LAI Chicago Region Chapter News

Members Represent LAI Chicago at One-by-Land, Two-by-Sea Tour Series

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 15:17:18 GMT

Lambda Alpha International (LAI) is commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with a special series of tours hosted by the seven LAI Eastern Region chapters: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, FL Suncoast, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

The first event in the series, called One by Land, Two by Sea Tours, was hosted by the LAI FL Suncoast Chapter. Over three days in late February 2026, the chapter welcomed distinguished LAI members from across the globe to the Sarasota–Bradenton region, including Chicago Chapter members Donna Pugh, Laurie Marston, Greg Wernisch, Ty Warner, Christine Carlyle, and guest Rico Cedro.

Day 1- Land Economics Dialogue

The program opened with the one‑day Sarasota Land Economics Dialogue (LED), where local leaders and nonprofit organizations examined regional challenges surrounding water management, climate resilience, and sustainability initiatives.

Morning presentations explored Sarasota’s Indigenous heritage, ecological evolution, regional development patterns, and associated environmental impacts. In the afternoon, participants joined in facilitated brainstorming sessions focused on strategies to address these environmental impacts—particularly those tied to water. Discussions were energetic, insightful, and enriched by diverse regional perspectives.

Guests then gathered at the Gulf Coast Community Foundation Philanthropy Center for an opening reception featuring keynote speaker Jennifer O. Rominiecki, President and CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens—an institution globally known for its extensive collection of bromeliads and orchids and its storied history.

Day 2- Land Tours

The second day launched with immersive tours. Highlights included Nathan Benderson Park, the world‑class rowing venue repurposed from a former shell excavation pit; University Town Center, the well-known master‑planned community; and the Sarasota Audubon Nature Center, located in the heart of the 440-acre Celery Fields which is the County’s primary stormwater collection zone, home to 250 species of birds, and has a special link to Chicago: it was originally cultivated by Bertha and Potter Palmer as a celery farm.

Day 3- Sea Tours

On the third day, attendees enjoyed an ecological and historical boat tour of Sarasota Bay, followed by a session at the Bayfront Community Center focused on the planning and public engagement process for The Bay Park, concluding with an on‑site tour of the park itself. The closing reception was held at Sage Restaurant, located in the historic Sarasota Times Building—constructed in 1925 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984.

This outstanding program was made possible thanks to the tireless efforts of our hosts: John McCarthy, Selby Gardens Vice President of Regional History; Holly Elmore, FL Suncoast Chapter President; and Sara Kane, Sarasota County Extension and Sustainability Office.

2025 Presenting Sponsor: Thank You, SB Friedman!

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:09:25 GMT

SB Friedman Development Advisors, LLC (SB Friedman) provides analytical, strategic and financial consulting services in support of complex, high-impact development projects. Founded in 1990, the firm works closely with a broad range of clients in the public, private and nonprofit/institutional sectors to evaluate development potential and economic/fiscal impacts; project market and financial feasibility; identify innovative public-private development solutions; and prepare implementable development strategies. SB Friedman is recognized for understanding both the public and private perspectives on development issues.

Sponsor Spotlight: Thank you, Evergreen Real Estate Group!

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 22:11:51 GMT

Evergreen Real Estate Group is dedicated to transforming communities and improving lives through affordable and quality housing solutions. Guided by our mission, we are committed to building, preserving, and managing multifamily communities that uplift residents and enrich neighborhoods. As a trusted partner in the affordable housing space, Evergreen brings a holistic approach to property development, management, and construction, blending innovation with community-first values. From urban centers to heartland towns and coastal communities, we deliver lasting, resident-centered solutions that meet critical housing needs and foster community growth across the country. Our team’s deep industry expertise and collaborative spirit drive every project. We work with public and private partners to expand affordable housing access, preserve essential housing assets, and support residents through comprehensive services that promote stability and success. At Evergreen Real Estate Group, impact is our priority, and every project is an opportunity to support vibrant, thriving communities.

NEW MEMBER NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN!

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 13:43:58 GMT

Applications are accepted any time before 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 16.

We encourage early submissions.

If you have any questions, you may reach out to the LAI Chicago Region Chapter office or Diane Gormely-Barnes, VP of Membership.

Nomination Form For Member Sponsors

Sponsor Spotlight: Thank you, Arcadis!

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 16:32:33 GMT

Arcadis is the world’s leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, digital and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 36,000 architects, data analysts, designers, engineers, project planners, water management and sustainability experts, all driven by our passion for improving quality of life.

