Foundations + Futures: 2010s with Brett Quandt and Lisa Gomperts

In this chapter of Foundations + Futures: By the Decade, we step into the 2010s, a decade that demanded more from everyone in design. Sustainability shifted from something firms aspired to into something they felt accountable for, and communities started asking whether what they'd built still served people or the planet. For Schmidt Associates, it was an era of bold ideas, complex partnerships, and a move into its second generation of leadership.

Lisa Gomperts, firm principal, project manager, and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and Brett Quandt, principal and Schmidt Associates' first-ever Chief Financial Officer, join host Sarah Hempstead to reflect on more than 20 years apiece inside the firm. With perspectives from both the design side and the business side, they bring to life some of the firm's most ambitious work yet.

Listeners will hear about:

• P.R. Mallory, where a blighted east-side factory became an educational anchor for Purdue Polytechnic High School and the Paramount School of Excellence, sparking new housing and businesses across the neighborhood
• The Scott College of Business at Indiana State University, a 1920s federal courthouse reborn as a modern, collaborative learning community
• The Community Justice Campus criminal courts tower, one of the most technically demanding projects in firm history, designed largely through the pandemic
• The Hoosier Energy headquarters, a LEED Gold building for an owner who lives and breathes efficiency
• A move into second-generation leadership in 2016, plus Schmidt Academy, mentorship and the servant-leadership culture that still shapes how the firm shows up for clients and staff 

More than a tour of projects, this is two longtime colleagues remembering the decade that asked the firm to walk the walk: to commit to sustainability publicly, invest in its people deliberately, and take on work too complex to do alone. It was a decade about leaning into values, designing for people and the planet, and building bold things through partnerships that last. That approach is still how Schmidt Associates operates today.

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Transcript

Sarah Hempstead: [00:00:00] The 2010s were a decade that demanded more from everyone in the design industry. The theme of the decade is designing for people and the planet. Sustainability moved from something firms aspired to, to something they felt accountable for. Cities and communities were looking hard at what they'd built and asking whether it still or ever served people or the planet.

And if I'm being honest, narrowing this decade down to one conversation was not easy. But we'll do our best to do it justice. Welcome back to Foundations and Futures by the Decade. I'm Sarah Hemstead, CEO and principal in charge at Schmidt Associates. And let's get into it. In this series, we've been walking through the firm's story one decade at a time through the people, the project, and the values that have carried us from one chair and two employees, July 4th, 1976, to where we stand today as we celebrate 50 years.

And today, we're stepping into the 2010s. Joining me are two people who are right in the middle of this decade: Lisa Gomperts, a firm principal and project manager, a fellow [00:01:00] of the American Institute of Architects, one of the profession's highest honors. She has spent more than 22 years shaping the firm's culture, working with its owners, and setting our standards.

And Brett Quandt, a principal and Schmidt Associates CFO, chief financial officer, the firm's first ever. Someone whose steady hand has been behind so much of what the firm has built. Lisa, Brett, thanks for taking the time. Thanks 

Lisa Gomperts: for having us. Thanks. 

Sarah Hempstead: All right. So I wanna start by setting the stage. This decade opened on a real high note.

The team was growing. We're really expanding. We're launching energy services. And to top it off, in 2010 we were named the Firm of the Year by AIA Indiana. So Lisa, starting with you, what was the energy of the firm at that moment? How did it feel from where you were sitting? 

Lisa Gomperts: It was exciting because we knew what our culture was about, but finally it was being recognized outside the office.

And solidifying some of our training initiatives and focusing on the professional development, which I'll say this firm was the strongest of any of them I've ever worked for. [00:02:00] Uh, just the amount of time and focus that we as a firm put into developing our employees and making that a focal point throughout the year was something that I had never seen before.

And finally that was being recognized outside 

Sarah Hempstead: Maybe, Brett, what did it feel like? 

