Our Firm
Confluence currently employs two senior principals and four principals distributed throughout our network of office locations. Members of our landscape architecture staff are licensed in Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota.
Our diverse team of landscape architects and planners regularly collaborate between each of our offices, and are experienced in a wide variety of project types.
Brian Clark
ASLA, PLA / Senior Principal
· view profile ·Brian brings a vision both inspiring and astute to each project he oversees as well as to the firm at large. With a diverse background in landscape architecture, land planning and urban design, Brian carries licenses in Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, South Dakota and Minnesota and is CLARB certified. As an award-winning landscape architect with a strong design background, he is the first landscape architect to be appointed to the City of Des Moines Urban Design Review Board where he has served as chairman. He also serves as Co-Chair of Central Iowa Greenways and Board Member of Salisbury House and Gardens. In 2007, Brian was the 46th winner of the ISU College of Design’s Design Achievement Award, recognizing outstanding mid-career creative and professional achievements of alumni in the fields of architecture, graphic design, interior design, community and regional planning, and landscape architecture.
Brian received his BLA from Iowa State University, where he has been an adjunct professor, visiting critic and lecturer on subjects of design, marketing and professional practice. Brian oversees all projects and is responsible for coordinating teams of professionals to create meaningful environments for our clients use and enjoyment.
Chris Della Vedova
ASLA, PLA, LEED AP / Senior Principal
· view profile ·Chris will cut to the heart of any problem and deliver exceptional solutions grounded in reality. He brings a strong background in landscape architecture, site devolvement and urban design to his projects. Chris has shared design and strategic direction of the firm with Brian Clark since its founding in 1998. He currently carries licenses in Iowa and Nebraska, is CLARB certified, is a LEED Accredited Professional and is also certified as a Construction Document Technologist by the Construction Specifications Institute.
Chris received his BLA from Iowa State University, where he sits on their Practitioners Advisor Council for the Landscape Architecture Department. Since his graduation Chris has been active with the American Society of Landscape Architects serving the local chapter as vice president, president and is currently the Iowa Chapter Trustee to the National Board. He also serves on the Mentor Iowa Board and the Iowa Architectural Foundation Board, where he co-chairs their Community Design Program.
Whether he is managing the design of multi-million dollar urban design projects, helping guide the firm’s growth, or working on the purchase and renovation of the firm’s headquarters in downtown Des Moines, Chris identifies his best and most important skills as listening and problem solving.
Terry Berkbuegler
ASLA, PLA, LEED AP / Principal
· view profile ·Terry joined the firm in 2003 as he pioneered Confluence through their expansion into Kansas City. From the start, Terry has worked continuously to position Confluence as a leader in the Kansas City urban design market. As a long time resident, Terry brings diverse project experience and valuable inside knowledge to the field of Landscape Architecture in the Kansas City area.
Terry’s experience includes numerous urban designs and streetscapes, senior communities, transportation enhancement, commercial and residential projects. Hard work, the pursuit of design excellence and his tireless commitment to client satisfaction are at the core of Terry’s approach to all projects. His direct and personal communication with clients leads to strong relationships and successful projects while inspiring loyalty in so many of our clients.
When Terry is not spending his time managing the Kansas City office or paying for a potential client’s lunch, he can be found coaching youth sports, attending the school activities of his two children, or following his lifelong love, the St. Louis Cardinals.
Jon Jacobson
ASLA, PLA / Principal
· view profile ·Jon has led the Sioux Falls office of Confluence since its inception in the November of 2005. He comes to Confluence from a true multi-disciplinary environment, working side by side with architects and engineers for nearly a decade. A true bridge builder, Jon is adept at communicating with a wide range of design professionals as well his clients. Above all, Jon values open and candid client relationships as the heart of a successful project.
As a Sioux Falls native, Jon spent the early days of his career in Des Moines. His experience in both markets gives him rare insight into the profession of Landscape Architecture in the Midwest and make for strong lines of communication between the two offices. Jon received his BLA from Iowa State University. He has been an adjunct professor and visiting critic at South Dakota State University, focusing on issues of landscape design and site planning.
Jon’s passion for Landscape Architecture lies in civic work. He carries a specific expertise in park planning and urban design and has won numerous awards for his design of public and private spaces. Jon is CLARB certified and holds licenses in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming.
Chris Cline
ASLA, PLA / Principal
· view profile ·Chris joined the firm in January 2008, continuing the growth of Confluence’s Kansas City practice. He brings solid urban design and planning experience to the firm, and enjoys collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams. Chris continually seeks creative solutions, and is adept in building consensus through community involvement. His work has included corridor planning and aesthetics, land planning, urban design, and community revitalization.