We exist to find solutions to today’s most pressing challenges, from the impact of climate change to increasing urbanization and digital transformation – all with the goal of improving quality of life for people around the world. You can see this in the work we do for our clients, the opportunities we create for our people, and in our efforts to enhance the communities in which we live and work. We bring together world-class resources and the latest innovative technologies to help define the cities and experiences of tomorrow.

Locally in the Chicago Region, you will find Arcadis in the market as Program Manager for the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Purple Modernization Program, Capital Program Improvement Delivery for Metra, Chicago Public Schools and Cook County’s Build Up Cook Program, Environmental engineers for the Bronzeville Development project, Architect for The Guild-Chicago, District 1860-Lincolnwood, and Calamos City Gate- Naperville.

Incoming President’s Message

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 18:10:51 GMT

Greetings and Happy New Year LAI Chicago Region Chapter members!

It is an honor and an absolute privilege to serve as your 2025 Chapter President. I am looking forward to working with the 2025 Board of Directors to bring forth a renewed sense of energy and unique perspective to chapter events, activities and member engagement.

2025 is signaling to be an unprecedented year of transition and change, and while no one has a crystal ball to know what’s to come, I believe staying rooted in community and fostering connection will be key to maintaining some sense of sensibility and stability in a shifting landscape. Our theme for this year, “Connection Matters, Community Matters”, has proven to be more prescient than when it was originally conceived.

The theme was initially conceptualized to encourage membership to reconnect and support one another amid career shifts and leadership advancements. This is still the case, but it also materialized into raising awareness of “getting back to basics”. Our foundational work in real estate and land use development is about building community–about people– and working to preserve the health, safety, and interconnectivity within the built environment for the community’s use. When we recognize that our professional endeavors are ultimately in service to others, we can remain grounded and steadfast, even amidst times of change. So yes, both Connection Matters and Community Matters.

Cheers to 2025! Looking forward to sharing some of the exciting things the Board and I have in store for our Chapter!

Sincerely,

Jewell Walton, 2025 LAI Chicago Region Chapter President

Message From The Chapter President

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:19:05 GMT

As we wind down the final days of 2024, I am reminded once again that this has been an eventful year for our LAI Chapter. In many ways it was a year of planning and preparation. From the start, our board framed a bold and visionary agenda of continued organizational growth. As part of this, we developed and recently adopted a new Five-year Chapter Strategic Plan. We continued the launch of our Member Engagement Committee. And we stood up a new Finance Committee to help ensure our Chapter’s continued financial health.

But in the best LAI fashion, this was also our year of exploring the ways we work together to bring big plans to life. A theme that played out in numerous ways through our packed year of programs – varied and always fascinating, exploring some of the best ideas and projects that our land economics disciplines offer.

And now more than ever, it seems big ideas and big plans are needed to address the challenges we face within our communities and across our nation. It is by now a seemingly intractable truism that we are a nation of divisions. Divisions that have the power to stoke fear and anger and that at times feel like they might tear our communities apart. And when we give in to fear and anger, and rather than working together to solve our problems, retreat into isolation and intolerance, our challenges overwhelm us.

But I remain hopeful. Because when we bring big ideas and big plans to the table – when we plan together and build together – we achieve great things. We see this all around us in the work we do in our fields of land economics.

My hope is that we find ways to move boldly forward together, building dialogues across communities and bridges across our divisions. And that we engage in honest exploration and in the pursuit of truth – the founding values of our LAI society.

And because of this, I look forward to seeing what we can do together in 2025.

Sincerely,

Zach Lowe, LAI Chicago Region Chapter President

Meet The New Board Members

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 09:30:00 GMT

LeeAnn Tomas-Foster leads Arcadis’s sales and philanthropic initiatives in the Chicagoland market, aligning local, national and international staff with local needs. Her recent contributions include involvement as a JV Board Member for the CTA’s Red, Purple Line Modernization, Board Member for the Forest Preserve Foundation, initiating member of the Greater Watershed Alliance, Co-Chair March of Dimes Construction and Transportation Committee, and the recent Alliance for Regional Development re-envisioning. Over the years she also participated in the Chicago Central Area Committee's (CCAC) Invest South and West projects, the CCAC 2020 Corridor Revitalization Initiative and the 2019 Central Strategy, the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Drinking Water 1,2,3 Program.

