The new year is always a time of transition and opportunity. And that’s especially true for AIA this year.
I am thrilled to welcome Lakisha Woods, CAE, to serve as AIA’s next executive vice president and CEO. With her experience leading the National Institute of Building Sciences, Woods embodies an ideal combination of expertise and fresh perspective that AIA needs to succeed in tackling our priority issues.
Her leadership on the board of the U.S. Green Building Council, for example, is tremendously helpful as we envision our continued progress in our profession’s sustainability efforts. We know architects can’t be effective alone; we must be collaborative. Woods’ extensive experience working in partnership with experts across the building and design sectors, government, and regulatory agencies will help us develop the coalitions we need across all segments of the built environment.
Woods has a proven track record of addressing our most urgent issues head-on— from sustainability and resilience to equity and diversity. I can’t wait for our members to get to know her and to work with her to achieve her vision to “secure a future for the association that is as diverse as our society, as inclusive as everyone deserves, and as sustainable as the next generation demands.”
As we welcome Woods, we also recognize the profound contributions of Robert Ivy, FAIA. Ivy’s vision and leadership over the last decade unquestionably positioned us as a redesigned AIA for the 21st century. In the past three years, AIA has asserted sustainability and equity as our top priorities. We’re making significant headway in translating those objectives into action.
Ivy has also led efforts to modernize AIA and streamline our governance structure—all with a view toward making us a more nimble, responsive, and transparent organization. These are concrete changes that have a real impact on our ability to achieve transformation in the built environment.
More evidence of Ivy’s positive, lasting impact is still to come with the AIA headquarters building renewal project, which he’s been instrumental in shepherding through its crucial early stages.
The headquarters renewal is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to embody our values in our own building. For decades to come, AIA’s space in Washington will stand as a tangible demonstration of the values of equity, sustainability, inclusiveness, and innovation we champion.
Productivity guru David Allen says: “There are no problems, just projects.” Don’t you love the optimism of that sentiment? Problems are simply as yet undefined projects. Identifying, framing, defining, and then doing projects is at the heart of what we do as architects. It’s what the world needs most, and it’s what we do best.
Our communities have big challenges. And our profession is uniquely equipped to help. We know how to design spaces that are more resilient, more inclusive, and healthier. The need for these spaces has never been more obvious, or more urgent. And we’ve never been better prepared to make a difference.
There are no problems, only projects.
