Today the AIA announced the election of three new leaders, including 2018 first vice president/2019 president-elect William Bates, FAIA, of AIA Pennsylvania; 2018-19 treasurer Patrick Panetta, AIA, of AIA Arizona,; and at-large director Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, of AIA Massachusetts. The at-large director role was the only position contested by multiple candidates with Grandstaff-Rice garnering more votes than Daniel Hart, FAIA, of Texas.
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and adjunct professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Bates has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2011 and served as president of AIA Pennsylvania in 1991 and 2010. He is also the vice president of real estate at Eat’n Park Hospitality Group in Homestead, Penn.
"As a profession, we solve our clients’ problems by listening and synthesizing solutions," Bates said in a press release. "These are the skills that we need to apply internally to make our profession more prosperous and inclusive for the next generation."
Panetta is currently the director of real estate project management at Arizona State University in Phoenix and is a member of the AIA Board Finance Committee and the AIA Board Government Advocacy Committee. He is also the current director of AIA Western Mountain Region and a member of the AIA Strategic Council.
"I am enthusiastic about the recent re-organization of Institute expenditures into programmatic portfolios,” Panetta said in the release. “And [I] look forward to working closely with Institute staff to monitor and measure the effectiveness of each portfolio, suggesting any changes or modifications to budgeting and spending that might increase the quality and efficient delivery of member services."
Grandstaff-Rice, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy N.Y., and Harvard University, is a senior associate at architecture firm Arrowstreet in Boston. She served as president of the Boston Society of Architects in 2014 and was a member of their Board of Directors from 2009 to 2015. Grandstaff-Rice has also chaired the Equity and Future of Architecture Committee, the Equity in Architecture Commission, the Continuing Education Committee for the AIA.
"The AIA was created to support architects as a community of peers and a collective voice in shaping the built environment," Grandstaff-Rice said. "We have the ability, through our day-to-day work as knowledge experts and community members, to testify to and expand the power of design in shaping a better future for all."
For a complete list of AIA leadership go to aia.org/leadership.