Brett Quandt: I think it was exciting. I think there was a element of unknown. I think just from the work standpoint, obviously you talk about the energy services being added, which created a new avenue for us to create revenue. There was a lot of change in some of the public funding, so there was some, and maybe some anxiousness about it, but anxiousness adds to exciting.

Then being recognized from being the firm that we were was gratifying and solidifying 

Sarah Hempstead: all those things. One of the things that was interesting about the 2010s was climate action wasn't just a conversation for school, and it wasn't just a coastal conversation. It was real, for real here in, in the Midwest.

Showing up at Project Breathe, showing up in Owner Expectations. Cities were thinking about how to revitalize rather than just [00:03:00] building something new and keep spreading. Colleges and universities were rethinking about campus life and reusing their buildings. What did that feel like inside the firm? 

Lisa Gomperts: I think we as designers, that's always been a focal point for us and part of our education, the importance of sustainability and those types of things.

And so at that point in time, it was becoming a focal point for communities, for our owners, and so we were starting to see an alignment of owner goals with initiatives that we were already trying to put into our projects. And so there was a new focus on training. We had several of our staff members, I think at one point we had over 25 people with elite accreditation.

There's just a training on making sure that we understood those initiatives and we were able to design those seamlessly into our projects. 

Sarah Hempstead: Well, and this was the decade when we formally signed on to the AIA's 2030 Challenge, which was being really public about where we were headed from a culture of sustainability.

Brett, as the non-architect, from where you sit, what's that mean to the firm when you're actually committing, putting down on [00:04:00] record that we're gonna do something? 

Brett Quandt: Well, from the dollars and cents standpoint, I was like, "How much is this gonna cost?" Right? I mean, can we be profitable for them? Is it sustainable, even though for the sustainable design?

But also from that standpoint, when you think of the unifying principles and the commitment, uh, within our unifying principles, so from that standpoint, we're actually walking the walk. 

Sarah Hempstead: I think that's true. And I think the P.R. Mallory project is the first one I wanna talk about in this decade that kind of fits right into that story.

'Cause not only was it a project about re- adaptive reuse of an old building, but also it was about community building and sustainable thinking writ large. So it was a historic factory, ultimately became the home for the Purdue Polytech High School and the Paramount School of Excellence. Had lots of layers, lots of complexity.

Lisa, you were the project manager of that one. Walk us through it. 

Lisa Gomperts: This community on the east side of Indianapolis, it was really a blighted community. There was tons of vacant housing. This [00:05:00] factory community that used to be full of life was just dead and had been vacant for many years. And there had been a study done, Great Places, that identified an educational anchor for this community several years back.

And Purdue University took that as the lead and decided to put Purdue Polytech High School there, and then they partnered with Paramount Middle School. So basically now a student who enters in fifth grade had a pathway to college, which was exciting for that neighborhood. But it did many other things.

As part of the project, we cleaned up the site. And I think just having green space there and activity, all of a sudden housing started coming, there were new businesses coming. So this educational anchor was more than just an educational institution. It really became the anchor for the community and the growth that developed from that.

Sarah Hempstead: And there's 

Lisa Gomperts: still 

Sarah Hempstead: work happening in and around that neighborhood, right? 

Lisa Gomperts: They are looking now to add some athletic fields that could be used for those two schools, but also for the community. And so continuing to clean it up and really revitalize that area. 

Sarah Hempstead: One of my favorite stories about that project [00:06:00] is in order to close it out, you stacked all the paper work that it took up just in a giant stack of papers.

It would've been taller than the chimney. 

Lisa Gomperts: The smokestack. That and the fact that I think they had over 40 financial institutions and donors come together to finance that project, one of the most complex projects ever. But clearly people were committed to revitalizing that neighborhood. 

Sarah Hempstead: That kind of work is just indicative of work in the 2010s.

I think it was more complex than it's ever been. It took a lot of people coming together to make big things happen. But people were willing to do it when you could get something back to the community and you could make something big, you could have a bold idea. That's a through line for how we approach design at Schmidt anyway.

Mm-hmm. 

