DRT: Solstice 2020 - Path to Equitable Leadership
The importance of equity in design is underscored now more than ever. With less than 30 African American licensed architects in the State of Washington, increasing these numbers through retention and promotion is not only necessary but required.
This year at the Diversity Roundtable’s annual Summer Solstice/ Juneteenth celebration we will talk to our active committee members and prominent leaders Meredith Everist, Rico Quirindongo and Leon Holloway about their professional journey.
Attendees will receive the program link to attend online upon registration.
In addition to the event, our committee has created a Design Equity | Design Justice Survey for people to share their experiences. The intent behind it is multi-layered representing:
– a time capsule of what has happened in our professional environments up to this point
– a form of accountability, shared learning and awareness
– allowing people to not feel alone in their experience
– a level of interaction meant to spark future conversations
– metric for success for our profession in the future.
Click here to view and download a poster to share with your colleagues!
Speakers
Leon Holloway, DLR Group; NOMA NW
Leon Holloway licensed architect in the State of Washington and has worked on a myriad of projects from new projects to tenant improvements. Leon has worked on varying institutional projects (k-12 schools) and healthcare, to government buildings, multi-family, jails to international projects. He currently is serving as the President of NOMA NW chapter.
Meredith Everist, Baylis Architects; AIA Seattle Board of Directors
Meredith has over 26 years of experience in the architectural profession, with an emphasis in commercial and multi-family design. Her passions center around environmental sustainability, industry diversity and inclusion, and childhood success.
While Co-Chair of the AIA Diversity Roundtable, Meredith guided the committee in multiple programs to attract, retain and support individuals from diverse backgrounds in the architectural profession. As a member of the NAIOP Diversity and Inclusion committee she helped facilitate the NEXUS Summer program – a program that helps prepare students of color for college with an emphasis in Commercial Real Estate and Architecture. She served for 10 years on the Board of Directors for Friends of the Children, a nonprofit organization that provides professional mentors to Seattle area youth facing the toughest challenges in life.
Meredith has been with Baylis Architects for over 15 years. She became a shareholder of the corporation in 2009 and was promoted to President and Managing Principal in 2017. She also serves as President on the Board of Directors for AIA Seattle.
Rico Quirindongo, DLR Group
Driven by the desire to have a meaningful impact on both urban and natural landscapes, Rico works with organizations to positively influence communities through design. Since beginning his career in 1996, he has developed a keen awareness of the special requirements needed to make public and non-profit projects a success.
Rico has extensive experience and knowledge in the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, and as project manager and architect for the Northwest African American Museum, he became well versed in the intricacies of historic renovation. Rico believes that existing buildings provide a rich context for our daily lives and that maintenance of this building stock, both in preservation and in adaptive reuse, is the ultimate expression of sustainable architecture.
In 2013, Rico became a steering committee member for AIA Sustainable Scan, a national committee tasked with increasing architect’s role in reducing our national carbon footprint and energy consumption through high building performance design. Rico is also a founding board member of AIA Seattle’s strategic initiative, Design in Public, and helped plan and develop the new Center for Architecture and Design in Seattle. As a council member of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority, Rico chairs the MarketFront Committee connecting the Market to the Seattle Waterfront through a gateway development of new market space, housing, and public open space.
In 2017, Rico was appointed by the Mayor’s office to serve on two committees: the One Center City Advisory Group and the Key Arena Advisory Panel, both focusing on community development, density, and transportation issues in the City of Seattle downtown core and feeder neighborhoods. Previously, Rico was a President of the American Institute of Architects Seattle Chapter, a mayoral appointment to the Historic Seattle Council, and a founding member of the National Organization of Minority Architects Northwest Chapter. Rico sat on the AIA+2030 national steering committee, a committee born out of AIA Seattle that has seen to it that 24 cities nationally are providing curriculum to designers and engineers to help them meet the 2030 Challenge
This program is produced by AIA Seattle’s Diversity Roundtable. Please contact Member Engagement Manager Connor Descheemaker with any questions or concerns about this program.
