Today, the American Institute of Architects board of directors and the strategic council named Lenore M. Lucey, FAIA, the 2018 recipient of the AIA Edward C. Kemper Award, named after the AIA’s first executive director (1914 to 1948). Nearly every year since 1950, the program has recognized an architect who has broadly contributed to the profession through his or her work with the AIA. Lucey, who is the principal of the Washington, D.C.–based LML Consulting, has dedicated her career to the development of the architecture profession, and is an advocate for architects and the importance of their role in society. She will be officially presented with the award next June at the AIA Conference on Architecture 2018 in New York.

Lucey has a B.Arch. from Pratt Institute in New York and is a licensed architect in the state of New York and the District of Columbia. With more than 30 years of experience in the profession, Lucey has taken on various leadership roles. From 1986 to 1994, she served as the executive director of AIA New York and the New York Foundation for Architecture, where her leadership established the chapter’s voice among other organizations, and “generated a 46 percent increase in its memberships and a major relocation of its offices,” according to the AIA press release. In 1997, Lucey joined the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) as the organization’s first female CEO, where she led the nonprofit for more than 14 years. Prior to joining NCARB, she served as the vice president of business development for the New York City–based consultancy Lehrer McGovern Bovis (now LendLease). Since December 2016, she has served as the 55th Chancellor of the AIA College of Fellows.

“I see Lenore’s life’s work as energizing, effective communication,” said Joan Capelin, Hon. AIA, in support of Lucey’s nomination, in the same release. “She has vibrantly conveyed the value of architects, argued the issues affecting architecture, glued together organizations related to architectural practice, made her chapter and the profession’s regulatory organization accessible and supportive, and deftly helped architects become better representatives of themselves and their profession.”

This year’s jury comprised chair Rik Master of USG Corp. In Woodstock, Ill.; Patrick Burke III, FAIA, of the Capital Project Management group at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City; Linsey Graff, Assoc. AIA, of Ayers Saint Gross Architects in Tempe, Ariz.; Libby Haslam, AIA, of GSBS Architects in Salt Lake City; and R. Steven Lewis, FAIA, of the City of Detroit Planning and Development Department.

Lucey joins the 2017 winner, Ronald Skaggs, FAIA, who served as the 76th National President of the AIA in 2000; the 2016 winner, Terrence Brown, FAIA, who was recognized for helping architects prepare for working in disaster preparedness and recovery; and more.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.