Hospitality design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) has named Meghann Day (pictured above) as president, the Americas and welcomed Danielle Trost as principal to lead the Atlanta office. Cultivating career development from within, HBA Americas has elevated the roles of Nicole Sun Chung to VP of development in Los Angeles, and in Miami, Man Him Chan and Maya Molina to associate.
Day’s transition into the newly created role of president, The Americas is a crowning point of her 16-plus-year career at HBA. Rising through the ranks from designer to partner at HBA San Francisco, Day has been instrumental in the boutique studio’s prosperity, from leading the design of high-profile hospitality projects and expanding the firm’s reach into Mexico to fostering rising and leadership talent from within the San Francisco team, according to HBA. She continues to serve as partner at HBA San Francisco while also overseeing nationwide efforts to drive ongoing collaborative success across HBA Americas. Day’s initiatives as president also include further strengthening HBA Americas’ brand position globally, empowering and mentoring design talent, and maintaining an emphasis on design ingenuity.
Trost brings more than 20 years of interior design expertise to her new role as principal at HBA Atlanta. With a design ethos rooted in a project’s integrity, Trost is committed to promoting design excellence for the office’s current and upcoming branded hotel and residential projects both domestically and internationally. A skillful designer and strategic thinker, Trost has a knack for spearheading hospitality and convention center projects, nurturing relationships for business development, and guiding teams along every stage of a project’s design process, the company reports. She joins HBA from Cooper Carry where she helped the company establish its residential vertical. Since 1997, Trost has been certified by the National Council for Interior Design Qualifications. She is also a member of the American Society of Interior Designers and the International Interior Design Association.
Sun Chung has been with HBA for more than 15 years, working worldwide to support the global hospitality design firm’s business development objectives. As VP of development, Chung’s main focus is securing and negotiating contracts for the firm’s U.S.-based offices and its sub-brands. Her adaptability, resiliency and in-depth understanding of the design industry—coupled with her knowledge of the global economy and collaborative relationships—have made her a trusted resource for clients, hotel brands, management companies and HBA designers, according to the firm.
Two designers have been promoted from project director to associate at HBA Miami: Chan, who has been with HBA Miami since its inception, and Molina, who has more than a decade of experience in architecture and interior design. As associates, Chan and Molina are responsible for project management as well as leading and realizing architectural interior design concepts from ideation to inhabitable spaces with a distinct sense of place. Chan’s project history includes Ocean Club St Barths, Silversea Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes. Molina most recently led the redesign of The Ocean Room at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, FL and worked on the guestroom renovation at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach in Miami. HBA Miami’s current projects underway, on which both Chan and Molina are taking leadership roles, include The St. Regis Longboat Key, a luxury resort development in Aruba, and a new-build, all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic.
