In celebration of Schmidt Associates’ 50th anniversary, our Legacy Voices series honors the people who have shaped who we are. Ben Bain, CPSM, is one of those voices.

For nearly 25 years, Ben has brought a steady, trusted presence to Schmidt Associates’ K-12 Studio. His title is business development representative and principal, but the career underneath it was built on relationships and the trust it takes to earn them. As the “eyes and ears” of the K-12 team, he’s a familiar face in school boardrooms, at conferences, and at conventions across the state.

FROM THE AIRWAVES TO ARCHITECTURE

Ben’s first career was in radio, where he spent 17 years selling advertising and covering sports on air before working his way into management. His mentor there was seven years further along and had already left broadcasting for construction. When that mentor’s firm needed someone to build relationships and develop business with K-12 schools, he called Ben.

In 1997, Ben moved to Indianapolis with his family. He spent the next five years learning the business across multiple markets. What made the leap possible wasn’t a calculated career strategy; it was trust. The same mentor who’d shaped his radio career became his first mentor in the AEC industry too, a pattern of showing up and building trust that would define the rest of Ben’s career.

In 2002, the late Wayne Schmidt and the late Ron Fisher brought Ben on as the firm’s first dedicated business development person, a big step for the firm. Ben already knew Indiana’s design landscape well by then, and Schmidt Associates had always been at the top of his list.

SERVICE, ON AND OFF THE CLOCK

Ask Ben what’s kept him in K-12 work for over two decades, and the answer isn’t a strategy. It’s the people.

“I’ve always enjoyed interacting with educators, whether it’s the teacher or principal or superintendent. They have the best interest of the kids at heart. These are people that I have a great deal of respect for. They have a very challenging job, and it seems to be more and more difficult every year, and I love helping.”

Ben Bain

That care doesn’t clock out at 5 p.m. For 24 years, Ben has volunteered with HOSTS (Helping One Student to Succeed) at MSD of Wayne Township, spending a half hour each week with two students and helping them build reading skills and the kind of confidence that sticks with a kid well beyond third grade. He also serves on the board of the Wayne Township Education Foundation, which supports HOSTS, teacher grants, student scholarships, and other programs across the district.

Ben has also served on committees with other K-12 organizations across the state over the years. Ask him why, and he’ll tell you it’s really the same thing that drives the day job: a genuine care for the students, teachers, and administrators he’s spent his career serving.

A CHANGING LANDSCAPE

Ben has seen, and helped districts navigate, a lot of change in Indiana’s K-12 world along the way, from new referendum requirements to shifting delivery methods to tighter budgets. What schools are asking for has changed just as much. CTE has moved from an afterthought to a priority, and traditional lecture-style classrooms have given way to flexible, project-based spaces built for collaboration. Schmidt Associates’ work at Prosser Career Education Center reflects that evolution, transforming underutilized areas into new plumbing and advanced manufacturing labs while creating flexible spaces that can adapt as programs and workforce needs continue to change.

SERVANT LEADERSHIP IN ACTION

Ben traces much of what makes Schmidt Associates different to Wayne Schmidt and Ron Fisher, who spoke about servant leadership when he interviewed for his role. That philosophy has never been just a talking point; it shows up in the firm’s learning culture, in Schmidt Academy, and in an atmosphere leadership has always kept genuinely fun, a big part of why the work has stayed incredibly rewarding for more than two decades.

A LEGACY OF TRUST

Colleagues have described Ben as the K-12 Studio’s rock, someone who loves what he does and pours his heart and soul into the work.

“Ben’s love for the K-12 world in Indiana shows in the friendships he’s built over the years, and we all marvel at his ability to remember everything about everyone. He’s a huge part of our success on the amazing educational projects we’ve done throughout the state.”

Anna Marie Burrell, Principal-In-Charge  and K-12 Studio Leader

We are privileged to celebrate someone who has spent nearly 25 years making the whole far greater than the sum of its parts, for the districts he serves, the colleagues who rely on him, and the students whose names he never forgets.

Explore 50 years of impact—celebrating the people, projects, and moments that have made us who we are.