Partner Susannah Gilbard Retiring

Congratulations to Susannah Gilbard on her retirement after nearly 45 years of hard work and service to the engineering and lighting design industries! Susannah’s many accomplishments and awards are a testament to the differences she has made to lighting design and truly reflect the efforts of someone who has left the industry a better place. She will remain at AKF throughout the early part of the year to transfer clients and projects to new points of contact.

Susannah joined AKF as a Project Manager in 2000, since AKF did not have a lighting design department at that time. Soon, she was asked if she would like to create a lighting design group at AKF. Susannah spearheaded AKF Lighting Design, which later rebranded as Lightcraft. In 2013, she was named AKF’s first female partner. In 2016, she became one of the first lighting designers in the world to earn the Certified Lighting Designer accreditation; the first international, evidence-based certification in architectural lighting design. Prolific in the lighting design community, Susannah has authored articles and contributed to industry publications, and has held leadership positions for the Illuminating Engineering Society and the International Association of Lighting Designers.

Iconic projects and institutions for which Susannah designed the lighting include the Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University, every healthcare institution in New York City, and the memorial To the Struggle Against World Terrorism.

Thank you for everything, Susannah; you will be missed!