Saskia Dennis-van Dijl

ABOUT SASKIA

Saskia’s work is driven by her love of design and the creative people who practice it. She advises Cameron MacAllister Group clients in the areas of marketing, practice management, leadership development, and strategic planning.

Guiding clients through the development and implementation of strategic and tactical marketing plans and budgets, Saskia provides counsel to in-house marketing principals and senior marketing staff on best practices, marketing trends, and prospective clients. She also leads training workshops for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals throughout the United States on topics including: Presenting for Success, Client Care and Business Development, Effective Communications, and Basics of Marketing.

In recent years, Saskia has focused extensively on leadership development in the AEC industry including a deep commitment to concerns related to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. She was a founding member of the 2014 Equity by Design research project sponsored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) San Francisco and now works with companies around the nation on culture and policy development to achieve goals of diversity and inclusion in all aspects. She has spoken widely on the topic, including presenting to the AIA, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and several other national and regional groups. In 2018, Saskia was named a Women of Vision award winner by the Portland Daily Journal of Commerce. She was one of 50 women honored for their roles in shaping the industry in Oregon and southwest Washington.Saskia also serves as Executive Director of the Global Design Alliance, an international network of 19 design, planning, and construction firms that are committed to fostering dynamic growth and change.

She joined Cameron MacAllister Group in 1999 after 11 years as Director of Business Development for Esherick Homsey Dodge and Davis (EHDD), an architectural firm based in San Francisco, California.

Saskia recently built a house in the Columbia River Gorge, just east of Portland, Oregon, strategically located within hiking distance of the Pacific Crest Trail.

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PUBLISHED WORK

• New Realities: Employee Wellness and Organizational Culture in Design Firms, article, Cameron MacAllister Group, June, 2023
• New Realities: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, article, Cameron MacAllister Group, October 9, 2020
• Want To Improve Your Firm’s Go/No Go Process?, article, Cameron MacAllister Group, August 14, 2017

EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES AND PRESENTATIONS

• Total Leadership Workshop, CoFacilitator with Stewart Friedman and John Gavan, Denver, Colorado, 2018
• American Institute for Steel Construction National Conference, Equity in Practice Panel, Baltimore, Maryland, 2018
• Society for Marketing Professional Services PRC, Women in Leadership Panel, Napa, California, 2018
• Beverly Willis Foundation Roundtable, Equity in Practice, Chicago, Illinois, 2017
• Society for College and University Planning, OHSU Knight Cancer Research Building: Creating an Integrated and Collaborative Culture, Seattle, Washington, 2017
• Cameron MacAllister Group Design Colloquium, San Francisco, California, 2017
  American Society for Landscape Architects National Convention, Equity in Practice, New Orleans, Louisiana – 2016
• Cameron MacAllister Group Design Colloquium, San Francisco, California, 2016
• Global Design Alliance, State of Marketing and Equity by Design, Des Moines, Iowa, 2015
  University of Oregon HOPES Conference, Equity by Design, 2015

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS PRESENTATIONS

• GlobalDesign Alliance Conference, Virtual, 2021
• A/E/C Roundtable: Inclusive Practices in Recruiting and Management, SEAONC, San Francisco, California, 2021
• Global Design Alliance Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2020
• Global Design Alliance Bookclub – Race Racism and Justice, 2020
• AIA Portland, Creating a Culture of Mentorship, 2019
• Global Design Alliance Conference, Los Angeles, California, 2019
• Cameron MacAllister Group Design Colloquium, San Francisco, California, 2018
• Global Design Alliance Conference, Dallas, Texas, 2018
• Global Design Alliance Conference, Toronto, California, 2018
• AIA Women’s Leadership Summit – Six Step Scalable Approach to Change, 2017
• Global Design Alliance Conference, Washington DC, 2017
• Global Design Alliance Conference, Portland, Oregon, 2017
• AIA Conference on Architecture, Equity by Design, Orlando, Florida, 2017
• AIA San Francisco: California Equity by Design Symposium, San Francisco, California, 2016
• AIA East Bay: Talking about Design, Oakland, California, 2016
• AIA Large Firm Roundtable: Equity by Design, Austin, Texas, 2015
• AIA Cincinnati: Equity by Design, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2015