve got previous experience and an abundance of resources to pull from for the design process to be successful.
Q: How would you describe the Healthcare studio to somebody outside of Ankrom Moisan?
A: We’re great listeners and technical experts who are committed to creating healing environments that are designed thoughtfully for both the health systems we partner with and their patients. Our healthcare group cares deeply about the lives of the patients and staff who occupy the spaces we design.
Q: What excites you most about healthcare design right now?
A: Technology keeps pushing forward. How we have been able to treat people has advanced, and seamlessly integrating those changes into the projects we work on takes a lot of coordination, which is very exciting. There’s also the challenge of providing new technology within an existing space, like the Providence Swedish Cancer Center CyberKnife. It’s all about learning what the new emerging technologies are and how they can be integrated into existing healing spaces through applying our consultants’ expertise, user group meetings with the staff and equipment provider coordination. Integrating new technologies means our clients can help more patients within a day as it’s more efficient, and that alone is exciting.
Q: What are your goals for this new position? What does success look like to you at the one-year mark?
A: I want to strengthen Ankrom Moisan’s healthcare brand so that people know we are solidly in the healthcare market in both Seattle and Portland, and they know what our team can do. I want to really get our name out there, but I also want to support our internal team’s growth. It’s important that our team learns from one another and is balanced in their work, so that there is just one person that knows only CTs and linear accelerators. We need to make sure that knowledge is shared.
To me, the one-year mark is about getting our clients’ trust that we’re growing and are here to do the work they need. It’s about increasing cross-studio collaboration within Ankrom Moisan, leading to more projects like CCC Blackburn and the Compass Health Marc Healing Center beyond just Oregon and Washington.
Q: What do you think this team does exceptionally well? Where do you see our biggest opportunities to grow?
A: This team excels at delivering technically complex projects — our SPAKL work is a great example of that; The SPAKL team is Ankrom Moisan’s thorough and decisive resource for solving complex and challenging Healthcare project designs.
We have many people who truly enjoy digging into that level of detail, and it’s a real advantage that several of our senior staff bring 20+ years of experience, including ground-up project knowledge. That combination allows us to lead projects like Evergreen Treatment Services while also drawing in expertise from other studios to tackle things like exterior cladding details. The cross-studio collaboration we’ve developed is a real strength, and there’s always more opportunity to build on that as a firm.
Looking ahead, the growth opportunity is about taking the innovation and lessons from SPAKL and applying them at larger scales, like at Evergreen Health’s emergency department expansion in Monroe. It’s about telling our story more boldly: showing that while we’re highly skilled at renovations and technically demanding work, we’re equally capable of expanding on what our clients already have and shaping the next generation of healthcare facilities.
Mariah and Ashlee together in Ankrom Moisan’s Portland office.
Q: What is one word that describes your partnership with Ashlee?
A: Synergistic. Ashlee and I have a really natural balance in our strengths, which creates a strong flow in how we collaborate. We’re often juggling a lot of moving pieces, but because we trust each other and have each other’s backs, nothing gets dropped. That synergy not only makes our partnership effective, it makes the work more enjoyable.
Q: If the Healthcare team had a mascot, what would you nominate for it to be?
A: Hmm. I’d nominate the hummingbird. They’re small but incredibly agile, resilient, and purposeful which are qualities that feel true to our Healthcare team. Like hummingbirds, we bring a lot of focused energy into every project, moving quickly to understand the challenges and deliver solutions that make a difference. They’re also known for persistence as they don’t stop until the work is done, mirroring our commitment to seeing complex healthcare projects through to the very end. And just as hummingbirds are drawn to spaces of nourishment and growth, we’re drawn to creating environments that support healing, dignity, and hope.
Employee Spotlight: 2025 Q2 Employee Ownership Champion Amanda Lunger
Initially coming to Ankrom Moisan because of our Affordable Housing work, Amanda Lunger, Senior Associate, felt a draw toward sustainability and passive design strategies, as it aligned with her interests. She left the firm at one point, and upon deciding to make a career pivot, found herself back at Ankrom Moisan’s door.