Lisa Gomperts: True. Yeah. Lots of partnerships. 

Sarah Hempstead: So another good example of kind of that adaptive reuse and partnerships occurred at the Scott College of Business. So that building's a great example of adaptive reuse done right and town-gown connectivity, right? Transforming a historic federal [00:07:00] courthouse. Really sat on the edge of campus and the edge of downtown, taking that building and making it a vibrant learning community.

Lizzie, you led that one too. Talk about how preservation and modern, flexible, high-tech spaces make something better than the sum of its 

Lisa Gomperts: parts. Yeah, so another complex project, but Indiana State University was gifted this building, I think, for a dollar. And then over a series of three phases, essentially renovated that project.

And doing it while the courts and the post office was still occupying it for at least a period of time. But what was nice, it was right on the edge of campus and right up against the business community, and they were going from a tall residential, an old residence hall that did not lend itself well to a collaborative environment, to this kind of more horizontal format building that allowed for that collaboration.

But it really was strategic in terms of placing these modern spaces in a 1920s building and still preserving a lot of the key elements, the marble, [00:08:00] the metalwork, the beautiful lights in there. But still having, like, modern spaces like a financial trading lab with a operational ticker and a student commons where they were running a business out of there.

And having that connection to the business community. It was really pretty, pretty neat to see that come to life. 

Sarah Hempstead: A much more interesting building, I think, than it would've been otherwise- Mm-hmm ... because you're looking through old post office boxes 

Lisa Gomperts: at classrooms. Absolutely. 

Sarah Hempstead: Brett, turning to you. A project like Scott College of Business is a great example to a b- long-term relationships we have with clients and entities.

How do we think about that? How do you think about that when we talk about earning trust, keeping trust, and shaping how we form our relationships with clients? 

Brett Quandt: Well, the unifying principles, whether it's our commitment to excellence, the commitment to the community, commitment to the clients, as we talk about without the clients, without the work, we don't have anything.

And then also the commitment to our employees, the excellence with our employees or with the expectations of, and doing a [00:09:00] good job of understanding for the client, understanding that it's, it's the client's project. Nobody walks up and says, "Well, that's a Schmidt." All right? It's Indiana State's College of Business, or it's P.R.

Mallory's building or Purdue Polytechnic's building. So from that standpoint, and I think with that in mind, that, that enables us to have long-term relationships with clients. I mean, you think about the 50 years of Schmidt & Associates, how many clients like an Indiana State or an IPS back through the years with Brownsburg or the, the, or, and now Lawrence Township, Washington Township, those kind of things that have been clients of ours for a long time because We serve them well.

We understand it's their project, and we deliver great projects. So obviously that's the lifeblood of our organization, right? Our goals are around 75% repeat work, so you have to have happy clients to get 75% repeat work. 

Sarah Hempstead: Well, and repeat work [00:10:00] was partially responsible anyway to one of our most technically complex projects ever, which was in the 

Lisa Gomperts: 2010s, the consolidated civil criminal courthouse.

Sarah Hempstead: Worked with the city of Indianapolis for a very long time. That focal point of the community justice campus was one of the most technically demanding that we've ever delivered. I know there were 12,000 hours of remote collaboration in, in that project alone, which was crazy. We were designing it during the pandemic.

We were all learning how to do that well. That still kept going. That kind of commitment speaks for itself. Lisa, what's that project teach us about resilience and collaboration? How does it influence our other work? 

Lisa Gomperts: I think we as a firm have always been trying to evolve. We are a learning firm, and we're always working to improve our processes.

The pandemic was certainly testing of that for sure. We had some projects that we did from beginning to end all virtually, which is not the way we're used to operating. Nope. But we learned how to do that, and we did it so that we could serve our clients well. But I think one [00:11:00] of the key things is just the developing of relationships and keeping strong relationships.

A project like the Criminal Courts Tower, you have to have a strong working relationship with your owner, with your design partners. That was a large team. And then your construction team, too, 'cause that goes on for many years. And so you have to have a good, strong working relationship with those partners to make those projects successful.