In tandem she has over 28 years of experience in environmental program management, due diligence, and compliance across both public and private sectors. Throughout her tenure, she successfully managed multi-million dollar programs for City of Chicago agencies, including the Public Building Commission, Chicago Park District and the Chicago Public Schools Environmental Program. Her exemplary work has earned her numerous awards from organizations such as March of Dimes, Friends of the Chicago River, Keep Chicago Beautiful, the National Association of Environmental Professionals, the USEPA, and the Illinois Governor’s office.

Mariah DiGrino concentrates her practice in the areas of land use and zoning, public-private financing, public incentives, historic preservation, and community and economic development, as well as general real estate.

Mariah's practice involves representation of owners, developers, retailers, investors and public-private partnerships on both the local and national levels. She has experience securing annexation, development, zoning and subdivision approvals, negotiating and implementing public-private development and financing arrangements and public incentives, negotiating historic preservation designations and incentives, performing general and zoning due diligence and property evaluation and negotiating and closing real estate acquisitions and dispositions.

Caitlin Ritter serves as the Research Director at Transwestern’s Chicago and Rosemont offices, where she spearheads research initiatives and produces comprehensive local market reports. With two decades of experience, Caitlin has collaborated with commercial real estate services, consultants, government entities, as well as nonprofit and market-rate multifamily investors and developers. She holds an architecture undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in urban planning with a concentration in economic development, both from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Additionally, she is an active member of the Regional Economy Committee for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

Gordon Ziegenhagen joined Draper and Kramer in 2004 and has managed many facets of the firm’s real estate projects. He currently leads residential development and capital projects for the firm. Mr. Ziegenhagen has focused his efforts on Chicago’s south side, delivering much-needed retail, mixed-income and workforce housing to the community.

Prior to joining Draper and Kramer, Mr. Ziegenhagen spent 10 years as a management consultant; managing large re-engineering projects across a range of industries.

Mr. Ziegenhagen holds an MBA and BA (Accounting) from Michigan State University, a Certificate in Construction Management from DePaul University and is an Illinois Licensed Real Estate Broker. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Southside Builders Association and has served on a number of steering committees and task forces supporting Chicago’s Bronzeville community. He is a former neighborhood organization President and longtime Church volunteer.

November Luncheon Presenter Information

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 20:10:24 GMT

Erin Aleman (Al-le-mahn) has served as executive director for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) since 2019. She brings more than a decade of accomplishments developing transportation and land use policies to the agency and its implementation of ON TO 2050, the region’s long-term comprehensive plan to help northeastern Illinois’ 7 counties and 284 municipalities improve quality of life using strategies that address transportation, housing, economic development, open space, the environment, and more.

Prior to joining CMAP, Erin served as vice president of Metro Strategies, a policy and advocacy consulting firm, and held various leadership positions at the Illinois Department of Transportation. She has a master’s degree in urban planning, is a certified mediator, a strategist for the Obama Foundation Scholars Program, a member of the American Planning Association, Lambda Alpha, and the Women’s Transportation Seminar, as well as vice chair for the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors.

Kirk Dillard has served as the chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Board of Directors since June 2014. Chairman Dillard is a lifelong resident of the region and has been a rider of public transportation for more than 50 years, riding CTA buses and trains since early childhood, and now is a regular rider of Metra. Chairman Dillard most recently oversaw the development and adoption of Transit is the Answer, the new regional transit strategic plan that puts forward an Action and Advocacy Agenda that offers improvements to the system and options to ensure sustainable funding and played an important role in regional advocacy efforts that culminated with the 2019 passage of Rebuild Illinois, the largest capital bill in Illinois history.

Dillard served as a Republican senator from Chicago's western suburbs in the Illinois State Senate for nearly 20 years. Prior to serving as senator, Chairman Dillard served with distinction as Chief of Staff to former Governor Jim Edgar and as Legislative Director to former Governor James Thompson.

Audrey Wennink is a senior director at the Metropolitan Planning Council where she leads transportation policy efforts and coordination with other facets of planning including affordable housing, land use, and the environment. Her transportation research and advocacy efforts include improving the sustainability and equity of the transportation system, pursuing sustainable funding for transportation in Illinois, integration of performance-based planning methods into transportation practice, and advancing equitable transit-oriented development. She has overseen development of multiple transportation policy reports at MPC including Reconnecting Communities, Toward Universal Mobility, and Transit Means Business. She holds a B.A. in English and Spanish from Colby College and a Master’s in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a fellow of the University of Chicago’s Harris School’s Civic Leadership Academy.

