Cheri Ruane is a registered landscape architect and Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects with an undergraduate BSLA from UMass Amherst and an MLA from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. She a Vice President leading the Landscape Architecture practice of Weston & Sampson’s design studio which is a Boston-based design practice within a 700 person multi-disciplinary environmental and infrastructure firm. Cheri has intentionally focused her career on landscapes within the public realm that improve quality of life and her work includes playgrounds and athletic facilities, urban downtowns, public commons, multi-use paths, and waterfront parks.

Cheri also has a great passion for landscapes of play. Inclusive playgrounds, specifically, are a significant part of her current practice at the Design Studio. Clients include the cities and towns from Kittery, Maine to Plano, Texas. Currently her work around play is focused on introducing risk and adventure amidst a pervasive culture of protection of our children (which, it turns out, are not mutually exclusive).

Community engagement and public presentation are two of Cheri’s great strengths. Her passion for connecting with people led her to develop a series of hands-on workshops for public open space design. This approach has been successful in elementary and middle school settings, public meetings, and outreach events.

As the leader of a creative practice within a larger design and engineering organization Cheri is continuously honing her strategic planning and day to day operations to her team’s advantage. She has developed a design brand for the firm that has not only elevated the practice externally but engendered a depth of understanding and collaboration internally at Weston & Sampson. As Trustee and Past-President of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects Cheri advocates for the profession of landscape architecture at the local and national scale.