Building Ideas

Keith Hall is Principal of the Columbus Studio and Owner at MSA Design, a national award-winning architecture, interior design, graphic design, and historic preservation firm. Throughout the nearly 40 year history of MSA Design, the firm has received 100+ design awards and been awarded the AIA Ohio "Gold Medal Firm" Award.

Keith is a Southwest Ohio / Northern Kentucky native, spending his childhood in and around Greater Cincinnati. He is a graduate of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati. Keith began his tenure at MSA Design immediately after graduation and has risen through the ranks of the firm to become an Owner.

In his 30+ years at MSA he has been involved in some of the most consequential clients and projects in firm history including the Cincinnati Reds Great American Ballpark, City of Blue Ash Summit Park, Houston Astros Minute Maid Park Renovations, John Glenn International Airport, and the Upper Arlington Community Center. He and the leadership team in MSA's Central Ohio office are currently involved in the design of some of the most significant civic and community-based projects in the region.

Keith is an avid runner (having completed over 50 marathons) and earned the title of a Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon "Streaker" - where he has run every year since the race's inception. He and his wife Jessica are raising two daughters and live in the Columbus suburb of Bexley.

John Cunningham has proven to be the perfect fit for the Bearcats, packing win after win into his time on Clifton Heights since taking the helm at the University of Cincinnati in December 2019. In his first few months on campus, Cunningham led the Bearcats' response to the COVID-19 pandemic and created the Next Level Success Fund to provide the necessary resources to achieve competitive success and crucial support for UC's student-athletes. In 2021, Cunningham spearheaded Cincinnati’s charge to obtain an invitation to join the Big 12 and launched the $100 million Day One Ready Campaign initiative. The Day One Ready Campaign will raise money in the areas of student-athlete wellness, signature facilities and operational resources to compete for championships in its new conference, which Cincinnati will join July 1, 2023. The construction of a new indoor practice and performance facility, with architects Gensler and MSA Sport on board, on campus will serve as the anchor project of the campaign. Cunningham restructured his leadership team to provide a new focus on internal and external operations and tapped Wes Miller to lead the men's basketball program. The Bearcats’ football program found unprecedented success in 2021, winning a school-record 13 games and a second consecutive American Athletic Conference Championship en route to becoming the first non-“Power Five” team to take part in the College Football Playoff.

Cunningham has focused attention and resources on student-athlete-centric initiatives such as hiring the department’s first ever Directors of Sports Psychology and Sports Nutrition, while prioritizing student-athlete mental health and wellness and revamping the athletics department One Team DEI Committee. In the spring of 2021, Bearcats student-athletes achieved a GPA of 3.369, marking the ninth-straight semester with a collective GPA of 3.3 or higher. Six student-athletes collected Academic All-America accolades for the 2021-22 school year, as well. Before joining the Bearcats, Cunningham oversaw the external operations at three NCAA Division I institutions, Boise State, Syracuse and Minnesota and served as a sport administrator for bowl teams, conference-championship teams and NCAA Tournament teams. Cunningham started his career in collegiate athletics as the compliance coordinator at the University of Maryland. A 2001 TCU graduate, Cunningham received a law degree from the University of Nebraska’s College of Law in 2005. He and his wife, Caitlin, have twin sons, Gus and Hank.

Chelsea Sanders is the Director of Graphic Design and an Associate at MSA Design, a national architecture, interior design, graphic design, and historic preservation firm headquartered in Cincinnati with offices in Columbus and Atlanta.

Chelsea is a Cincinnati native, spending her early childhood in the City's Pleasant Ridge neighborhood and her teenage years in the northeast suburb of Loveland. She is a graduate of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design.

She leads a multi-talented team that is responsible for award winning installations in a variety of project types. Before her time at MSA, had previous experiences working in the fields of web design, advertising, and branding before joining the team and specializing in experiential graphic design. She is an avid traveler and reader with a passion for googly eyes and cats wearing wigs.

Mr. Tom Burton, superintendent of Princeton City Schools, is a proven and dynamic school educator, well known and praised for his leadership. He believes that creating a collaborative environment with all stakeholders will help ensure that each child's needs are met. Serving as an educator since 1987 and at Princeton City Schools since 2015, Tom lives out the Princeton mission to empower each student for college, career, and life success. By being flexible, collaborative, and open to new learning, Tom feels we can truly inspire our students to be prepared for the real world and ensure that they make the world better than it is now.

The Northwest Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce recently bestowed Tom the Community Champion Award for 2021. Tom credits his colleagues and teammates for being recognized as Business Person of the Year by the Sharonville Chamber of Commerce, winner of NASSP/MetLife Ohio Middle School Principal of the Year, Distinguished Young Alumni Award from Slippery Rock University, recipient of the Gordon Vars Lifetime Achievement Award, and Ohio Educator of the Year by the Ohio Middle-Level Association. He was inducted into the Cleveland Heights High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame and John Carroll University Athletic Hall of Fame (coach).

A published author and contributor to educational columns, Tom is currently working on two books. He is a sought-after speaker with recent engagements at the American Association of School Administrators, Institute for Education Innovation, National Superintendent’s Forum, Harvard University, and others. Tom currently serves as a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's Educational Advisory Council, the Northern Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, and Sharonville Cultural Arts Center boards.

Bob Fregolle was born in Detroit, Michigan and has been married to his Michigan sweetheart, Lori, for +41 years (married really young!) with two grown children and two grandchildren. Bob graduated with a BBA in 1979 from The Michigan Business School.