Dr. Sriraj’s research focuses on understanding the transportation system (both the hard and the human) as well as its impact on many dimensions of quality of life. During his academic career, he has generated more than $30 million dollars in research leading to more than 125 academic products in terms of journal articles, reports, and presentations. He has also conducted extensive research on public transportation systems as well as in the areas of stakeholder engagement. The goal of his research is to incorporate multiple perspectives into the planning process using a mixed methods approach. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. He has served in leadership positions with the Transportation Research Forum (Vice President), Council of University Transportation Center (President), and is a governor’s appointee to the Board of the Illinois International Port District (Vice Chairman), and the High Speed Rail Commission for Illinois.

EVENT INFORMATION

New Member Initiation & Awards Banquet

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 15:29:35 GMT

It was a beautiful evening celebrating our awardees and inducting our amazing 2024 class!

We invite you to look at the event photos [here].

Submit Your 2025 Dues Category by October 15 at 5:00 pm CST

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 18:44:31 GMT

The LAI Chicago Region Finance Committee was tasked by the Board of Directors to review the financial health of the organization. Part of the committee's work included an evaluation of the organization to address recurring deficit budgets since COVID (lower active membership, higher event costs). While LAI International dues were increased in 2024, it has been four years since our local chapter has increased dues.

The Finance Committee recommended, and the Board has approved, a new tiered dues structure for 2025. While there will be a slight dues increase for for-profit and retired chapter members, a new category has been created for members of public, nonprofit and XBE*-certified companies (see graphic).

*An XBE is a business enterprise owned by recognized minorities, women, veterans, or socially and economically disadvantaged persons.

LAI International will send out dues reminders in November according to the categories above. Therefore, we request that you self-identify the membership category that best aligns with you.

Please click [here] to complete this form by 5:00 p.m. on October 15, 2024. If we do not hear back from you by this date, you will automatically be placed in the Full Dues (for-profit) category.

If you have any questions, please contact the LAI office at 773-804-8592 or one of the LAI Board of Directors.

Annual Meeting: Rising Together

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 15:11:08 GMT

In our Chapter’s programming this year, we’ve explored the ways we work together to bring big plans to life. We’ve done this together in myriad ways – at our luncheons, over dinner tables in member homes, and in our summer tour of a catalytic residential development project in Bronzeville.

We’ve explored complex topics that demand big solutions - such as addressing missing middle housing, building for climate resilience, and preserving history through historic places. And we still have more to dive into, including, at our final luncheon of the year in November, the future of regional transit.

Along the way, we’ve networked and socialized together, making business connections, renewing old friendships, and forging new ones.

As a society, too, we’ve made great progress this year. We explored new and engaging programming formats. We initiated a strategic plan update to chart our course to the future. We dedicated ourselves to increasing the value of membership by forming a new member engagement committee. And we took significant steps towards securing the long-term financial strength of our organization by creating a new finance committee.

I’d like to express how proud I am of these accomplishments and thankful to our board, our committee members, and numerous other volunteers for their commitment and hard work.

Zach Lowe
LAI Chicago Region Chapter President

View the presentation shared at this year's Annual Meeting for discussion highlights.

Lambda Alpha International 2024 Chicago Region Chapter Awards

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 16:03:33 GMT

Distinguished Chicago Region Chapter Service Award

Todd J. Cabanban is the recipient of this year's Distinguished Chicago Region Chapter Service Award for his command of the commercial real estate market in communities across metropolitan Chicago and for expanding the way we view ourselves, our purpose, and our potential through innovative chronicling and promotion of both the International and Chicago Region Chapter’s programming and people.

Todd J. Cabanban, one of the founding Principals of Cabanban, Rubin, & Mayberry Commercial Realty, has demonstrated a sure command of the metropolitan Chicago commercial real estate market over a 34-year career. Over his successful career in Retail Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Mr. Cabanban has built a reputation for doing excellent work and providing value to all his clients such as Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, BP Amoco, Cash America, Panda Express and Starbucks. Todd started his career at Hiffman Shaffer & Associates and later helped to build two significant retail commercial real estate firms, Zifkin Realty & Development and his current firm of 12 years Cabanban, Rubin & Mayberry.

Todd is a long-standing member of the state committee for the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Todd is also an active member of Lambda Alpha International’s (LAI) Chicago Region and has served in leadership as a past President of the Chapter as well as a past chair of the communications committee for International. Todd is also a member of the prestigious Realty Club of Chicago where he is currently serving as the current President of the organization.

His civic duties include being appointed by Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle to serve on the Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC). Todd graduated with a BA from Indiana University and lives in the city of Chicago with his family.

