I am very excited to present myself as a candidate for election to OAA Council in the Licensed Technologist seat.

I have had an unusual career trajectory.  I have a degree from U of T and after graduation worked in business management and the construction industry before making a mid-career transition to architecture.  I joined the RAIC Syllabus program and stayed for about seven years, but like the majority of Syllabus students did not graduate.  I worked for 10 years for a boutique architecture firm before leaving there in 2010 to begin my own firm, which continues to operate, now in partnership with my former intern, Ms. Hala Koshaji Architect, OAA.

I became a Licensed Technologist in 2015 through the Advanced Standing Program.

I have a deep interest in heritage architecture.  I am a member of the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals.  I was former chair of Oakville LACAC (later Heritage Oakville), vice-chair of the Mississauga Heritage Advisory Committee and have been qualified to give expert testimony in heritage architecture and urban design at the OLT.

I was President of the Board of Oakville Galleries for several years.  It was an interesting experience that gave exposure to Board governance and corporate issues affecting non-profits. 

I was involved with the OAA in a number of capacities before the voiding of our licences.  I wrote for the magazine Perspectives and was on the Practice Committee.  I was a member of the OAAAS Board and President of the Board for several years.  When the decision was taken to dissolve OAAAS and to fold it into the OAA I was a member of the Integration Committee and of the Working Group that was formed to look at issues of Scope of Practice and other issues of interest to technologists.

After the voiding of our licences I was active in the efforts to bring technologist issues to the forefront and to promote the return of our licences.  I met with MPP's to campaign on our behalf and made our technologist presentation to the Standing Committee on Justice Reform.  I coordinated the work of the governmental relations consultant that our group hired to represent us.  

I was honoured to meet many technologists during that time that our licences were voided and I came to realize even more than I knew previously that we are a diverse group of highly-skilled individuals who play a critical role in the architectural profession and in the creation of the built environment.  

The loss of our licences hit us very hard, both individually and as a group.  Now that this chapter is behind us I believe that we need to view this as an opportunity to use the community that we have built to work to strengthen recognition and collaboration between architects and technologists, to promote fair and reasonable reforms in the way that we are regulated and to ensure that architects and technologists take prominent roles together in issues of housing affordability and other critical social issues where our education and experience can be a benefit to the public.

We need a strong, experienced voice at the OAA Council table and I would like to be that person.  I ask for your support and your vote.

Questions and Answers