5 Questions with Jason Metzler, Principal, Burdette, Koehler, Murphy & Associates, Inc.

Jason Metzler is the Principal and Science/Technology Market Sector Leader at BKM, where he designs cutting-edge facilities for scientific innovation. With a Mechanical Engineering degree from Virginia Tech, he transitioned from biopharma operations to MEP design consulting, now leading BKM’s Science & Technology practice.

An active ISPE member since 2017, Jason co-leads the “Mugs & Mentors” series and helps organize the ISPE 2025 Mid-Atlantic Science & Technology (MAST) In-Person Showcase, fostering industry connections. Outside of work, he’s a T-ball coach and on a mission to visit all 50 states—just seven to go!

Join Jason at the ISPE 2025 MAST, register today.

1) What did you want to be when you grow up? How'd you get from there to here?

I’ve always wanted to be an Engineer, from enjoying Math and Science as a kid, to pulling things apart and putting them back together. I headed to Virginia Tech to earn my Mechanical Engineering degree. After graduation, I didn’t really know what I wanted to get into with a fairly wide background in Mechanical Engineering. I found my way into the Biotech industry working for HGS/GSK, where I took that opportunity to learn everything I possibly could about the science, facilities and processes. From there, I made a jump to MEP design consulting. I took the opportunity and continue to do so to learn everything I can about the AEC community. Starting as a mechanical designer, I’ve risen to a Principal and our firm’s Science & Technology Leader. It’s been an exciting journey, and an opportunity for continuous learning as I get to work hand-in-hand with clients to design their facilities to allow them to continue to manufacture or research new scientific breakthroughs. 

2) How are you helping to build a more connected community?

I first joined ISPE back in 2017 at the recommendation of my supervisor and attended their MAST expo event, where I began connecting with new people, but was able to reconnect with old colleagues from my days in Biopharma. I began attending more and more events and connected with more and more individuals on a personal and professional level. Over the past several years, I have volunteered my time to support several of ISPE’s committees, including Emerging Leaders and the MAST planning committees. Supporting the Emerging Leaders committee, we have begun a mentor circles series dubbed, “Mugs & Mentors,” which I’ve had the opportunity to both plan, attend and mentor at these events. These events are awesome as they draw folks from all different backgrounds and stages of their career to discuss topics that might not otherwise be brought up in a day-to-day conversation. Additionally, for the past two years, I’ve supported John Birkmire to plan the MAST Expo, which is ISPE’s biggest event of the year. We have continued to grow this event, and reach new audiences, user groups and vendors to help connect Maryland’s biopharma industry through education and collaboration.

3) What are currently buzzing about? Anything and everything...

It’s a busy time in the Metzler household - between continuing to grow BKM’s Science & Technology practice area, mentoring our young engineers, and starting baseball season as my son’s T-BALL coach.

Last year was a busy year for BKM with alot of growth across all market sectors, for me, the “Technology” projects have been very active, with much of the Maryland Life Sciences being a bit subdued over the past 2-3 years. We’ve had the opportunity to support many of the local universities & institutions to build out new lab and cleanroom spaces as they bring in top professors and researchers from across the country to continue to feed the research and development community here in the DMV. We’ll see where that goes with the recent funding cuts, but the support of these clients is still very important to me.

4) If you could travel back in time - what early career advice would you give yourself?

Always a good question, and usually it's the obvious and simple stuff that you don’t realize until a lot further into your career. 

- Never give up an opportunity to learn something new, sometimes this means forcing yourself out of your comfort zone.

- Stay humble

- Don’t expect to know everything, but figuring out who to go to and how to find out the information to solve a problem is the real learning opportunity. 

- Hard work is worth the prize, work like someone is watching because they are!

- Grow your network (on a professional & personal level!), and don’t burn bridges. The world is much smaller than you realize; a past colleague may one day be a client, boss or resource.

5) What’s on your bucket list?!

Many of my family and friends know this one, but visit all 50 states, I’m close (43), but a few of the less traveled/more difficult to get to ones are left. So I frequently tease my wife, Kelsey, that I’ll be waking early one morning when visiting family in Minnesota, so I can drive to North Dakota to cross that one off my list.