Register Now

Early Bird (May 1 at 11:59 PM ET Deadline)
Early Bird Member $275
Early Bird Non-Member $325

Regular (June 1 at 11:59 PM ET Deadline)
Member $299
Non-Member $349

Late (Including on-site registration)
Member $349
Non-Member $399

The 32nd annual Grassroots Leadership Conference will be held at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel, in the heart of Washington, DC.

The hotel is offering all AIAS members a discounted rate of $155 per night before tax and fees.

Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel
999 9th St NW
Washington, DC 20001

Book your room by June 1, 2017!

You can view the Program Guide here.

Thursday, July 6 | Friday, July 7 | Saturday, July 8 | Sunday, July 9

Leadership | Sponsored by AIA

Learn from the Quad Directors about best practices of AIAS chapters across the country concerning running your successful and thriving chapter. Join us for the discussion about what your chapter excels in and where you can improve, and participate in Saturday’s workshop with the AIA’s Leadership Institute!

Freedom by Design | Sponsored by NCARB

Become owners in a process that radically impacts the lives of people through design-build solutions. Learn the fundamentals in financing, planning projects and running a team. Leaders in Public Interest Design discuss current initiatives; learns ways to utilize those initiatives within your programs to better our communities.

Innovation | Sponsored by Schindler Elevator Corporation

Hear from the experts who are using design thinking and human-centered research to tackle community problems, understand the impact that human trends will have on the future of architecture, explore the new tools for virtual reality, and participate in the innovation workshop where you will learn from the pro’s on how to pitch your ideas to anyone.

Career | Sponsored by PPI

Professionals share their adventures from education to practice–their successes and failures; learn what it takes to get through the licensure process; and hear from a panel of professionals about the future of practice.

Lifestyle | Sponsored by Fairway Market

Join us for this exciting new track where we dive into personal development and understanding your thinking styles; learn what it means to be a design thinker and how to transition those ideas into action; hear what professionals in the community are doing to engage the everyday citizen; and hear from one of the best on her tips and tricks for how to get your sh*t together, balancing that creative side with the realistic.

Bios

Jeanne Gang

American architect and MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang is the founding principal of Studio Gang. Jeanne is recognized internationally for a design process that foregrounds the relationships between individuals, communities, and environments. Drawing insight from ecological systems, her analytical and creative approach has produced some of today’s most compelling design work, including the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo and Aqua Tower.

Jeanne is currently designing major projects throughout North America, including cultural projects such as the expansion of the American Museum of Natural History; mixed-use towers in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago; and university work including the Campus North Residential Commons at the University of Chicago. Studio Gang was also recently selected to design the new US Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil.

A recipient of the 2013 National Design Award (Cooper Hewitt Design Museum), Jeanne was named the 2016 Architect of the Year by the Architectural Review. The work of the Studio has been honored and exhibited widely, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Museum of Modern Art, and Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of Reveal, the first volume on Studio Gang’s work and process, and Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago’s Waterways, which envisions a radically greener future for the Chicago River. An alumna of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Jeanne has taught at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Rice, Columbia, and IIT, where her studios have focused on materials, cities, and ecologies.

Helene Dreiling

Upon receiving a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech, Helene followed a career path largely beyond the bounds of traditional architectural practice. In addition to having her own firm for 11 years, she has worked for much of her professional life in not-for-profit settings such as The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and as a staff Vice President for The American Institute of Architects in Washington, DC.  

Helene currently serves as Executive Vice President of AIA Virginia, the statewide chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  As CEO of the professional society for architects in Virginia, she leads and manages delivery of service and support to over 2,400 AIA members and Associate members, as well as others in the architecture profession and the design and construction industry.  Helene is also the Executive Director of The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design, a museum and historic property dedicated to elevating awareness of the transformative power of architecture and design through exhibitions, public programs, education, tours, special events, and publications.

An active volunteer in the AIA for more than 25 years, Helene had the honor of being elected by her colleagues to serve as President of the American Institute of Architects in 2014; she was the third Virginian as well as the third woman to hold this prestigious position.  As such, Helene served as the ‘face and voice’ of the AIA’s 84,000 members – and by extension, the 150,000 professionals within the field.  She represented the interests of the members across the country and around the world, most notably chartering a new AIA chapter in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.  Committed to a cultural transformation in the profession, Helene shepherded many initiatives to elevate the stature of architects and the awareness of architecture … a pursuit on which she now concentrates full-time for The Branch.

Later this year, Helene will become the President of the National Architectural Accrediting Board, or NAAB, the organization that accredits the 123 schools of architecture in the United States.

