DENNIS KING:
 
ALEX BURKULAS




 
 
 
 
 
Corporate Chairman and CEO, Harley Ellis Devereaux Corp. The firm has offices in Detroit, Chicago, and California. King has helped lead the company for 30 years, joining the firm in 1979 and becoming president in 1991. Named to his present post in 2006, he brings expertise in business management, quality control, and personnel development to his position. King joined what was then Harley Ellington Pierce Yee and was elected a principal in 1981, leading the firm’s project management discipline. Later, as a member of the firm’s management team, King became responsible for business development and marketing activities. Under his leadership, Harley Ellis Devereaux has been named as one of “Metro Detroit’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” nine years in a row by the Michigan Business and Professional Association. King is a trustee of Beaumont Hospital and the William E. Scripps Estate, and a director of the Michigan Architectural Foundation and the Oakland County Economic Development Corp. A licensed architect in 23 states and an arbitrator for both the American Arbitration Association and the National Center for Dispute Settlement, he was 2007 president of the Michigan Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and 2005 recipient of AIA Detroit’s gold medal. He also directed Harley Ellis Devereaux to AIA Michigan firm of the year honors in 2000. King received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Michigan.


WHERE BORN: “Detroit.”

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: “I’ll start with my wife, Haven, because I met her when she was 15 and I was 16. We have been married 40 years. She’s a real strong influence on me and my career. She’s a psychologist by trade and a great advisor. And my dad, who owned a lumber company and encouraged me to consider architecture as a career.”

LAST BOOK READ: "Two I’m reading simultaneously. The summer read was A Lethal Dose , a medical thriller by a client, Dr. Gene Rontal. In addition to being an author, he’s a physician and developer. The serious book I finished recently is The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria.”

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: “Ethical, dedicated, and perfectionist.”

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED:  “The architecture and construction industry is headed, although slowly at present, to a more global practice. First, as a firm, we’re working around world, not just across the country anymore. Second, there’s an imperative on sustainable design, and third is integrated practice, which is driven by technology and brings design and construction processes ever closer together. We’re all working off a single, computer-based model used for design and construction.”

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: “It’s got to be my Smartphone. I have my office email and home email. I’m one of those guys looking at his email every five minutes around the clock.”

FAVORITE PLACE: “We have a vacation home on the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck – in the screened-in front porch. And Florence, Italy. Two wonderful places.”

FAVORITE HOBBIES: “I’m a workaholic so they’re limited. I love to make amateur movies on Macbook Pro with iMovies. I’ve become fairly good at it.”

FAVORITE FOOD: “If peanut butter and jelly doesn’t count, I guess I’d have to say Chinese food.”

MY HIDDEN TALENT: “I’m a little bit of a one-off artist. I like to try different types of art media but only do one of each. I just completed a large scale acrylic oil painting but probably won’t do another. I tend to do one and move on to something else.”

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: “As a caring person who made a contribution while I was around.”


Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception in April 2014, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.