1. FALL 2015
strategizemagazine.com
American Express
P36
“We are always looking at ways to en-
hance our spaces, from product and
material lifecycle, to efficiency, to
design aesthetic and functionality.”
says Thomas Gannon, Vice President
of Global Design and Construction
for American Express “With all of our
projects, we focus on driving process
improvements from design through
construction.”
28
SWEETFROG
PREMIUM FROZEN YOGURT
Frozen yogurt company experi-
ences rapid growth, looks ahead
toward future expansion efforts
24
ACE HARDWARE
Center for Excellence educates
noncompetitive companies on
providing optimal service
10
TRUE VALUE CO
Collaboration, sound relationships
take precedence over typical de-
mand-supply approach to vendors

2. VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Thomas Gannon
LOCATION
New York City, New York
36 STRATEGIZE FALL 2015
American
Express
American Express is about more than credit cards. It’s a global ser-
vices company that aims to provide products, insights and experi-
ences that enrich lives. The American Express Design & Construc-
tion team is front and center in many of these efforts.
Strategize spoke with Thomas Gannon, Vice President of Global
Design and Construction for American Express. He shared his in-
sights about his team and some recent major projects, such as The
Centurion Lounge network in major U.S. airports, workplace inno-
vations through a program called BlueWork and the construction of
a new regional headquarters in south Florida.
HAVEN ‘ON THE GO’ AT U.S. AIRPORTS
To enhance the travel experience for card members, American Ex-
press has been building a network of uniquely designed Centurion
Enriching Lives
Building great experiences for Employees and Customers

3. FALL 2015 STRATEGIZE 37
Lounges, which are now in six airports across
the country. The team is currently focused on
a seventh Centurion Lounge, which will open
in Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Air-
port during the first half of 2016.
“We look to provide our card members with a
premium-level benefit from the time you walk
in the door to the time they exit,” Gannon says.
“These are very well-designed lounges that
have a large food and beverage component.”
Services offered in Centurion Lounges in-
clude gourmet food, mixed drinks and wine,
and space to work or relax. American Express
hopes the lounges help relieve much of the
stress associated with traveling.
“Our lounges have a full cooking kitchen and a
thoughtfully stocked bar,” Gannon says. “Each
lounge employs a local celebrity chef, so cui-
sine reflects the region. The floor plans contain
sufficient spaces for card members to leave the
hustle and bustle of the airport and enjoy an
experience they would normally not see in typi-
cal airline lounges.”
WORKPLACE INNOVATIONS
American Express is also focused on enhancing
the workspace experience for its employees.

4. 38 STRATEGIZE FALL 2015
What inspired BlueWork was the desire to create
a flexible, open and collaborative work environment that properly
reflects how employees work today.”
-Thomas Gannon

5. FALL 2015 STRATEGIZE 39
BlueWork is the company’s real estate strat-
egy focused on creating flexible and efficient
workspaces. It adopts the increasingly popu-
lar open-office style, with design adaptation
based on the particulars of an employee’s job
responsibilities.
“What inspired BlueWork was the desire to cre-
ate a flexible, open and collaborative work en-
vironment that properly reflects how employ-
ees work today,” Gannon says. “Our current
design emphasizes collaborative space to al-
low for more interaction and innovation among
our employees.”
The program considers employees’ work styles
to determine the best possible use of floor
space. “Hub” workers require a fixed desk in
the office. “Club” employees divide time be-
tween the office and other locations. “Home”
employees work from their homes, while “roam”
workers travel frequently on the job.
“These categories help determine who needs
dedicated space within the office,” Gannon
says. “Many workers are mobile, whether they
are traveling between businesses or within the
same building. It comes down to using the
real estate footprint in a much more efficient
manner to accommodate those fluctuations of
when people are in the office.”
Besides making good use of space, the pro-
gram enables offices to be more pleasant and

6. 40 STRATEGIZE FALL 2015
convenient places to work. To meet that goal,
everything from available space to natural
light has been given careful consideration.
“The open-floor plan, with the workstations
on the outside and any office spaces or en-
closed meeting rooms on the interior, allows
for the transmission of natural light,” Gan-
non says. “Studies show that where there’s
a higher percentage of natural light, there’s
a higher level of engagement. We work to
bring that into our buildings.”
NEW FACILITY IN SOUTH FLORIDA
This philosophy also inspires the company’s
latest major construction project, a new
regional headquarters in Sunrise, Florida.
Once completed, the facility will consist of
two glass-sided buildings connected by an
atrium and spanning approximately 450,000
square feet. The campus is scheduled to be
finished by early 2017.
“We are building a state-of-the-art facility and
our employees are very excited about work-
ing in our new south Florida home,” Gannon
says. “We think it will be a fitting expression
of the American Express brand.”
The driving force behind all of these projects
is a global design and construction team
with wide ranging experience as develop-
ers, builders, architects and engineers. This
Global 40 member team led by Gannon is or-
ganized into five regional teams (NYC, Phoe-
nix, Gurgaon, London and Singapore) with
responsibilities of developing and managing
the end to end process of project delivery
for these complex projects in more than 40
countries around the world.
“We are always looking at ways to enhance
our spaces, from product and material lifecy-
cle, to efficiency, design aesthetic and func-
tionality. With all of our projects, we focus on
driving process improvements from design
through construction. We closely evaluate
our after-action reports and lessons learned
from reviews so that we’re constantly finding
ways to innovate.”