As Global Co-Chair of Gensler, Diane brings visionary and inspiring leadership focused on firm growth, energizing Gensler culture, elevating governance excellence, and equipping the firm for its continued leadership role in the future. As a hands-on leader, Diane believes in creating compelling vision to inspire Gensler’s impact and influence through its platform of over 6,000 people networked across 53 offices, serving more than 3,500 clients in over 100 countries. Diane is focused on Gensler’s global strategies and organizational excellence to ensure Gensler services its clients with the world’s leading design and thought leadership. As the catalyst for the Gensler Research Institute, Diane is committed to delivering value to clients through data strategies and innovations like Gensler’s Workplace Performance Index® (WPI), City Pulse Survey and Experience Index.
With deep expertise in architecture, design, real estate, and business, Diane brings a bold vision to the built environment. As a Director of Boston Properties—the largest publicly traded real estate investment trust—she helps shape the future of commercial real estate at scale. Diane also serves as the Global Chair of the Urban Land Institute, driving forward-thinking strategies in urban development, and sits on the Board of the Real Estate Roundtable, where she influences policy and innovation in the industry. Diane also served as a Director of Washington Gas, a publicly traded utility company, playing a key role in the energy infrastructure of the Washington region.
A design leader with a global perspective, Diane was a featured speaker at the United Nation’s Habitat Assembly in Nairobi (2023) and Climate Action Summit in New York (2019). She has also spoken at the United Nations Climate Change Conference for three consecutive years—COP26 Glasgow, COP27 Sharm El-Sheikh, and COP28 Dubai. Her thought leadership and insights have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, CNN, Forbes, Fast Company, NPR, Bloomberg, Business Insider, the New York Times and elsewhere. As an author, Diane brings forward the positive impact that design can have in our day to day lives through her book Design for a Radically Changing World, launched in 2024.
A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Diane graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Diane has served as a member of many industry associations, including the CEO councils for the Wall Street Journal, FORTUNE, and Bloomberg. Previously, she served as a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Futures Council on Cities and Urbanization as well as the WEF Real Estate Industry Action Group.
