Notice to the AIA East Bay Membership Regarding Sidney Sweeney Leaving the Chapter

October 26, 2018
Message from the President of the Board, Mark B. Steppan, AIA, CSI, NCARB

The Board of Directors of the East Bay Chapter of the AIA would like to inform the membership that as of September 21, 2018, Sidney Sweeney resigned as our Executive Director. She has moved on to other opportunities at this time in her and her family’s life, and we all wish her the best for the future. She expressed that her time working with the membership of the AIA East Bay was extremely rewarding and fulfilling and she appreciated everyone during her 15-year tenure as our director.

During her time at AIA East Bay Sidney helped lead our chapter and its membership unfailingly towards creating and maintaining an independent and successful chapter for all of us to benefit from. We will all miss her involvement with us, and her solid and clear backing of our chapter. Our Communications & Event Coordinator Shanel Scholz, who has been with the chapter for the last few years, is currently also handling administrative duties to keep the chapter running smoothly without a lapse in programming or basic day-to-day requirements.

An executive director search committee has been formed and is currently initiating this critical search and interview/selection process. While this process is unfolding, the chapter office itself will remain temporarily closed but the doors will be opened for all scheduled activities. We want to reinforce for all the membership that the Chapter is remaining fully active and engaged with you as best we can during this transition time.

There are a number of upcoming events that will still be happening as planned:

• Design Awards – Tuesday, October 30
  Please join us to view and celebrate the many terrific projects that have been submitted this year.
• ADA Day – Friday, November 9
  If you need to fulfill your accessibility training credits, please be sure to sign up for the last ADA day of 2018.
• Member Appreciation Party & Annual Business Meeting –Thursday, December 13, location TBA

Should anyone have any questions, concerns, or simply ideas about how the chapter can improve moving forward please do not hesitate to send us an email at info@aiaeb.org. We look forward to a successful search and selection of our next Executive Director to lead us. As we conduct this search, we invite you to share your suggestions and thoughts on what’s most important to you. Your patience and support of this process and the transition of the chapter will be greatly appreciated by all of us involved in this effort.