Orren Pickell Building Group (OPBG), the North Shore’s leading custom luxury home design/build firm, celebrates the election of OPBG President Lisa Pickell to the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) Board of Trustees. Pickell, who has led the family-founded North Shore firm since 2017, has expanded the OPBG footprint with custom home projects in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Pickell’s appointment to the CAC Board of Trustees also expands the firm’s long tradition of civic engagement including Pickell’s work as a CAC docent (class of 2015) giving architecture tours on the organization’s flagship CAC River Cruise—USA Today Readers’ Choice 2021 #1 Boat Tour in North America.
“I am thrilled to be working alongside CAC President and CEO Eleanor Esser Gorski and a remarkable group of Chicago leaders on the CAC Board of Trustees, led by board chair Ann Thompson, AIA, Executive Vice President of Architecture and Design at Related Midwest,” said Lisa Pickell. “As a long-time CAC docent and Midwest design/build business leader, I look forward to bringing a unique insider/outsider perspective to the CAC’s goal of showing Chicagoans and visitors from around the world how ‘design matters’.”
Lisa Pickell joined OPBG in 2004 as a remodeling division manager, became chief operating officer in 2010 and took the helm as president in 2017. In 2020, Pickell was named among the “Notable Women in Construction and Design” by Crain’s Chicago Business. In 2018, she was featured among the “Dynamic Women in Chicago” by Modern Luxury: CS. In 2017, she was also recognized by Constructech magazine as one of the nation’s leading Women in Construction. She was named Remodeler of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago in 2009, and was selected as one of Professional Remodeler magazine’s 40 Under 40 in 2011.
More than fifty years ago, OPBG founder Orren Pickell, and his wife Tina (whom he met while attending Bradley University in Peoria, IL), established the Midwest’s premier custom home design/build firm that authentically interprets the North Shore vernacular for changing family needs. The family business carries not only Orren Pickell’s name but his values: innovative methods, exacting attention to detail, authentic architectural design and quality construction at every step. Two of Orren and Tina’s three children lead the family business. Lisa Pickell is president and Eric Pickell leads the firm’s sales and marketing team.
Lisa Pickell graduated from Miami University in Oxford, OH with a business degree in marketing and a minor in art and architectural history. She is an active member and 2018 Member of the Year of Vistage Worldwide. She’s also a member of the CAC’s docent organization where she sits on several planning committees. She is an advisory board member for Revolution Workshop, an organization that provides carpentry and woodworking workforce development for unemployed and underemployed people and Lake County Tech Campus, one of the best high school tech training facilities in the Midwest. Lisa is also a volunteer diver with the marine mammal program at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.
About Orren Pickell
Orren Pickell Building Group has been a leading design-build firm on Chicago’s North Shore for over 50 years. The company provides custom home architectural design and construction throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.
