Cline Names Dan Rider Design Director
Longtime Design Leader and Cline Partner Steps into Firmwide Role Guiding the Next Chapter of Design Excellence
Raleigh, North Carolina (July 9, 2026) – Cline is proud to announce Dan Rider, AIA, LEED AP, GGP, as the firm’s new Design Director. A Partner and longtime Design Team Leader, Rider will guide the firm’s design direction across its studios, building on Cline’s legacy of thoughtful, human-centered design while advancing the firm’s continued commitment to creating places that elevate everyday life.
Rider steps into the role following Cari Jones, whose leadership and influence over the last 30-plus years have helped shape Cline since the firm’s earliest days. As Design Director, Rider will continue to strengthen the firm’s design culture, mentor emerging leaders, and help guide the design integrity of projects across Cline’s growing national practice.
“Dan has been one of the steady creative forces behind Cline’s design evolution for many years,” says Michael Mesnard, AIA, President and CEO at Cline. “He brings a rare combination of design vision, technical depth, patience, and mentorship to everything he touches. As we look toward the future of the firm, Dan is exactly the kind of leader who will help us continue raising the bar for design excellence while staying grounded in what matters most: creating places that improve people’s lives.”
Logical, Humanistic, Beautiful
For Rider, who joined Cline in 2007, design is logical, humanistic, and beautiful. His approach blends technical rigor with a deep understanding of how people experience place, shaping work that is both practical and inspiring. Throughout his longstanding career, Rider has championed design that responds to context, serves community, and creates lasting value for clients and the people who live, work, gather, and connect within Cline’s projects.
Rider’s Influence on Design
Rider’s influence can be seen in some of the firm’s most transformative work, including Peace Raleigh Apartments + Publix, The Salvation Army of Wake County’s Judy D. Zelnak Center of Hope, Willard Street Apartments, Raleigh Transit Operations Facility, and reCHARGe, a forward-looking mixed-use concept exploring the relationship between sustainability, urban density, history, and human experience.
At Peace Raleigh Apartments, Rider helped shape one of downtown Raleigh’s most visible mixed-use projects, balancing significant urban scale with moments of texture, warmth, and connection. At the Judy D. Zelnak Center of Hope, he led the design team in transforming a vacant 1950s warehouse into a vital community resource, preserving the building’s industrial character while creating a place of dignity, support, and renewal.
“Patience, long-term perspective, and intentionality are hallmarks of Dan’s leadership as Design Director,” says Bryan Johnson, Partner, Team Leader at Cline. “Equally impactful is his commitment to mentoring the next generation of designers, instilling these qualities in others and shaping not only exceptional designers, but the future of the firm.”
His sustainability leadership has also helped advance Cline’s broader commitment to responsible, future-focused design. As LEED Project Administrator for Raleigh Transit Operations Facility, Rider played a key role in elevating the project’s sustainability goals, helping the facility achieve LEED Platinum certification. Across his body of work, his design thinking reflects a belief that environmental responsibility and design excellence are not separate ambitions but deeply connected responsibilities.
As Cline continues to grow across markets, disciplines, and offices, Rider’s appointment reinforces the firm’s position as a design leader focused on creating places that bring people together and elevate everyday life.
“Design has always been a shared pursuit at Cline,” says Rider. “The best ideas come from collaboration, curiosity, and a willingness to keep asking what a place can do for the people who experience it. I’m honored to step into this role and continue building on the design legacy that has shaped Cline for so many years.”
Please join Cline to congratulate Dan Rider as he steps into this new leadership role.
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About Cline:
Founded in 1989, Cline is an integrated architecture, planning, landscape architecture, interior design, and branding firm with offices in Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C. Recognized for designing the experience of living well, the firm creates places that bring people together and elevate everyday life. Through collaborative practice and thoughtful execution, Cline helps clients and communities imagine and realize spaces that inspire people to live and work well.
