SmithGroupJJR has hired facility planner and designer Cindy Beckham as a principal and leader of its Washington, D.C. Health studio. In this role, Beckham will focus on the office’s clients and growing the firm’s market share in the ever-evolving healthcare landscape.
Beckham has over 20 years of experience in the optimization of hospital systems through design, previously serving as director of planning at FreemanWhite 
Catalyst in Charlotte, North Carolina. Clients at Allina Health, Ascension Health, SCL Health and Spectrum Health, among others, benefited from Beckham’s expertise in strategic facility planning and campus development, and her ability to tie each system’s unique business drivers to creative design solutions.
Before joining FreemanWhite Catalyst, Beckham was the executive director of facility design at Mercy Health System in St. Louis, Missouri, where she worked with patient and clinical advisory groups to establish facility design guidelines, and introduced efficiency modeling, effective best practices and holistic design processes. Ultimately, hundreds of Mercy’s clinics, outpatient and acute care facilities were transformed, resulting in a consistent facility and performance brand for the organization.
Beckham earned a Bachelor of Arts in Speech, Communications and Theater Arts from Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois, and graduated from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri with a Master of Architecture.
