AIA Board Candidacy
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Intent Statement
Ricardo J Rodriguez
Associate AIA, LEEP AP, ACI
for AIA National
2022-2024
Director-at-Large
The AIA has made consistent progress recently in taking a stance on our profession’s role in Climate Action, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. We must acknowledge that to meet these challenges effectively, our organization must be proactive in coming to terms with practice disruption.
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I’m committed to providing my 15 years of experience in practice and my global AEC-tech leader expertise at the Institute’s service. Having honed my leadership skills through AIA service, I’m motivated to declare my candidacy for the Director-at-Large National Board position.
Objectives
In this role, I intend to support the Institute in empowering members in:
Innovation
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Change
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Education
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Advocacy
Elevating the strategic and business importance of fostering innovation
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Streamlining access to the resources & services needed to navigate change
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Bridging the gap in digital education across experience levels
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Advocating for inclusion of new voices and external partnerships
Guiding Principles
Focus on People & Relationships
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We can leverage our network of resources by rethinking the way we onboard forward-thinking talent. Diversity & inclusion efforts should also reach out to those voices we have marginalized because they were once too “alternative.” By expanding the definition of practice, we would empower architecture professionals with the knowledge and tools required to operate in new contexts.
Our profession is at its most pivotal point in a century.
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We need to lead this transformation through our unique expertise. Together we can elevate our collective voice and enact meaningful change.
Unconformity with systems that devalue or isolate us
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Tech leadership is directly related to our market relevance and sustainable business practices. We must define a stance in our relationship with emerging tech, the means to access our resources efficiently, and talent comfortable with working “outside the box.”
Leverage smart & agile resources to stop the guesswork
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We must be agile in embracing the tools needed to provide value to our members and communities. The global pandemic has accelerated our market into being the most receptive to business innovation than it has been in decades. This rapid transition is an opportunity to welcome new forms of practice and rethink legacy processes. We must also optimize the untapped data and services that firms already produce.
The dogmas tied to what we do have continually been a hindrance to our role, and I think that we will witness the first generation to surpass many of these challenges.