Reprise Design Inc.  -  12400 Portland Avenue South, Suite 100  -  Burnsville, MN 55337  -  Phone: 952-252-4042  -  Fax: 952-252-4043

Purpose

At Reprise Design we are committed to treating every client and every project with the same enthusiasm, creativity, high regard, and professionalism. We are committed to maintaining service quality. Our Coworkers are our internal partners, we are committed to providing them with a workplace based on trust, support, continuous learning, and respect.

Vision

We see ourselves holding Weekly Meetings to discuss opportunities, progress, & support in our contribution to the company. Continually seek feedback from our external clients to find out how we are doing and how to improve. Communicate truthfully, openly, and regularly with internal partners. Encourage the creativity and search for new opportunities in each of us. Our workplace is based on trust, support, continuous learning, and respect.

Meet the staff at Reprise Design

Brian Johnson, AIA
President

For over 25 years, Reprise's co-founder, Brian Johnson, has assisted public, private, and nonprofit clients in the planning and design of projects. With extensive industrial, office, and retail experience, Brian has a practical understanding of the business world. This understanding is founded on a rich and diverse education in architecture, city planning, and urban design. With real project experience and a solid education that encouraged him to explore theory, Brian knows how to balance "art" with "the practical" in the making of thoughtful places.

Brian calls Minnesota home, but he has a fondness for Philadelphia, where he received two graduate degrees from the historic University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts and where he taught Planning Graphics. But don't be intimidated by his advanced degrees, Brian is a down-to-earth Minnesotan who is as comfortable paddling down the river with his dogs as he is in a boardroom.

Clients like Brian's direct and focused approach. He knows which issues to attend to and which will take care of themselves over time. As an accomplished planner, he knows how to work with city staff and with owners to encourage a fast, attentive decision-making process. His planning skills allow projects to get on track in the early stages, before going too far down the wrong trail.

Brian models what it means to give back when you've been given much. He shares his time and talents by serving on the Board of Directors for nonprofit organizations, by serving as a member of various city committees, and by participating in a variety of community outreach efforts.

James Herget, Assoc. AIA
Vice President

Jim Herget is a designer, a building code authority, and a CAD expert who is passionate about client service. Not only does he have the technical skills to get the job done right, he has a knack for building productive professional relationships that keep our clients coming back. With an uncanny ability to read into what people need, Jim can satisfy needs and solve problems early in the project. At the end of the day, he measures his success by how delighted his clients are. While some entrepreneurs are off searching for the future, Jim is steadfast in his promise to serve his clients today. This co-founder of Reprise stated it this way, "When clients hire us, they don't have to worry about the care and oversight of their project. It gets done."

His professional and personal interests are closely intertwined. His zeal for religion has inspired a focus on church design and participation as a member of the AIA's Religious Architectural Committee and the Interfaith Forum in Religion, Art, and Architecture. Whether it's music, religion, or the outdoors, when Jim focuses on something, he goes the distance. Average is the last thing he wants to be.

From our restaurant and major food chain clients to our institutional and commercial clients, Jim is there, taking care of relationships and following through with details. At Reprise Design, we see this co-founder as our anchor.

Greg Jensen, Senior Project Manager

Greg Jensen leads for results, builds relationships, and acts with integrity. When we first met him 18 years ago, he instantly won our hearts. Respect for others and a gentlemanly approach characterize Greg. Those gifts caught our attention and still hold it today.

Armed with 22 years of experience in team management, design, and construction detailing, Greg understands the varied business landscape and moves smoothly through it. His wide-ranging experiences include working with numerous corporate clients and development partners on hospitality, retail, historic preservation, urban-mixed use, office, industrial, school, and religious projects. He helps us serve Coldwell Banker, Northern Tool + Equipment, and Haskell's. His rich experience base also includes Lifetime Fitness, Best Buy, Medtronic, Multi Tech, McDonald's, Wendy's, Applebee's, and Holiday Inn. Add in his development partners: United Properties, Opus, United Properties, Muir-Doran, Oppidan, Darrell A. Farr, Lander Group, and Sherman Associates. Greg has just about done it all.

