Jeff Mader, President
Active and on the go both in and out of the office, Jeff leads Mader Design in the firm’s efforts of “Integrating People and Nature®”. Taking a leap of faith and opening the office in 2009, Jeff’s focus was to take a personal approach to service … serve his clients and serve the Indianapolis community where he grew up and throughout the state… and to connect …by connecting site design, architecture, and people by providing a collaborative approach to every endeavor. Jeff has grown Mader Design steadily and intentionally by growing personal relationships with each of our clients into long term friendships.
He takes the same approach to his numerous leadership activities in the community. He has been a long-time volunteer, board member, and committee chair at Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Friends of Garfield Park, Roncalli High School, Beech Grove Chamber of Commerce, Next Stop Beech Grove, Rotary Club of Indianapolis, and INASLA. As a Registered Landscape Architect, Jeff also stays active and involved in ASLA, IPRA, INPS, USGBC, and many other community and business organizations.
When not busy at work or in a board meeting, Jeff has spent many, many…many hours coaching his 3 daughters in basketball (until they all retired) and continues to coach travel softball. In the few remaining hours, he enjoys a nice bourbon and a long quiet weekend at the family cabin in the woods.
JOHN TIERNEY, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
John is our Operations Director, who also handles Project Management duties. With 38 years of Site/Civil Engineering experience under his belt, he brings a “left brain” element to what we do, endeavoring to promote efficient design with functional aesthetics. His background is steeped in the educational and commercial realms, but includes rarities like the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Pikes Peak International Raceway, and clients such as Eli Lilly and Company, Indiana University, Purdue University, Manchester College, and LA Fitness Clubs.
John’s passions outside the office are his family and his faith, and he invests the majority of his time pursuing both. The one possible exception would be his relentless – some might say maniacal - efforts to capture the elusive Micropterus salmoides, more commonly referred to as largemouth bass. Everyone has their favorite getaway place(s), and John’s is the middle of a quiet lake very early in the morning, or especially very late at night under starry skies or a bright moon.
KATHY UNLAND , DESIGNER
After completing a career in the aerospace and defense world, Kathy embarked on a new path by earning a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Ball State University. Her past experience as a materials engineer and quality engineering manager have given her an appreciation for quality designs in the built environment. Kathy is also an Assistant Teaching Professor of Landscape Architecture at Ball State University.
As a transplant from Southern California, she loves watching the seasonal changes we experience in the Midwest, and still fondly recalls the first time (as an adult) she shuffled through a large pile of crisp fall leaves. Away from work, she enjoys traveling with her husband and adult children within the US and abroad. In 2018 she fulfilled a dream of visiting all 50 states when she set foot in Alaska.
KELSEY BEHL . DESIGNER
Kelsey is a graduate of the Landscape Architecture program at Ball State University. She was drawn to the profession by a strong creative drive coupled with a passion for environmental conservation. Her career experience includes residential design and construction, urban design and redevelopment planning, parks, trails, green infrastructure, native ecosystem restoration, bicycle and pedestrian planning, and of course, planting design (her favorite).
Kelsey enjoys abstract painting, sculpture and graphic design. Much of her art is inspired by the natural world and our planet’s most impressive landscapes. - “I put a capital ‘N’ on Nature and call it my church.” -Frank Lloyd Wright - Kelsey spends nearly every vacation camping and hiking in National Parks, and visiting art museums around the country.
Kelsey is a member of the Beech Grove Greenscape Commission and the Beech Grove Parks Board, as Secretary for Beech Grove’s Main Street non-profit group ‘Next Stop Beech Grove’.
nathan horlander . designer
Nathan is a recent graduate of Ball State University and is starting his professional career here at Mader Design. He was drawn to the profession of landscape architecture through his interest in art, ecology and design. He made the most out of his time in school by working as a teaching assistant, serving as the president of the student ASLA chapter and by spending lots of time in the woodshop working on a variety of side projects. Nathan has completed two internships in New York City and spent a semester abroad in Costa Rica studying ecological resilience. Some of Nathan’s interests and hobbies include hydroponic gardening, woodworking, metalworking, and smoking meat.