Congratulations to Ohio’s Early Professional Friendly Firms!

The goal of the AIA Ohio Early Professional Friendly Firm program is to celebrate firms who offer exceptional support and opportunities for their early professionals. Additionally, the program seeks to foster a dialogue within firms across the state with the objective of creating new policies and practices that promote innovation, development, and progressive workplaces for the future members of the design profession.

An early professional is defined as someone who is part of the architectural staff and fills one of the following roles: architectural students, recent graduates, unlicensed emerging professionals within 10 years of graduation, or architects licensed within the last 10 years.

There are two designations possible for a firm to receive. The Early Professional Firm Friendly Designation and the Early Professional Firm Friendly Plus+ Designation.

    • EP Firm Friendly Designation is earned by receiving a passing score of 70% (75 points) or above on the EP Firm Friendly questionnaire
    • EP Firm Friendly Plus+ Designation is earned by receiving a score of 80% (86 points) or above

AIA Ohio is pleased to announce that the following firms earned the Early Professional Friendly Firm Plus+ Designation in 2023:

DS Architecture, LLC
GUNZELMAN architecture + interiors
HSB Architects + Engineers
Meyers + Associates
Phillips Sekanick Architects, inc | PSA Architecture
PRIME AE Akron
RWA Architects, Inc.
studioTECHNE|architects
The Collaborative
Thomas Porter Architects
Van Auken Akins Architects LLC
WSA Studio

Additionally, AIA Ohio is pleased to announce that the following firms have earned the Early Professional Friendly Firm Designation:
App Architecture, Inc.
CBLH Design
GBBN Architects, Inc
Hiti, DiFrancesco and Siebold, Inc.
Moody Nolan
Perspectus
Richard L. Bowen & Associates
SHP Cincinnati
SHP Columbus
TC Architects
ThenDesign Architecture

These EP Friendly Firm designations are a one-year designation, with the option to renew the designation annually. Firms are expected to maintain the policies and practices they have implemented at the time of submission throughout the designation period. Applications for the EP Friendly Firm program will be accepted annually, from February 1 to March 15.