Helen Diemer FIALD, MIES, LEED AP
Principal
Helen Diemer is President and majority shareholder of The Lighting Practice. She joined the firm in 1994 and became a Principal in 1996. Helen is an award-winning lighting designer with more than 30 years of experience designing lighting for a variety of interior and exterior public spaces, corporate, education, healthcare, entertainment and retail environments. She is a past-President and Fellow of the IALD and an active member of the IES where she worked on lighting energy standards, which have become the basis for today’s lighting energy codes. Throughout her career, Helen has supported education and the advancement of the lighting profession through mentoring and speaking engagements. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including Centennial Fellow of the Penn State Department of Architectural Engineering, SMPS Philadelphia’s “Honoring Legends” Award and SmartCEO Magazine’s Philadelphia Brava! Awards.
If you couldn’t be a lighting designer, what would you be?
I would be a Travel, Food and Wine writer.
Who are your heroes (mentors) and why?
My parents. My father inspired me to work hard, be a creative thinker and believe I could be whatever I wanted to be. My mother taught me the importance of balance, collaboration and getting along.
What is your personal mission statement?
Make a difference.
What’s the most interesting thing about you that we wouldn’t learn from your resume alone?
I was a high-school exchange student in Ecuador.
