Inaugural ASLA SKILL | ED Firm Leadership Accelerator Wraps with Industry Day in Los Angeles

Hands-on business training, mentorship, and peer learning prepared the next generation of landscape architecture firm leaders.
September 25, 2026
Leadership Mentorship Practitioners

2026 was the inaugural year for the ASLA SKILL | ED Firm Leadership Accelerator, a new program that seeks to prepare, empower, and advance the next generation of successful landscape architecture firm owners and leaders.

This intensive was geared toward landscape architects ready to transition from designer to firm leader, providing the essential business training, financial literacy, and mentorship needed to launch a new practice or take on the leadership role at an existing firm. The participants are working through the real challenges of early-stage practice: finding their positioning, developing clients, making the leap from doer to leader, and deciding how and how fast to grow.

From April through September, program participants:

  • connected one-on-one with a mentor from the industry, 
  • met in small peer study groups, 
  • conferred for office hours with the program leader Kacey Clagett, founder of Appleseed Strategies, 
  • had access to SKILL | ED practice management-focused materials, and 
  • attended presentations by guest speakers with expertise in business management, legal issues for design firms, marketing, and leadership and firm governance.

The program culminated in Los Angeles at the office of Studio-MLA, where Industry Day took place on September 15. It was an invigorating way to kick off the ASLA 2026 Conference on Landscape Architecture, with a packed afternoon of conversation, connections, and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.

Industry Day was designed as an informal, collegial session. Each participant shared one or two topics they're actively wrestling with—things like positioning and business development, running a profitable practice, ownership transition, or work/life balance—with a small group, led by a guest mentor. Mentors and the program’s peers were eager for candid feedback and different perspectives. The conversation was participant-led, with all taking part having a chance to actively listen, reflect, and share from their own lived experience. 

Each group represented a different facet of emerging leadership, from new and growing founders to those navigating ownership transfer at established firms and others growing a new geographic presence or specialized design focus within a larger firm or organization.

The relationships forged over the course of the program were cemented in-person at Industry Day. The connections amongst the cohort and with the program mentors and speakers represent the true culmination of the Accelerator. Being an emerging leader can feel extremely daunting at times—with this community of peers and supporters, they now have an array of resources to draw on as they move forward in their landscape architecture leadership journeys.

Thank you to our Industry Day guest mentors for their invaluable input:

  • Valorie Born, Affil. ASLA | VB Strat
  • Cinda Gilliland, LEED AP | re:public
  • Megan Horn, ASLA, WEDG, CalNat | Studio-MLA
  • Jerany Jackson, FASLA, PLA | Jerany Jackson Leadership Consulting
  • Toshi Karato, ASLA, AIA, M.ASCE, ISA | Civil Site Group
  • Mia Lehrer, FASLA | Studio-MLA
  • Hattie Pavlechko-Reiter, ASLA, PLA | LandDesign
  • Scott Rice, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP, CASp | RHA Community Works
  • Glen Schmidt, FASLA | Schmidt Design Group
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