Allyson Mendenhall is dedicated to shaping how designers practice. As a landscape architect and Chief Practice Resources Officer at Sasaki, she bridges design and operations with a focus on process. For Allyson, the practice is her project, reflecting her commitment to advancing methods and standards that support quality and innovation across disciplines.  At Sasaki, Allyson leads the Practice Resources Team composed of Information Systems, Digital Practice, Professional Practice, the Fabrication Studio, and the firm’s Library and Archives. Her work ensures designers remain at the forefront of practice-based research to address the complex challenges of our time.

Throughout her career, Allyson has led initiatives aimed at improving design processes, from quality assurance and project management to practice-based research methodologies. Along with over 25 years of experience leading large-scale, multidisciplinary design and planning efforts, Allyson thrives on connecting people around content. She does so by fostering knowledge generation and exchange through collaboration. She is also recognized for bridging design practice and academia, engaging in research partnerships, speaking engagements, and publications to advance the field.

Allyson holds a master of landscape architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a bachelor of arts in English literature from Harvard College. A Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, she was the first design school alum to serve as President of the Harvard Alumni Association. A former board member of the national Landscape Architecture Foundation, Allyson is also engaged at home in Denver. She sits on the Urban Design Advisory Council of the University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) and serves on the ASLA Colorado Fellows Nominating Committee. She is a Mayoral Trustee emeritus of the Denver Botanic Gardens and a past member of the CAP Dean’s Advisory Board.