Keynote - Conference Welcome
Event Description
Introduction and welcome to the AIA International Region 2021 Spring Conference from AIA CEO Robert Ivy, FAIA and AIA International Region President Lester Korzilius, FAIA.
Robert Ivy’s comments will focus on the AIA’s leadership on sustainability and resilience and efforts on equity, diversity, and inclusion within the organization and the profession.
Speakers
Robert Ivy, FAIA, CEO American Institute of Architects
Lester Korzilius, FAIA, RIBA, AIA International Region President
Robert Ivy is the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), a dynamic AIA network of more than 95,000 member architects and design professionals and 200 chapters committed to enhancing the built environment. He is strengthening the Association through advocacy, public outreach, and education initiatives that help members serve clients and communities in a global era of challenge and change.
Under Robert’s leadership since 2011, the AIA is transforming to serve the architecture profession in the 21st century. He is repositioning the AIA from its rich legacy into a proactive, responsive, and influential organization. Chief among his and the organization’s goals are heightening public awareness of the value and relevance of all architects.
Signature accomplishments include streamlining AIA governance to improve decision-making, building a new digital-first technology infrastructure, and launching an award-winning public awareness campaign. Robert’s latest focus is shifting AIA resources to prepare architects for their role in addressing today’s pressing issues—climate change, sustainability, and the impact of design on public health.
Prior to his AIA service, Robert was Vice President & Editorial Director of McGraw-Hill Construction and Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Record magazine. Under his editorial leadership, Architectural Record earned numerous publishing industry honors, including the premier magazine journalism award, the American Society of Magazine Editors National Magazine Award for General Excellence, an unusual achievement for a professional journal.
Robert was also honored by the national architecture fraternity Alpha Rho Chi, for his effectiveness in communicating the value of design. He shares the designation Master Architect with iconic architects, such as Mies van der Rohe, Richard Buckminster Fuller, and I.M. Pei. He is one of seven to receive this honor in the fraternity’s 100-year history and the only architect selected in the 21st century.
He is the author of the definitive biography Fay Jones: Architect, now in its third edition, and speaks frequently to lay audiences about the role and meaning of architecture in our lives.
Lester Korzilius runs a concurrent arts and architecture practice based in London and the south coast of the United Kingdom.
From 2005 to 2017 Lester was a main board director and co-owner of EllisWilliams Architects with offices throughout the United Kingdom and in Germany. Lester was the project director for a range of education projects in the primary, secondary, further education, and special needs sectors. Additionally, Lester led EWA teams providing client-side estate strategies for their secondary school and primary school estates. Lester has also designed several cinema and leisure centre projects.
From 1997 to 2005 Lester was a project director with Foster & Partners and subsequently with YRM. Projects for which he was responsible included several university buildings in Qatar, office buildings in the City of London, and a hospital in Ireland.
From 1988 to 1997 Lester was in private practice in New York City concentrating on commercial and residential projects, several of which were internationally published.
From 1979 to 1988 Lester served as a project architect in the offices of John Lautner, Paul Rudolph, Herman Hertzberger, and Richard Rogers, working on projects throughout Europe, the Far East, and the United States.
Lester is a licensed architect in the United States (New York) and the United Kingdom and holds NCARB certification. Lester received his architectural training at UCLA and the California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo. He additionally holds an MSc from the University of Reading, an MA from Kingston University, and an MFA from the University of Sussex. He is currently pursuing an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art.
