By BBCO

We’re proud to share that BBCO’s Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Bharat Baste, has been named COO of the Year at the 2025 Columbus Business First C-Suite Awards.

This year’s awards celebrated the region’s brightest executives whose leadership and innovation continue to shape Central Ohio’s business community. It’s a well-deserved honor for Bharat, whose steady guidance and creative spirit have helped define BBCO’s culture and success.

As COO, Bharat brings balance to BBCO’s creative and operational sides, ensuring the firm’s work remains both visionary and precise. He believes great design begins with curiosity and craftsmanship, qualities that extend beyond architecture. When he’s not leading project teams or mentoring designers, you’ll often find him in his garage, customizing vintage motorcycles and cars, a hobby he describes as a microcosm of the design and building process itself.

Bharat’s journey into architecture began early. With parents who were both architects, he built his first architectural scale models at just 15 years old. That same hands-on approach continues to define his work today, whether he’s refining project processes, guiding strategy, or integrating new tools like AI to streamline design workflows across the firm.

At BBCO, we believe that leadership is built on trust, creativity, and collaboration, values that Bharat embodies every day. Congratulations to Bharat on this outstanding recognition and for continuing to inspire us all to Build Less / Create More.

Be sure to look out for Bharat’s feature article in the October 2025 issue of Columbus Business First.