COTE welcomes four new people to its Leadership Group this year, and a new Liaison Member. We asked each of these five COTE Community leader/volunteers to share a little bit about why they have sought to dedicate time to COTE.
Lyndley Kent, AIA, is an Associate Principal at Neumann Monson Architects in Des Moines, Iowa. She has also been active in the Iowa Chapter of the AIA, serving on the Board of Directors and is the winner of the 2021 AIA Iowa Young Architect Award.
She says: “After working on projects whose clients set sustainable aspirations high – one was awarded a COTE Top Ten award in 2021 and another is seeking full Living Building Certification through ILFI -- I wanted to do something to make that more of the norm. The AIA and COTE seemed to be a perfect fit to affect holistic change, not focusing on just one sustainability effort, but efforts that touch all aspects of design. Coming from the Midwest, I hope to bring pragmatic strategies and focus on how we make meaningful advancement towards a more sustainable future.”
Daniel Jaconetti, AIA, LEED AP, is an Associate Principal and National Sustainable Design Leader at HED; he is working nationally and living in North Carolina. Along with crafting firm strategies, including staff engagement and education, he directly supports projects across the firm, leading their integration of sustainable design strategies often including pursuit of LEED, WELL, and other performance certifications. Daniel also represents the firm in national peer organizations such as AIA LFRT and Building Green Sustainable Design Leaders network. Jaconetti has been active with AIA Chicago and its 2030 Working Group, which recently joined forces with the COTE chapter there.
He says: “Mitigating the adverse effects of climate change may be the most critical endeavor currently facing humankind. Those of us in the building professions have an opportunity and responsibility that cannot be squandered. AIA and COTE have stepped up their game and galvanized around this charge to think about everything through a lens of responsibility and I and I felt that a great opportunity to make an impact with volunteer time would be through this community and the work of the COTE Leadership Group.”
Robin Puttock, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, an architect, educator, researcher, and mentor. She’s a senior lecturer and associated graduate faculty at the University of Maryland. She served as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Professor of Practice at The Catholic University of America, and before that was in practice for more than 15 years. She was faculty advisor to a team who was a 2021 ACSA / AIA COTE Top Ten for Students winner.
She says: “I have prioritized volunteering with COTE because of the experience I have had volunteering with the AIA’s Higher Education Advisory Team (HEAT) and the COTE Top Ten for Students working group. Volunteering for me is a great way to keep growing my network and my knowledge. One of my key priorities, given my current position in academia and my experience with the profession, is to help strengthen the relationship between the two with a focus on best practices for preparing students to succeed as leaders in climate action. I would like to find new ways to reach faculty across the country and support them in teaching the content required to achieve carbon neutral, equitable design.”
Daniel Stine, AIA. IES, CSI, CDT, WELL AP, is Director of Design Technology at Lake|Flato Architects, where he also leads the firm’s research program, Investigations. He recently served on the six-person team commissioned by the AIA to write the recently released AIA Climate Action Business Playbook. He’s an educator, a prolific author and frequent speaker at national and international events about modeling, AR, and much more; he was recently referenced in ArchDaily. He has been active with COTE’s Climate Action / Climate Justice effort.
He says: “I am excited to join the AIA COTE Leadership Group and look forward to opportunities to develop, share, recommend, and implement best practices, workflows, and policies that incorporate climate action at all levels of practice and add value to the profession. I believe I bring a unique perspective as the Director of Design Technology and leader of the internal research program at Lake|Flato. I’m eager to continue work I began as a volunteer with COTE’s Climate Action / Climate Justice subcommittee. I think my teaching and writing experience will also be an asset.”
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Separate but related: My Leadership Group term expired at the end of last year and I’m sticking around as Communications Leader for a while. (I just can’t quit the COTE Community!)