Dean Ventola joined Penney Design Group in 2022. Mr. Ventola is NCARB Board Certified, is LEED AP BD+C, and is a registered architect along the East Coast, from New York down to Georgia. As previous Principal of his own architecture company and consultant to leading Architecture Companies, Mr. Ventola developed a repeat national client base, created award winning designs (with work published in over fifty books, magazines, and newspapers), has authored a ten-part building codes series, and successfully worked on projects as large as 360,000 SF and up to $520M.
As the past Director for an International Hospitality Architecture Company, he effectively coordinated large, high-profile projects. As past Director of Architecture at one of the larger builders in the nation, he successfully directed both corporate divisions, served on many of the President’s advisory committees, and his initiatives led to significantly reducing errors and decreasing construction cycle time. And as past Vice President of a design/build company, he managed both the Construction and the Architecture Departments for one of the fastest growing construction companies in the area, and had collaborative work with international award-winning urban designer Steven Peterson, on the 300-acre Dearbought project’s 18th Century planning and architecture – a project of which Mr. Ventola considers to be one of the more enlightening experiences of his career.
Mr. Ventola pursued a double degree at the University of Maryland where he received a Bachelor of Architecture and a BA in Urban Planning with Honors, served as the School of Architecture’s student ambassador to visiting lecturers, was taught under DC icon and artist, Sam Gilliam, and renowned architect and then-future AIA Gold Medalist, Antoine Predock, and became a National Dean’s List recipient.
