Wilton J. Berger
AIA Associate
President and Partner

Celebrating 35 years with the firm, Wilt carries forward the enduring values on which Miller Hanson Partners was founded. Now more than ever, he sees creating better places for people to live as the best opportunity to strengthen our neighborhoods and communities.

His own definition of community is broad: Over the past 15 years, Wilt has spent many of his vacations working in Haiti and Mexico, trying out rammed earth and straw bale construction techniques to provide much-needed housing.

Combining his sense of adventure with love of building is a lifelong habit for Wilt. He grew up in southern Minnesota where “spending summers on the Mississippi made swimmers of us all.” He was recently inducted into the Winona High School Athletic Hall of Fame for competitive swimming.

When Wilt wasn’t in the water, he was learning to wield a hammer from his carpenter grandfather, eagerly working alongside him on construction and remodeling projects.

Enrolling in architecture at the University of Minnesota, Wilt worked summers for a local general contractor learning the construction process from the ground up — digging ditches, wheeling concrete and working as a hod carrier.

After graduation he had jobs as a designer and building official before joining the Miller Hanson firm in 1970. He has been involved in some way with almost every commission since.

Wilt has boundless enthusiasm for a life’s work in which “we can start with a client’s rough idea and end up with a completed building that not only fulfills the client’s vision, but can also have a positive impact on the surrounding neighborhood.” He derives great satisfaction from collaborating with MHP’s clients in formulating a concept, “then watching as our talented staff put flesh and bones on the initial skeleton.”

In his role as president, Wilt focuses on marketing to new clients and making sure that repeat clients are well taken care of. His idea of a job perk? “I still love walking around our construction sites as the buildings take shape.”

He is chairman of the Governor’s Council on Fire Prevention and Control , a course marshal for the Twin Cities Marathon, and coordinator of the homeless shelter program at his church.