181: Fred Kramer, former President of ADD Inc. (now Stantec)

Fred Kramer joined ADD Inc. when it was a 15-person operation focused entirely on suburban Boston office buildings. Over the next three decades, he rose to President, blending his business discipline with design ambition.

Under Fred’s leadership, the firm diversified into multifamily housing, higher education, and interior design – scaling into a 250-person multi-sector powerhouse before its acquisition by Stantec in 2014.

Following the acquisition, Fred spent five years at Stantec, ultimately serving as Vice President and East Regional Business Leader for Buildings. Today, through Kramer Consulting (launched in 2020), he helps founders and next-generation leaders navigate succession, transitions, and leadership development. Fred brings the rare perspective of an executive who has expanded a firm from 15 to 250, steered an organization through a major recession, and managed a massive corporate acquisition from the inside.

Inside this week’s episode: 

• Transitioning a team into specialized experts and uniting them as a cohesive team
• Unpacking the critical distinction between a business-led practice and a practice-led business
• How building post-occupancy evaluations into fees transforms client relationships
• Structuring ADD Inc. into sector-based business lines
• Fred’s advice for design firm leaders and the unique value he delivers through Kramer Consulting

Thank you for joining the Design Development community. Subscribe to capture insight from the latest episodes dropping every Wednesday.

Our goal is to help people like you identify opportunities for growth by sharing the journey of industry leaders. There is no one path. Success isn’t a straight line. There is something to learn from everyone’s story.  Let’s go!

Leave your thoughts in the comments and reach out if you want to be a valuable guest on the show!

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/