About me
Professional Bio
Andrew is a certified integral coach who received his training at New Ventures West in San Francisco, where he is currently part of the faculty. He is also an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation.
Andrew is a Consulting Principal at TEF Design, an architecture and interior design firm. At TEF he has led a wide variety of projects, with a focus on historic preservation and adaptive reuse. He helped develop TEF’s mentorship program and organized many of its educational programs.
Previously, he was a Principal at Perkins+Will, where he was responsible for leading large-scale historic preservation projects, as well as the firm’s Western Region Social Responsibility Initiative.
Apart from his professional work, Andrew has been involved in many community activities, including serving as president of the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission, and on the Design Review Board of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
Andrew studied architecture at Cambridge University in England and Columbia University in New York, where he received a Masters of Architecture Degree. He speaks English, Italian, and Polish.
You can learn more about his professional background on his Linkedin profile.
My journey
Growing up gay as the son of Polish immigrants in America and Australia, I always felt a need to fit in, to mold myself to my environment. My father made me cream cheese radish sandwiches on pumpernickel bread for my school lunches, but I craved the bologna and American cheese sandwiches on Wonder Bread that all the other kids had. I was embarrassed that we spoke Polish at home. It took a long time for me to find my own voice, to realize that stepping away from conforming brought its own rewards.
I learned with time to follow my own path, and to be proud of the things that make me who I am. In my work as an architect, I realized that one of the things I enjoyed most in my work was mentoring the people I worked with, helping them grow and develop in their careers and lives. That realization led me to pursue training in coaching and I am now dedicated to coaching others so they can find what matters most to them and pursue their own goals.
I have long been interested in Italian culture, including over 20 years of studying the Italian language. In 2022, I decided to put those years of study to use, and moved with my husband and dog to Italy, where I continue to work as a coach and architect while striving to improve my Italian and Improv skills.