American Express OPEN Forum

The GNU Group is a design and project management firm that works exclusively with real estate owners, developers and users. The firm
develops branding, wayfinding, architectural sign program and marketing communication solutions for domestic and international clients.
Market sectors include healthcare, retail, residential, corporate, office, sports, government and hospitality venues.
The GNU Group has collaborated with real estate professionals and their consultants for over 37 years and is recognized for delivering
thoughtful, highly creative design solutions with pain-free project management experiences for clients.
Current assignments and clients include: Barclays headquarters, San Francisco, Cadence Design Systems headquarters, San Jose, Kaiser
Permanante Medical Centers in Oakland, Santa Rosa, Redwood City, Modesto and Stockton, Promenade Retail Plaza, Dublin, Avalon
Bay Communities BART Transit Village, Pleasant Hill, and John Muir Health’s Concord and Walnut Creek campuses.
The GNU Group is a privately held company with headquarters in Lafayette.
BIOGRAPHY:
Phil joined the GNU Group in 1990 with an offering by its founder to grow the firm and purchase it. Phil purchased the company in 1994
and has re-engineered it twice since 1990 while developing its current Explicit Business Culture™ and brand delivery platform,
implemented in January 2000. His strategy all along was to redefine how design and project management services could be delivered to
clients utilizing a financially transparent business model with the employees, proprietary work product delivery processes and targeted HR
training to maximize client satisfaction, employee involvement and GNU profitability.
Phil’s background has included direct sales, working as a consultant with companies to build sales and, for the last 28 years, working with
real estate owners, developers, users and their consultants in some form of design consultation and project management, either through his
design consulting company in Arizona or the GNU Group.
Phil has lectured on methodologies for collaboration of designers and contractors and has sold and managed large-scale design and project
management real estate projects domestically and internationally.
Phil has served as a board member of the Society of Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) and is a member of the Urban Land Institute
(ULI), CoreNet and SMPS. He is the creator of the Sign Standards Navigator (SSN™), The Sign Standards Advantage (SSA™) and the
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