AMES, Iowa — John V. Carlson, CEO emeritus and retired principal of Charles Perry Partners, Inc. (CPPI), is a recipient of the 2024 Design Achievement Award presented by the Iowa State University College of Design.

Established in 1988, the award recognizes outstanding creative and professional achievements of alumni in all the college’s disciplines.

Carlson, of Gainesville, Florida, received a bachelor of science in urban planning from Iowa State in 1972. He will be recognized as part of Iowa State’s homecoming celebration at the ISU Alumni Association’s 93rd Honors and Awards Ceremony at 1:30 p.m. CT Friday, Nov. 1, at Stephens Auditorium in Ames and streamed live online. A dessert reception will follow. Both the ceremony and reception are free and open to the public.

Carlson served as CEO of CPPI — a 250-employee professional construction management, general contracting, and design-build firm with seven offices in Florida and Georgia — from 2011 until 2018, and retired as principal in 2020. He had been president of CPPI predecessor PPI Construction Management, Inc., from 1997–2011.

Carlson previously was the director of facilities planning and construction at the University of Florida, including facilities and operations for the university’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and director of educational facilities for Barton Malow Co., a national construction management firm.

Throughout his career, he has managed multi-sector projects valued at over $5 billion, including 25 buildings on the University of Florida campus, 12 buildings on the University of Central Florida campus and many more. He received the 2024 City of Gainesville E. L. Roy Hunt Award for exceptional leadership in historic preservation at the University of Florida.

Carlson’s significant business, civic and community leadership roles have included president of the WUFT-TV Board of Directors and chair of the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Council of Economic Outreach, Alachua County Planning Commission, Gainesville Housing Authority and 2015 American Heart Association of North Central Florida Heart Walk. He has served on the Wells Fargo Bank Board of Advisors and numerous nonprofit organization boards.

Carlson is an ISU Alumni Association life member and a member of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Builders Association of North Central Florida, Construction Owners Association of America, Council of Educational Facilities Planners International, Florida Educational Facilities Planners Association, Society of College and University Planners and Urban Land Institute Board of Directors.

Contacts

Karlyn Rainey, Alumni Relations and Events Coordinator, College of Design, 515-294-5791, krainey@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Director of Strategic Communications, College of Design, 515-294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu

-30-