Pioneer and advocate for DEI receives lifetime achievement award

Kaven Swan, senior principal, firm-wide director of business development-aviation + transportation at the St. Louis headquarters of the global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK, recently received a lifetime achievement award for his work in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) from MOKAN, an advocacy group for minority- and women-owned businesses (MBEs and WBEs).

Swan talked to MetroWire Media about his work and why DEI will continue to be important to those areas of business.

“I gravitated to this work because I started twice with minority-owned firms and saw how difficult it was to get opportunities and assignments and show our skillsets, even though we all went to the same schools,” Swan recalled. “We were in the same building as HOK, and I realized the best way I could lead projects was through a large majority firm.”  

Working together created a good team, Swan said. “I found myself becoming an advocate for inclusion and was asked to take a state role (with the Minority Contractors Association), which I did for 10 years. I saw that we have to be intentional in scoring qualifications for projects and making inclusion part of that process.” 

When he became a consultant to HOK on the firm’s aviation work in various cities, leveraging relationships was essential to success.

“This business is relationship-based. It became a natural thing to do in all projects,” Swan said. “It was important to have people at the table to become sensitive to factors in decisions.” 

Swan made a point of visiting minority firms throughout the region, connecting people and encouraging joint ventures. He believes in the meritocracy of ideas and having a focus on solving problems, often through creative approaches.  Although progress has been made, Swan admits challenges still remain.

“There are generational gaps, and it’s still hard for women and minorities to get into architecture school,” Swan noted. “People gravitate to those they know and who look like them.”

A bout with COVID-19 earlier this year has put Swan “in a different place” and led him to reflect on his work and contributions.

“Inclusion is imperative — it’s almost a moral imperative — because our industry is a reflection of our community, the people we serve and the environments we build,” he said. “They are permanent. To get it right, we have to have a diverse perspective. Communities are becoming more diverse, so business has to do the same.”

There have been advances, Swan said. “There is an expectation now that women and minorities will have a seat at the table. That has changed, and will continue to change.” 

Swan has been with HOK since 2002, but his impact on DEI extends beyond the firm. In 2015, he worked with BJC Healthcare to develop a framework for improving diversity and inclusion in the institution’s contracting. He is a member of the Diversity Committees of the Airport Council International-North America and the American Association of Airport Executives; on the Nominating Committee of the Airports Consultants Council; and part treasurer of the Airport Minority Advisory Council In St. Louis, he serves on several nonprofit boards and is a member of the St. Louis Minority Supplier Diversity Committee. 

The scope of Swan’s impact over the past 35 years in design and construction has been extensive, to say the least. A few highlights include helping to launch HOK’s global A&T practice and first Diversity Committee, and advising the St. Louis office’s current DEI Committee; being appointed by then-Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan as chair of the Missouri Minority Advocacy Commission; helping to write an executive order for Missouri state agencies to improve their diversity, which resulted in more WBEs and MBEs participating in state contracts; helping to create a CEO-2-CEO roundtable program that matched area WBE and MBE firms with CEOs of large construction management companies; helping to develop the Urban Enterprise Loan program (St. Louis and Kansas City); ensuring that MBE, WBE and small business enterprises (SBEs) participated in major airport projects in Indianapolis, Atlanta and Los Angeles; and leading the team that won the Maynard Jackson Soar Award for using SBE, MBE and WBE firms on projects at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Swan has a master’s degree in business administration from Atlanta University and a BA degree in management and organizational behavior from Morehouse College. 

For a video of the MOKAN award event, go to: https://www.hok.com/news/2021-11/kaven-swans-30-year-push-to-diversify-the-design-and-construction-industry/.