Today we’d like to introduce you to Abigail Clary.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Abigail. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a child, I loved to draw and color, and was always entering coloring contests at the grocery store. In sixth grade, my parents encouraged me to build on my drawing skills by enrolling in a mechanical drawing class. I pushed back a bit as I had heard from other students it was nearly impossible to earn above a “C” in the class, but my parents persisted that this would be a great opportunity for me. And I’m so glad they did — I ended up loving that class and earning an A. It was the first point in my life I really started connecting my passions to architecture.
I was also fortunate my high school offered architecture classes. My best friend’s sister had taken these classes, which helped spark my interest. Enrolling in the architecture electives during my junior and senior year solidified my path to becoming an architect. I’ve always loved the technical side of architecture, and that translated into my career. Early on, I was involved in that side of the business – particularly in technical drawing, project management and construction administration roles.
Then, after about 6 or 7 years working in the industry, my path shifted a bit. The firm where I was employed paid a low salary, but also provided a percentage of profit – meaning your pay was contingent on profitability. That was a nerve-wracking period for me. As my husband and I were just beginning our journey through parenthood at this time, every dollar counted – as you can imagine. So, when the business development person who oversaw healthcare at our firm resigned, I volunteered for more of a client-facing role to help win new work.
Although I had no formal business development training, I did have experience working with existing clients on projects in a leadership role. I translated this expertise into more of a BD mindset, applying my ability to solve clients’ challenge and my skills at putting teams together. This began to form my approach to client engagement – which for me, is not about sales. My style is about being transparent and honest in order to assure clients that our teams are going to do great work for them. I then went on to co-lead the firm’s healthcare marketing, public relations, and management efforts, and became the youngest – and only the second female in the firm’s history – to be named a principal.
After working at that firm for 13 years and upon winning the “40 Under 40” from Building Design + Construction, HDR came knocking on my door with an amazing offer – as health principal for the Chicagoland region. While accepting this new role was a big leap for me, the idea of taking on larger projects and more challenging work was really exciting. I gained experience beyond winning work for just one office – I was pursuing projects regionally and nationwide.
And that takes me to where I am today. Earlier this year, I joined Cannon Design as co-director of our global health practice. In this new role, I’m helping to build upon the existing strength of our domestic health practice to create something even more amazing and powerful. The aspirations of CannonDesign’s health practice include expanding our national perspective to a more global scale as the future of healthcare continues to evolve and the world gets smaller.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’m very fortunate I’ve encountered a fairly smooth road along the way. The only struggles I’ve faced were based on opportunities that I had to fight for – to which I’m sure many other women can relate. Just because you do good work and deliver results doesn’t necessarily mean opportunities are going to be handed to you. That was definitely the case for me. I had to ask – and sometimes ask again – to get where I wanted to go in my career.
Ultimately, it’s been a successful path because I’ve worked with great people — I’ve always had an incredible work “family” that has supported me along the way. Nothing I’ve earned in my career has been mine alone – my success has been in large part due to the great people I’ve worked with.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about CannonDesign – what should we know?
CannonDesign is one of the largest and most successful design firms in the world – we were even named to Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Architecture Firms list in 2017. That said, I’m less interested in talking about who we are and more interested in talking about who we’re becoming.
Coming from the top down, the firm is pushing forward a vision of breeding innovation and design thinking as a means to listen to and implement new ideas. Whether it’s how we pursue work, deliver work, create new service lines, and so forth – CannonDesign is capitalizing on new ideas to keep us relevant in an industry that’s changing pretty dramatically and rapidly.
We now have a laser focus on being a design-thinking company that solves problems – within architecture and beyond. By employing our creative problem-solving tools, we are able to use design as the catalyst to develop the appropriate solution. The industry is changing, how we deliver work is changing, and we have a lot more players in the work stream that can limit our involvement as architects later in projects. Therefore, we’re using design thinking to remain relevant – often taking our solutions beyond the built environment – and I’m really excited about this new chapter for our firm.
We are also focusing on how we can apply this approach to health care – another industry that is ripe for transformation. New ideas arise every day, so there’s a wealth of opportunity for us to apply a design-thinking mentality to healthcare, healthcare delivery, and the new models of care that are emerging.
Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
Yes, I absolutely, 100% think our city is perfect for what we do. Architecture in Chicago is world-renowned, the city is beautifully planned, and the availability of green space is amazing – as a designer, there is so much inspiration to draw from! Combine that with the fact some of the best design firms are located here means there are tons of opportunities for architects and designers. And specifically, from a healthcare perspective, there is a so much happening right now in Chicago.
What I love is that Chicago is a big city with a humble, mid-Western personality — the best of both worlds. Ultimately, it’s a great place to live, work, and build a career. I am a Midwesterner through and through – and couldn’t be prouder to call this city my lifelong home!
Contact Info:
- Address: CannonDesign
225 N Michigan Ave #1100, Chicago, IL 60601 - Website: https://www.cannondesign.com/chicago-architecture-and-engineering/
- Phone: 312.332.9600
- Instagram: @cannondesign
- Facebook: @CannonDesign
- Twitter: @cannondesign
- Other: https://www.cannondesign.com/people/our-people/person/abbie-clary-aia-acha-leed-ap/
Image Credit:
© CannonDesign – Laura Peters
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