Greg bridges the gap between designer and contractor. He approaches his jobs with well-defined tasks but accepts the need for versatility to react to changing requirements. Clients respect his thoroughness and value-added service; teammates want to work with him. Feel free to call Greg with questions; he's a great resource who can make your projects succeed. Plus, he's just fun to talk to.

Rick Lavelle, Senior Project Manager

Rick Lavelle came to us with over 20 years of experience in architecture, planning, and construction. As a highly qualified project manager and planner, Rick bridges his scholarly background with a practical, hands-on reality of construction. He is a proactive project manager and capable planner who merges design intent with the realities of projects.

As a team member, he is responsive and available. No problem is seen as "too small" or as belonging to someone else. Rick leads with steady communication, keeping team members up-to-date and accountable. He has a reputation for organization and efficiency.

Design comes easily to Rick. With a background in architecture from the University of Minnesota, a degree in Architectural Technology from Northwest Technical Institute, and as an honor graduate of the Navy's Builder "A" School in Gulfport, Mississippi, Rick has wide-ranging expertise. His range and experience allows him to approach each project as a unique problem and to use design and management skills to find the best solutions. With Rick on your project, it will run smoothly. He sets high expectations for himself and those around him.

He has delivered his expertise to clients such as the U.S. Navy, U.S. Post Office, United Properties, Brinks, Liberty Property Trust, and the New York Housing Authority. With us he added to his client list Burlington Coat Factory, Office Max, Manley Commercial, Grossman Chevrolet, and Paideia Academy. Feel free to contact Rick. His ideas are rich and imaginatively transformed into tangible projects.

Renae Herget, Administrative Assistant

Renae Herget takes care of the administrative side of Reprise Design. If you have questions about billing, scheduling, or other front office-details, contact Renae. You'll be thrilled with how responsive and detailed-oriented she is and how well she understands design.

She participates in the Society of Design Administration (an affiliate of the AIA) as a way to gather and exchange ideas with other administrative personnel from architectural and engineering firms. Design administration is a perfect fit for Renae. Not only does she understand the front office, but she is a highly experienced design technician. She holds an Architectural Technology degree from Northwest Technical Institute and has 13 years of experience in the field. She understands this business through and through.

We're happy to have Renae manage our office. She does it in a way that best serves our clients efficiently and professionally and frees us up to work with you.

Matthew A. Popple, Project Manager

Matt Popple's high-quality construction documentation comes from his solid understanding of the building process and his attention to detail. Matt came to us in 2000 having been a top graduate of Dakota County Technical College and with years of experience in the residential construction industry. He knows theory and he has a keen understanding of the real world. We see Matt as our contractor's technician. The contractors we work with continually ask to work with Matt.

At Reprise, Matt integrates his in-depth experience in retail, restaurant, institutional, and mixed-use project designs with his ability to draw for diverse construction types. Matt has high standards for quality delivery; he not only gets the job done right and on-time, but he has fun along the way. You'll enjoy working with Matt. He has a long list of highly satisfied clients including United Properties, Oppidan Development, Metro Equity Management, Burlington Coat Factory, & Northern Tool & Equipment, and a wide array of others.

Peggy Hall, Project Manager

Peggy Hall is a project manager. Give her a sketch, and she'll produce construction documents that are second to none. There are no boilerplate drawings here. Peggy gets to know owners and their needs, and her solutions are tailored to their precise requirements.

With a scholarship from 3M, Peggy earned a degree in Architectural Engineering Technology from St. Paul Technical College. To that theory and practice, she has added 16 years of experience and created a style that really works. She knows the type and amount of documentation needed; and she works efficiently to deliver working drawings that are clean, legible, and with just the right detail. Peggy respects that builders know their jobs; they just need a guiding hand.

At Reprise, Peggy will build a professional working relationship with you. She'll know what you want and expect, and you'll know what to expect from Reprise. No surprises, just delight. She has many satisfied commercial/industrial clients at McDonald's, Great Clips, Sam Goodies, and many more.