Bob spent the next 35 years with Procter & Gamble, eighteen of those years abroad on seven international assignments across Europe and Asia and retired as the company’s Chief Sales Officer in 2014.

Today, he’s Co-owner and Operating Partner of the Daytona Tortugas Professional Baseball Team, the Single-A Affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds playing out of historic Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida. He sits on the University of Michigan’s Ross School Dean’s Advisory Board, is a member of his Parish Council, is Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cincinnati Museum Center, and Co-chair of the Tortugas Care Foundation.

Bob's hobbies include cycling, scuba diving (instructor), snow skiing, hunting/fishing, travel and anything that has to do with the University of Michigan!

Madeline "Maddie" Williams is the Director of Preservation and Historic Rehabilitation at MSA Design. Maddie leads the Historic Preservation practice firm-wide for MSA and serves as a resource to building owners, contractors, architects, and agencies on strategies to renovate and redevelop historic structures. This includes advising on historic building assessments, grant applications, historic tax credits, and developing strategies to rehabilitate historic buildings.

A native of Connecticut, her junior ice hockey career led to a scholarship at Lake Forest College in Chicago. While at Lake Forest, she was named captain of the Forester Varsity Women's Ice Hockey Team. Her interest in Preservation was sparked while surrounded by the architecture of Chicago and led her to complete a Bachelor's Degree in Architectural History. She then went on to earn a Masters in Historic Preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

A self-proclaimed "Liberal Preservationist", Maddie believes that historic buildings should 'tell their story', but also be free to be adapted for modern uses. Maddie, her husband, and two daughters reside in a small, historic town on the east side of Greater Cincinnati.

Jeremy Barker is a Senior Project Architect and Associate at MSA Design. A native of the small Ohio city of Findlay, his journey as an Architect began at the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning. After working for several firms and freelancing on his own, he joined MSA in 2004 and has risen through the ranks to become a leading Sports Designer, Architect, and Master Planner for the firm. Some of his key commissions involve work with Major League Baseball franchises, higher education institutions, as well as civic governments.

In his personal time, he is the Owner and rider of the #137 Yamaha Motorcycle Privateer Roadracing Program. 2017 WERA National Champion in Lightweight Twins SS Novice and Formula 2 Novice. Currently competing in B-Class and National 600 Superstock and Superbike Novice. His awards and achievements as a racer include:

-WERA National Challenge Series - Lightweight Twins Superstock Novice - 2017 Champion

-WERA National Challenge Series - Formula 2 Novice - 2017 Champion

-WERA Sportsman North Central Region - 2017 North-Central Formula 2 Novice Champion

Gary Vance is a national leader in the planning, design and construction industry and specializes in health and wellness initiatives and projects. As a forty-four year seasoned professional architect, he is an advocate for the architectural profession and related professions. This advocacy takes a variety of forms including mentoring the next generation of architects, improving the collaboration of all architectural industry components, and providing strategic Insights to firm leaders.

Gary's accomplished career has been highly recognized with many awards and honors from the planning and construction industry, his peers, and his alma mater. He has been elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and the College of Fellows of the American College of Healthcare Architects. He has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Architecture & Planning at Ball State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Architecture. Gary was awarded the highest professional service award from AIA Indiana, the Edward D. Pierre Award.

Gary thrives in his role as a professional mentor for future, young and seasoned professional architects and individuals in the related professions. In addition, he serves the design profession as a mentor for design firms, companies who work with architects and those companies who provide services and products to the architectural industry. He serves his alma mater on the Executive Advisory Board of the College of Architecture & Planning and the Ball State University alumni council.

He and his family have created an acclaimed children's book series; “Kid Architect“ about architecture with the expressed goal of introducing architecture and design to young people in grades K thru 12.

Tricia Gargari is an Associate and Project Architect at MSA Design. This Northern Kentucky native is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame where she majored in Architecture. During her career she has been involved in multiple commercial, retail, institutional, civic, and sports projects across the Midwest.

Since joining MSA Design, she has been promoted to Associate in the firm and been instrumental on many recent high profile projects including the Xavier University Health United Building, FC Cincinnati Mercy Health Training Center, Mariemont High School, and the Centre College Initiative for Wellness and Athletic Excellence. A graduate of the AIA Cincinnati Vision Program, she believes it critical to have diverse voices and viewpoints involved in every architecture project.

Tricia resides in Greater Cincinnati with her husband and two children.

Andy Farfsing is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Purcell Marian High School, located in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati. He and his team have led a transformative turnaround of this historic inner-city Catholic High School that counts business leaders, community leaders, and professional athletes among the list of famous alumni - including Dallas Cowboys NFL star, business leader, and philanthropist Roger Staubach.

Andy has spent his entire career in Catholic secondary education; 10 years as a teacher and then 10 years as a principal. As a proud Purcell Marian alumnus (Class of 1995) he passionately believes that Marianist education is not only important to our students but to the human spirit. “Through Marianist education, we are helping our students discover their God-given talents and creating the next generation of justice seekers, servant leaders, and peacekeepers who can adapt to changing world.” He says that being at Purcell Marian feels like the “family business” to him and has little time for hobbies, choosing to put his energy into all things Purcell Marian, instead.

He has been married to his wife, Lindsay (also a PM ’95 graduate and staff member) for 17 years and has two children, Olivia and Rachel. The Farfsings love to travel in their RV and discover a beautiful country. Andy’s favorite place they’ve visited so far is Kennebunkport, Maine.