John Fuller
- BSBA 1990
- Chief Operating Officer | Managing Principal, DLR Group
Additional Information
Inducted 2026
John Fuller is chief operating officer and a managing principal of DLR Group, an integrated design firm with 1,800+ employee-owners in 37 offices around the globe. As COO, he leads business strategy, resource management, project performance, and operational efficiency to support the firm’s brand promise to elevate the human experience through design. He has spent his entire professional career at DLR Group, combining a strong growth mindset with a deep commitment to the firm’s employee-ownership culture.
Fuller’s DLR Group journey began in 1986 in the mail and print room of the Omaha office while still in college. That entry-level role gave him a ground-up understanding of the inner workings of a design practice and the importance of every individual’s contribution to client service. After earning his business degree from the University of Nebraska – Omaha in 1990, he moved into a role as a Marketing Manager. In that role, he supported project teams, developed client-facing materials, and learned the fundamentals of business development in the architecture and engineering industry—experience that would shape the rest of his career.
Fuller was named an associate in 1992 and a senior associate in 1994, reflecting his growing impact on client development and firmwide marketing initiatives. In 1994, he relocated to open DLR Group’s Overland Park, Kansas office. This opportunity made him the first and only non-architect to start and lead a new office. He developed business development expertise in K-12 education, helping position DLR Group as a trusted partner to school districts throughout the Midwest seeking to modernize facilities and improve learning environments.
Elevated to principal in 1997, Fuller continued to refine the connection between marketing, business development, and firm performance. He was named DLR Group’s Chief Marketing Officer in 2009, assuming global responsibility for marketing strategy to fuel growth across the firm’s core sectors. During his tenure at CMO he instituted the firm’s annual business planning process, evolving it from a simple, office-level exercise into a comprehensive plan that aligns regional, sector, and discipline leaders around shared financial and strategic commitments. This disciplined approach to planning—combined with a focus on backlog generation, EBITDA performance, and stock value appreciation—has been central to DLR Group’s sustained growth.
In 2019, Fuller was appointed one of the four managing principals and was elected to the DLR Group Board of Directors. Of the 13 managing principals in the firm’s history, he is the only non-architect to ever be named one. In these roles he helped oversee the firm’s global operations, integrating new offices, expanding into new markets, and strengthening enterprise-wide processes.
Fuller’s appointment as Chief Operating Officer in 2023 formalized his responsibility for translating strategy into execution across the enterprise. As COO, he focuses on improving project delivery, aligning staffing with demand, leveraging design technology to enhance productivity, and ensuring that operational decisions support both design excellence and financial performance. He believes deeply that the firm’s purpose and its obligation to grow ESOP value are mutually reinforcing, and he approaches each day with an eye toward both inspiring design outcomes and long-term value creation for employee-owners.
A defining characteristic of Fuller’s career is that he is not an architect or engineer by training, but a business graduate who has built a leadership path in an A/E firm through curiosity, collaboration, and continuous learning. He embraces this difference and sees it as an advantage, bringing a complementary, analytics-driven, and operational lens to a leadership team largely composed of design professionals.
Since 1994, Fuller and his wife Traci have resided in Overland Park, Kansas, raising daughters Autumn and Brittyn, and son A.J. and they currently spoil seven grandchildren.
Additional Information
Inducted 2026
John Fuller is chief operating officer and a managing principal of DLR Group, an integrated design firm with 1,800+ employee-owners in 37 offices around the globe. As COO, he leads business strategy, resource management, project performance, and operational efficiency to support the firm’s brand promise to elevate the human experience through design. He has spent his entire professional career at DLR Group, combining a strong growth mindset with a deep commitment to the firm’s employee-ownership culture.
Fuller’s DLR Group journey began in 1986 in the mail and print room of the Omaha office while still in college. That entry-level role gave him a ground-up understanding of the inner workings of a design practice and the importance of every individual’s contribution to client service. After earning his business degree from the University of Nebraska – Omaha in 1990, he moved into a role as a Marketing Manager. In that role, he supported project teams, developed client-facing materials, and learned the fundamentals of business development in the architecture and engineering industry—experience that would shape the rest of his career.
Fuller was named an associate in 1992 and a senior associate in 1994, reflecting his growing impact on client development and firmwide marketing initiatives. In 1994, he relocated to open DLR Group’s Overland Park, Kansas office. This opportunity made him the first and only non-architect to start and lead a new office. He developed business development expertise in K-12 education, helping position DLR Group as a trusted partner to school districts throughout the Midwest seeking to modernize facilities and improve learning environments.
Elevated to principal in 1997, Fuller continued to refine the connection between marketing, business development, and firm performance. He was named DLR Group’s Chief Marketing Officer in 2009, assuming global responsibility for marketing strategy to fuel growth across the firm’s core sectors. During his tenure at CMO he instituted the firm’s annual business planning process, evolving it from a simple, office-level exercise into a comprehensive plan that aligns regional, sector, and discipline leaders around shared financial and strategic commitments. This disciplined approach to planning—combined with a focus on backlog generation, EBITDA performance, and stock value appreciation—has been central to DLR Group’s sustained growth.
In 2019, Fuller was appointed one of the four managing principals and was elected to the DLR Group Board of Directors. Of the 13 managing principals in the firm’s history, he is the only non-architect to ever be named one. In these roles he helped oversee the firm’s global operations, integrating new offices, expanding into new markets, and strengthening enterprise-wide processes.
Fuller’s appointment as Chief Operating Officer in 2023 formalized his responsibility for translating strategy into execution across the enterprise. As COO, he focuses on improving project delivery, aligning staffing with demand, leveraging design technology to enhance productivity, and ensuring that operational decisions support both design excellence and financial performance. He believes deeply that the firm’s purpose and its obligation to grow ESOP value are mutually reinforcing, and he approaches each day with an eye toward both inspiring design outcomes and long-term value creation for employee-owners.
A defining characteristic of Fuller’s career is that he is not an architect or engineer by training, but a business graduate who has built a leadership path in an A/E firm through curiosity, collaboration, and continuous learning. He embraces this difference and sees it as an advantage, bringing a complementary, analytics-driven, and operational lens to a leadership team largely composed of design professionals.
Since 1994, Fuller and his wife Traci have resided in Overland Park, Kansas, raising daughters Autumn and Brittyn, and son A.J. and they currently spoil seven grandchildren.