Henry C. Beck III ("Peter") (born 1955) is an American Texas-born businessman, who served as CEO [1] of The Beck Group[2] - an architecture, engineering, and construction firm based out of Dallas, with offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Denver, Tampa, Fla, Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - for 20 years and currently serves as the board's Executive Chairman.[1][3]

Early life, family, and education

Beck is the third child of Henry C. Beck Jr., noted Dallas philanthropist and former CEO of The Beck Group (then named HCB Construction), and Patricia Beck (née Davis), daughter of former Republic National Bank (formerly First Republic Bank Corporation) chairman, Wirt Davis.[4] Beck was born and raised in Dallas, TX and lived [5] in what became known as "The Beck House",[6] designed [7] by famed architect Philip Johnson - the only home Johnson ever designed in Dallas.[8][9] Writes Frank Welch in the book Phillip Johnson and Texas, "Young Peter Beck, [due to Johnson's penchant for designing arches] called his mother and father 'Mr. and Mrs. Arch'.[5] " Beck maintained a close relationship with his father throughout his life; when asked by D Magazine in 2008 whom he considered to be his mentor, Beck answered: "My father, no question. He was a very special man and not only a great role model for me but for many others."[1] A few years before Beck Jr.'s death, Beck III and his sister Spindrift Al Swaidi envisioned and commissioned Downtown Dallas' Henry C. Beck Jr. Park in honor of their father.[10] Beck attended high school at Phillips Andover, graduating in 1973.[11] He did his undergrad studies at Princeton University,[1] graduating with a degree in civil engineering[12] in 1977. Beck then went on to receive a Master's degree from Stanford Business School.[3]

Career

The Beck Group

Beck became CEO of The Beck Group in 1992, the company's 4th such chief.[13] In 2002, under Beck's leadership, The Beck Group was named one of Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For.[1][14] With regard to his business philosophy, Beck has said that, "Our company has benefited from leaving the last dollar on the table for the other guy. This allows you to develop a good reputation working with customers. What you want to do is delight the customer. And if that costs money sometimes, then it costs money. As an underlying philosophy, that's critical to our culture."[15] And when asked by Smart Business Magazine what traits he considered most important to being a successful leader, Beck replied, "Listening well and having empathy. Having an understanding of the predicament, the opportunities and aspirations of your people, your customers, your peer companies, your joint venture partners. It's about understanding other people."[15]

Merger and invention of DProfiler

Writes Nancy B. Solomon in the book, Architecture: Celebrating The Past, Designing The Future, "In the mid-1990s, {Beck Group} president Peter Beck concluded that pure construction had become an economic dead end {...}. His company's future, he believed, lay in providing seamlessly integrated design, construction and development services. So, in 1996, Beck purchased the rights to a British Software program, and The Beck Group rewrote the program and renamed it DESTINI."[16] Beck later refined the product over the course of the next 10 years and named it DProfiler. Said Beck, "There was no such tool on the market {at the time} for the AEC (architecture, engineering, construction) industry." No such program had been invented before, and it changed the world of architecture, engineering, and construction forever.[15] DProfiler allows The Beck Group (and any AEC company who purchases the product) to offer its clients integrated product delivery using 3D modeling and quality calculations with cost estimating linked to the firms' own database.[16]

Via the development of DProfiler, Beck began to realize something. Said Beck, "We saw that this was just a small microcosm of the overall issue about the industry, and that there was no incentive for anybody to produce a tool that would marry the cost of a project with the design of the project,” Beck says. “We had people that were motivated to produce the design, and there were great technologies to do that; and there were great technologies to estimate [building costs]. But there wasn't any integration between the two.” [17] Beck knew that this integration was essential and, thus, made the decision in 1999 to merge with Urban Architecture of Dallas.[15] The merger allowed The Beck Group to become a full-service firm consisting of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction. Beck's vision in merging with Urban Architecture and growing his company to what it is now has played a huge role in shaping the architecture, engineering, and construction industry in the Southern United States and the United States as a whole.[18]

Notable projects as CEO, Executive Chairman

During Beck's tenure as CEO and Executive Chairman of The Beck Group, the company designed and built multiple projects, including:

