Barbra
Horton
As former CEO of HLB Lighting Design, Barbara focused her career on the legacy of the firm with an emphasis on creating a culture that is highly design driven, curious, and motivated for growth and profitability.
She is an advocate for women leadership roles and supporting the lighting industry towards a culture of the “business of design”. In her 42-year, career she inspired a leadership team of 15 Principals/Owners, with 90+ team members located in eight offices across North America serving clients world-wide. Her last endeavor included due diligence and a business plan development to open the firm’s first international office in Dubai/UAE in 2021. She has guided the firm through a successful ownership transition plan initiated in 1999, and as part of the firm’s growth strategy she lead an acquisition of a complimentary firm in 2018 and 2020. Throughout her career she advocated for many of
her colleagues and supported mentoring people in and outside of the firm. She and her team are entrepreneurs and willing to take risks on people and places. She established their 5th office in Miami in 2015 and moved permanently to Miami in early 2018 to focus on building the business in the region and beyond.
Barbara retired in 2022 to pursue her passion for painting and cruising with her husband, Stephen Lees on Sequel their Bluewater sailboat. They have always believed in “paying it forward” and were honored to be invited to promote a new non profit organization to elevate the business acumen of lighting designers in the business of design. The “Business of Light” has a diverse international leadership team who will be launching their first workshop for designers this fall at the IALD Enlighten Americas Conference with a variety of speakers on critical business topics.
Barbara has actively been involved in several industry organizations – she served two terms on the IALD Board and became President from 2014-2015, served on the IALD Education Trust Board from 2016-2018 and the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education 2015-2018. She was acknowledged by her peers and inducted into the IALD College of Fellows in 2014 and received her CLD in 2017. In 2021 she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) , Women in Lighting (WIL) and the Edison Report Barbara has also participated in numerous webinars, podcasts, and industry presentations on business transitions, succession planning and Marketing.
Why Did You Want To Be A Silhouette Awards Mentor?
Since retiring this year I have informally consulted with many professional colleagues about various business and career issues they are interested in having an experienced non-competing advisor. These are strictly confidential discussions. It’s actually been enlightening to hear that we have all had similar issues in our careers. I made a conscious decision in my career to always seek professional consultants or read many books on the topic to help me navigate unchartered waters. When you run a business you are the cheerleader for your team but you as a leader also need a champion, cheerleader or mentor who can hold a mirror up to you and help you can make great decisions.