Corey Clayborne

Starting June 1 R. Corey Clayborne, AIA, will be AIA Virginia Executive Vice President/CEO. Currently project manager and senior architect with Wiley |Wilson, his responsibilities include financial health, quality control, operational management and project management for a wide variety of local, state and federal projects. Clayborne is particularly known for his mentorship of the next generation of architects, focusing on their entry into the AIA, licensure and professional and personal group. He has been active in AIA Richmond and AIA Virginia, serving on both boards of directors. He has won numerous awards including the AIA 2017 Young Architects Award and the AIA Virginia 2016 Award for Distinguished Achievement. His service to the community includes the Charlottesville Planning Commission, Virginia Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers, and Landscape Architects and the 100 Black Men of Central Virginia Mentoring program.

Clayborne lives in Charlottesville. He graduated from his hometown high school, Gloucester High before going to Virginia Tech where he earned his degree in architecture. He will be AIA Virginia’s sixth Executive Vice President/CEO since the position was created in 1970. Clayborne was one of 70 candidates who applied for his new position.

Kathe Hambrick

Kathe Hambrick is a Public Historian, Curator, Preservationist and Cultural Activist. She established the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM) as a non-profit institution in 1994. Hambrick left a career with IBM as a Systems Analyst in California in 1991 to come home to Louisiana. For the past twenty-five years she has dedicated her life to educating the public about Louisiana’s rural African American heritage. The museum she established, with the help of her brothers, is a major repository for historical documents, oral histories, artifacts, buildings and art. The museum gained notoriety as one of the America’s first museums dedicated to the interpretation of slavery in the sugar cane region of south Louisiana. The RRAAM was selected as one of American’s top 10 African-American museums in the United States by American Legacy Magazine in 2005. Under her leadership, the small rural museum has received international and national recognition in Essence Magazine, Pathfinders, Southern Living and AAA Magazines, Good Morning America, the BBC Learning Channel, USA Today and the New York Times, London Sunday Times and the Tokyo Times newspapers. She has numerous awards for community service from area churches and schools. In 2016, she co-curated an exhibit that received the American Association of State and Local History Award of Merit. She served on the Governor’s Mississippi River Road Corridor Commission and was recently appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards to the Louisiana Archaeological Survey and Antiquities Commission. She holds an undergraduate degree in English from California State University in Long Beach and a master’s degree in Museum Studies from Southern University in New Orleans. She is the past national President of the Association of African American Museums.

Deana Moore

Deana is currently Vice President of Marketing for Fairway Market, based in Manhattan. Since joining Fairway Group Holdings Corp. she helped to evolve the Fairway Market and Fairway Wine & Spirits brands, which is no small endeavor when working with an iconic brand that’s been rooted in New York City for over 80 years. She has also help to simplify and advance the business processes; designed, built and opened a brand new Fairway Market in Brooklyn; reconnected with the community, and helped the company survive a Chapter 11 filing. Now two years later, the company is set on a positive path financially, strategically and, most importantly, in the minds of New Yorkers.

Before joining Fairway Market, Deana’s career path was anything but what you would expect from an architecture graduate, however all of these experiences helped prepare and guide her to where she is today. She served as the 52nd national Vice President for the American Institute of Architecture Students and worked at the National Association of Home Builders as their Program Manager for Design. She’s also deeply rooted in the food industry working both for Earth Fare and Whole Foods during and after receiving her architecture degree.

Tony Vanky

Anthony Vanky is a researcher and project lead at the MIT Senseable City Lab, a multidisciplinary research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he also previously served as its partner and outreach strategist. The Laboratory investigates how the ubiquity of digital devices and the various telecommunication networks that augment our cities are impacting urban living. Anthony is also a PhD candidate in Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose research considers the use of digital data and pervasive sensing technologies in designing, planning and evaluating urban environments.

Anthony has widely presented on topics of design, technology, and urbanism including at Harvard University, the British Government, and several dozen private and public organizations. He has published in a number academic and popular publications, including as a former contributor to Metropolis Magazine. Anthony holds prior degrees from the MIT and Tulane University. Trained as an urban designer and architect, he has worked on projects across the United States, and his design work has been exhibited widely, including at the Venice Biennale, the Dutch Design Week, the Gwangju Design Biennale, and New Orleans DesCours. Anthony has also previously served in national leadership capacities on each of the five governing organization of the architecture profession in the United States, including as the National Vice President of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). Anthony also started two non-profit youth advocacy organizations which are still active today in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Anthony Vanky is an urbanist and researcher. He is currently completing his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is affiliated with the MIT Senseable City Lab. Anthony looks at data, design and cities, and keeps busy otherwise.