Populous Appoints Two New Global Leadership Roles

Posted January 29, 2026

Populous has announced the appointment of two new global roles that expand its global operations.

Gavin Houldin joins Populous as global chief operating officer and Teryn Hightower as head of global merger and acquisition integration, according to a release.

In his new role, Houldin will focus on strengthening global operations by standardizing systems and processes, leading integration efforts for acquisitions, and optimizing business and project performance.

Prior to joining Populous, Houldin served as senior vice president and operations director for Arcadis’ global places business in North America, based in the Nashville metropolitan area. In his tenure at Arcadis, lasting over 6 years, Houldin led a team of over 600 in the Americas and an additional 250 in global excellence centers across India, the Philippines, and Romania.

“His [Houldin’s] proven track record in scaling businesses through organic growth and M&A integration, coupled with strong commercial acumen and strategic thinking, make him ideally suited to help drive Populous into our next phase of growth and innovation,” CEO and Chair of Populous, Bruce Miller, said in a release.

Hightower will be responsible for creating and leading a disciplined global integration strategy for Populous acquisitions. Hightower will report to Houldin.

Teryn joins Populous from Accenture, spending more than 11 years at the company. Seven of those years she spent leading post-merger integration within corporate development in post merger Integration and transaction services.

Houldin and Hightower will be based in the United States, working across Populous regional headquarters in Kansas City, London and Brisbane and the 34 Populous global studios, according to the release.