About the Program

Beginning in 2013, the AIA|DC chapter undertook an initiative to develop a program which would help train and nurture the next generation of leaders.

The year-long program consists of nine individual half-day sessions attended by a competitively selected group of 16 emerging professionals (an emerging professional is defined as someone who has graduated from college with an architecture degree and is within 10 years of their first licensure).

Prospective participants must go through an application process for selection where proven career success, community involvement and the individual’s firm support will be considered.

Facts about the Program

  • The curriculum focuses on core professional skills such as entrepreneurship and firm management, working together and collaboration, the art of negotiation, client development, community leadership, industry trends, and developing your future within the practice. The selected scholars to the leadership program are responsible for planning and participating in each of the individual sessions. The program will be kicked off by a “Boot Camp” session to introduce the participants and to develop the curriculum for the year.

    Sessions will be held monthly from 12:00pm – 5:00pm, January through September.  A full list of courses and specific dates are described in the 2024 Session Schedule.

  • The program’s success is directly related to the attendance by the participants and therefore attendance is mandatory. Each participant of the program will be required to sign an Agreement Form that will require a signature from one of the participant’s principals of their firm. Provided due notice to the Executive Committee, with extenuating circumstances, each scholar will be allowed one excused absence. If two sessions are missed, a fine of $50 will be sent to the participants firm. A further absence will result in an additional $50 fine and expulsion from the program.

    Attendance is mandatory for all scholars at the first meeting of the group “Bootcamp” as well as the final session and closing reception.

  • It is intended that this program will have AIA CE credit made available for its participants.  A total of 45 CEU’s will be provided, 22 of which are intended to be HSW.

AIA National Recognition

In 2018 at AIA Grassroots, the AIA|DC CKLDP was recognized with the recognized with the AIA CACE Component Excellence Award for Knowledge Sharing Initiatives. Watch a brief video of this accomplishment and an overview of the program here.

the Program
Co-Founders

  • Managing Principal, WDG
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    Sean is a Design Principal and partner of WDG where he focuses on elevating the firm’s stature in design, with particular emphasis on enhancing the civic realm. Mr. Stadler takes a strong leadership role and his commitment to design excellence and innovative thinking and influences the projects with which he is involved. He believes that design is a process and that this process begins not with a brief, program, or even a charette, but rather with the people from which ideas flow. His example shows that leadership is a two-way street; it involves the ability to influence others and be receptive to the needs of those you lead. In his world view, design excellence is not the application of certain techniques or the realization of inborn talent, so much as the development of a latent understanding for the negotiations that are at the heart of architecture; negotiations between site and program, client and designer, architect and engineer. Sean has been honored with an AIA President’s Award for his service to the profession and was recognized as one of the “rising stars of the AEC industry” by Building Design + Construction Magazine in 2009.

    He is a recipient of the 2011 AIA Young Architects award where the jury noted that “he is a unique individual of outstanding talent and clear commitment.”

  • Senior Associate, Quinn Evans
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    Ryan spent the majority of his childhood working the fields and learning the principals of organic agriculture on his family’s farm. These regenerative qualities have been ingrained into his critical thinking and are brought into his approach during every aspect of the design process. As a graduate of the University of Virginia, Ryan is both a licensed architect and licensed landscape architect. He is an active participant within the professional community, serving on the National Architectural Accrediting Board as well as the National Council of Architecture Registration Board.

    Additionally, he serves the AIA|DC Chapter on the Emerging Architects Committee, lectures for the chapter’s Architecture Registration Exam Prep Course, and serves on the chapter’s Education Committee. In 2014 he was awarded with the AIA|DC Emerging Architect of the Year Award. Ryan has received a number of design awards, including an AIA|DC Un-built Honor Award for the University of Virginia Center for Innovation, and a VS-ASLA Honor Award for the South Carlyle Master Plan.

    In 2018, He was awarded the Young Architect's Award.