Outstanding alumnus Potter ’78 takes helm as new AIA president

[Jeff Potter] (http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/spring2010/stories/Potter_leadAIA.html) ‘78, is focusing on making the AIA more meaningful to emerging members of the profession and advancing the value of design during his one-year tenure as president of the 76,000-member [American Institute of Architects] (http://www.aia.org/) .

In a new [video] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua9DqkGc3gs) , Potter, an outstanding alumnus of Texas A&M’s College of Architecture and principal of the Texas architecture firm, POTTER, said he plans to steer the AIA to “provide resources and opportunities to develop skill sets for our emerging professionals and make them more competitive in the marketplace and … more robustly involved in the future of their profession.”

Potter, a member of the AIA’s College of Fellows, was inaugurated as the institute’s president December Dec. 12, 2011 in ceremonies at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

“I believe our culture is awakening to the meaning of design and the breadth and depth of what we do,” he said in his inaugural [address] (http://www.aia.org/practicing/AIAB092081) . “It is time to share the dreams and successes of the people in this room, of the profession, how decision makers, policy makers, community, and place are influenced by AIA architects.”

He founded POTTER, a design firm with offices in Dallas and Longview, Texas, in 1983, and is an expert in K-12 educational facility planning and implementation.
Potter operates the firm with his wife, Shelley, also a college outstanding alumni, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Texas A&M in 1978.

See related archone. article: [“Outstanding Alum tapped to lead American Institute of Architects.”] (http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/spring2010/stories/Potter_leadAIA.html)