Douglas L Steidl, FAIA, will be the 2004 first vice president/president-elect, and will serve in 2005 as AIA president. AIA delegates elected Steidl during a runoff election during the Institute’s national convention in San Diego on May 10. Steidl’s term as first vice president begins in December 2003.

Steidl is a founding principal of Braun & Steidl, Akron and Columbus, Ohio, a general practice firm and recipient of the AIA Ohio’s Gold Medal Firm Award. Registered in 21 states, Steidl and his firm provide architectural planning and interior design services for university, medical, religious, and commercial projects, for which they have won several design awards.

Currently serving as AIA national treasurer, he was a vice president in 2001, a Board member from 1998–2000, at which time he proposed that the Institute’s budget be tied to AIM objectives. He has also been a member of the Finance and Audit and Component Business Development committees and served on the PIA Council and the PIA Executive Committee. Steidl has also been active at the state level, serving as the state convention chair, director, treasurer, president-elect, and president. Locally, he was president of AIA Akron and chair of its Government Affairs Committee. He initiated the AIA Akron mentorship program and “Architecture is . . . ,” which has introduced architecture to more than 13,000 students.

“It is now time to reach out beyond ourselves and utilize our profession's ideals, insights, values, and know—how to contribute to a better society,” Steidl said in his candidate statement. “Together, we must make our contribution as trustees for the environment, enhancers of neighborhoods, sources of inspiration, conservators of resources, and shapers of public policies . . . ‘Sustainable design,’ ‘smart growth,’ and
‘livable communities’ should all be terms that the public immediately associates with the AIA. Only when we provide value to society, will we find ourselves valued.”

Steidl earned his BArch from Carnegie Mellon University and served three and a half years as a Civil Engineer Corps officer with the U.S. Navy. Steidl and his wife Susan, a CPA at Braun & Steidl, serve as church elders and give their time to many other community organizations. They have two daughters and one son-in-law.

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