Lawrence Rocha Named WATG's Chairman of Board
APRIL 22, 2008. Lawrence M. Rocha, Associate AIA, has recently been named chairman of destination design firm WATG's board of directors.
"Over the 20 years spent serving WATG in a variety of leadership roles, I've come to understand that implementing incremental changes as well as innovations can best be achieved while respecting and embracing the firm's culture." said Rocha. "The thing that I appreciate most about WATG is our unwavering focus on design quality and thought leadership. Having a clear direction makes leading significantly easier."
In addition to his new role as chairman of the board, Rocha serves as the firm's senior vice president and chief information officer. In his capacity as CIO, he is responsible for the design and implementation of WATG's information systems, including financial and project management systems, local and wide area networking, and enterprise-wide databases.
He has directed and coordinated the use of technology on diverse WATG projects, some of which have included: The Disneyland Paris Hotel in France; the Acapulco Marriott in Mexico; Pacific Islands Club in Guam; and The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.
Rocha has authored many articles on the subject of technology in architecture that have appeared in professional publications such as: Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture and Engineering News-Record. In addition, Rocha has been a frequent speaker at industry conferences including Harvard Graduate School of Design; AEC Systems; Computers for Construction; the AIA Technology and Practice conference; and he co-founded the national AEC/IS Roundtable. He was elected to WATG's board in 2002 and served as corporate secretary for the last three years. Other board members include: Greg Coghill, Rob Day, Jeremy Heyes, Cynthia Jacobs and Robert Payan.
WATG specializes in hospitality, leisure and entertainment design from its offices in Irvine, Orlando, Seattle, Honolulu, Singapore and London. The firm is best known for creating internationally-acclaimed destinations in 157 countries.. For more information, visit www.watg.com.
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