Sarah Hempstead: So another great partner during that time was Hoosier Energy, the co-op that's essentially responsible for the grid of all of Southern Indiana and part of Northern Kentucky. During the 2010s, we did their new headquarters, which was interesting in all kinds of ways, but also it was a lead goal project, and it was an owner who cared deeply about sustainability on a very practical level.

They're running an energy co-op. Everybody wants power. They don't want to pay much for it, and they want it to never fail. So talk a little bit about what it looks like to work with an owner like that on a brand-new building at a pretty interesting wooded, lovely site. 

Lisa Gomperts: May back up just a little bit, 'cause we started working with that [00:12:00] client on a master plan first.

We didn't know the answer at the back of the book when we did it, but we knew that they were on the 37 corridor that was gonna become Interstate 69, and they basically had two functions on that site. They had their headquarters, their basic office facilities, but they had their operations where they had the large trucks coming and going, and it was gonna be very difficult for them to do that on the 69 corridor.

And so the master plan, we looked at a bunch of different sites, and ultimately the decision was to split those two facilities and put headquarters closer to Bloomington proper and put operations out a little bit further so they had easier access all in all. But the headquarters itself was very interesting because, yes, they wanted to be LEED Gold, they wanted to be very sustainable, but they also had some very particular things that we had to do just because security and those kind of things that we had to implement.

They wanted to tell a story in their lobby about sustainability and the history of their company. And so there was a lot of work done relative to making sure we had the most efficient systems, even down to the glazing [00:13:00] systems. We made sure that we had a proper overhang and we had the right type of glazing to make sure that on those west sides so we didn't have heat overload and those kind of things.

We used a geothermal system there to make sure they were super efficient. And it was all electric, of course. They're an electric co-op. So all of that to make sure that they were hitting their standards and ultimately hit LEED Gold. 

Sarah Hempstead: That's impressive. The, the Hoosier headquarters and ops center is interesting, too.

And the, some of the lessons we learned from that we took to our work at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Been a long-term owner, worked with them for years and years. During the 2010s, we started the Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion, AKA the swine barn. What people may not know about that project is attached to it was a brand-new op center for the entirety of the fairgrounds.

Everybody just skips that and goes to the cute pigs, which I get. But that's another long-term owner relationship that goes decades through changes in leadership at the fair, through changes of leaderships, even Harry Schmidt. Why, Brett? What makes it work? [00:14:00] What keeps those partnerships alive? 

Brett Quandt: It's the overall commitment and shared investment, right?

Where we have similar goals and the communication in the past to get there. And I think a lot of our training and our development within the office is through leadership transition or a contact project management, whichever, whatever it is, that training is passed on. And back to the unifying principles of talking about without the client, we don't have anything Good, smart clients see that also, right?

And they have a shared investment 'cause it's

not always just the fastest and cheapest. They understand those long-term commitments to make the long-term commitments to their partner. But it seems to be a win-win. 

Sarah Hempstead: I think that's a great point. It's our partners who've stayed with us a very long time. We've worked together through hard times, through easy, tough times, and there's always something.

But the partners who are after that win-win, we can work [00:15:00] with for, really for decades. So let's talk about what was happening in the firm, 'cause you guys were all, all in it with me. In 2016, our founder, Wayne Schmidt, stepped away from his CEO role to become exclusively chairman of the board. That was 10 years maybe in the planning and preparation.

And what it meant was that the firm moved into its second generation of leadership, which doesn't just happen. That takes investment in people. It takes investment in a culture. Brett, you've talked about what that means to invest in the people around you. It's a long game with helping people find their path.

So how do you see that culture show up, both now, but also during that time of change? 

Brett Quandt: During that time of change, I think i- in a lot of ways, we were practicing on our business what we practice with our clients and a little bit of a stretch of a master plan of what this, what it's gonna be on the other side.

