Kay Sargent

Kay Sargent is a practicing, licensed, and certified Interior Designer with 40 years of experience. Sargent is the Director of Thought Leadership, Interiors for HOK, a global Architectural and Design firm. With a passion for using design to transform how and where people work, she spends her days (and many nights) working with clients on workplace strategy, design, and inclusion.

“We are no longer designing the environments—we are designing the experience.”

Based in Washington, D.C., Sargent leads project teams that solve clients’ business and organizational challenges related to real estate business processes, strategic planning, workplace strategy, change management, and designing for inclusion. She collaborates with organizations ranging from tech startups to Fortune 500 companies to optimize their real estate portfolios and create the most innovative, inclusive work experiences. She was recently selected from her field of peers to provide Congressional Subject Matter Expert Testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives on “Federal Real Estate Post-COVID-19: A View from The Private Sector” and has since been called to share her expertise with Congressional Committees multiple times.

In 2024, Kay was recognized Kay Sargent with a Lifetime of #HiPness Award by Interior Design Magazine and was awarded a Best of NeoCon Gold Award and an Innovation Award for the design of the TOCCO hardware line for pba, designed to create more welcoming and inclusive environments. In addition to these awards, Kay and the team at HOK have been awarded multiple awards from the industry for their work on addressing neuro-inclusion in the built environment, including Best of NeoCon - Gold Award and an Innovation Award, NYC XDESIGN Awards Honoree, IFPI Global Inclusion Award, IWBI Next Frontier of Design Award, EDRA Certificate of Research Excellence, among many others.

Kay is a member of both the American Society of Interior Designers’ College of Fellows and the International Interior Design Association’s College of Fellows, a select body of designers whose work has significantly influenced the profession. The American Society of Interior Designers also has honored Kay with its highest award, naming her a “Designer of Distinction,” whose body of work represents excellence in interior design.

Outside of HOK, Kay serves on the prestigious Delos Advisory Board alongside wellness and sustainability advocates such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Deepak Chopra. She also serves on the Advisory for CoRETech / Real Comm and Co-chaired the 2023 events. She has also served on the international board of directors for AVIXA, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association; CoreNet Global; IFI, the International Federation of Interior Designers/Architects; IIDA; ASID; and NCQLP. Sargent is co-chair for the ASID Foundation research task force and on the leadership team of IFMA’s WE Workplace Evolutionaries and the advisory board of Work Design Magazine.

Sargent has authored numerous reports and articles on the workplace and has spoken at CoreNet, IFMA and other industry events. CoreNet and Tradeline, Inc. both have honored her as a top- rated speaker. A mentor to many, she is a founding member of the D.C. chapter of UPWARD, which accelerates career advancement for executive women.