David H. Watkins, FAIA

As the founding principal of Watkins Hamilton Ross Architects Inc., David has guided the growth of his firm to a current staff of 130, with projects in 27 states and 9 countries. The firm’s commitment to the AIA is evident in the number of owners who are Fellows (five); their leadership as national, state, and local AIA component officers; and the firm’s recognition as an IDP Firm of the Year in 1996.

Since founding his firm, David has been strongly committed to broad-based ownership. This policy continues today because David has found it enhances commitment, fosters diversity, and ensures continuity. As AIA Vice President, David will strive to give the members of the Institute the same sense of broad-based ownership in their professional organization. He believes there are four areas in which our sense of ownership can be enhanced.

Governance: We must nurture our fiscal strength and leverage the financial investment of our members. We must strengthen the relationships among our components. We must clarify management and Board responsibilities, ensure accountability, and formulate long-term strategies.

Knowledge: Our future strength resides in our ability to transform the AIA into a knowledge-based organization that can provide our members with the tools to better serve our clients and communities. We must empower our professional interest areas, pursue effective collaborations with our universities, and investigate the potential of creating a peer-reviewed research journal.

Inclusiveness: Until we resolve the challenge of inclusiveness, we will fail to attract the robust membership envisioned by the AIM Report. We must expand our ranks through diversity and explore new definitions of membership.

Service and value: We must encourage grassroots membership input, improve member-to-member connections, and provide practice leadership. We must enhance the resources we offer and improve access to those resources. Our members should never have reason to question the value of belonging to our organization.

David has a long history of service to his professional community in the following positions of leadership.

National component
Board of Directors, 2001–2003
• Secretary’s Advisory Committee, 2001–2003
• Board Knowledge Committee, 2003
• Long-Range Planning Advisory Group, 2003
• Chair of the Topaz Medallion Jury, 2003
• Nominator/Sponsor for Tadao Ando, Hon. FAIA, Gold Medalist, 2002
• Co-Chair, Contract Documents Task Force, 2002–2003
• College of Fellows, 1997–Present

Texas Society of Architects
• President, 2000
• President-elect, 1999
• Vice President, 1997–1998

AIA Houston
• President, 1995
• President-elect, 1994
• Vice President, 1993

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