Not only will you see Peggy at Reprise, but if you live in the City of Inver Grove, you will, no doubt, bump into her. She takes public involvement seriously and participates in numerous community groups to support the betterment of its citizens, parks, and lakes. We like that about Peggy, as we know that architecture, ultimately, is about developing better environments for people

Kristi Donahue, Design Technician

Kristi Donahue traveled extensively throughout Europe pursuant to her studies prior to receiving her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Idaho in 2000. A strong background in retail, hospitality, and design outside of here studies preceded her arrival at Reprise. We're not sure if her strong conversation and communications skills are a product of her experience or the catalyst.

Programming, planning, and design in the areas of hospitality, commercial, and residential is the snapshot of her background. She is LEED accredited and a green design specialist. We find that space planning, and interior design and development -- especially working with clients and finish materials is her natural proclivity. In fact, she never told us prior to starting with us. No one has done a color board, visited with an interior finish sales person, or conjured an interior color scheme since she arrived. It's kind of a sore spot.

Here at Reprise Kristi has worked with Manley Commercial, United Properties, Oppidan Development, Metro Equity Management, Brinks, McDonald's USA Prototype, and Burlington Coat Factory. In addition to being a wife and mother her hobbies revolve around design, construction, photography, and graphic technology and editing. Finally we have a short answer to the question…how do you make a 3M PDF 200K?

Nicole Nelson, Design Technician

Nikki, is a proud product of Minnesota's premier college town, Northfield Minnesota. She began her career working as an intern with the late Don Starr at Starr Design in 1998. Eight years of institutional, retail, and residential experience behind her -- she now journeys north daily to work with us as a key retail/hospitality player in our expanding national marketplace.

Reprise takes credit for finding talent having excellent relational skills and an understanding of retailing and hospitality. Nikki, not being the exception, has trained restaurant and country club staff and managed facilities. Our bet is that this experience quietly instills a subtle knowledge of "operations" that is expected of us but difficult to develop outside of the having experienced the "real thing". A perfect match for McDonald's USA, Nikki designs, details, and documents new stores and retrofits across a 35 state region.

In addition to McDonald's, Nikki's past architectural experience includes Hearth & Home Technologies, Video Update, and Waterford Oil. She has experience working with hospital/clinic and college facilities and has an enviable list of activities and affiliations in serving her community. She is a partner in her family's business growing fall vegetables.

Stacy Evazich, Design Technician

Stacy joined Reprise after having gained several years of experience in residential drafting. The field of architecture and design are natural fits for Stacy who grew up drawing dream homes on graph paper “just for fun” with her friends. During high school, she moved from graph paper to technology and found that she excelled in the field. So she went on to earn an Associate’s Degree in Architectural Construction Technology from St Cloud Technical College. There, she combined a well-rounded, light construction background with CAD skills.

At Reprise, Stacy is a project manager who coordinates contracts and oversees progress. She is a ‘go-getter’ who thrives on a fast pace, is not afraid to ask questions and has a staggering ability to multi-task and lead others. Stacy knows client service. Interacting with people is her strong suit.

When not at Reprise, you’ll find Stacy either taking photos, creating another memorable scrapbook, or at the playground with her young daughter and their terrier, “Slim,”

Andrey Lysenko, Design Technician

The ability to “imagine” runs in families. Inspired by his father, a furniture designer in Russia, Andrey decided that he, too, would enter the world of design. He acted on that vision.

Andrey joined Reprise with exceptionally strong drafting skills.  He splits his time in the field doing site surveys and drafting for McDonald’s largest project rollout in over 30 years, McCafé®.

When you work with Andrey, you work with a skilled architectural technician who helps you through the vast matrix of details and ensures a smooth building process.  A consummate professional, Andrey listens for details and responds with the finest, most respectful work ethic possible.

Jeff Murphy, Design Technician

After spending 17 years as a commercial airline mechanic (skills he learned in the Air Force), Jeff chose to study for a second career. Having excelled in drafting at his vocational high school in Ohio, Jeff opted for a degree in architectural technology at Dakota County Technical College where he quickly rose to top in his class.

Clients enjoy working with Jeff because they know he places their needs first. He is easy going, detail oriented, and great at drafting and rendering. At Reprise, Jeff uses his attention to detail and architectural skills to  support McDonald’s combined beverage initiative. His renderings reflect technical specifications as well as artistic vision.

When not at Reprise, you’ll either find Jeff on his Harley or at home, with his wife and dog, welcoming eagles and wood ducks to their land.