The AIA is at a point where anxious times are behind and the leadership can look again to where the Institute should go and how it can get there, announced AIA Executive Vice President/CEO Norman L. Koonce, FAIA, during his State of the Institute address March 7 at the 2003 AIA Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. In his fifth state-of-the-Institute address to the membership, he would only take a few moments to make some comparisons, Koonce said at the outset. At that first address, there were concerns about the membership database, dues collection, a burgeoning dot.com, and the competitive position of the contract documents. The Institute’s elected leaders and management team have relegated those concerns to the past, he said.

Now it is time to concentrate on the positive elements of adding value to membership, collaborating and synergizing among members and with professional partners, increasing market influence, enhancing the public perception of the profession, and maintaining a firm financial footing. With the last point, Koonce introduced AIA Treasurer Douglas L. Steidl, FAIA, to give a report on the Institute’s current finances.

The AIA is $1 million and one year ahead of the three-year plan set in 2001 to turn the Institute’s financial situation around, Steidl reported. Moreover, AIA management will be able to devote $850,000 more than planned to AIA member-benefit programs in 2003. With the Institute’s renewed contracts with its bank and auditor, and the relation between those institutions and the AIA elected leadership closer, membership monitoring of financial position will be closer than before.

The Institute has the resources and leadership to determine where the AIA should be going and how to get there, Koonce said, following Steidl’s presentation. We need to look ahead; dwelling on the past now will only limit where we can go. He gave two examples of concepts the AIA is revitalizing: the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Teams, which has been so successful in past years in helping dedicated local groups revitalize their communities, and Best Practices, the collection of lessons-learned that every firm keeps and the AIA has begun to catalogue.

Among the strengths that will keep the Institute on the positive path, Koonce mentioned a more inclusive strategic planning process that is begun earlier than before, adherence to the Aligning the Institute for the Millennium goals, and a more nimble and agile management structure that allows more innovative planning to help members practice better and components to run more productively.

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