SmithGroup Hires Petra Horna as Director of Healthcare Business Development

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—SmithGroup has hired Petra Horna to lead business development efforts for its San Francisco and Los Angeles Health Studios.

Horna makes the move to SmithGroup from EwingCole’s Washington, D.C. office, where she served as director of healthcare business development since 2008. She graduated from George Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She has been active in the American Society of Healthcare Engineers, the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Society of American Military Engineers.

In her new role, Horna will serve in a business development leadership role and will be responsible for identifying marketing opportunities for the firm’s California offices, cultivating relationships with SmithGroup’s existing client base and strategic new client targets in the healthcare arena.

“California’s healthcare market is poised for significant growth in coming years,” said Bill Diefenbach, FAIA, LEED AP, director of SmithGroup’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. “Adding Petra to our team will ensure that current and future hospital partners are aware of the level of expertise SmithGroup brings to the table, from health facility planning and design to integrated project delivery.”

With 10 locations and 800 employees across the U.S., SmithGroup’s California portfolio includes work with clients such as Providence Health System, Cisco Systems, NBCi, and projects across University of California campuses. Among the firm’s most noteworthy recent healthcare projects are the multi-phase 907,000-square-foot Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center Replacement Hospital, underway in Los Angeles; Cathedral Hill Hospital in San Francisco, the 1.16-million-square-foot replacement hospital for California Pacific Medical Center, a Sutter Health Affiliate; and the $430.8 million Alameda County Highland Hospital Acute Tower Replacement project, a multi-phase design-build effort with Clark Design/Build of California slated for completion in 2017.