And so there, there was a lot of investment, there was a lot of time [00:16:00] spent, there was a lot of development. I think during the 2010s, Lisa, both you and I became principals. You were just before that. There was a lot of time in that process and where the thinking is of leading a firm and running a firm and what makes us successful, putting the right people in the right seats on the bus, th- those kind of things.

And certainly it takes vision because not everybody's ready on day one, so there is an investment made in individuals and I think with the gratifying part is when that investment pays off. When that was going on then, and I believe it's going on today, when that's back to a core value of ours is investing in our, in our talent and in our people, and that creates long-term employees, which, you know, we have tons of those.

Sarah Hempstead: So far what you're talking about is mentorship. So question for both of you. Talk a minute about your kind of journey at Schmitt. Who mentored you and how do, what do you try to do for the people who you mentor? 

Lisa Gomperts: Again, I've [00:17:00] just always been impressed with how our firm was set up from even before I was hired on, 'cause I had actually interviewed to get an internship early on and I had learned about the orientation program and then when I came back, I got a chance to go through that.

But one of the things that I was always interested in was training. And when I was meeting with my mentor, which happened to be Kevin at the time, Kevin Shelley, I had mentioned my interest in training and he said, "You need to go talk to Wayne." And so he said, "Wayne's been wanting to do that forever." So I went and talked to Wayne and Wayne said, "Put a business plan together."

And that's really kind of the whole gist of the career pathing process, is allowing people to grow and explore some of their interest areas and find alignment with what the firm is doing as well, and this just happened to be something that we as a firm, I think, needed to grow in and develop and it aligned well with what I wanted to do as well.

And so I think that whole mentorship and having someone that advocates for you and is looking out for your best interests and also that accountability piece, trying to make sure that you continue to follow through on your goals, [00:18:00] setting them, meeting them, et cetera. 

Sarah Hempstead: Well, and Schmitt Academy has- become the result of that conversation.

Mm-hmm. Talk just a minute about that, Audrey. 

Lisa Gomperts: So I put that business plan together back in 2004, and in 2005 we brought it to life. But basically what I saw when I came in is that we were doing just periodic training of m- more lunch and learns than anything else. And what I wanted to do is to create a training academy that really focused on the training needs of the staff, of the firm, aligned with our strategic goals.

But also allowed us, we're a lar- fairly large firm, and allowed different people from the firm to come together and do training together in scenarios that we wouldn't get to do otherwise. We get so focused on our day-to-day projects and sometimes have trouble stepping away from that to focus on how do we grow.

And Schmidt Academy, once or twice a month gives us that opportunity to do that. It's expanded. Now we're doing discipline training that's very focused, uh, with each of our disciplines, and we've seen things like construction supplements, errors and omissions reduce. We've seen [00:19:00] voluntary turnover reduce.

Mm. 'Cause I think people see that there's care about them and their professional development, and I think our clients are seeing the difference too in our projects. 

Sarah Hempstead: Yeah. What about you, Brett? Who, who was your mentor for you and how do you use those principles to help your mentees? 

Brett Quandt: Well, my initial mentor was Wayne when we came, was coming and then worked with as the advisor was Ron.

Mm. That was obviously, that was pretty exciting. I was just coming in as a- You found 

Sarah Hempstead: mentors. 

Brett Quandt: Yeah, yeah. The two guys who were here around the longest to be dealing with. Obviously they had a pretty solid commitment to the financial side of the firm. So I got it. From the mentoring standpoint, I think the other unique thing about Schmidt Associates is we have set, this is my mentor, this is your advisor, this is your sherpa during that process.

But I, there are a lot of people who are also willing to mentor and maybe not quite so formalized as you can talk to. And for w- for whatever reason, if they're, because they've been through something you're going through or [00:20:00] maybe they're the complete opposite. I think one of the, one of the, my, my maybe my favorite mentors, I've, I liked Wayne, I liked Ron, we known each quite a bit, but Tom Neff, who- I use as maybe as the incidental mentor and, and because we couldn't be more opposite in literally in every sense of the word, right?

