Donna Ward Francis  AIA, ALEP, LEED AP BD+C

Donna Francis has focused her career on the design of educational spaces and is passionate about providing spaces that support and enhance student learning. She is our K-12 practice leader and a member of the Association for Learning Environments who is certified as an accredited learning environment professional through that organization’s Advanced Academy for Learning Spaces. Through this course, she has furthered her understanding of the connections between student learning and the facilities we provide to support student achievement, as well as the importance of community engagement and response as a part of the planning process.

Over the course of her career, Donna has developed expertise in educational master planning, development of construction documents, code compliance, green building construction, and working with regulatory agencies. She has conducted seminars on topics such as the importance of the environment to the learning process and on non-traditional learning environments/current best practices in school design. She has served on the Content Committee and New Focus/New Directions Committee for A4LE and currently serves on the Hub Advisory Committee for Wake County Public Schools. Donna holds a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture from NC State University.