AKLD Lighting Design, Ltd.

Bios

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  Anne Kustner Haser

  President and Design Principal

  Anne is the founder and award-winning leader of AKLD Lighting Design, a woman owned business enterprise (WBE) located in suburban Chicago. As Design Principal, Anne establishes the design direction and ensures high quality design standards by overseeing all AKLD projects. With both Fine Art and Interior Design degrees, Anne has a passion for lighting architecture. She combines aesthetics with technical expertise honed from years designing at a consulting engineering firm. In 1994, Anne founded AKLD Lighting Design. With over 75 awards won, Anne and AKLD have garnered accolades from the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) with their prestigious Award of Excellence, the International GE Award of Excellence for Residential Lighting and numerous Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Illumination Awards. AKLD has completed over 1600 architectural lighting and control system designs in a wide range of applications and environments world-wide.

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  Link: Anne Kustner Haser

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  Lisa Bartlett

  Lighting Director, Mountain West

  With over 20 years of experience, Lisa Bartlett is an award-winning architectural lighting designer passionate about creating spaces that support wellness. She has worked in both specialty lighting design and multi-disciplinary environments, most recently as the director of the lighting studio at Davis Partnership Architects, to guide lighting projects as diverse as large hospitals, corporate offices, and civic institutions to successful completion around the country. As a recognized thought leader in the lighting industry, Lisa is known for bridging the gap between research and design. By utilizing evidence demonstrating the impact of light on human health, she executes innovative lighting solutions that support wellness. Although Lisa focuses her efforts on lighting design, she is also a licensed architect, nationally certified interior designer, EDAC-certified, and LEED-accredited professional, as well as a professional member of the International Association of Lighting Designers. She has delivered presentations on lighting and health for IESNA, LightFair, and Environments for Aging, is part of National Institutes of Health’s Health in Buildings Roundtable and was recently featured in the film LD2020 - A Story About Lighting Design.

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  Link: Lisa Bartlett

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  Ann Reo

  Senior Associate, Design & Business Development

  The first decade of Ann’s career was primarily focused on lighting design for commercial projects such as corporate office, museums, retail, convention centers, large post offices, distribution plants, and exterior lighting for public parks & building façades. She was the recipient of several lighting design awards during this chapter of her career. In 2002, Ann decided to follow her fascination with designing LED luminaires. She developed a business plan, raised venture capital and launched her own LED-based commercial luminaire manufacturing company called iO Lighting. Serving as President & CEO, iO Lighting won multiple product design awards including Best New Product of the Year. She sold her business to Cooper Lighting in 2007 and stayed on as General Manager of iO lighting & VP of Solid-State Lighting. Senior executive positions with Soraa and Zumtobel North America were next in her career chronology until she decided to start her own consulting firm, ReoSpace LLC in 2019. Ann received her Master of Architecture with a minor in Illuminating Engineering and a Bachelor of Science, in Architecture from the University of Illinois – Champaign Urbana. Her commercial lighting design work in the Chicagoland area include award winning projects such as; the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA Chicago), portions of McCormick Place, Millennium Park & the Harold Washington Library and several law offices nationwide. Going full circle back to her original roots in lighting design, Ann joined AKLD Lighting Design in 2022. Whether it be luminaire design or lighting system design, Ann has an undeniable passion for architecture and light.

  Services:

  Link: Ann Reo

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  Fernanda Blackaller

  Lighting Designer

  After receiving her undergraduate degree in Industrial Design at Universidad Iberoamericana, Fernanda completed a postgraduate in Lighting Design, where she fell in love with light and lighting. Before joining AKLD, she worked for a relevant lighting design studio in Mexico as Project Manager / Lighting Designer, and she brings 5 years of significant experience in hospitality and residential lighting design. Fernanda understands the important role light plays to create comfort and enhance people lives.

  Services:

  Link: Fernanda Blackaller

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  Evan Higgins

  Lighting Designer

  Evan graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he studied Lighting Design & Technology. Before joining AKLD, he had an internship with the American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City & he assisted a few Broadway lighting designers on various regional and off-broadway productions. More recently, after graduating college, he worked as an Associate Lighting Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering supporting a variety of projects across the Disney property in Florida. He is particularly interested in the ever-changing lighting technology that he gets to see and work with through his role with AKLD.

  Services:

  Link: Evan Higgins

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  Preslee Vaught

  Lighting Specialist

  While earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Architecture Design from Indiana State University, Preslee became accustomed to integrating the intricate aesthetic and technical aspects of commercial, healthcare, institutional, residential, and product design. In addition, Preslee spent a summer interning as a lighting designer in downtown Chicago. During this time, Preslee collaborated with architects, engineers, and interior designers and assisted throughout the design process from concept phase, design development, materials research, and selection, through to procurement, production, and installation.

  Services:

  Link: Preslee Vaught

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  Harmon Lee

  Lighting Specialist, Mountain West

  Harmon recently graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design and a certificate in Lighting Design. Throughout his four years at CU Boulder, he gained valuable insight into how to create a strong concept and apply it, and how a narrative can influence design. Upon completing a year-long internship with AKLD, Harmon is excited to start his career in lighting design with the team.

  Services:

  Link: Harmon Lee

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  John Haser

  Director of Administration

  John is a man of many talents and has been associated with AKLD Lighting Design, Ltd. for over two decades. He handles the operational, organizational, and marketing duties of AKLD. His job responsibilities allow the creative team to focus on design and not worry about the day to day minutia of running a business.

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  Link: John Haser