By Kira Gould, Allied AIA
Betsy del Monte, FAIA, LEED BD+C, brings to our Knowledge Community deep experience and commitment to the challenges of all types of clients and firms is a consultant (with the Cameron MacAllister Group) and an educator (adjunct professor in the Master's Degree in Sustainability and Development program at the Southern Methodist University Lyle School of Engineering). Her 30-plus year experience in architecture (she was Director of Sustainability and Principal in Architecture at the Beck Group) and research and teaching has made her a go-to expert on design strategies for sustainability and resilience.
Leading architecture firms, communities, universities, and other organizations have sought her expertise; she serves on numerous boards and groups both nationally and locally in the Dallas area where she is based, and her contributions to the AIA have been many, including recent leadership on the Resilience Education Working Group. She currently serves on the national AIA Strategic Council and is an appointed member of Equity in the Future of Architecture, a Board Committee.
Now she joins the AIA COTE® Advisory Group, as the Institute continues to step up its leadership on a design-driven response to climate change. She served as one of the AIA’s delegates the Global Climate Action Summit (in September), and in that capacity, she says, “I was able to see the worldwide actions being taken, and was able to speak to architects’ place in those actions.”
She brings a pragmatic, listening-based approach to the sustainable design agenda. “Living in Texas, I witness a different perspective on many of these issues than my colleagues in Boston and New York, Seattle and San Francisco...even in Chicago. The physical climate is different, and the social climate is different. I think it’s very important to understand this viewpoint and bring it to the national group.”
She is also very active in related industry groups and will bring strength to AIA COTE’s aim to strengthen connections with allied groups, such as the Urban Land Institute and the Institute of America. “I see great potential for sharing perspectives in both directions with groups that have similar but distinct missions and stakeholders, many of them our primary client groups,” Monte says.