Never before have we had the opportunities or faced the challenges that lie before us today. The next few years will determine our futures, professionally and as inhabitants of this planet. As architects, we are uniquely positioned and able to provide the positive, balanced leadership needed to bring about needed changes and ensure success.

Professionally, the need to incorporate new integrated practice models that deliver more effective services to our clients will determine how, and if, we remain a viable profession. These initiatives simultaneously offer us our best opportunity to lead the building industry and/or to become irrelevant.

With cities in disarray, and urban sprawl spreading like uncontrollable diseases, we continue to design and build in un-sustainable ways that are not only damaging to our environment but to our very health. Our knowledge, abilities, and leadership are vital in bringing forth a more sensible and sustainable future.

The AIA must provide the knowledge and support that we need to master these opportunities, professionally and personally. That information must be relevant and respond to the ever-changing needs of the marketplace. We must be nimble enough to act and adjust at the speed of our global economy and deliver resources to our members in a multitude of easily accessible means. All this will require a new attitude, not a quantum change in direction but a “healthy sense of urgency” that will permeate all we do so that it is meaningful to our members.

To accomplish this, we need leaders who have the foresight to anticipate where the profession will need to be tomorrow to ensure that we are effective and relevant. I have the experience, desire, and commitment to be one of those leaders and pledge to you that I’ll dedicate the effort and intensity required to meet the challenges before us.

I am founding principal of Rodriguez Architects, a small practice dedicated to serving our clients since 1990. I’ve served our profession, Institute, and community since 1992 at chapter and state levels and am completing my third year as director for the Florida Caribbean Region on the AIA Board.

I’ve served on the Board Knowledge Committee, the Continuing Education Quality Assurance Panel, Small Firm Task Force, Long Range Planning Advisory Group, Tri-National Committee on Architecture/NAFTA, and the EVP/CEO Selection Committee.

I’m a past member of the Florida Board of Architecture and NCARB Region 3, having just recently completed a four-year term.

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