SCOTT ARBUCKLE: Creative Director

Scott Arbuckle has been heading up GHA’s design department since 2008.  Previously he was the Senior Design Architect for Brinker International for 11 years.  Prior to that he was the Senior Designer for Zale Corporation for 5 years.  Scott has a talent of free-hand drawing approach to aiding in conceptual development and has mastered his skill over his career.  Over the years he has developed the national architectural personality for many brands.

AS the mentor for the creative development of the Brinker design team, Scott designed programs for the education of the entire architecture department.  He was tasked with striving for innovation throughout the corporate structure in all Brinker restaurant designs and was a member of cross-discipline task-force to promote innovative processes.

Scott was also responsible for building the bridge between marketing departments and the restaurant design group and helped create processes so that brand positioning became the starting point for architectural programming.

In his tenure at Brinker he designed original prototypes for several Brinker brands that are used across the U.S. and internationally: Chili’s Proto 12, Macaroni Grill Prototypes 8, 9, & 10, Corner Bakery Café, and worked directly with Brinker CEO on several art pieces for Brinker Campus including 23’ sculpture, and the 30-Year History Wall in the main lobby.

His previous work experience allowed him to create original store designs for Zale’s and Gordon’s that were used for years as their national image in all their mall development. These designs succeeded in creating market separation for these stores that were often in the same malls, so that the parent company had an overall wider customer reach.

Registered Architect: TX #11422

KASIDY BLANKENSHIP: Interior Designer, NCIDQ

Kasidy Blankenship has been in the industry for 7 years and has experience on a wide variety of restaurant projects including national/international chain and individual concepts. While Interior Design is her background, she is also proficient in Architecture, Branding, & Graphics Design. She has extensive knowledge and experience in programming, space planning, color selection, hand & computer drafting, hand & computer rendering, board presentation, material specification & sourcing, and project management.

Registered Interior Designer: TX #10630

SHANNON KLINGELE: Interior Designer, Design Business Manager

Shannon Klingele has been working in the hospitality design industry for over 15 years. Her unique blend of experience from both the consulting side and the corporate side of the interior design business gives her tremendous insights to the needs of our clients. Her time as a Project Designer for Brinker International taught her the inner-workings of an international restaurant company. Besides the creative challenges of putting together finish/ furniture layouts for national brands like Macaroni Grill, she also played a role in the purchasing/design management for fast-moving roll-out programs.  This base of experience has given her strong organizational skills that she utilizes in her role as the GHA Design Lab’s Business Manager. By being both an experienced interior designer and business manager, she can tailor programs, proposals, and contracts to meet client’s specific project and organizational needs.

ANGELA DETRICH: Manager of Purchasing and Procurement

Angela Detrich joined the GHA Design Lab in 2009 as our role in Restaurant development was continuing to expand into the purchasing of furniture, décor, and custom lighting for some of our clients. She had been on the corporate side of purchasing during Don Pablo’s period of rapid growth in the late 1990’s, handling front and back of house purchasing for 40 new restaurants; and most recently, handled front and back of house replacement purchasing for various concepts with Brinker International. She has a wide range of experience, spanning 16 years, handling all of the various processes including competitive bidding, qualification of suppliers, managing cash outlay/payment requests, quality control, facilities maintenance, and project management. She brings a service-oriented approach to all that she does, which makes her ideal for our hospitality clients.

JUSTIN KURTZ: Designer

ERIC ADAMS: Designer

Eric Adams has been working on architectural projects since 2000, but he is probably best described as a graphic designer and computer modeling specialist. Many of our best projects have been greatly enhanced by Eric’s ability to bring a client’s project to life in a photo-realistic computer-generated model. This skill has allowed our clients to better understand the feel of their projects while it is still in the design phase. This enables our team to make strategic design adjustments in the office rather than on a construction site where design revisions result in expensive change orders.  His renderings also help to speed up the city review process - it's our experience that high-quality presentation packages and renderings results in fewer city comments and a faster approval process.  Eric also puts these graphic skills to work as we help our clients create signage packages, logos, and custom wall graphics. Needless to say in our hospitality and restaurant design practice, these services are a very important part of the design offerings.