James Zheng

James Zheng is the CEO and president of Goettsch Partners. As such, he leads the firm’s overall business and management strategy, as well as daily operations. His perspective from working on projects in the U.S. and overseas has helped guide the firm’s global expansion. Through his efforts, the firm established a representative office in Shanghai in 2004. Today, the firm maintains a growing full-service office there staffed with both local and U.S.-trained professionals.

James serves as the partner-in-charge for large-scale office, hospitality and mixed-use high-rises and multibuilding complexes. He is involved from the initial client contact to regular design and progress meetings, to opening events, occupancy and well beyond. While based in Chicago, James travels to Asia regularly, overseeing the planning and design of developments across the continent. Projects include single buildings as tall as 1,300 feet, as well as multi-building complexes of more than 5 million square feet. His ability to provide attentive personal service and skills ranging from planning and design to marketing and management reflects the diversity of his strengths. Joining the firm in 1995, he was named president in 2013, added the co-CEO title in 2018, and took on the full CEO title in 2022.

James received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. His talents and accomplishments were recognized early on with the AIA Chicago Young Architect Award in 2004, and he was named among the Crain's Chicago Business 40 Under 40 in 2005. He is a member of the AIA, a registered LEED Accredited Professional, a member of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Advisory Group, and a member of The Executives’ Club of Chicago.

He has served as a speaker at events held by AIA Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Center, CTBUH and Tongji University. He has also been featured in such publications as The New York Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, and the Chicago Tribune, among others.