2023-2025 Board Candidates - AIA

Below find our list of nominated candidates for the AIA East Bay Board of Directors. Board Directors serve a two year term. This year we have three (3) open seats.

Nominees are listed in alphabetical order, by first name. Election results will be posted on Dec 15th and announced at the Membership Appreciation Party.

NOTE: Only one ballot submission from each AIA East Bay member in good standing is allowed. Ballots were sent to members via email on November 15th, 2022. If you did not receive one and think this was in error, please contact us at [email protected].

Mark Steppan, AIA, CSI, NCARB

Director of Architecture, Studio T Square

My continuing participation on the Board as a Director and Treasurer is important for experienced continuity and understanding of the larger picture of what the Chapter is about and how to continue to improve and advance our representation of our membership. I intend to continue bringing experienced and grounded thinking to the tremendous energy and great ideas prevalent with the recent Boards and hopefully the new Board and its’ newest members. Based on my knowledge of the Board and the Chapter, I bring a critical and needed component to the Board as an open-minded sounding board for everyone with a dose of real-world reality, and I look forward to continuing to serve all of us.

I am a current board member, fulfilling the Treasurer position, and am a two-time (consecutively) Past President of the Board. I was also the Chair and later co-Chair of the Professional Practice Forum for over seven years. My tenure on the Board is approximately eight-plus years in different capacities. I have represented the chapter at 2 AIA Conventions/Conferences and was instrumental in saving our chapter when we lost our long-time Executive Director, and there were other tax and non-profit certification status issues that had been unknown to the Board.

Sanjana Parekh, Associate AIA

Architectural Designer, Dahlin Group Architecture Planning

Sanjana has been an active member of the AIA East Bay since she relocated from India to the Bay Area in 2021. Having gained her 5-year Bachelor of Architecture degree in Mumbai, India where she is a licensed architect, she is now a designer at DAHLIN, a diverse architecture and planning firm in the East Bay. She has rapidly endorsed the culture of the architecture community and has been an enthusiastic volunteer in support of our AIA chapter. Sanjana was instrumental in the planning and realization of the AIA East Bay Design Awards 2022. She brings a wonderful spirit of receptivity, creativity, curious intellect, and a voice of the youth – which are great qualities and attributes for an AIA Board member.

Todd Jersey, AIA

Principal, Todd Jersey Architecture

Todd has been a leading and integral contributing member of the East Bay architecture community for over 30 years. His over 300 projects range from multi-family to ADUs, institutional to commercial. In addition to advancing the uptake of sustainable architecture through development of building systems and approaches that are affordable and beautiful through his own firm, his community impact projects include work as the lead architect for the historic Richmond Plunge, designing a tiny home prototype, pro bono work for the City of Berkeley including the Berkeley Pier restoration, and much more. In his spare time, he also beautifies the community through volunteer landscape design work.

Todd has represented the AIA through his work as a leading sustainable architect and contributing member to the community. He looks forward to serving AIA in a more formal capacity should he be elected to the board.