“I didn’t know I was coming back to Ankrom Moisan since the job posting I encountered didn’t have the company name listed,” she said. “It was a job post from a recruiter, and they were like ‘I see on your LinkedIn that you’ve worked at this company before. Is that going to be a problem?’ I was like ‘No, that’s actually a really good thing.’”
“I knew Ankrom Moisan was going to be a good place to restart my career in a different way, because of all the great people here,” Amanda continued. “It’s a firm that offers a lot of support for its employees, so I felt like I had a lot of room to grow into a new role that was much more support-based for the office.”
That was about six years ago. Now, Amanda has gained a whole new set of experiences as a Sustainability Advocate and BIM Specialist. Her interests, experiences, and expertise have led her to become more confident and more comfortable taking up space.
Amanda in the Portland office
“In general, women in our profession have a tendency to minimize themselves and not want to take up space. It can come off as being overly apologetic, or just as lacking confidence when it comes time to speak up in front of coworkers and peers,” she said. “I think that’s an area I’ve grown in. I’ve built the confidence to speak up and value my own contributions and feel like I belong here. I have things to say and a right to express myself.”
This subject is something Amanda is intimately familiar with, as in 2020 she, Stephanie Hollar, and Eliza Zenk launched ‘Where are the Women,’ a Do GOOD / Be WELL research scholarship to investigate gender disparity in the architecture industry, and what can be done to position women at the forefront of the field.
Inspired by her coworkers, Amanda loves to see those she works with get excited about a certain topic, especially if she can help satisfy their curiosity and expand their knowledge.
“I really enjoy sharing my knowledge with my colleagues and coming up with creative ways to make that content engaging and enjoyable. The two subjects I specialize in can be dry, but there are ways to make it more fun. It goes back to wanting to be a supportive coworker and help my teammates succeed,” she said. “Ankrom Moisan is known for providing project teams with a lot of resources and tools to succeed in the practice of architecture, and as somebody who gets to be on that practice team, I really enjoy teaching and educating my peers about new technologies, whether it’s a BIM tip to make Revit-ing easier, or something about sustainability approaches to design they can incorporate in projects.”
In fact, being a resource for her peers is Amanda’s favorite part of working here. “I’ve had three different roles now, both on the project team side as well as the support side, with BIM and sustainability,” she said. “I have to say that I really enjoy being on the support side, getting to help project teams succeed. Touching many of the diverse projects that we do keeps things exciting and gives me more opportunities to work with the great people that we have here at Ankrom Moisan.”
To be successful in this way, as a resource to the firm, Amanda says that she is best supported when people laugh at her jokes. “One of the things that motivates me to find more creative ways to deliver information is when I see someone laugh at a presentation I’m giving or say ‘Oh, I still remember that video you made,’” she said. “If I know that what I’m doing is actually helping to brighten people’s day, then that’s going to motivate me to do it more.”
When she found out that she had been selected as 2025’s Q2 Employee Ownership Champion, Amanda felt flattered that her work was recognized and valued by her colleagues. You can actually watch the moment she finds out she was recognized with the honor in her nomination video.
Amanda’s Reward & Recognition nomination video
“A lot of what I do is behind the scenes,” she shared. “Especially on the BIM side, the support I provide is really focused on ensuring other team members are successful, so it’s an honor to know that my coworkers appreciate what I do.”
To her, “Employee Ownership” means recognizing that you can contribute to the success of the company in both big and small ways, no matter what your position at the firm is or where you are in your career.
“Taking the initiative to do the right thing and improve our projects at the end of the day doesn’t fall to leadership,” Amanda said. “They make a lot of decisions that impact the direction of the firm, but ‘Employee Ownership’ is the empowerment that you as an employee can also do your part to accomplish that.”
Looking forward, Amanda has high hopes for the future of Ankrom Moisan’s Reward & Recognition program. “I think it’s great that we have this vehicle to show our appreciation to our colleagues,” she said. “Our profession is probably not unique in this, but it’s one where it can feel like the only time you receive feedback is when it’s negative.”
“We spend a lot of time focusing on the things that need to be fixed in our designs, document sets, anything that we do,” she clarified. “People are always making red lines, so I like that we have a forum to give each other kudos and recognize when someone is doing a good job. I hope that that spills over into a culture where that’s normalized and we’re doing it more often and more organically, whether somebody is getting one of these awards or not.”