Message from the President
ALEXANDRA KOVENAT
AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C
Chroma Architecture
FEBRUARY 2025
It was wonderful to see so many of you all at our Codes Seminar hosted by Ring’s End at Le Chateau on February 5th. It was a robust event that helped set the tone for a wonderful year ahead!
Annual AIA W+HV President’s Photo
Many of our committees have already been hosting seminars in 2025. Please continue to check our website for our latest and greatest information to join us at www.aiawhv.org. We offer many types of programming in virtual and in-person format at different times of the day throughout the year to accommodate the diverse needs of our Chapter. There is something for everyone – and if there isn’t – I ask that you please reach out and get involved.
Expo
Homepage of Our Website Highlighting the Upcoming Expo
Our next major event is the Expo on Thursday March 20th at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel in Tarrytown. This is the event that inspired me to join the Board. In 2019, I was amazed by all the educational offerings, diverse vendors and networking happening locally. I had no idea that there was so much intellectual capital, energy and opportunity in our region.
I am proud to say that the Expo remains a fantastic event and continues to draw a large turnout year after year. For 2025, we have an exceptional lineup of educational offerings that you don’t want to miss! Of course, we will have a great vendor floor with the opportunity to win prizes, enjoy some tasty food and network with your colleagues. Please let us know if there are vendors that you’d like the Board to consider inviting to our event.
I challenge every one of you to bring an Associate level or early-career professional to the Expo!
Exposing young professionals to this event not only shows the value of belonging to the AIA but will also pave the way for our next generation to get involved, learn and grow. This is an opportunity for all of us to make a difference. We purposefully keep the cost of this event as low as possible to attract the greatest amount of people while balancing the high costs of hosting such a large event.
AIA New York State Highlights
Photo at the AIA NYS Albany Meeting from Left to Right
Seth Wiley, AIA – State Director from AIA W+HV, Andrew Harding, AIA NYS President, Alexandra Kovenat, AIA – President of AIA W+HV
At the end of January, I attended a New York State AIA meeting in Albany where I participated in developing greater initiatives to increase communication between local chapters and the New York State (AIA NYS) Chapter. More work needs to be done, but I was pleased to learn that this has been identified as an item to improve.
AIA NYS has recently updated their website, and it contains a lot of wonderful resources that are valuable for our members. I’d also like to highlight a valuable new publication that was recently released called the AIA New York State Disaster Assistance Resource Guide.
https://issuu.com/aianys/docs/aia_disasterassistresguide_v4_7-18-24
As one of the responsibilities of our profession is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, this publication provides current and valuable information to help us achieve our mandate.
AIA National Highlights
This week I will be at the AIA National Leadership Summit with our President-Elect Richard Gonzalez, AIA and Executive Director Valerie Brown, Hon. AIA in Washington D.C. We will have the opportunity to receive leadership training, hear from the AIA National candidates and lobby on Capitol Hill. We will be joined by other chapter leaders from across our nation. I feel very fortunate to attend and represent our great Chapter – I look forward to sharing my experience with you all.
See you all soon at the Expo!
Alexandra Kovenat