Sara Van Dyke, SEGD joined our visual communications team as a senior experiential graphic designer with a background in branded environments and wayfinding. Her current projects include Prometheus Real Estate Group properties, Port of Vancouver Terminal 1 Tenant Sign Standards and the Deschutes Public Library wayfinding system (Bend, OR).
Taylor Bowden, ASLA is a landscape designer with a focus on equitable outdoor spaces. Her current work includes the Beaverton Parks Framework Plan (Beaverton, OR), Frog Pond Primary School (Wilsonville, OR) and the Street Plaza Program (Portland, OR). Active in the design community, Taylor serves as Vice President of Chapter Services for Oregon ASLA.
Mayer/Reed welcomes IT specialist, Charlie Watts as an indispensable member of the studio. Recently relocated from Minnesota, Charlie is a collaborative and proactive problem solver who works to ensure our firm’s excellence in technology and digital security.
According to Mayer/Reed’s extraordinary senior landscape designer and project manager, Teresa Chenney, FASLA, “It’s time for me to wander over to another trail. I am leaving my usual professional life behind and looking towards new adventures and endeavors in 2023.” For Teresa, this means endless artistic pursuits, time with friends, family and community and activities that make the world a better place.
Teresa first came to Portland in 1995 from New York City where she had worked for a well-known landscape architecture firm, Quennell Rothschild and Associates. Mayer/Reed seized the opportunity the following year to hire her to design and oversee the firm’s award-winning landscape architecture work on the Nike World Headquarters North Campus Expansion. Spanning a 15-year period, she ensured that design solutions at all scales were sophisticated, creative and well-informed by the architecture, natural resources and site context. The Nike projects resulted in a world-class campus that reflected the aesthetic, ecological and innovation aspirations of the company and its workforce.
In 2017, Teresa became a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in the category of Completed Works. Quoting from her nomination, “…her professionalism is characterized by maturity, patience, humor and active engagement with associated design and planning professionals, along with a deep understanding of the needs of communities and clients…Examples of her work in the Portland metropolitan area all derive their planning and design heart from Teresa’s deeply held personal values and design principles…She synthesizes art and science, seamlessly weaving the social, the aesthetic and the practical.” Teresa inspires her colleagues and clients alike as she advances social and environmental good. She remains a strong mentor for younger design professionals and leads by example by volunteering for non-profit organizations.
We at Mayer/Reed greatly value and admire Teresa’s enduring passion for her chosen path of landscape architecture; her contributions to the firm are lasting and deep. “It is a bittersweet departure for me, and I sincerely thank you all for your genuine thoughtfulness, collaboration and teachings you have so generously given to our important work…I will always treasure the many stories, visions and lessons that I’ve acquired along the way.”
What can we say? Surely, we’ll see you on many more trails ahead.
We’re delighted to announce the promotion of Shannon Simms, ASLA to associate principal and shareholder. With her expertise as a landscape architect and urban designer, Shannon leads planning and design of complex, urban environments for recreation and active transportation. Her recent projects include the Green Loop Concepts (Portland, OR), Southwest Corridor Light Rail Urban Design (Portland to Tualatin, OR), Ebey Waterfront Trail, Master Plan & Phase 1 (Marysville, WA) and St. Helens Riverfront Park (St. Helens, OR).
Shannon holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Boston University. She is a past vice president of member services for Oregon ASLA and has mentored design students as an adjunct instructor for urban design and landscape programs at the University of Oregon.
