Clear, On-Point, Well-Written, and Useful
"Mark Leese led a superb team…Their combined expertise and experiences were matched well with careful listening and responses to our business stakeholders. Their final report is just what we were looking for: clear, on-point, well written, and useful."
— Andrea Benda | Council Member, Town of Telluride
"Mark has exceptional talents resulting from experience gained in the public and private sectors. He has a thorough understanding of public policy, public input, budgets, schedule obligations, and contractual requirements..."
— Robert Dorroh | City and County of Denver
An Original Thinker that Excels at Creative Problem Solving
"I have watched Mark work with several jurisdictions simultaneously, often in tense settings, where he was always able to offer creative solutions that satisfied the needs of RTD, while still sensitively responding to the requests of numerous stakeholders in a most collaborative and professional manner. Through this work experience, we have gotten to know each other well; I consider him a good friend and believe that I am qualified to comment on his character and achievements as an urban designer, architect, and planner of large and complicated public infrastructure projects.
Mark’s work products always met a very high standard. Mark served as the principal planner and designer of RTD’s commuter rail stations on three commuter rail corridors (Northwest, North Metro, and Gold Line). His deliverables always met professional and creative standards as well as very short schedule deadlines. He was a constant and reliable presence at public and local government representative meetings and could always be counted on to represent RTD’s interests, while still responding to stakeholder inquiries in a fair and professional manner.
Mark is an original thinker; he excels at creative problem solving, and works very well with diverse groups of stakeholders. The potential and promise for advanced and original work is high. He is very collaborative and his ethical standards are of the highest order.
I highly recommend Mark as an architect, urban designer, and planner of public infrastructure projects."
— Chris Quinn | RTD Project Manager
Truly a Pleasure
"Mark has exceptional talents resulting from experience gained in the public and private sectors. He has a thorough understanding of public policy, public input, budgets, schedule obligations and contractual requirements, which come with public projects. His work is very creative in meeting the utilitarian needs of projects. But at the same time he adds unique touches, which make each project special. The most challenging project on which we worked was the plaza for the Louisiana-Pearl LRT Station Plaza.
The Leaves have become the signature of the LRT station. The work has received several awards for its artistic qualities. More importantly it provides the needed protection and shelter for the stairway to the station platform below.
Mark is a very hard working creative professional. It is very easy to work with Mark. He quickly grasps the details of each project and understands what needs to be done to insure the successful delivery. It is as if he is actually a member of the staff. It is truly a pleasure to work with Mark."
— Robert Dorroh | City and County of Denver
