AzF6 - Chairman's Award

Paul Winslow:

Besides your day job, you seem to have gotten yourself involved in a wide range of civic and professional organizations and activities. What is it that draws you to those and what are most excited about?

Patrick Panetta:

I think the genesis of some of it was working with the federal government and it started to get my interest in how the federal government worked and how politics work. When I moved to DC to work for the Smithsonian, it was inspiring being in essentially the seat of power of the world. You know, the President would drive by every once in a while and George Bush waved to me on occasion - me and everyone else on the corner. I'm somewhat of a political junkie and I had a passing fancy of running for elected office at some point and bringing an architect's perspective.

Paul Winslow:

You're not finished yet.

Patrick Panetta:

I guess I am still relatively young. When I moved back to Arizona I thought, "All right, let me see if I can get more involved with community." That's partly building on that foundation of political desire, but also because I hadn't been involved prior.

I asked if I could get appointed to the Village Planning Committee because there was an opening and then Councilman, now Mayor, Greg Stanton appointed me to that committee. That's how I first got involved.

A couple years later I met Tina Litteral at an event and she said, "You've got to join AIA." I said, "You're right, it's my professional organization and I should support it."

I started off low-key for a couple of years until they needed someone to run a charrette and I agreed to volunteer. That led to being a section leader, then a Chapter President and a State President, and now I sit on the Western Mountain Region Council and the National Strategic Council.

Because of my alternative career path, I see myself as a facilitator. I want to put myself in positions to let architects who do good work in the position to do that, remove hurdles to help further good planning and design. I sat in meetings with the city, championing projects that I wasn't designing. Projects that I thought were beneficial to the university and to the community. Because I don't practice traditionally and I don't have projects of my own per se, I see being involved in a professional and civically as a way that I can give back and do some good for the profession and for the city.

Paul Winslow:

You've also served on many city boards and commissions.

Patrick Panetta:

My first committee was the Village Planning Committee for Ahwatukee Foothills because that's where I lived and I wanted to sort of get some roots and involvement in my neighborhood. I am currently the chairman of the City of Phoenix Development Advisory Board. Now I also represent the University on the Central City Village Planning Committee, which has been very interesting. I also served on a couple of Valley Metro Citizen Advisory Committees when they were planning the west side alignment for the light rail.

Now that I sit on the Strategic Council for AIA National. We're supposed to be generating ideas that come from the grassroots of the chapters and the memberships, bringing them to national and say, "This is what matters and this is what we should be doing."

Paul Winslow:

I understand that you were recently at an advocacy conference. I'm curious what you learned from that conference, what you bring back to the table and back to the community?

Patrick Panetta:

This was the first of its kind. AIA has had a national Grassroots Conference for a number of years that elected leaders of components would go to DC and take leadership seminars and also participate in lobbying our elected leaders on Capitol Hill. We used to march on the hill with our hard hats and our blueprints and lay out our legislative agenda. This year they decided to separate the leadership component and hold that in February and then in July concentrate on advocacy.

It was interesting because those at this conference were really interested in advocacy. This audience was focused on, “How do we further issues that are important to the architectural profession? How do we get elected leaders and policymakers to support things that are important to us?� So it was training specifically targeted for people who are putting together campaigns of advocacy.

I was there as an observer because I sit on a national advocacy committee for the board. I saw a lot of young, emerging professionals with a lot of energy and interest and really championing the profession. It was good to see that.

Paul Winslow:

What's happening at the Western Mountain Region and AIA nationally that you think others might be interested in?

Patrick Panetta:

There are a couple initiatives that are rising to the top: getting architecture into schools and getting architecture in front of students who wouldn't otherwise even think of it as a possibility for them.

There's a real push at the national level to make the architecture profession more accessible to school-age children. Then when they get to high school they can ask their guidance counselor, "Where should I go to school to become an architect?"

Because right now a lot of them aren't even seeing that as an option.

We're really trying to foster the next generation of architects and that ties into the support that associates and newly licensed architects are getting from national as well. We understand that we have a bit of an aging profession and we need to support the next generation of architects to come in and lead it.

Paul Winslow:

It seems like that's something that needs to happen at the local level. It’s interesting that national is picking that up.

Patrick Panetta:

The idea is that they will put together a toolkit and talking points to get the

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profession in front of K-12 students. We did a survey and there are 165 programs throughout the nation that are trying to do this on their own. We have one here, Arizona Kids Build. There are programs like that all over and this is a way to try to coalesce a message to try to standardize how we can most effectively get the profession in front of K-12 kids.

Paul Winslow:

How do you express to young professionals that they should be involved in the professional organization?

Patrick Panetta:

I think the best way for me to do it is really just by example. You know, lead the chapter, lead the state, and be there. You know, they say 90% of life is showing up, so showing up at the right things and supporting the right causes, and demonstrating that being part of an organization helps you leverage a lot of voices and have a more effective voice than if you were just trying to do things on your own.

I think trying to get the idea into people's heads that together we are a much stronger organization. Being an active member of the organization helps for the profession and a rising tide lifts all boats. If you work with your colleagues for the profession to further good design and development for our communities, which is what we're all about, then that ultimately leads to good things for individuals and firms. People often ask, "What's in it for me?" Well, if you do this, you're doing things that support your profession.

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