Chris has worked on behalf of municipalities as well as in private sector development, and he understands the need to balance vision and pragmatism to create successful, high-quality design implementation. Chris also leads an affiliated company, Core Design Development LLC, which serves as master developer for the 130-acre West Gateway Redevelopment District on behalf of the City of Mission, Kansas. In this role, he works with property owners, brokers, and developers to implement the district’s new “Form Based Code”.
Chris is a registered landscape architect in both Missouri and Kansas. He has served as a design critic at his alma mater, Kansas State University, and at the University of Kansas. He is a native of Kansas City, and his work has received numerous awards. Chris is also the proud father of three beautiful and talented daughters – who keep him busy with soccer and listening to guitar and operas.
Steve Ford
ASLA, PLA / Principal
· view profile ·Steve earned his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University in 1979. His passion for artistic design and love for outdoor spaces has proven to be a good background for his many years of work in this wonderful practice. Steve has had a broad range of work experience from the planning department in Watertown, South Dakota to residential design/build firms in the Twin Cities to the nationally recognized A/E firms — the DLR Group and HLM Design.
For the past two decades Steve has been working in the Iowa City, Iowa area leading design on trail and park work for the Iowa City School System, and numerous residential designs as well as raising his family with his wife Wendy.
Many of his projects have earned industry awards and accolades including the Iowa Firefighters Memorial, the Devonian Fossil Gorge and the Mississippi River Trail segment on the bluffs of the river in Muscatine, Iowa.
Jill Boetger
ASLA, LEED AP / Landscape Architect-in-Training
· view profile ·Jill is as sharp as a tack and a jack of all trades. She contributes to a wide variety of projects here at Confluence. Her great powers of observation are matched by a dynamic creativity which makes her just the gal to cut to the core of any problem and come up with unique and powerful solutions.
Out of the office, her talent and passions lead her in a variety of pursuits from working with her husband, TJ, on their first home to acting as an ACE mentor to local high school students interested in pursuing a career in the architecture, construction and engineering fields.
Matt Carlile
ASLA, PLA, LEED AP / Landscape Architect
· view profile ·While working in our Des Moines office, Matt will always be, ‘that guy from Kansas and proud of it’. With a degree from Kansas State University, Matt and his wife, Crista, came to Iowa in 1998 and have embraced our ways and customs. As a past President of the Iowa Chapter of ASLA, he has proved his commitment to the present and future practice of Landscape Architecture in the state. And after finishing construction on a home of their own in Urbandale, Matt and Crista have proved together that they are in it for the long haul.
By the way, Matt wants everyone to know that the bar in their home is always open and EVERYONE is welcome…must be a Kansas thing.
Mike Cedar
ASSOCIATE ASLA / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT-IN-TRAINING
· view profile ·A graduate of Iowa State University, Mike started with Confluence in August of 2009. His passion for landscape architecture is rooted in its diversity. He enjoys working on a project in a number of different ways, trying to find a balance between technical and artistic. While studying abroad in Rome and interning in New York City he gained an affinity for travel and an appreciation for global perspectives in design. He plans to be an active member of the profession, and looks to bring new perspectives and creativity to this innovation-orientated discipline.
Stacie Ellickson-Hastie
Associate ASLA / Landscape Architect-in-Training
· view profile ·Stacie (not to be confused with Stacey) graduated from Iowa State University in May of 2010 with a double major in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Studies and joined Confluence in July 2010. She has submerged herself in many aspects of the profession, starting with working for a landscape maintenance company in college, then the traveling studio which took her to Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, and eventually interning in Brooklyn, New York. Her past experiences have helped guide her design abilities and helped her to adapt to each project’s unique requirements. She has a strong passion for graphics, site topography, and the project details.
When not working, Stacie keeps herself busy with a multitude of activities. She spends most of her time with her husband, Patrick, and their pets, but she lives for traveling as much as possible to see family, friends, and the great sites of the world, baking for no reason at all, home brewing beer, and those lazy fall weekends spent watching football.
Matt Evett
ASLA, PLA / Landscape Architect
· view profile ·Matt says he became a landscape architect ‘to create interesting, inspiring and inventive designs’. We will tell you that he succeeds in that daily. As a project manager with the firm, he has worked on and elevated the quality of numerous projects including Carroll Streetscape, Wells Fargo, Iowa State Veterinary Medicine, 2nd Street Streetscape and the Kansas City Zoo. As a recent transfer from the Des Moines office to the Kansas City office most of us have witnessed first hand the amazing talent and dogged determination to excel that Matt brings to a project.
In his free time Matt likes to cruise around on his bike, scream at the TV while watching a Purdue game, or stroll through the park with wife Jenny, son Aiden and Daisy (the dog). We suppose it goes without saying that Matt is a graduate of Purdue University and a native of Indiana.
