Career StagesYoung Architects Forum

The YAF has invited representation from all across the United States to participate in YAF Summit20’s strategic planning events. These individuals act in varying community and leadership roles including AIA members, Young Architect Regional Directors, YAF Advisory Committee (AdCom) members, and other local and regional representation of emerging professionals. See what jurisdiction the YAF Summit20 attendees represent; download the Map of Invited Attendees!

Kevin A. Fitzgerald, AIA, PMP, has over twelve years of experience as a practicing architect. Prior to joining AIA National, Mr. Fitzgerald was an Associate at Robert A.M. Stern Architects in New York, where he worked as a project manager, staff coordinator and team leader on a variety of building and planning projects. For the past six years he has been mentoring interns and teaching seminars on the Intern Development Program and Architect Registration Exam. As Director of the Center for Emerging Professionals at AIA National, Mr. Fitzgerald works directly with the Young Architects Forum (YAF), the National Associates Committee (NAC), the American Institute of Architects Students (AIAS), AIA components and collateral organizations to advance emerging professionals issues and initiatives.

Marsha Littell, LEED GA, began her career teaching Organizational Communication at the University of Missouri. From teaching and writing, Marsha worked for 10+ years as a management consultant working with Fortune 500 companies to identify organizational issues and design interventions including change management, succession planning, organizational strategy and structure, custom mentoring, training, communication and measurement systems.

Marsha serves HOK, a global architecture design firm, as Director of Training and Talent Management. She is a recognized thought leader in strategies for effectively working with the multi-generational workforce. She leads HOK University, which earned the AIA award for Excellence in Education in 1999 for its structure, systems and program requirements. She is responsible for firm-wide learning, talent management systems and for designing and implementing mentoring, diversity and retention strategies. Reporting to the CEO, she works directly with firm leaders to design and implement key talent management strategies as well as local and global leadership meetings.

Ned Cramer is editor-in-chief of Architect magazine and editorial director of publisher Hanley Wood’s commercial design group of four media brands: Architect, Architectural Lighting, Eco-Structure, and Metalmag. In 2009, Architect was a National Magazine Awards finalist in the general excellence category for magazines with a circulation of less than 100,000.

Prior to joining Hanley Wood, Mr. Cramer served as the first fulltime curator of the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF). During his four-year tenure there, Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin commended Cramer for bringing “intellectual heft” to CAF’s exhibitions and public programs, and the initiatives under his direction received support from organizations such as Altria, the Boeing Corporation, Fannie Mae, the Graham Foundation, Sara Lee, the McCormick-Tribune Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Mr. Cramer’s byline has appeared on some 100 print articles, many dating from his eight years at Architecture magazine, the predecessor to architect. He started at Architecture in 1995 as an assistant editor and rose to the position of executive editor before his departure in 2002. He received an Arts Administration Fellowship from the NEA in 1995, to serve on the staff of the endowment’s Design Program.

Mr. Cramer is a trustee of Archeworks, the Chicago–based alternative design school. He is a member of the U.S. General Services Administration’s Design Excellence National Peer Registry, the selection committee for the National Building Museum’s Scully Prize, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art National Advisory Committee. He has served as a juror on numerous professional design competitions and student reviews, and he speaks regularly on architecture and related subjects.

Mr. Cramer received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the Rice University School of Architecture, where he also did graduate work in art and architecture history. He was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He now lives in Washington, D.C.

Larry Speck, FAIA, is a principal with Page Southerland Page Architects. Over the past 25 years his work has won 40 national design awards, 23 state or regional awards, and 51 loc al awards. As well as being a prolific designer and builder, he has also contributed significantly to the development of ideas and direction in his field. He has authored three books, edited four publications, and contributed chapters in eleven books by others. His articles have appeared in professional journals including Architecture, Urban Land, L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, and Architecture Australia. His work has been profiled in popular publications such as The Atlantic, the New York Times, Business Week, Architectural Record, Architectural Digest, and many others.

From 1992 to 2001, Mr. Speck was dean of the school of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, where he continues to serve on the faculty. He is the recipient of the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion, which recognizes excellence in architecture education.

Roy Abernathy, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, is the president, CEO and managing principal of Jova/Daniels/Busby in Atlanta, a progressive architecture, design and planning firm begun in 1966. In addition to leading the firm’s design practice, Roy is also responsible for overall management and he heads the firm’s Strategy Practice which focuses on helping clients make smarter and more informed decisions about where they live, work and play.

With years of experience as both a consultant and architect, Roy brings a unique expertise. His work in operations and program management, real estate strategy, and workplace strategy spans projects of all sizes. Roy is a sought-after lecturer on workplace and design trends, business architecture, and the future of facilities performance. His enthusiasm and progressive thinking benefit clients and colleagues alike.

Before joining Jova/Daniels/Busby, Roy worked for Accenture, the global consulting company, where he was responsible for workplace strategy, benchmarking, and the day-to-day facility operations of the Atlanta office. Prior to Accenture, Roy was the Facilities and Properties Director for MediaOne, now Comcast, in metro Atlanta where he was responsible for more than one million square feetof office, technology and support facilities for one of the country’s largest cable, high speed data and phone providers.

Throughout his career, Roy has worked with more than 100 clients on exemplary projects of various sizes throughout the United States. He has lectured broadly on workplace design, business architecture, visionary management, and the future of the design profession. He is the 2011 President-Elect of the Georgia American Institute of Architects and recently served as the National Chair of the Young Architects Forum. He is a Richard Upjohn Fellow and founder of the National Associates Committee.

Greg Gersh was born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in a creative environment by an elementary school teacher mom and an industrial designer dad, who also designed logos for Chrysler and associated divisions.

After graduating from the University of Michigan with a BFA (History of Art concentration), Greg moved to Washington DC to teach drawing to low-income seniors under the auspices of the National Cathedral. Over the next few years, he worked for the National Museum of American Art, cataloging 20,000 works on paper, helped to open and run a premiere art and antiques gallery in Woodley Park, and freelanced as an illustrator/designer for a variety of books and magazines.

In April 2001, he started his own firm, Eyebeam Creative, which specializes in identity systems and branding strategies. As Creative Director, he manages an award-winning staff of four.

From 2005-2007, Greg served as Vice President of The Illustrators Club of Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia and still considers drawing an essential activity for inspiration and problem solving. He always carries an oversized black sketchbook, maniacally filling it with his concepts and notes. He’s completed 48 sketchbooks to date, but they’ll soon be eclipsed by the spaceship drawings of his 8-year-old son, Max.

Greg has performed as a Graphic Recorder for, among others: Accenture, Fleishman-Hillard, Mars, Microsoft, Turner Broadcasting System, Unilever, and the United States Air Force.

He lives close to three major airports, and loves to travel the world.