WHO WE ARE

McKissack & McKissack is a national architecture, program and construction management firm with over 35 years of experience working with clients to envision and deliver building and infrastructure projects that enrich people’s lives and empower communities to flourish.
McKissack & McKissack has earned a strong reputation for consistently delivering results on time-sensitive, complex, high-profile projects for both government and private sector clients. The firm is large and diverse enough to have the full range of technical capabilities to manage our clients’ projects, yet still small enough that each project receives the attention it deserves.
$15B
Managing $15 Billion in Construction
Top 100
Consistently Ranked Top 100 CM-for-Fee Firm by ENR
35
35 Years in A/E/C Industry
5th
Generation to Carry the Building Tradition

McKissack & McKissack is a leader, enhancing people's lives by advancing the design and construction industry.

Our Leadership

Advisory  Board

Eric McKissack
Advisory Board
Eric T. McKissack, CFA, is an investment executive, entrepreneur, and independent board member. As founder and former chief executive officer of Channing Capital Management, he was at the helm of the Chicago-based investment manager for fifteen years. Previously he served as vice chairman and co-chief investment officer of Ariel Investments. Mr. McKissack has also served in other corporate and nonprofit board roles. He currently serves on boards of Farmer Mac (NYSE:AGM), Northern Trust’s FlexShares ETF Funds (where he serves as chair), and Morgan Stanley Pathway Funds. His civic engagements include the boards of The Arts Club of Chicago, Terra Foundation, Berkeley Haas School of Business, and the Grand Victoria Foundation (which he chairs). McKissack is also a trustee of The Art Institute of Chicago, and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. He earned his SB from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Michelle Franklin
Advisory Board
Ms. Franklin is a longtime IBM employee who specializes in transformation management. Having started in 2000, she is currently managing consultant for Strategy & Transformation Global Center of Excellence. Ms. Franklin has focused on change management, knowledge management, human capital management, product management, supply chain management, customer relationship management, operations management, commercialization of technology, new manager training, portal/website content management, cloud computing strategy, web 2.0 adoption, crowdsourcing, ideation and social media. She possesses particular strengths in business and technology strategy development and process improvement for public- and private-sector organizations. Ms. Franklin has consistently delivered across multiple phases of strategy and change projects, with high client satisfaction, for numerous federal agencies. Her commercial sector include: ENN (a China-based energy company), Cisco Systems, Inc., Fluor Corporation, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Federated Department Stores, Inc., and Dollar Tree, Inc.
J. Neal Ferry
Advisory Board
Mr. Ferry is owner of J. Neal Ferry Business Consulting. where he specializes in employing methodology to provide goal-oriented, process driven improvements via internal changes to make existing revenue accretive. The processes identifies and executes against measurable milestones to ensure that all aspects of a given area of needed improvement will be completed successfully. Mr. Ferry is driven and motivated by results. He finds methods with internal organizational resources to achieve needed improvements. Mr. Ferry has repeatedly worked with businesses to expand gross margins, lower costs, and increase revenue. He engages with businesses across many industries, including building construction, real estate remodeling, water treatment and filtration, pipeline construction, property management, and heavy civil construction, among others. Prior to the creation of his consulting firm, he held several positions at Astec Industries and Peter Kiewit Sons Inc.. Mr. Ferry also serves on several corporate boards.
Amy Radin
Advisory Board
Ms. Radin is a pragmatic innovator and customer-driven, tech-enabled marketer who builds businesses and solves problems in ways traditional approaches cannot achieve. She builds and mobilizes high-energy teams that view the world through the lens of the customer and push the envelope to achieve unexpected and extraordinary results. She is the former senior executive director and chief marketing officer at AXA Group, a $139 billion global insurance and asset management company with a team of 100 and a $65 million budget, where she reported to the CEO. She led a $40 million digital investment, including an award-winning site redesign, which improved lead generation, service account management, and client relationship financial drivers. Ms. Radin transformed AXA Group’s marketing division, aligning it to business priorities. She centralized the division into one team with five centers of excellence—brand, digital, insights and analytics, product marketing, and communications. Ms. Radin led a US launch, involving a $73 million media spend over three years, which leveraged a number one category position. She has held executive positions at E*Trade Financial Group, Readers Digest Association, Inc., Dime Bancorp, Inc. and the American Express Company.
Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn
Advisory Board
Ms. Ahmad-Llewellyn is a former owner and vice chairman of the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Inc., a privately-held corporation and the fourth largest Coke bottler in the United States. She pioneered the creation of home care in New York City, and had a successful career in the home healthcare field. Ms. Ahmad-Llewellyn currently serves as a vice chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center, is vice chairman of The New 42nd Street, and is on the board of Peace First, originator of the Peace First Prize. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed her to the New York City Commission on Women’s Issues, where she served during all three of his mayoral terms. She is a founding board member of Platform.org, a new non-profit organization focused on diversifying participation and success in the growing innovation economy.

Our Team

OUR HISTORY

McKissack & McKissack is an outgrowth of the oldest minority-owned architecture / engineering firm in the United States.
Its roots go back to before the Civil War, when a slave named Moses McKissack learned the building trade from his overseer. It was his grandson, Moses III, who launched the first McKissack & McKissack in Nashville, Tennessee. The year was 1905.
McKissack & McKissack was founded by Deryl McKissack in 1990. When Ms. McKissack established her company, she was the fifth generation of her family to carry on the building tradition.

