31 December 2018
Dear AIA IR Members,
I would like to start by wish all of you Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year. As I complete the first year of my two-year term as your President, I will take this opportunity to summarize our accomplishments in 2018 and will look ahead at our goals for 2019.
Over the past 12 months, we have accomplished the following:
· Launched a new IR Website.
· Launched the IR Facebook.
· Officially Registered the new AIA Canada Chapter as a legal entity.
· Held the IR Annual Business Meeting in New York during A18.
· Held a highly successful conference in Singapore with attendees from some 19 countries represented.
· Reached an agreement to collaborate with the National Architectural Accrediting Board to support them with the substantial equivalency program for overseas universities.
· Secured Win Door of China as a new Platinum sponsor.
· Held our first sub-Saharan African mini- event in Cape Town, South Africa.
· Initiated meetings with AIA National to start work on creating Sections under the IR with the intent of allowing for the creation groups under the direct management of the IR Board, therefore providing structured opportunities for enhanced member services in current unassigned member locations.
· Agreed and approved the locations for the three upcoming IR conferences, therefore allowing the IR to better plan and advertise these events. The conferences will now be held in Shanghai in 2019, in Dubai in 2020 and in the United Kingdom in 2021.
Moving forward in 2019 we are committed to implementing the following initiatives:
· Establishing IR country committees.
· Completing National Bylaws change required to formally create IR Sections.
· Re-activating the IR Committees to improve their efficacy as per a recently issued committee process document.
· Expand committee members to include general IR members.
· Hosting the architectural conference portion of Win Door’s Guangzhou Exposition from March 4th to March 6th, 2019.
· Hosting a successful joint International Region + Shanghai Chapter conference in Q4 of 2019.
· Initiating the development of the AIA International strategy.
· Enhancing Sponsorship opportunities between the AIA IR and AIA National.
· Streamlining the time required to issue IR newsletters.
· Ensuring that IR Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are kept current.
We also have changes to the AIA IR Board. We would like to thank the following outgoing board members for their service to the IR Board:
· Sherif Anis, AIA (2017-2018 Secretary)
· Steven Miller, AIA (2016-2018 IR Representative to the AIA National Strategic Counsel)
· Yew Kee Cheong, AIA (2017-2018 Unassigned Director)
· Etain Fitzpatrick, AIA (2018 AIA United Kingdom Chapter Director)
· Tiffany Melancon, AIA Int Assoc (2018 AIA Continental Europe Chapter Director)
· Daniel Henderer, AIA (2018 AIA Middle East Chapter Director)
· Chris Chan, AIA (2018 AIA Shanghai Chapter Director)
We ask you to welcome the following 2019 board members:
· Greg Yager, AIA (2019-2020 Secretary and 2019-2021 IR Representative to the AIA National Strategic Counsel)
· John Hong, AIA (2019-2020 Unassigned Director)
· Alex Miller, AIA (2019 AIA United Kingdom Chapter Director)
· Christen Hanssen, AIA Int Assoc (2019 AIA Continental Europe Chapter Director)
· Sherif Anis, AIA (2019 AIA Middle East Chapter Director)
· Alton Chow, AIA (2019 AIA Shanghai Chapter Director)
Your membership in the AIA is important and we are grateful for your continued support. Our organization is strongest when we have a unified voice, as such we encourage you to voice your opinions and that you participate in your region.
As our region enters its 7th year of operation, we continue to strive to improve member services. We encourage you to voice your needs and to get involved our committees. Your involvement is critical to a vibrant International Region and will help to ensure that we fully understand your concerns and needs. Many of you will receive communications from the IR to join the committees in the next few weeks, it is my hope that you will all choose to participate in this endeavor which will further our region’s mission.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors that are absolutely critical to the services that we provide you:
· AECOM
· American Hardwood Export Council
· ASI Group
· BSB
· DOW
· Dornbracht
· North Glass
· WINDOOR/Expo China
I am very excited for everything the AIA International Region has planned this year and continue to be thankful for the opportunity to serve as your President. Please also mark your calendars as we will be holding our 2019 AIA International Region Conference in Shanghai China in the fall of this year and look forward to seeing you there.
Finally, the AIA IR is also working with our partner Expo China on a Conference in Guangzhou on March 4th and 5th of 2019, we invite you to attend this conference as well.
Here is to a successful and productive 2019!
Thierry A. Paret, FAIA, Richard Upjohn Fellow
2018-2019 AIA International Region President
(L-R) Thierry Paret, FAIA; Bill Bates, FAIA (AIA National President); Yew Kee Cheong, AIA (Singapore Conference Organizer)
