People · Active
J Lee Rofkind
Governance and oversight · Member Emerita
FAIALEED APFour decades · Four continents
People · Active
Governance and oversight · Member Emerita
FAIALEED APFour decades · Four continents
Why a chair
BakLok's work happens in physical space — a boardroom, a rehearsal suite, the room a senior leader walks into before the conversation that decides an outcome. The discipline we teach is inseparable from the environment it is practised in.
So we held that environment to the same standard we hold the coaching itself: overseen by someone who has spent a career defining what the world's most exacting rooms demand.
J Lee Rofkind has led hospitality interiors for Mandarin Oriental and Ritz-Carlton across four continents. She has run her own practice for nearly two decades and led hospitality design across Asia-Pacific for HOK.
She now chairs the standard our clients get to learn inside.
Her discipline
Understand the market. Identify the property's users. Learn the local culture. Research the competition. Then — and only then — design to exceed expectations.
It is the same sequence BakLok teaches for high-stakes speech: read the room before you change it. The parallel is not a coincidence. It is why she chairs the practice.
The environment, evidenced
A sample of the environments Rofkind's leadership has shaped — from the Mandarin Oriental Pudong lobby to the Ritz-Carlton Montréal Palm Court. The standard she brings is not a promise. It is a record. Her multi-cultural experience with people from around the world requires patience, attention to detail and excellent communication skills.
Background
Selected work
On inquiry