Welcome New 2017-2018 Board of Directors
AIA Seattle is a member-led organization that depends on volunteer leadership and initiative. We are deeply grateful for the enormous energy and effort our board members and other volunteer leaders devote to our organization.
AIA Seattle’s Board Nominating Committee is pleased to present this slate of accomplished members to fill open seats on our Board of Directors beginning September 1, 2017. Our nominating committee – Mary Johnston FAIA (Past President), Christine Scharrer AIA, Charlie Hafenbrack, Malika Kirkling Assoc AIA, Jon Gentry AIA, Shannon Nichol and Robert Smith AIA — solicited board nominations from the membership in January, and believes this slate of nominees possess the skills and commitment to move AIA Seattle forward. Voting opened May 22 and closed on June 15, 2017. All AIA and Associate AIA members were eligible to vote.
Alissa Rupp FAIA – President-Elect
Member since: 2001
Alissa Rupp is a leader in the design of places for informal education and lifelong learning. She has focused her work on the creation of spaces where art, nature, culture and play intersect. As President and CEO of The Portico Group she led an international practice whose projects benefited people of all ages and origins, as well as cultural institutions of all scales. Dedicated to architecture as a force to improve and sustain public life, she has led the design of museums, gardens, zoos, and visitor centers. Most recently, she led the effort to merge The Portico Group with MIG, a multidisciplinary firm based in Berkeley, to further expand the combined firms’ reach in architecture, planning, landscape architecture and exhibit design on the west coast and beyond. She now serves as a Principal and Practice Leader in the new MIG | Portico, leading the firm’s work in creating innovative places for learning and discovery.
Statement of Interest: As a current member of the Board of Directors for AIA Seattle, I support programs that enhance the public’s appreciation of architects and architecture. I also focus on initiatives that keep the Institute (and our chapter) relevant and responsive to our members and to the issues that we face as a city and as a region. If we are to continue to diversify our ranks, serve our clients well, and be compensated fairly, we need AIA Seattle to be a strong organization for advocacy, support and education. I joined the Board of AIA Seattle because I realized that I wasn’t getting all I could out of my membership, and I wasn’t giving all I could back to the profession. I learned that AIA is more relevant than I knew, and more transparent than I thought, particularly at the local level. AIA Seattle has a lot left to do and I look forward to promoting its success, on behalf of all of us.
Dan Miles AIA – Treasurer
Member since: 2001
Daniel L. Miles is a project leader with a rare combination of management, communication, and design skills. He joined Bassetti Architects in 2010 and quickly rose to the role of Principal in 2013. Dan received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1983. Since that time, he has acquired extensive experience in the planning, design, and construction of major public and private educational facilities, religious institutions, historic buildings, and athletic facilities and clubhouses. Dan is passionate about historic architecture and is currently Managing Principal Architect on renovations to Highline High School, Bishop Blanchet High School and Villa Academy. In his free time, Dan enjoys camping with his family, riding his bicycle, playing golf and hiking.
Statement of Interest: I am interested in serving on the Board of Directors to give back to the profession, to better understand the most pressing issues facing our profession, and to participate in the dialog and discussion of how best to address those issues. We have entered a time of significant uncertainty and unpredictability nationally, while enjoying an almost unprecedented construction boom in Seattle. I believe the AIA could do all architects a great service by advocating for more just contract terms. For example, we should be working on pushing back on unfair and uninsurable contractual terms that have crept into many Owner/Architect Agreements.
Marisa Hagney Assoc. AIA – Director
Member since: 2013
Marisa Hagney is dedicated to operating the Living Community Challenge program for the International Living Future Institute, a local Seattle non-profit. She works with communities around the world taking the lead in applying concepts of net positive energy and water, micro-mobility, urban agriculture, and equitable community. Prior to serving on the Board, Marisa was the Co-Chair of the AIA Seattle Urban Design Forum, and has participated for many years in the Seattle Design Festival. She is a graduate of Cascade Bicycle Club’s Advocacy Leadership Institute and believes design should empower people. Marisa graduated with her B.S. in Architectural Studies from Washington State University.
Statement of Interest: I am excited to be supporting the work of AIA Seattle as the chapter continues to serve society as a whole. I believe the architects and other designers that represent AIA Seattle will continue to innovate, advocate and lead the way for our built environment locally and beyond. In my work on the Board I will strive to root our conversations and agenda in sustainability, social justice and creating places, events and forums for all.
