Jon’s passion for architecture is rooted in the creative act of building things. 

Jon joined Wheeler Kearns in 1999 and became a principal in 2006. He received a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia and was awarded the Design Excellence Award and AIA Certificate of Merit upon graduation. His academic career was marked by winning multiple student design competitions, including the ACSA wood competition. During graduate studies, Jon worked for the University Architect for the University of Virginia in the lower concourse of Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda. Jon’s primary role was initiating programming and masterplan studies for the expansion of the Arts Campus on Carr’s Hill. After Graduation, Jon remained briefly in Charlottesville and worked for William Sherman and Associates.

With Wheeler Kearns, Jon has worked on numerous real estate development projects emphasizing solutions that focus on public or shared community spaces. His experience includes a pair of mixed use, transit oriented development (TOD) high rise structures within Chicago along the CTA blue line and Milwaukee Avenue. The first project, 1611 W. Division, anchors an existing public plaza, and with its 97’ tall art wall, reinvigorates Division Street as a newly defined cultural corridor. The second project, Milwaukee-Belden T.O.D., creates its own public plaza by book ending a large site with two towers. The narrow plaza left between is an extension of the sidewalk and is activated by retail tenant cafe seating and oversized natural elements including climbing boulders, a gabion wall and timber benches. Other award-winning projects Jon has directed include the Meadow Lane Retreat, Lakeview Penthouse, Orchard Willow Residence, and Southwest Women Working Together, a nonprofit organization serving the West Englewood community on the Southwest side of Chicago.

Jon has served numerous times as visiting juror at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Cliff Dwellers Club and the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Jon is a registered Architect in Illinois and a member of the American Institute of Architects. He is also a Registered Energy Professional and Self-Certified Architect with the City of Chicago.

Jon resides in the Pilsen neighborhood and spends free time honing his finish carpentry skills by designing, fabricating and installing millwork elements within the 150 year-old home he shares with his wife, son and golden doodle.