By Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO

In April, I had two strategic opportunities to collaborate with our allied professional association leaders at the American Planning Association conference and at the D7 CEO Retreat during Design Week in Kansas City.

At the APA in Minneapolis I co-presented ASLA’s Climate Action Plan with Maura Rockcastle, ASLA Principal and Co-Founder TEN x TEN. I focused on talking about the goals we must achieve through the plan and Maura brought to life the Climate Action Field Guide. Maura showed the audience step-by-step how to use the field guide through the lens of her firm’s project Historic Fort Snelling at Bdote, which was a partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society and the Dakota Community Council.

The audience was very engaged, and I later heard from ASLA members that their planner friends were excited by what they heard and are looking for ways to collaborate more deeply. I also spent some time with Joel Albizo, FASAE, CAE, CEO of APA, and we discussed ways we can work on climate action together.

Continuing my travels in the Midwest, I joined a panel discussion at Kansas City Design Week D7 CEO Retreat with the six other CEO’s of allied professional associations:

• Joel Albizo, FASAE, CAE, American Planning Association
• Cheryl Durst, Hon. FIIDA, International Interior Design Association
• Cybelle Jones, SEGD, Cesar Rivera, AIGA Design
• Donté P. Shannon, FASAE, CAE, Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)
• Lakisha Ann Woods, CAE, The American Institute of Architects (AIA)

D7 CEO Retreat in Kansas City / Paul Andrews Photography

The wide-ranging discussion was moderated by Anne Quito, and we covered everything from the ways design lives in each of our professions to diversity and inclusion, the impact and potential of AI, accessibility, the value of membership organizations and the ways we’re all working on climate. The audience was an even mix of local chapter members from each of our associations and the discussion and Q&A was very collaborative in nature.

Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO, at D7 CEO Retreat / Paul Andrews Photography

DLR Group sponsored the D7 and I reconnected with Premnath Sundharam, a landscape architect serving as the Chief Climate Officer at DLR who I met at COP28. In Dubai, Premnath, Pamela Conrad, the team from Architecture 2030 and I met to discuss ways to unify climate and biodiversity messages across professions in order to amplify our collective voices. Through our fellowship with Pamela we’ll have more opportunities to collaborate ahead.

Kansas City Design Week has been going strong for 15 years–this was the first year they brought together all of the CEO’s from allied design professional groups and it was a great success–our discussion focused on identifying collaborative solutions for shared challenges. Big thanks to Dawn Taylor, Executive Director of AIA Kansas City.

I met with Tim Duggan, ASLA, Founding Partner, Phronesis, and we toured the redevelopment of a former public works buildings in downtown Kansas City.

I stopped by to visit the firm Confluence and their President and CEO Chris Della Vedova, ASLA, who is currently the ASLA Vice President of Finance.

Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO, with Confluence

I also visited Populous, which has a deep history in bringing nature-based solutions to sporting venues across the world. And I love their tag line: drawing people together. I met with Dan Schaaf, ASLA, Principal, and Chris Carver, Founder.

Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO, with Populous Founder, Chris Carver

Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO, with Populous

I have also recently spent time with chapters most notably in Kansas City. I met with David Contag, ASLA, Principal at DLR Group and former ASLA Board Trustee and Brian Roth, ASLA, Principal at Land3 Studio and current Board Trustee and Nick Staib, ASLA, Team Lead at Professional Engineering Consultants and Prairie Gateway Chapter president and Jackie Dietz, ASLA, Midwest Territory Manager at Forms + Surfaces and VP of Sponsorships and Education for the Prairie Gateway chapter.

Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO, with Prairie Gateway Chapter

And earlier in April, I was happy to be back in Tennessee at the chapter conference after my last visit in 2021 for the ASLA Conference in Landscape Architecture. I gave the keynote address and talked about our 125th anniversary and the future of the profession. Big thanks to Molly Pike, ASLA, Tennessee chapter President-elect and Larry Mizell, former ASLA Board Trustee and Middle Tennessee Section Chair.

P.S.  Registration is now open for ASLA’s Conference on Landscape Architecture in Washington, D.C. on Saturday October 5 thru Wednesday, October 9. It’s our 125th Anniversary celebration–don’t miss it!