James R. Lencioni, AIA
James R. Lencioni, AIA
Founder/Board of Directors
In 1989, Jim co-founded Aria Group and has since been an integral part in growing and evolving Aria Group into a world-class architectural design firm known for both its award-winning projects within every sector of hospitality as well as their client-centric service philosophy. As a member of the Board of Directors, Jim maintains meaningful relationships with a vast array of clients within the firm. Over the last 30+ years, he has led the design development on countless restaurant, entertainment, hotel, casino and multi-use projects.
Spanning his four decades, Jim has partnered with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc., including Foodlife, Foodease, Bub City, Maggiano’s and Corner Bakery, Wildfire and Paris Club/Studio Paris. He has assisted many individual operators in developing new concepts including Potbelly, Protein Bar & Kitchen, Cucina Paradiso and Maya Del Sol and more. On large-scale hospitality and gaming projects, Jim has led projects at Brookfield Zoo, Blue Chip Hotel, Rosemont Casino, City Park, Esplanade, Hyatt Place, and Hawthorne Casino & Racecourse; along with a portfolio of larger corporate projects including Eagle Ridge Inn and Conference Center, Deerpath Office Building and Borst Office Building.
Jim is on the Board of Directors for the Oak Park YMCA and was board chair for three years; as well as being active at St. Giles Church. He has been a member of TEC (currently Vistage), president of Toastmasters and Vice President of the St. Vincent DePaul Society. Jim and his wife Kathy have three children and have lived in Oak Park since 1986 where he is the Chair of the Oak Park Zoning Board of Appeals, a board member of the Oak Park-River Forest Rotary Club, and a board member of Opportunity Knocks. He has been a member of A.I.A. since 1989 and he is NCARB certified and licensed in 42 states. In his free time, Jim enjoys spending time with family and six grandchildren and is an avid golfer and handball player.
