Provide a brief summary of your practice experience.
I am a founding partner of KIRKOR Architects and Planners, an architect, and a registered professional planner. Over more than 40 years in practice, I have helped grow the firm from a two-person studio into an organization of nearly 100 professionals while supporting a successful transition through successive generations of leadership.
My career has focused on residential, mixed-use, and community development projects, guiding them from early planning and design through approvals and construction. I have worked extensively on issues of smart growth, urban intensification, transit-oriented development, and the relationship between buildings and the communities they serve.
Throughout my career, I have led multidisciplinary teams and collaborated with clients, consultants, municipalities, public agencies, and community stakeholders to advance complex projects from concept to completion. This experience has required balancing competing interests, navigating regulatory frameworks, building consensus, and making decisions that serve both project objectives and the broader public interest.
As both an architect and a planner, I bring a perspective that bridges design, policy, governance, and long-term community building. I have seen firsthand how regulatory decisions influence the quality of our built environment, the viability of development, and public confidence in the profession.
As a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, I remain committed to advancing the profession through leadership, mentorship, and responsible stewardship. I believe my experience as a practitioner, business leader, and city-builder would enable me to contribute a thoughtful, balanced, and practical perspective to Council's discussions and decisions.
Provide a brief summary of your previous governance experience (boards, councils, committees, advisory groups, etc.).
I currently serve on the board of directors of the ZIGG condominium at 223 St. Clair Avenue West. This role provides direct governance experience through collective decision-making on matters affecting a shared property and its residents. Working with fellow directors requires balancing different perspectives, stewarding financial resources, managing risk, and making responsible decisions in the condominium community’s long-term interests.
As an architect, this experience has deepened my understanding of how buildings perform after occupancy and how residents experience them over time. Board service has provided practical insight into building operations, capital planning, reserve fund management, maintenance priorities, and resident expectations. It reinforces the importance of designing buildings that are not only functional and attractive at completion, but also durable, maintainable, and responsive to the communities they serve.
As a founding partner of KIRKOR Architects and Planners, I have also spent decades leading a practice within a highly regulated profession. This has required a strong understanding of the legislative, regulatory, ethical, and professional requirements governing architectural practice, as well as the municipal and provincial approval processes shaping the built environment. I have worked with municipalities, public agencies, approval authorities, and multidisciplinary teams to navigate complex projects while maintaining compliance, accountability, and professional responsibility.
Together, these experiences have strengthened my understanding of governance, stewardship, risk management, and regulatory accountability. I would bring this practical perspective to Council while respecting its fiduciary responsibilities and mandate to regulate the profession in the public interest.
Why are you interested in serving on Council at this time?
After more than four decades in architecture and urban planning, I am at a point in my career where I want to give back to the profession in a more direct and sustained way. I was raised to be service-oriented and to contribute my time and experience where they can benefit others. With a succession plan established at KIRKOR and the next generation of partners assuming greater responsibility for project delivery, I now have the capacity to dedicate meaningful time and attention to the OAA and the responsibilities of Council.
My career has given me a broad perspective on how architects serve clients, collaborate across disciplines, navigate regulatory and public approval processes, manage professional responsibilities, and contribute to the communities they help shape. I would welcome the opportunity to bring that experience to Council while learning from colleagues whose practices, backgrounds, and perspectives differ from my own.
I recognize that Council service requires more than professional experience. It calls for preparation, independent judgment, respectful dialogue, and a clear understanding of the OAA’s regulatory purpose. Council’s role is not to advance an individual practice, firm, or electoral constituency. It is to govern the Association responsibly, uphold the standards of the profession, and protect the public interest.
This is the right time for me to serve because I can offer both the perspective of a long-serving practitioner and the time required to contribute fully. I would approach the role with curiosity, humility, and a service-oriented commitment to thoughtful, evidence-based decision-making.
What do you believe are the key challenges or priorities for Council over the next one to three years?
Over the next one to three years, I believe Council must continue strengthening public trust by demonstrating the value of competent, ethical, and accountable architectural practice. That trust is earned through rigorous professional standards, effective regulation, and clear communication about how architects’ responsibilities protect the public and contribute to safe, healthy, accessible, and enduring communities.
Council must also ensure that regulation and professional competency keep pace with a rapidly changing practice environment. Artificial intelligence, evolving project-delivery models, modern construction methods, and growing expectations for climate resilience offer significant opportunities, but also raise questions about accountability, confidentiality, authorship, risk, and professional judgment. The OAA should provide clear guidance and education while affirming that architects remain responsible for work performed under their authority.
Federal initiatives such as Build Canada Homes create an important opportunity for architects to contribute to the delivery of affordable housing at scale. As governments advance public lands, modular construction, prefabrication, and faster delivery, architects can help ensure that urgency and standardization do not come at the expense of design quality, accessibility, durability, community context, or long-term value.
Council’s challenge is to connect these priorities: modernize regulation without weakening public protection, maintain professional competency, anticipate emerging risks, and contribute constructively to housing and built-environment policy. I would bring decades of architectural, planning, practice-leadership, and city-building experience, together with a willingness to listen, learn, and make thoughtful decisions in the public interest.
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