Ashley Chiarelli joins to lead a dedicated practice focused on guiding clients through complexity, uncertainty, and long-term planning.
Kirksey is excited to announce the strategic hire of Ashley Chiarelli, who joins the firm to lead a newly established Strategy and Foresight practice. This new role reflects the firm's commitment to meeting clients where decisions are hardest — earlier, with better information, and with the long view in mind.
Ashley brings more than a decade of experience working at the intersection of architecture, data capture and visualization, and organizational strategy. In her new role with Kirksey, she will lead the firm’s Strategy and Foresight efforts, a specialized service focused on providing decision support from early visioning through implementation. Her work focuses on helping clients make more confident and informed decisions while also aligning business goals with a forward-thinking architecture perspective.
Based in Houston, Ashley holds a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Science in Foresight from the University of Houston, the world's longest-running graduate program of its kind, and one of only ten dedicated foresight programs globally. Throughout her career she has worked across the sectors that define the built environment: energy and oil & gas, life sciences and research, higher education, and civic and government institutions. Her skill set spans strategic planning, stakeholder alignment, scenario-based foresight, change management, quantitative analysis, and data visualization. Prior to joining Kirksey, Ashley held roles at commercial architectural firms, where she worked on complex, large-scale projects and advisory engagements.
The New Strategy and Foresight Practice
Kirksey’s new Strategy and Foresight practice expands upon the firm’s longstanding commitment to thoughtful, sustainable design by introducing a more formalized, data-driven approach to early decision-making. While the firm has always guided clients through programming and planning, this new capability enhances Kirksey’s ability to address increasingly complex challenges. With Ashley's leadership, the firm will expand its capacity to help clients define what they need to build, why it matters, and how it will perform over time.
“Ashley brings a unique perspective that strengthens how we serve our clients,” said Wes Good, President and CEO at Kirksey. “Her ability to translate complex data and uncertainty into clear, actionable strategies allows us to better align design with long-term client goals. This is a natural evolution of Kirksey’s commitment to smart, sustainable architecture, solidifying the firm as a trusted partner in both strategy and design.”
Ashley's approach integrates seamlessly with project teams, whether embedded throughout the full design process or engaged in standalone advisory work. This flexibility allows Kirksey to meet clients at any stage — including the earliest and most consequential moments, before scope is set and locking in assumptions.
"We are making decisions that get built in stone — decisions that need to last 50, 100 years — in the most uncertain moment most of us have ever worked in," said Ashley. "My goal is to help clients move forward with clarity and confidence, making informed decisions that not only solve today's challenges but prepare them for what's ahead — and finding a firm that sees that work the same way matters. Kirksey meets every conversation with curiosity and genuine interest. A firm willing to act on what others are only starting to see is exactly where this practice belongs."
That alignment between practice and firm was central to Ashley's decision to join. Kirksey's willingness to embrace the full breadth of what this work demands — across market sectors, disciplines, and kinds of problems, without narrowing it into a single lane — reflects the same long-horizon thinking the practice is built to deliver.
By formalizing Strategy and Foresight as a dedicated practice, Kirksey continues to elevate its ability to deliver integrated, human-centered design solutions.