I’m proud to stand before you as an Iowan and Region 4 native, grateful for this opportunity to serve as NCARB president in the coming fiscal year.

As I think about my journey to this moment, it seems improbable, but true! From time to time I am asked, “Why did you decide to become an architect?” The truth is that my decision to pursue architecture was born while serving in Vietnam. I wrote a letter to my wife, Linda, between combat missions, sloshing through rice paddies and avoiding Viet Cong gunfire. Influenced by another Recon Platoon soldier who was a landscape architecture graduate, it came to me that I wanted to become an architect.

That time in my life shaped my worldview. It taught me a lot about the value of life. Those experiences stay with me today along with the faces of those I served with—including those that we lost along the way.

But what also stayed with me was a growing sense that I could pursue a vision, a career in architecture, and a motivation to become licensed. This vision would allow me to both protect society and also explore my own creativity. Pursuing that vision has resulted in an interesting, and sometimes bumpy, path. Along the way I have deepened my connection to my community, having served as a director or officer on numerous local and state boards and commissions. I have worked on projects that have repurposed historic buildings, providing an outlet for recreation and opportunities to convene and to celebrate.

This sense of community has also motivated me to volunteer. I have been an active AIA member in Iowa, serving in officer positions; I was also privileged to serve on the AIA National Board with current AIA President Helene Combs Dreiling. I have had the honor of being appointed to the Iowa State Board and to be elected to the leadership of Region 4 and then the NCARB Board of Directors. The ability to give back shaped by my family and my wartime experience, has only heightened my enjoyment of being an architect. I know you all share in that desire to contribute, or you wouldn’t be here today.

As we move into the coming fiscal year, I think it is important for all of us to see how those moments of clarity, like the ones I experienced in the jungles of Vietnam, sometimes occur when we are focused on the basics. I believe that as we grow, we have an opportunity to refocus on the basic elements of licensure. These basic elements involve protecting the public and making sure our licensure tools evolve even as practice and methodologies evolve.

Most importantly, licensure must include rigor for a reason. Yesterday’s rigor does not always have a reason in today’s world. And a new approach does not always imply an abandonment of rigor where it remains necessary.

Whether the sky is lit up with incoming rockets or mortars, or the blogosphere is crowded with conflicting opinions, I’ve learned that growing together along this evolutionary path is essential. Today’s NCARB culture embraces collaboration and transparency. You and your predecessors have worked hard to get us to this point. We have “blue-skied,” surveyed, focused, brainstormed, and strategized together over the past several years. We have agreed to disagree. And we all understand that while consensus is desirable, unanimity is unlikely.

And so my challenge to you for the coming year is to remember each other and to respect what motivates each of us to participate. The rigor that brought me to this place was important, but it may not be what works for today. The traditions that exist in one jurisdiction may override a national consensus. Remaining open and promoting our sense of community is critical.

In the coming months we will be listening closely to our Member Boards and to others who offer us guidance as we move toward implementing some adjustments to our programs. Our superb staff has never been better equipped to conduct outreach, host informational briefings, and insert flexibility into our service tools. Our organization has absorbed the lessons of the past as we strengthen our relationships and effectively manage our budgets.

As someone who has a long-term commitment to volunteering, I know it is important that our volunteers feel valued. We will continue our efforts to make your service worth the time and effort to be productive. The changes for the coming year are efficient, with real value. We hope to enhance the value of our educational programs by blending each aspect of the learning continuum into one committee. We will strengthen the role of our regional chairs, who frequently move to our national board, by placing them on the Procedures and Documents Committee. And we will work to add diverse voices based upon age, geography, and background so our advisory committees are best-positioned to assist the Board and the Council.

I am especially pleased to be able to serve along with my friend Helene in shepherding our two respective organizations. I believe there is a new respect and a new honesty in our relationship with our collateral colleagues, which is good for the profession and the public. We are laying the foundation for partnerships when feasible and affirming our appreciation for each other’s mission.

The strategic activity of the past several years now yields to a new era of implementation and dialogue. This is our opportunity to demonstrate real leadership to our Member Boards, aspiring architects, the profession, and the public.

With your help and support, NCARB has begun the hard work of becoming more agile and responsive without sacrificing its mission. We truly are pursuing rigor for a reason. So, as we pursue our goals, I want to convene a more formal conversation about who we are and the titles we give ourselves. Accordingly, I am appointing a Future Title Task Force to review the terminology used for those who are architect candidates and those who are licensed architects.

This task force is being convened on the condition that we have no preconceived solution. We will review existing research, conduct surveys, and assess data. We will populate the task force with Member Board Members, interns, recently licensed architects, collateral representatives, and a Member Board Executive. We will address the challenges of obtaining consensus at a task force level and the feasibility of taking that consensus to a broader audience. We will share the status our work and allow the focus to evolve organically as the participants learn and discuss.

I am pleased to announce that our friend and current President Blake Dunn has agreed to chair this effort. What a treat it has been to serve with Blake, along with a number of our past and future presidents. Our joint commitment to a seamless transition and a strategic focus over multiple years has served us well.

The focus of the task force is a big topic, fraught with controversy. But if we don’t tackle it now, then when? With all that we have accomplished, with our mission clear and our capacity strong, we are at the right moment to continue making history.