BOSTON—Global architecture and design firm Perkins&Will has named a new chief marketing officer: award-winning architect Yanel de Angel. De Angel, who led the firm’s Boston studio as managing director since 2021, is now responsible for setting firmwide marketing strategy, strengthening the Perkins&Will brand, and enhancing the experience of the firm’s clients. She succeeds Gina Berndt, who held the position since 2021 and remains a principal and board member.
Perkins&Will has also named de Angel’s successor as managing director in Boston: celebrated architect and interior designer Vickie Alani. Both appointments are part of the firm’s broader leadership succession strategy, designed to ensure agility and innovation through growth and expansion.
“Vickie and Yanel embody the leadership characteristics that make our firm, and our teams, successful: confident, strategic, visionary, and empathic,” says CEO Phil Harrison. “As Perkins&Will continues to evolve and flex in a rapidly changing world, we’re energized by their optimism and look forward to seeing where their creativity takes us.”
Yanel de Angel | Chief Marketing Officer
During her 18-year career at Perkins&Will, de Angel has held numerous positions, including project architect, project manager, researcher, council member, and client engagement leader. In 2021, she was elevated to the firmwide board of directors and named managing director of the Boston studio, where her empathic leadership style helped build a thriving culture of inclusivity and client care.
“For nearly two decades, Yanel’s diverse roles at the firm have given her critical insight into many dimensions of the business, empowering her to lead with a clear vision and strategy,” says Lindsey Peckinpaugh, president of Perkins&Will. “But her superpower is her ability to combine a strategic outlook with deep empathy—a quality that has earned her the respect and admiration of colleagues and clients, alike. We’re excited to see her impact on our firm, our brand, and the client experience.”
De Angel is known for her ability to simplify complex challenges and build consensus. Over the years, she has leveraged those skills not only in her work, but also in civic engagements and philanthropic efforts. In 2017, she founded ResilientSEE, a global alliance of architects, designers, urban planners, academics, and others committed to helping rebuild communities on the island of Puerto Rico that were devastated by Hurricanes Maria and Irma. De Angel was born and raised in Puerto Rico. The Early Resilient Framework Plan, a project that emerged from the ResilientSEE initiative, received a Design Excellence Award from the National Organization of Minority Architects. Today, ResilientSEE operates in other regions, as well.
“To me, design is about doing what’s right—for our clients, for our communities, for the planet, for society at large,” de Angel says.
A longtime champion of equity and inclusion in the design profession, de Angel co-chaired the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Women in Leadership national summit in 2023. In 2025, she won the Women in Design Award of Excellence from the Boston Society of Architecture, one of the largest AIA chapters in the country. Today, she serves on committees for the Women Who Build Summit, the CREW Network, and the National Latinx Architects Coalition. She also serves on advisory boards for Sociedad Latina of Boston, Syracuse University School of Architecture, and Wentworth Institute of Technology School of Architecture.
De Angel holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Puerto Rico; a Master of Architecture from Syracuse University; and a Master of Design Studies in the History and Theory of Architecture from the Harvard GSD.
“As I step into the next phase of my career as CMO at Perkins&Will, I’m eager to apply my holistic experience in ways that will yield the greatest positive impact on our firm. From elevating our brand and Living Design philosophy to ensuring our clients have a consistently joyful, positive experience working with us, we’re going to do amazing things at this firm.”
Vickie Alani | Managing Director, Boston
Alani brings multidisciplinary expertise and 37 years of experience across a diverse range of project typologies—including academic, multi-family residential, hospitality, and corporate/commercial—to Perkins&Will’s Boston studio. She joins after nearly a decade as a senior principal at another well-known architecture and interior design firm in Boston; prior to that, she worked for two other notable New England firms. Her portfolio includes K-12 learning environments, apartment high-rises, transit-oriented mixed-use neighborhood master plans, and even a New Hampshire highway emergency response station with a snow-melting room.
“I’ve built my entire career around the belief that all design should be great design, and I treat every opportunity as a way to make things better,” Alani says. “I’m excited to begin this next chapter of my professional story with Perkins&Will because I know that’s a philosophy the firm shares.”
As managing director, Alani assumes responsibility for a bustling studio of 150 full-time staff serving clients across multiple sectors, including K-12 and higher education; sports, recreation, and entertainment; science and technology; healthcare; and corporate and commercial development. Some of the studio’s most recent projects include the William E. Carter School in Boston; Belmont Middle and High School in Belmont; Assembly Innovation Park in Somerville; and The Malone Family Tower at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
“I come into this role with experience in a lot of project types, but joining Perkins&Will expands my horizons, and I find that exciting,” says Alani, who will work closely with Boston studio design director Patrick Cunningham and operations director Andrew Grote. “My job will be to harness the great talent and energy we have here and help direct it toward our collective success.”
An alumnus of the Rhode Island School of Design—and with degrees in both fine arts and architecture—Alani has earned national and international recognition for her ability to seamlessly integrate art, architecture, and interior design at all scales. Her clients and collaborators describe her as “transformational” and “innovative”—qualities her new Perkins&Will colleagues also ascribe to her.
“Vickie’s track record of design excellence, client satisfaction, mentorship, and community impact is remarkable,” says de Angel. “She is an exceptional leader, and I have every confidence that she will take our Boston practice to the next level of success, building on the momentum we’ve created here.”
In addition to her professional responsibilities, Alani is an influential voice for women and youth in design, having participated for many years in the Boston Society for Architecture’s Women in Design Mid-Career Mentoring Program—which, coincidentally, was co-founded by de Angel. She’s also a board member for Artists for Humanity, a Boston-based nonprofit empowering teens through art and design. Other board memberships include the Boston Chamber of Commerce and Wentworth Institute of Technology.
“People inspire me—their ideas, their visions, their community needs. And the city of Boston, with all its beauty and complexity, motivates me to do my best work every day. I’m excited to begin working with my talented new colleagues at Perkins&Will as we continue raising the bar on excellence.”