Robert J. Piper Distinguished Leadership Award

Linda Goodman is the 2024 Robert J. Piper Distinguished Leadership Award winner for providing expert market analyses helping to advance important development projects while sharing her inspirational commitment to the built environment by mentoring and teaching numerous emerging leaders in land economics.

Linda Goodman is President of Goodman Williams Group, where she specializes in analyzing market trends and creating development strategies for public- and private-sector clients. Through numerous real estate cycles, she has analyzed opportunities for residential, retail, office, and industrial projects.

Helping to strengthen retail corridors and downtown business districts has been an important component of Ms. Goodman’s consulting practice. She has assessed commercial development opportunities in Chicago neighborhoods on the north, south, and west sides. In the suburbs, she has teamed up with urban planning firms to develop plans for a variety of transit-served downtowns, including Wilmette, Evanston, Glenview, Barrington, Elmhurst, Naperville, Worth, Cicero, Maywood, and University Park.

Ms. Goodman has contributed to dozens of real estate market analyses for the City of Chicago under the Planning Now program. Her analyses have involved site-specific residential and commercial development proposals as well as plans for corridors and neighborhoods. Goodman Williams Group has completed several commercial and residential market studies of the Loop for the Chicago Loop Alliance. They were also part of the team working for the State of Illinois on the sale of the J.R. Thompson Center and for the CTA on the Red Line Extension Plan.

Prior to co-founding Goodman Williams Group in 1993, Ms. Goodman was a Project Manager in the Corporate Advisory Services Group of Rubloff, then a full-service real estate firm. Ms. Goodman began her career at Real Estate Research Corporation (RERC), a national real estate consulting firm.

Ms. Goodman is a long-time active member of the Chicago Region Chapter of Lambda Alpha International, an honorary land economics society. She was inducted into LAI in 1989 and served on the Board as the Vice President of Programs in 2009 and Membership in 2010. In 2011, she was elected President of the chapter.

2025 Board Slate

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 22:04:48 GMT

2025 Board of Directors

Meet the Class of 2024

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 13:59:24 GMT

LAI Chicago Region Chapter welcomes the class of 2024, a highly qualified group of individuals. They were inducted at the New Member Initiation & Awards Banquet on Wednesday, October 9.

Meet the class of 2024.

Nominate a New Member!

(Past member) — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 12:58:16 GMT

Membership nominations are accepted at any time prior to the deadline. We encourage early submissions.

Deadline: Friday, May 17, 2024

Sponsors & Cosponsors: Click [here] to access the application with instructions.

The Chicago Region Chapter of Lambda Alpha International continually invites nominations for new members and will annually initiate a class of highly accomplished leaders representing the diverse professional disciplines related to land economics.

The Chicago Region Chapter seeks members who will be active in the organization and willing to contribute to our professional community. We continue to work towards a chapter membership that reflects racial, ethnic, and gender diversity.

LAI Chicago Region Chapter has a Member Support Fund to help with the cost of membership and attending events. If you think your candidate may benefit from this support, please share this link to the application [here.]

Are you interested in volunteering with us?

(Past member) — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 13:09:23 GMT

Read more about the LAI Chicago Region Chapter Committee Charters here.

LAI Chicago Region Chapter Welcomes The Class of 2023!

(Past member) — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 22:23:44 GMT

Congratulations to the 2024 Chicago Region Chapter Board of Directors

(Past member) — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 21:25:30 GMT

Congratulations to the 2024 Chicago Region Chapter Board of Directors
In September, Chicago Region Chapter members elected the 2024 Chapter Board of Directors. The new board takes over in January.

President: Zach Lowe, Tri-Council Development Fund & Development Planning Partners

President Elect: Jewell Walton, Chicago Housing Authority

Secretary: Ranadip Bose, SB Freidman Development Advisors

Treasurer: Diane Gormely-Barnes, HNTB

VP Chautauqua/Salons: Rana Lee, SmithGroup

VP Membership: Angelica Marks, University of Chicago

VP Communications: Justin Pelej, Focus

VP Programs: Matt Dumich, SmithGroup

Director-at-Large: Malek Abdulsamad, Greenstone Partners

Director-at-Large: Kenneth Gilkes, It Takes a Village Development

Director-at-Large: Ed Polich, Draper and Kramer Inc.

Director-at-Large: Cassandra Rice, Perkins & Will

Immediate Past President: Lynsey Sorrell, Bureau Gemmell, LLC

Congratulations to the 2023 Chicago Region Chapter Awardees!

