2007 Conference Keynoters Confirmed

Architect Michael Graves, FAIA, and GSA Commissioner David Winstead will address the attendees gathered for Build Business: Politics at Work, the 2007 SMPS/PSMA National Conference, scheduled August 22-25 in Washington, DC.

American architect Michael Graves has been in the forefront of architectural design since he founded his practice in Princeton, NJ, in 1964. Since the early 1980s, his work has directly influenced the transformation of urban architecture from the abstraction of commercial modernism toward an interest in context. Today, he and his partners oversee Michael Graves & Associates, the architectural and interior design practices, and Michael Graves Design Group, the product design and graphic design practices, which employ over 100 people in offices in Princeton, NJ, and New York City. The services of the two firms are highly integrated, supporting a continuum of architecture, interiors, and furnishings and resulting in a powerful lifestyle brand.

Graves is a recipient of the 2001 Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, the 1999 National Medal of Arts (a Presidential Award), and the Frank Annunzio Award from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation. As Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, at Princeton University, where he has taught for 40 years, Graves is an influential theorist as well as a diversified and prolific designer.

Graves will kickoff Build Business on Thursday, August 23.

David L. Winstead was appointed as Commissioner of the Public Buildings Service (PBS) of the United States General Services Administration in October 2005. As head of PBS, Winstead is in charge of asset management and design, construction, leasing, operations, and disposal for a real estate portfolio of more than 340 million square feet in 8,000 public and private buildings accommodating over 1 million Federal workers. PBS owns or leases nearly all civilian Federal office space, courthouses, and border stations and many laboratories and storage facilities. The PBS annual budget is approximately $8 billion, more than 90% of which is contracted to the private sector.

Winstead has over 30 years of experience in the private and public sectors in dealing with legal, real estate, transportation, and public policy matters, in addition to having served in two branches of the Federal government. He began his career as staff member to Senator Charles McMathias of Maryland and served as Secretary of Transportation for the State of Maryland. Prior to coming to GSA, Winstead was a partner in the law firm of Holland and Knight.

Winstead will address the Build Business audience on Friday, August 24.

Details about programs and networking at Build Business: Politics at Work will be posted on www.buildbusiness.org as they become available. [ return to top ]