Architecture

  • Joyful Church - Pohang, South Korea[2]
  • Hunt Oil Company Headquarters - Dallas, TX[2] - Earning EPA's ENERGY STAR certification [19] and winner of: 'Best of the Best' 2008 National Award for Architectural Design, The Arc of Dallas' 2008 Topping Out Award[19]
  • Nutrabolt Company Headquarters - Bryan, TX[2]
  • SaRang Church - Seoul, South Korea [2]

Construction

Built and designed by Beck Group

Civic leadership and awards

In the late 1980s, Beck was appointed by the governor of Texas to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, a role he filled for 6 years.[20]

He also previously won the 1999 Chairman's Award [21] from the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, where he went on to sit as chairman. He further sat as chairman of The Dallas Foundation and served on the Stanford Business School Trust as well.[3]

Beck currently serves on the board of trustees of the Southwestern Medical Foundation, The Salvation Army's DFW Metroplex Command Advisory Board and the Design Futures Council. He also serves on the Leadership Council[12] of Commit!, an organization helping to drive student achievement throughout Dallas County.[22] As of 2014, he was listed in DFW Most Powerful's 1000 Definitive Movers and Shaker's list.[23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Falk, Ashleigh. "Peter Beck". Dmagazine.com. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Portfolio". Beckgroup.com. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  3. 1 2 3 "Henry C. (Peter) Beck III". Beckgroup.com. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  4. ↑ "Philip Johnson would approve of $27.5 million mansion — at last | Dallas Morning News". Archived from the original on 2015-06-21.
  5. 1 2 Welch, Frank D. (2000). Philip Johnson & Texas - Frank D. Welch. ISBN 9780292791343. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  6. ↑ Brettell, Richard R. (2015-06-17). "Architecture Is Modern Dallas Dying?". Dmagazine.com. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  7. ↑ "Arch Sophisticate". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  8. ↑ Evans, Candy (2015-01-23). "Inside the Philip Johnson stunner just listed in Dallas for $27.5 mil - CultureMap Dallas". Dallas.culturemap.com. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  9. ↑ "Philip Johnson would approve of $27.5 million mansion — at last | Dallas Morning News". Dallasnews.com. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  10. ↑ "ASLA 2006 Professional Awards". Asla.org. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  11. ↑ "Phillips Bulletin, Phillips Academy, Andover, 2003-2004, Volume 97-98, Page 531 | Document Viewer". Mocavo.com. 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  12. 1 2 "Commit! – Leadership Council". Commit2dallas.org. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  13. ↑ "New CEO runs The Beck Group in lockstep with predecessor | Dallas Morning News". Dallasnews.com. 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  14. ↑ "2002 - Great Place to Work® Institute". Greatplacetowork.net. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Cost-analyzing software on the rise in buildings - Atlanta Business Chronicle". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  16. 1 2 Solomon, Nancy (27 May 2008). Architecture: Celebrating the Past, Designing the Future - Nancy B. Solomon. ISBN 9781584711629. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  17. ↑ Fehrenbach, Peter (2012-04-01). "How Peter Beck helped create a more efficient way to design and construct buildings - Smart Business Magazine". Sbnonline.com. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  18. ↑ "Video: Peter Beck, The Beck Group | Watch CEO Online | KERA 13 Video". Video.kera.org. 2010-06-25. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  19. 1 2 "citybizlist : Dallas : Hunt Oil Corporate Headquarters Earns EPA?s ENERGY STAR? Certification for Superior Energy Efficiency". Dallas.citybizlist.com. 2012-10-03. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  20. ↑ "23 State Bar of Texas Environmental Law Journal 1992-1993 Changes in the Environment". State Bar of Texas Environmental Law Journal. Heinonline.org. 23: 245. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  21. ↑ "Chairman's Award - Dallas Regional Chamber". www.dallaschamber.org. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  22. ↑ "Commit! – Our Mission". Commit2dallas.org. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  23. ↑ "DFW's Richest, Most Powerful! Definitive Movers & Shakers List". Dfwmostpowerful.com. 2014-07-27. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
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