Cindy Beckham

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It’s not hyperbole to suggest that Cindy’s career as a planner and designer arose from the rubble. When a 1982 tornado hit her family’s Illinois home, Cindy, her brothers and her dad rebuilt it themselves. "I was obsessed with making the new design work more effectively for our family than the previous house," she recalls. "I’m still obsessed with making spaces work effectively." Fortunately, it’s now patient advisory groups and charettes, rather than disasters, that inform her design ideas. "I love talking to patients, staff and executives and creating designs that address the needs they each have in a meaningful way. Hearing the stories of hundreds of patients and turning their input into design guidelines was a dream," she says of one favorite project. As someone who thrives in the face of a challenge, Cindy is intrigued by early American settlers. "Just imagine the kind of person one had to be, to travel for months to a place unseen and build a life mostly from found resources," she muses. "Wow!"