Seth Gray
ASLA, LEED AP / Landscape Architect-in-Training
· view profile ·Seth’s work speaks for itself, but he looks good on paper, too. While receiving his degree from ISU, Seth completed an internship at Conservation Design Forum in Chicago IL and a design studio course in Boston, MA in the summer of 2002. Seth was also the recipient of the Richard Pryor Scholarship awarded by the Department of Landscape Architecture for two consecutive years. Seth began his professional career with Confluence in the fall of 2003, working on both public and private projects such as the Hansen Triangle part of the Principal River walk, Court Avenue Streetscape in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, University of Iowa Arts Campus in Iowa City, and the Marsh Insurance Building in Urbandale, Iowa. Seth is also active in professional organizations.
See, we told you so.
Jim Host
ASLA, PLA / Landscape Architect
· view profile ·Jim is the nicest guy you’ll ever work with. We think it’s all those years living in sunny Phoenix that gives him the ability to be pleasant and patient even on the most challenging of days. But don’t be fooled, Jim is a born and bred Iowan with the work ethic to boot. If you want something done, Jim is your man. With a special interest in Parks and Recreation and College and University Planning, Jim will find his way to the heart of a project and elevate it to the next level.
A Des Moines native, Jim has embraced small town Iowa where he lives with his family and finds time to ‘get his frustrations out’ on the racquetball court – now we know his secret.
Jason Jonas
Associate ALSA / Landscape Architect-in-Training
· view profile ·His strong passion and skill for designing and problem solving makes Jason Jonas an integral part of the Sioux Falls branch. With his creative design mind, he places himself within the projects he’s involved in and creates unique user-friendly landscapes. Jason received his bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design from North Dakota State University in May of 2007. He feels that his scholarly endeavors have positioned him for success in the professional sector.
When Jason isn’t working diligently in the office, you can find him out on his mountain bike; or camping, hiking, and rock climbing with his wife Nicole. Basically they do anything that gets them out of the apartment for the weekend. He also loves being an uncle, which takes them up north, to his hometown of Bismarck, North Dakota; where they enjoy visiting family and friends, and pheasant hunting with his father.
Chad Kucker
ASLA, PLA, LEED AP / Landscape Architect
· view profile ·With amazing technical competency, Chad finds himself an indispensable member of the Sioux Falls team. No matter what the challenge, Chad will find a way to see through the details in order to make a project shine. A native of the upper Great Plains and graduate of South Dakota State University Chad holds registrations in South Dakota and Iowa. With nearly 10 years of experience in the profession he is involved in a wide variety of projects including irrigation and recreation design and site planning and development. As a LEED accredited professional Chad believes in responsible design and use of resources.
Chad and his wife Tina have a young daughter, Celia. In his free time he enjoys traveling, golfing and biking but spends most of his time working on home improvement projects at the couple’s early 1940s home in central Sioux Falls.
Andrea Langel
Associate ASLA / Landscape Architect-in-Training
· view profile ·A 2010 graduate of Iowa State University, Andrea started with Confluence in May following her graduation. Her desire to become a landscape architect comes from growing up on a farm in Northwest Iowa and having always enjoyed spending time in the outdoors.
She enjoys all the aspects of the field, but finds herself most enthralled with her work when she is detailing. She looks forward to all the learning possibilities that come with working in a smaller office that works in many disciplines.
Outside the office, Andrea can often be found on the volleyball court or on the golf course with her dad. She also enjoys running outside, painting, reading, traveling, and trying new recipes. She and her husband, Jeremy enjoy making a home together in Sioux Falls, but also like the weekend visits home to Le Mars to visit friends and family, especially to see their niece.
Lori Miller
Business Manager
· view profile ·As Business Manager, Lori is a force to be reckoned with. Her watchful eye keeps this business running like a well-oiled machine. Her 21 years of experience in financial management and human resource administration make her an absolutely invaluable, if often hidden, team member. But look again and you will see that this ‘behind the scenes’ team member has been pushing Confluence out there into the limelight nearly since its inception. Through her talents in marketing and proficiency in the graphic arts, Lori has been instrumental in spreading the Confluence spirit throughout the office and beyond.
Brenda Nelson
ASLA, PLA / Landscape Architect
· view profile ·Brenda has over 25 years of Landscape Architecture experience ranging from commercial and residential site planning and subdivisions to public streetscapes to large institutional and hospital projects. With a background that includes 7 years with a national Architecture/Engineering firm, 9 years in a small Engineering firm plus 11 years operating her own Landscape Architecture practice, she has an experience base that can handle any challenge.
