Jeffrey Hertzler Promoted to Principal

Jeff Hertzler is stepping into a new role at RSM Design: Principal. It’s a role Jeff has grown into project by project, and he will be adding a new voice to the RSM Design leadership team.

PATH TO PRINCIPAL

Jeff grew up in Southern California and studied psychology at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, a background that continues to shape how he interacts with teams, clients, culture, and the community on every project. “I’ve seen Jeff grow over the years,” Martin says. “It’s just so great to see somebody mature from a designer to a leader and now a principal, and watching his family grow along the way.”

With each step of growth within RSM Design, Jeff took on a bigger voice in shaping how RSM Design approaches their work. “Jeff leads the entire design ‘think tank’ and thoughtfulness for all of RSM Design,” Suzanne Schwartz, Founding Principal, shares. “He works on our most ambitious projects, the ones with the highest stakes, the ones that really stretch who we are, what we provide, and the design expertise we bring to the table. His point of view is admired by the rest of the team.

Along the way, Jeff’s design work has picked up recognition across environmental graphic design and branding realm. His portfolio touches some of the most recognized places in the country: Balboa Park in San Diego, California; Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, California; Fifth and Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee; Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas; the City of Asbury Park, New Jersey, and the Post District in Salt Lake City, Utah. Each project carries its own story and set of challenges, but taken together, they trace the arc of a designer who kept growing into more complex design opportunities, and kept turning them into work worth celebrating.

STRATEGIST AT HEART

Give Jeff a new culture, a new client, and a project full of unfamiliar opportunities, and he tends to find his footing quickly, turning what he learns into a direction the whole team can follow. Founding Principal, Harry Mark FAIA, sees him as a creative strategist and designer influencer. “Jeff has established himself as a design leader and the vision behind complicated projects that require strategy and creative approaches to complex challenges,” he said. “He is not afraid to tackle a challenge we haven’t faced before. He sets the tone of clarity within the guest experience.”

That instinct has traveled with him as he led global design initiatives on a number of unique opportunities. In Costa Rica, Jeff led Oxígeno, a cultural center imagined as a gathering place for its community, seeing it through from an early concept all the way to completion. In China, he ran design workshops with Harry on site with clients across a series of mixed-use developments, taking in new context and shaping a vision in real time, jet lag and all. During the pandemic, he was a key team member through the transformation of Grand Central Terminal’s Dining Concourse, building a shared vision for an historic landmark.

SHAPING RSM DESIGN’S GROWTH

Becoming a Principal at RSM Design is the start of a new chapter, one with even more room to shape where the firm is headed. As part of the leadership team, Jeff will continue to shape RSM Design’s direction, looking ahead for the studio’s growth.

“I spent time watching him find inspiration as a designer, and now he’s turned that into inspiring others,” Suzanne said. “It’s not just finding inspiration for his own designs anymore. Now it’s how you inspire a whole team of people to do their best work and give clients the best experience, from beginning to end.”

Harry describes a similar shift, though he frames it around mentorship. “Jeff is strengthening his leadership in the office, as a teacher and mentor” he said, “guiding up-and-coming designers and sharing his knowledge with our clients.”

RSM Design has always been about connecting people to place and crafting designs that educate and inspire. It is hard to think of anyone on the team who understands that mission quite as fully, or as personally, as Jeff.

Congratulations!