AIA Cincinnati President’s Q4 message to the membership

Written By Jenna Wasz

AIA Cincinnati President 2025— End of Year Message: “Get Engaged” — A Look Back at What We Grew Together

Dear AIA Cincinnati Members,

At the beginning of the year, I encouraged everyone to “get engaged in some way with AIA Cincinnati.” Inspired by my farm-kid roots, I framed the year as a cycle of planting, nurturing, harvesting, and reflecting. Now that we’ve reached the end of the year, it’s time to look at what we actually grew—and I’m happy to report we harvested quite a bit.

A Year of Engagement  (Yes, You Actually Showed Up!)

We reached 500 members, and more importantly, we saw more of you participating throughout the year. Some standout programs included VISION speakers, WIA speakers, and a highly competitive Trivia Night with the Early Professionals—where we’re all pretty sure the Reztark team was given the answers in advance.

We explored our community with construction tours and a walking tour of historic Hamilton, Ohio, proving once again that architects truly will walk anywhere for knowledge and bonus steps on their fitness tracker.

Celebrating Design & Adaptability (Julie’s Superpowers Included)

We honored exceptional work in residential architecture and across the design disciplines through:

  • CRANawards in April — relocated at lightning speed after a fire shut down the Summit Hotel (Julie should add “miracle worker” to her résumé).

  • Cincinnati Design Awards in November — another powerful reminder of the remarkable talent right here in our region!

I’ve witnessed firsthand the dedication of our Committee Chairs, who consistently deliver programming, opportunities, and community for all members.

Committees Growing Strong

  • Advocacy:
    Chris Patek and Josh Harper retooled the Local Advocacy group this year.  Chris will continue to lead the 2026 agenda packed with juicy topics.  You’ll want to add this monthly committee meeting to your calendar to inject your voice and influence change that matters

  • VISION:
    Launched in 2010, the program celebrated its 14th year and graduated another talented cohort of 10 professionals. The committee is actively evaluating ways to make the program even more accessible and sustainable.  

    • If you’re a graduate of the VISION program, would you please take a moment to stand and be recognized.

  • Early Professionals:
    Leadership is transitioning from Darion Ziegler to Lucas De Brito—who brings enough enthusiasm to power half of downtown. We’ll see if the Reztark team dominates Trivia Night under his watch…

  • Urban Design:
    Manuel Granja is developing a major event regarding awareness of Urban Design issues of our region. Big ideas take time—and many hands—so consider attending an upcoming meeting to get involved.

  • CRAN:
    CRAN continues to thrive with strong engagement from residential architects and product partners. Under Jonathan Schaefer’s leadership, the network isn’t resting on past success. And remember: CRAN is not just for the residential architect—think of it as Custom Registered Architects Network. Much of what they discuss applies across practice types.

  • COTE:
    After pulling off the Ice Box Challenge, COTE has certainly earned a long rest—but Andrew Glass has other ideas. That committee is already cooking up what’s next, and you can bet it’ll be impressive.

There were many more committees delivering excellent programming this year. I won’t list them all here—otherwise this memo becomes a CEU abstract—but their contributions are deeply valued.

And now—Julie Carpenter.
If AIA Cincinnati were a building, Julie would be the structural system, the mechanical system, and the emergency generator, activating instantly whenever something went sideways (and this year, plenty tried). Her work has been essential to every program, pivot, and success we’ve celebrated.

And lastly... let’s talk sponsors.  Because you know what really fuels this well-oiled machine?     SPONSORS.  Yes, those glorious, generous, budget-balancing heroes.

To our TITLE Sponsors—you are the steel in our frame, the funding behind our function, the reason our nametags are printed, and our snacks are high quality.

And to every other sponsor out there: whether you supported a committee, a program, an event, or just helped keep the lights on—THANK YOU!!!  Your support makes the mission possible (and keeps us out of lengthy budget meetings that require spreadsheets with tears on them).

This year was built on the work of many hands and many leaders—past and present. I am grateful for the privilege of serving this community and for the members who stepped up, showed up, and engaged throughout the year.  Thank you all for your participation, your enthusiasm, and your commitment to this organization.

And most of all…  Let’s watch Rob Busch rock 2026!


 

Warm regards,

Paul Shirley, AIA
President, AIA Cincinnati







 
 
 
Jenna Wasz
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