Career StagesNational Associates Committee

Chair

Haley M. Gipe, Assoc. AIA, currently resides in Fresno, CA after graduating in 2006 from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo with a Bachelors of Architecture and Minors in Art and Design, Sustainable Environments and Environmental Design. She helped establish “The SloArch Foundation” and co-hosts a weekly pod-cast for Cal Poly architecture students, faculty, alumni and enthusiasts called “The Studio” at SLOarch.com.

Haley joined Darden Architects in 2008 and has worked on Education, Transportation, Master Planning and Healthcare projects. She also helped establish the firms IDP program resulting in the 2009-2012 National IDP Firm Award, the 2011-2014 National IDP Firm Award and 2011 AIACC Academy for Emerging Professionals Firm Mentorship Award.

An AIA member since 2008, Haley has been involved with her local AIA San Joaquin Chapter and statewide with the AIA California Council Academy for Emerging Professionals Council of Advisors, the Foundational Issues Committee, the Future of AIA in California Taskforce, and various Emerging Professionals Strategic Planning Sessions. She also oversaw the planning and implementation of the California 2011 Architectural Education Summit.

As the 2009-2011 California IDP State Coordinator, Haley conducted licensure outreach to students and interns, working directly with the California Architects Board and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

Associate Director

Wayne A. Mortensen, Assoc. AIA, holds an undergraduate degree as well as a Masters in Architecture, Urban Design and Social Work from Washington University. Wayne served as the 20—AIAS National President and worked from the organization’s headquarters in Washington, DC. He was responsible for the organization’s national agenda and student advocacy efforts. His involvement with the AIAS continues today on the Freedom by Design Advisory Council—a program that he helped implement that trains design students to assist low-income and disabled community members through simple design and construction solutions for modifications in their homes.

Wayne has a passion for exploration of the built environment that facilitates the creation of bridging social capitol and civic engagement. His professional aspirations are distinctively “alternative” and include teaching, research and socially-oriented practice. He is hopeful that evidence-based practice will “save the profession.”

Senior Associate Director

Ashley W. Clark, Assoc. AIA, Ashley W. Clark, Assoc. AIA, is the Marketing Manager for The FWA Group Architects in their Charlotte, NC office. Her education in architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte informed her talents in communication design, which enabled her to grow as a marketing professional over the past three years. Ashley's commitment to the AIA is driven by her desire to elevate the value of design, and to help the architects of today recognize the diverse talents and ambitions of the architects of tomorrow.

Ashley first became involved with the AIAS in 2003 as the Chapter President for the American Institute of Architecture Students at UNC Charlotte, as well as the local AIA Charlotte Student Liaison. She was then elected as the 2004-05 South Quad Director on the AIAS National Board. In 2008 she joined the AIA North Carolina Board as the Associate Director for a two-year term, which overlapped her appointment to the AIA National Associates Committee as the South Atlantic Region Associate Director in 2009. She served as the 2011 Chair of the AIA National Associates Committee and is currently serving as the 2012 Associate Director to the AIA National board. She will be the 2013 Associate Representative to the AIA Executive Committee.

Advocacy Director

Venesa Alicea, AIA, LEED AP BD+C was the 2011-2012 Regional Associate Director for the NY Region on the AIA National Associates Committee, and past Co-Chair of the AIANY Emerging New York Architects Committee (2010-2011). A Registered Architect in NYS, she holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the City College of New York. She has worked at Dattner Architects for over five years, most recently she has been working on the New Housing New York Legacy Project; Via Verde, a sustainable affordable housing project in the South Bronx, currently under construction. She has demonstrated leadership within the AIA, and among professional allied organizations, with a focus on diversity, and the professional development of students and young professionals. She has served as the Associate Director for AIA New York, and AIA New York State, as well as remains member of the Advisory Board on the AIANY Women in Architecture Committee.

Community & Communications Director

Jared Hueter, Assoc. AIA, is an intern architect with Mathes Brierre Architects in New Orleans Louisiana. He joined the team at MBA in 2011 to focus on educational design.

Jared has been an out spoken advocate for responsible design and a community volunteer since 2005. As Cofounder and President of Re Vision he organized Design/Build projects for the homeless. As the Project Manager of Redeemer Relief Jared over saw the renovation of 60+ Katrina damaged structures in New Orleans. In 2008 he served as the Program Coordinator of The CITYbuild Consortium of Schools, facilitating 20+ Design/Build projects throughout New Orleans. Jared also served as the New Orleans Design Corps Fellow and board member of the Gertown Revival Initiative to rebuild Gertown. For three years Jared served as the Dean of Design at the Priestley Charter School of Architecture and Construction developing a design/build based high school curriculum for academically at-risk youth.

Jared completed his Bachelors of Architecture at the E. Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas. He is currently in the process of completing the IDP and is preparing for the Architect Registration Examination.

Knowledge & Programming Director

Cesar Gallegos, Assoc. AIA, has been with FoKus Architecture, Inc. since 2007. The specialties of the firm consist of medical type projects and ADA consulting. Cesar has actively served in the AIA since 2004 as a chapter associate director, state associate director and currently a regional associate director in Texas. He began his education in El Paso by participating in the El Paso Community College's drafting program and eventually transitioning over to architecture. Through a job transfer Cesar relocated to Seattle where he attended the University of Washington to complete his Masters in Architecture degree. Cesar currently resides in El Paso, Texas and continues his involvement with the El Paso AIA.

AIAS Liaison

Brent Castro, Assoc. AIA is a recent graduate of The University of Tennessee’s Architecture and Design Program and currently serves on the 2011- 2012 American Institute of Architecture Student's National Board of Directors as the Director of the South Quadrant. This past summer at the National AIAS Grassroots Conference in Washington DC, he was inaugurated as the AIAS National Vice President for the 2012- 2013 year and will now live in DC for the duration of his term. He feels that this is a perfect time to be committed to introspection and help to re-evaluate what it means to be a student of architecture and what it should mean for when students enter the profession.

CACE Liaison

Michael Waldinger, Hon. AIA

AIA Staff Liaison

Erin Murphy, AIA, is a Director for the AIA Center for Emerging Professionals. Erin is a staff liaison to the AIA National Associates Committee (NAC) and the AIA Young Architects Forum (YAF). She also identifies and researches trends regarding the path to licensure and integrates this knowledge into programs, initiatives, and advocacy efforts for emerging professionals.

Erin previously worked as a Project Architect at Bowie Gridley Architects in Washington, DC, and as a Project Manager and Staff Architect for Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP in New York. Erin earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University’s School of Architecture.