It was likely the numerous summers spent as a teen in the Canadian North woods that gave Brenda a passion for the environment and a strong sense of stewardship for the land. This passion has inspired her dedication to projects that involve sustainable design and stormwater infiltration, which she has advocated long before these practices became commonplace. What she enjoys most as a Landscape Architect is the creativity and holistic design that comes from a collaborative team effort and the uniqueness and design challenge that comes with each project.
Outside of work Brenda and her husband Gene can often be found logging in an enormous number of hours watching their two teenage daughters play volleyball or traveling on the weekends to various tournaments.
Heidi Pollmann
ASLA, PLA, LEED AP / Landscape Architect
· view profile ·Heidi has a passion for all things urban, transit oriented and walkable. She is very interested in how a well planned community can benefit the health of both people and the environment. While attending Kansas State University, Heidi participated in a semester long study abroad program in Italy which inspired the way in which she both lives and designs. Her professional experience ranges from large scale highway projects and gateways to streetscapes, plazas and golf courses.
In her free time Heidi and her husband Mike enjoy cooking (and eating), running, traveling, playing golf and going to the park with their dog, Vokey. Heidi is also an active member of the Prairie Gateway Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and currently organizes the monthly lecture/continuing education series.
Lyle Pudwill
ASLA, PLA / Landscape Architect
· view profile ·A strong advocate of the arts in Sioux Falls, Lyle enjoys the challenge of taking ordinary elements within a project and giving them the creative touches that ultimately make that project special. His professional goal is to positively influence each project he is involved with by contributing his experience and unique perspective on site design. Lyle currently sits on the executive committee of the Great Plains chapter of ASLA and is a member of the Sioux Falls visual arts commission.
In his spare time he enjoys flea markets, pheasant hunting and digging in the garden with his wife Jill. He can also regularly be seen, cowbell in hand, cheering on his alma mater Jackrabbits. Lyle makes his home in Sioux Falls with his wife Jill, children Ivy and Henry and their dog Doug.
Ben Sandell
ASLA, LEED AP / Landscape Architect-in-Training
· view profile ·Since graduating from Iowa State University in 2006 with a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture and a Secondary Major in Environmental Studies, Ben has applied his passion, experience, and knowledge to enhancing landscapes throughout theMidwestand beyond. He brings a level of knowledge of construction processes that lends itself to his passionate and thorough designs. Ben has an affinity for introducing native materials and plants into his designs to help further the sustainable design realm. His project experience includes the West Capital Terrace, Aviva Corporate Headquarters, Welcome Home Soldier Memorial, and Iowa State Capital Complex Master Plan.
In his free time, Ben enjoys fishing, canoeing, golfing, and playing the guitar. He is also a regular participant in RAGBRAI, the annual bicycle ride acrossIowa. When not doing any of those things, you will find Ben training his dog Esme, and making sure she’s not causing any troubles!
Nate Weitl
Associate ASLA / Landscape Architect-in-Training
· view profile ·Nate grew up on a farm near the small town of Templeton, Iowa. His childhood experience on the farm instilled a strong work ethic and love for all things open, rural, and land-related. Originally arriving at Confluence as an intern in 2009, he has returned after graduating from Iowa State University to continue his adventure in the profession of landscape architecture. As a member of the Iowa City team, he is applying his rural perspective and creative process to the urban environments in which he works
Away from the office, Nate and his wife, Erin, are excited to be embarking on the next stage of their journey. They are discovering new things and enjoying life together while remaining grounded to faith, family, and friends. Nate has recently discovered the guitar. You may find him learning new chords in a feeble attempt to keep up with Steve (oh, yes…that Steve).
Jessica White
Associate ASLA / Landscape Architect-in-Training
· view profile ·Jessica received her Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Her strong background in natural sciences and biology were put into use while she was employed for the City of St. Paul’s Parks and Gardens Department. It was there that she also developed an interest in the details of plant selection and use of native plants.
Now back to her roots in Sioux Falls, she brings to Confluence an interest in working on ecologically sustainable design, reuse of materials in artful ways and urban design involving the integration of nature into the city fabric.
In her spare time, she enjoys concerts, reading, being outdoors and traveling with her husband, Gabriel.
Stacey Williams
Marketing Coordinator
· view profile ·Stacey (not to be confused with Stacie) has taken over the marketing role in our Des Moines location. She received her BA in Art and Design from Iowa State University and brings over 13 years of design and marketing experience to Confluence. She has a strong attention to detail, an eye for design and has high hopes to revolutionize the marketing sector of Confluence.
When Stacey’s not wowing her coworkers with her graphic design skills or tempting them with a bowl of candy, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, skipping stones on the lake, and an occasional quiet candle lit dinner consisting of hamburgers and french fries.