AIA in Oregon reorganized at the start of this year from four local chapters and the state council to a single state chapter (AIA Oregon) with five local sections (AIA Bend, AIA Eugene, AIA Portland, AIA Salem, and AIA Southern Oregon). The former model included five boards, each with about a dozen board members to a single Board of Directors with 11 voting members. This includes a Director from each Section.

The Section Directors are expected to perform two very different duties; one is an active board member engaged with running the Chapter and directing the Executive Vice President, and the other is to lead the activities of the local sections. The term for a Section Director is two years.

Our current Section Directors are:

AIA Bend: Jim Satzinger, AIA

AIA Eugene: Frank Visconti, AIA

AIA Portland, Nic Smith, AIA

AIA Salem: Daniel Roth

AIA Southern Oregon: Andy Owen, AIA

Our current structure does not define the role of a Section Director Elect as a formal position, but the Board is evaluating that option, and we would like to see a designated Section Director Elect for each Section. Colin Dean, AIA has been voted by the section as the next Section Director for Eugene and will assume the role at the start of 2020.

The initial idea for the role of the Section Director Elect is to lead local section events and to help coordinate committees locally and state-wide. This will allow the Section Directors to focus more time and effort on board matters.

If you are interested in the role of Section Director Elect, please contact me, Curt Wilson, AIA Executive Vice President of AIA Oregon (cwilson@aiaoregon.org) or your Section Director. Each section is planning an end of year meeting/party in the first or second week of December and we’ll formalize the selection of section leadership.