Nick Watkins has joined Ware Malcomb as director of workplace strategy. In this role, Watkins will lead Strategy and Change Management services for clients, in multiple practice areas, including healthcare, across the firm.
Watkins will lead Ware Malcomb’s Workplace Strategy team in integrating mixed research methods, including advanced statistical analyses, AI and machine learning, to inform the delivery of strategy and design. In addition, he will partner with firm leadership to develop scalable solutions to provide valuable business insights into portfolio management, space utilization, workforce or user experience, real estate metrics and other financial return-on-investment outcomes.
Watkins brings more than 18 years of experience in research leadership positions at large AE firms to his new role. His experience includes workplace, healthcare and life sciences design research, supporting the needs of the firm’s clients, practice groups and corporate accounts. He has collaborated on various healthcare, education and public placemaking projects, delivering human-centered, experience-based work environments.
Watkins holds a Ph.D. in environmental psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and studied AI and machine learning at Michigan State University. He has also served as chair of the Environmental Design Research Association and co-founded the EDRA CORE program, which bridges the design industry with the environmental design research community by recognizing the quality and impact of research on client projects.
