When Peruvian native Federico Chiappina, AIA, moved to Atlanta back in the late 1980s to pursue an architecture education and career, he says he had to leave behind his surfboard.

“As a young person, I lived for surfing,” Federico (Fed) says.

Now, after 29 years working with Macgregor Associates Architects | An INVISION Studio (MAA), most recently as its president, Fed says he plans to fulfill his long-time dream of retiring at 60 years old, retrieving his surfboard, and ​“going back to being a beach boy.”

Fed, who has served as President of MAA since 2018, has announced he will be retiring at the end of the year. Succeeding him are long-time MAA Partner Andrew Dell, AIA, and Eric Ritland, AIA, who joined MAA earlier this fall, following MAA’s acquisition by Iowa-based INVISION Architecture. Eric, a Partner with INVISION, was instrumental in bringing the two firms together in early 2025.

^{From left to right: Lee Rader, Andrew Dell, Fed Chiappina, Richard Leonard, and Bruce Macgregor.}

“I think they’re doing a great job already” with the leadership transition, Fed says. ​“We’ve spent the last three months making sure our clients are happy and have met our new leaders. And they’ve been creating a group of new leaders within MAA with new and expanded roles and responsibilities. I think they’re going to do great.”

A graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Fed joined MAA in January 1997. The firm promoted him to associate in 2003 and named him a partner in 2007 as he served and managed a growing portfolio of major industrial clients such as IDI Logistics, Home Depot, Sephora, TXJ, and Amazon, among others.

^{Fed’s Associate dinner in 2003.}

Since 1987, Fed says, MAA has built a national reputation for excellence in office and industrial architecture, around the delivery of logistics facilities, distribution and fulfillment centers, manufacturing facilities, and data centers.

Fed says he made his own mark on the industry as he developed and managed what he describes as a mission-critical program over the past 20 years with Google that has been centered around the design and development of data centers.

^{Fed and Yong Mo Kim pose with a buffalo at an Oklahoma Amazon facility.}

“Google’s very first massive expansion – we were part of that,” he says of what he considers one of his biggest career achievements.

Post retirement, he and his family plan to explore the southern and central coast of California before settling on a coastal town with good waves.

“I look forward to spending more time with the family, traveling the world, moving to California, and going back to surfing as a way of life. Living the good life without planning or meetings,” he says. ​“I’m leaving the company in great hands with Andrew and Eric, as well as the wonderful group of Associates who currently run the MAA machine.” 

For more information, contact Eric Ritland, Managing Partner of Macgregor Associates Architects | An INVISION Studio, at eritland@​maamail.​com.

Macgregor Associates Architects | An INVISION Studio, with offices in Atlanta and Dallas, Texas, and INVISION are part of a growing, best-in-class, national network of architecture and engineering firms powered by The HFW Companies.

The HFW Partner Network leverages its collective expertise to provide a full continuum of visionary, collaborative, infrastructure design solutions, building greater long-term value for partners, clients, and the communities served by the Partner firms.