Tom Marseilles – Affilate Director
Member since: 2012
Tom Marseille is the Sustainability Director for WSP USA and Managing Director of the Seattle office. His passion is to deliver high performance, smart building solutions that are practical, resilient, maintainable, resource-responsible and consider the well being of the building occupants. An author and frequent speaker, Tom has served on the technical committee responsible for development of the first ANSI-accredited Green Building standard. He is a past Board member of the Cascadia Green Building Council and the Seattle Living Building Pilot Program TAG. Tom also served as moderator and presenter for the AIA+2030 Professional Series and AIA Getting to Zero Professional Series. He currently is a member of the AIA Strategic Advisory Council and Smart Building Task Force. Prior to being a consultant, Tom was a Senior Research Scientist for Pacific Northwest National Laboratories and Director for Honeywell’s Building Information Services business.
Statement of Interest: As someone seeking to be a strong servant leader in my community, I find a strong alignment with AIA Seattle’s vision of Serving Our Society, Serving the Profession, Serving Our Members and Serving the Organization. I am enthusiastic in my endorsement of AIA Seattle’s Values of Design, Sustainability, Advocacy, Engagement and Member Service, and am eager to help AIA Seattle strategically and tactically pursue these. At this stage in my career, serving on the AIA Seattle Board provides me an enriching way to give back to this professional community, using many of the interpersonal and leadership skills I’ve acquired over the course of my career, and to do so within a group of talented, respectful, caring and passionate Board members and AIA Seattle staff functioning in a well organized, efficient and effective manner.
Brendan Connolly AIA – Director
Member since: 2006
Brendan Connolly is a partner at Mithun, where he leads the design of a variety of project typologies, including education, museum and workplace environments that focus on enhancing the potential of mission-focused clients. Brendan’s work emphasizes the importance of sustainable design and the human experience of architectural and landscape space, fusing an integrated approach to design and research with a passion for building performance and reverence for place. Beyond project focused work, he also has served as one of the managing partners at Mithun on the firm’s board of directors, and has served a variety of community and professional organizations, including the AIA Seattle Honor Awards Program, the Seattle Design Commission and as a teacher, juror and Professional Advisory Council member at the University of Washington College of Built Environments. He is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Washington.
Statement of Interest: I spent the last few years working with AIA Seattle on both the honor awards program and also through pro-bono involvement with the new center design, including the parklet concept for the exterior space. Through this collaboration with Lisa and the larger team, I have grown to appreciate the great service that AIA Seattle provides to our design community in terms of advocacy, elevation of design and sustainability dialogues, and also visibility as a profession to the greater community. My interest is in advancing these goals. Given our larger national political stage, and the acute state of our balance of our local and global environmental resources, there is no more crucial time for AIA Seattle to help our profession be united in addressing how design can influence positive change on this broader level.
Tom Owens – Affiliate Director
Tom Owens is an attorney in private practice who has been involved in the construction industry for over 30 years, 12 as an Electrical Contractor, the rest as a lawyer. Tom received his law degree from the University of Washington in 1994. Tom has strong insight into what professional design firms need from counsel; he spent 14 years as General Counsel for NBBJ. Tom has drafted and negotiated numerous design professional contracts from stadia, hospitals and corporate headquarters to small tenant improvements and remodels. He has worked with firms with staffs as large as 30,000 and as small as two.
Statement of Interest: I am interested in serving on the AIA Seattle Board as public service where my expertise in design business issues can be leveraged. I want to support AIA Seattle to be helpful to all size firms, small and large.
Lane Williams AIA – Director
Member since: 1987
A 1984 graduate of the three year Master of Architecture program at the University of Washington, Lane’s early experience was in small firms on small to medium scale projects. His first custom home design received an AIA Seattle/Seattle Times Home of the Year Award, with two more of those awards to follow. In 1989, he became a Principal at Meng Associates, where his work ranged from single family homes to public projects. In 1992, he established Lane Williams Architects. Lane has completed 200 new custom home and major remodel projects over the past 33 years, with many published in countless articles. Lane has served as a mentor to young architects, with 14 of his former employees having established their own practices.
Statement of Interest: There are important opportunities for AIA Seattle to develop programs of value to all architects and to have a positive influence on local government. We need more continuing education programs that address the needs of residential architects and small offices. The way architecture is marketed and delivered to its audience and consumers is changing and I believe AIA Seattle can help firms navigate this new environment to increase the visibility of architects and of good design. Some of the old programs like the Seattle Times Open House and Home of the Year are gone, and not returning – new programs can take their place. I would like to help strengthen public outreach programs that take advantage of new media outlets. There is vast room for improvement in the interface between local governmental agencies and architects. Seattle’s building department takes six months or longer to process a building permit for a simple residence, and that should not be acceptable. I want to build a stronger AIA Seattle that develops new public outreach programs, focused and more diverse continuing education, and a voice in our local government.