I mean, I'm tall, he's not. He's an architect, I'm not. He likes classical music, I don't. But we had common ground, and it was great, right? And I think that helps in from that standpoint, if you're truly looking at mentors or using mentors, it helps make you a little more well-rounded, and I think the firm is here for that.

Sarah Hempstead: Yeah. I think that's a great answer. It's his birthday today. Yeah. So maybe that's a good close to this conversation to go back to the firm's commitment to servant leadership, which I think is a different way to say what you're saying, which is the door is open, people are always willing to help each other the same way that we're willing to help clients.

So in that same kind of internal [00:21:00] lens that we use for our external lens. Today, what looks different about servant leadership than when you both started 20-plus years ago? What looks different and then maybe what looks the same? 

Lisa Gomperts: Obviously, technology is something that's right there at our doorstep. It has been there, but it's evolving so quickly now, and it is forcing us to really change the way we do things.

I mean, AI, uh, is in everything now. And so understanding how to utilize that as a tool but still give the same kind of personal service to our clients is a challenge that we all have to work through, and I think that's one of the biggest things. I think remote work has been another challenge. It's been nice to have that as something that we could have to make it through the pandemic, but certainly coming out of that, it has created some other unique opportunities and challenges that we as a firm always have to work through as well.

Again, we're such a collaborative firm that we want people to be together, but we also wanna give [00:22:00] people flexibility as well, and so that's just something we have to find that right balance. But those types of things, I think, are the thing that we as a firm just have to continue to work through and evolve, and we're gonna continue to have to do that.

Brett Quandt: The servant leadership, obviously to the client, but I think that's the basis of what career pathing is, and also Schmidt Academy. That's serving our internal clients, which are our employees. I hope that the same thing can be said about our benefits package, is that we work awfully hard to provide the best benefits that we can to serve our staff and provide opportunity and options for the staff, and it's authentic.

We want the best for the staff, but the staff then continues to trust leadership of the firm to, to guide the firm. 

Sarah Hempstead: Gotta meet people where they are and with what they need, which is way different than... I was trying to explain to my daughters what I would have had to do to deliver someone a graphic 25 years ago.

Like, well, first we need to draw it [00:23:00] with watercolors I drew a line drawing on the computer, and then we get out the paint, and then I would send someone in a car with the drawing. And that sounds like the olden days 'cause it is, but it's also not. So let's look forward between you've got 20-plus years apiece, so 40-some years in the firm.

So looking ahead, next 20 years, where do you see Schmidt Associates? 

Lisa Gomperts: Well, as you said, I think it's meeting our clients where they are, and I think our clients are ever-evolving. Their funding sources are changing. The desire to build a lot of new construction, I think, is changing, and that desire to repurpose existing primarily because of funding.

So I think we as a firm with some of our additional services have started to do that with some of our studies and our assessments and those kind of things to help our owners understand and be proactive about their planning process. But I think we're just gonna have to continue to evolve as our clients evolve and help them continue to move forward and [00:24:00] meet their missions.

Brett Quandt: Agreed. I think as a firm, staying agile with smart decision-making that still keeps the clients first and our employees or our staff. And those two things, the staff and the clients, as long as you stay focused on that, that should work out. 

Sarah Hempstead: So I'll close with this. The 2010 showed us what was possible when a firm leans into our values, and I guess that's where I, what I see us still doing 20 years from now is leaning into our values.

So we might do the work a different way. We might be designing in 3D with using the motion of our hands to do it. But staying close to our values, staying close to sustainability. In the 2010s, we really changed it. It wasn't just a checkbox. It was, like, something that we did and believed and talked about and still do.

And when servant leadership just stays our foundation. So thank you both for joining us today. It's an honor to have you part of the team. And that's a wrap for this episode of Foundations [00:25:00] and Futures by the Decade. New episodes will continue throughout our 50th anniversary year. Follow us wherever you listen to podcasts and connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook @SchmidtAssociates.

Thanks, folks.