Katrina Kostic Samen
Vice Chair & Head of Workplace Studio
Savills

Katrina Kostic Samen is the Vice Chair and Head of Savills Workplace Studio | North America based in the New York headquarters. Clients benefit from Katrina’s extensive experience and insight into building design, workplace strategy, and occupier thought leadership. Her innovative design flair makes Katrina uniquely qualified to lead on projects, large and small, with complex challenges to solve. Her expertise has been invaluable to clients in the legal, financial, insurance, and logistics sectors.

Katrina joined the London office of Savills plc in 2019 following the partnership with her full-service design company, KKS Strategy founded in 2004 which became KKS Savills. Katrina relocated to New York in 2023 to build a best-in-class Workplace Strategy Studio across North America. She has enjoyed an accomplished career in the commercial real estate industry around the world. Katrina provides exceptional leadership and inside outthinking for her clients.

Katrina is a recognized leader in the commercial real estate industry, both in the UK and internationally. Twenty-one of Katrina’s projects have been either winners or shortlisted for the British Council for Offices (BCO) Awards over the recent years. Other accolades include the Henry Pugh Award recognizing achievements and contributions in the built environment, and Best Woman Interior Architect at the Women in Construction & Engineering Awards 2019. In the same year, Katrina was a finalist in the Female Leader category at the Building Awards, won Inspirational Leader of the Year at the BCO NextGen Awards, and was listed on BISNOW’s “46 Women in Real Estate Who Crushed It In 2019.”

Currently Katrinas is on the Executive Board at Savills North America as a board member. She was also chair of the London Mayor’s New Plan 2024 for the Built Environment.

Katrina is often invited to speak at conferences and seminars, leading thought-provoking discussions around transformational change, innovation, and the future of work. She taught a case study at Harvard’s Graduate Business School and has spoken at numerous prestigious firms, as well as given interviews on CNN and BBC’s Radio 1.

Notably, Katrina was a Board Member of the British Council for Offices for 12 years, on the Executive Board for four years, and was President of the largest UK-based professional organization in 2018-2019, leading dramatic change to the commercial industry as well as driving inclusion and diversity for women and young next-gen leaders. She launched the renowned BCO Technical Guide in 2019, a benchmark for asset values and specifications in commercial real estate.

EDUCATION
– University of North Carolina
– Bachelor of Arts, Interior Architecture & Environmental Design, with a minor in
– Environmental Psychology, Cum Laude