I’m excited and honored to work with our board and membership as the incoming President in this critical time. I aspire to represent our collective group to achieve meaningful change while building on the excellent work of all those who served before. 

As I write this, the Senate has passed some of the most critical legislation to lower carbon emissions by 2040. It’s a positive step in an infuriatingly too slow process. One of my key goals would be to work with our local and state governments to further policies to support the 2030 Challenge. 

Affordable housing is also an agenda item that has risen to the forefront of our local community and is very important to me personally. We have been working on affordable, attainable, and market-rate housing at DRAW. I hope my understanding of the dynamics at play will help us work together to move forward with additional approaches to increase housing options. I firmly believe, and it’s worth repeating – real estate equity = social equity. We have an opportunity to provide housing and a path toward much overdue equitable wealth creation in Kansas City. 

I’m jumping into AIA Kansas City leadership with both feet. While I haven’t served on our board previously, I currently serve on ULI’s Advisory Board, the Kansas City Global Design Leadership Committee and Innovation Committee, and the Kansas City, Missouri Land Bank Commission. I anticipate this perspective regarding other regional issues and initiatives will help our chapter find synergies and make more progress in our strategic plan.

Thank you for entrusting me with this role, and I look forward to hearing from you and working with our exceptional AIA Kansas City staff and board members!