Company Timeline

1700
The McKissack family traces their ancestry back five generations to the Ashanti Tribe of Ghana, from where a young man was taken. He survived the horrors of the middle passage and was sold into bondage to William McKissack of North Carolina. This young African was given the name Moses McKissack.
1790
Moses McKissack comes to this country as a slave, owned by a prominent contractor who used his skills as a master carpenter. He passed the trade down through the generations, with his grandsons becoming the first licensed black architects in the Southeastern United States.
1840
Gabriel Moses McKissack (1840-1923) laid the foundation in Giles County for a family building tradition. A carpenter and a son of a master craftsman and freedman Moses I. Gabriel fathered six sons with whom many Giles County buildings are associated.
1905
Moses III, along with his brother Calvin, launches the first McKissack architecture and engineering firm in Nashville, TN. He was the grandson of Moses McKissack, a slave who learned the trade of building from his owner and began a family legacy in the industry.
1912
Calvin McKissack starts his independent practice in Dallas, TX, specializing in the design and construction of dormitories and churches.
1922
Calvin rejoins Moses II and the two become among the first registered architects in the state of Tennessee and the first licensed black architects throughout the southeast.
1941
The firm expands outside Tennessee. The firm received licenses from Alabama in 1941 and from Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Mississippi in 1943. Tennessee authorities called McKissack and McKissack "...somewhat unique in the fact that it is one of the few Negro architectural firms in the country" and had "done some creditable work in Nashville."
1942
The McKissack firm is awarded a $5.7 million contract to design and build the 99th Pursuit Squadron Airbase in Tuskegee, AL, the largest federal contract at that time ever given to an African-American firm.
1968
William DeBerry, the youngest son of Moses III, takes the helm as President of the firm. He nurtured the talents of his daughters—Andrea, Cheryl and Deryl—who all excelled in the fields of architecture and engineering.
1975
Upon retirement, William DeBerry’s wife, Leatrice, assumes the position of Chief Executive Officer of the McKissack firm.
1990
As an outgrowth of the McKissack firm founded in Nashville, TN, Deryl McKissack starts her own company—McKissack & McKissack—in Washington, DC as a sole entrepreneur working with very limited financial resources.
2002
Deryl McKissack expands the organization into the Chicago region, to begin working on large programs for Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Housing Authority and the City of Chicago (O'Hare International Airport).
2002
McKissack & McKissack makes its debut in Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 100 “Construction Management-For-Fee Firms” at #91.
2005
McKissack completes its first international project, a conceptual masterplan and design for a new American University campus in Yola, Nigeria. The firm designed the first six buildings for 1,400 students.
2008
McKissack expands into the west coast with its new office in the Los Angeles marketplace, with clients such as the LA Metropolitan Transportation Authority, LA World Airports and LA Unified School District.
2009
For the first time, McKissack ranks among ENR’s Top 50 Program Management Firms at #49 and is also listed in the Top 100 Construction Management-for-Fee Firms.
2013
McKissack opened its Baltimore office to strengthen its presence in the Mid-Atlantic region and better serve clients with local expertise.
2015
McKissack moves down south into the Dallas region providing program management and commissioning services to clients such as Texas Women's University, Texas A&M University, the Texas Facilities Commission, and Michaels Stores.
2020
McKissack becomes the first African American firm to win a major contract for the City of Fort Worth, TX. For the first time in history, Fort Worth has selected an African-American, woman-owned firm as the prime contractor for two categories.
2023
In 2023, McKissack secured the Virgin Islands Department of Education (VIDE) New Schools and Modernization contract— a comprehensive, multi‑year program to rebuild and modernize 23 schools across St. Croix and St. Thomas/St. John. This multi-billion-dollar program represents the largest program management engagement in our 35‑year history.
2025
McKissack earned recognition in ENR’s Top 100 Professional Services Firms for Construction Management/PM-for-Fee and celebrated major project milestones with clients including Chicago Public Schools, University of Illinois, Maryland Stadium Authority, United Airlines, PGCPS, DDOT, ComEd, and Arlington County.
2025
Our 35th anniversary marks a proud milestone that reflects decades of growth, resilience, and impact. Guided by our humble, hungry, and smart mindset, we’ve expanded our reach, strengthened our expertise, and delivered work that elevates communities. Through it all, our core values—collaboration, integrity, innovation, excellence, and empathy—have remained the foundation of who we are.

Our Community

By Deryl Mckissack

Trust for the
National Mall

McKissack & McKissack is a proud contributor to the Trust for the National Mall, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service dedicated to restoring and improving Washington, DC’s National Mall.

Membership

Living Classrooms

Established in 1985 using unique learning environments, Living Classrooms provides access to more equitable education, workforce development, community safety, and health and wellness opportunities that enable individuals to achieve their aspirations and build safer, stronger, and healthier communities for all.

Membership

ACE Mentoring

Founded in 1994, the ACE Mentor Program of America (ACE) is a free, award-winning, after-school program designed to attract high school students into pursuing careers in the Architecture, Construction and Engineering industry, including skilled trades.

Membership

National Council of Negro Women

The National Council of Negro Women is an “organization of organizations” (comprised of 300 campus and community-based sections and 32 national women’s organizations) that enlightens, inspires and connects more than 2,000,000 women and men.  Its mission is to lead, advocate for, and empower women of African descent, their families and communities.

Membership

Martha’s Table

For 41 years, Martha’s Table has been operating nationally accredited education programs beginning at birth; fighting for food justice and increasing access to healthy meals and fresh produce for over 20,000 residents; and promoting family success through our no-cost community store and engagement programs. During the pandemic, McKissack supported Martha’s table.
McKissack has been an extraordinary supporter of the NFBPA through the outstanding leadership Deryl McKissack has shown over the years.
DISCOVER

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