(Past member) — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:30:59 GMT

Join us in congratulating our 2023 awardees!

Harry Chaddick Distinguished Public Service Award

Marissa Novara, Vice President of Community Impact

The Chicago Community Trust

As the Vice President of Community Impact for The Chicago Community Trust, Marisa Novara leads the team that oversees the development and implementation of the Trust’s strategic initiatives, its policy agenda, and grant making to reduce the racial and ethnic wealth gap in the Chicago region. She has more than 25 years of experience engaging with communities to create innovative programs that respond to their needs and drive policy change. Most recently, Marisa served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Housing. She led the passage of nine bills in four years, conducted the country’s first Racial Equity Impact Assessment on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and in 2021 invested a record $1 billion in affordable housing.

Before joining the City, Novara was vice president of the Metropolitan Planning Council, where she designed and managed the Cost of Segregation project, which concluded how decades-old racial and economic segregation patterns cost the Chicago region an estimated $4.4 billion in additional income each year. She also led the subsequent creation of the region’s first comprehensive guide to a more racially equitable future. Before that, Novara directed affordable rental and for-sale housing development for Lawndale Christian Development Corp. in the North Lawndale community, where she lived and worked for more than a decade.

Novara has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in sociology, master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, certificate in affordable housing finance, development, and management from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and master’s in urban planning from the Istituto Politecnico di Milano in Milan, Italy.

The Doris B. and Marshall M. Holleb Community Impact Award

Brad White, Senior Program Director

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation

Brad White is the Senior Program Director at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, a Chicago-based foundation seeking to improve the built environment, support cultural stewardship in the arts, and strengthen democracy through investigative journalism. He is responsible for overseeing development and implementation of program goals and funding strategies for the Built Environment program.

Brad has over 35 years of experience in community development, affordable housing, and philanthropy. He previously served as the Associate Director of the Alphawood Foundation. Major projects included overseeing the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple and working with a wide variety of arts, architecture, advocacy, and historic preservation organizations. Prior to his work at Alphawood, Brad spent more than ten years overseeing the development of affordable housing at Related Midwest and Mercy Housing.

Brad was appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in 2011 and served until October 2020. He led its task force on Historic Preservation and Rightsizing and directed development of a policy statement on community revitalization. Brad is a board member at Enrich Chicago, a nonprofit focused on racial equity and inclusion in the arts; DOCOMOMO-US; and the Julius Rosenwald-Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Campaign. He is a member of the Public Policy Committee of ULI Chicago and has served on technical advisory panels concerning the Michigan Boulevard Apartments, Cook County Land Bank, and Accessory Dwelling Units. Brad is the former Chair of Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Action, Lambda Alpha – Chicago Region Chapter, and Unity Temple Restoration Foundation.

LAI International Member of the Year Award

Richard Wilson, AIA, AICP, City Design Director

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Please help us congratulate our esteemed colleague, Richard Wilson for winning the LAI International Member of the Year Award, an honor presented annually to the member most epitomizing dedication to the work and ethos of the Society.

Richard has been an active and passionate member of the Chicago Region Chapter since 2006. He joined the board in 2018, rising to the presidency in 2020. Richard was the Chapter’s first 2-year term leader. He did an incredible job keeping the Chapter vibrant and financially stable during the toughest years of the pandemic. Chicago Region Chapter member, Jacqueline Loewe, described it beautifully: “Richard put all of us on his back and got us through Covid together.”

Richard’s presidential term was not just about the good health of the Chapter, it was characterized by a genuine attention to our core values of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). He did not shy away from honest discussions about our chapter demographics and our industries’ responsibility to society. He handled tough conversations with his natural and sincere disposition and with great personal integrity.

Richard has also been instrumental in increasing our corporate sponsorship levels, which has allowed us to keep the membership dues and event ticket prices stable despite the rapidly increasing venue costs. He also initiated a new annual event of convening the past presidents at a reception where the current board present their initiatives and seek input. This event is a highlight for many and the camaraderie and continuity it instills is so important for preserving community.

More recently, Richard brought his hard work and great ideas to the LAI International level serving as International Secretary and playing an integral role in the development and execution of the 2023-27 Strategic Plan. Having chaired the Vision, Mission, Principles and Goals Committee, he garnered valuable insights from a wide representation of the honorary society about the opportunities and challenges facing LAI as it steers toward its 100-year anniversary.

Most impressively, Richard has performed all this amazing work for LAI while serving in the Senior Leadership Team at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill. His impressive career spans 30 years of global design and construction experience throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe, India and the Middle East.