Building the Connections Small Firms Deserve
Dear SFx Community,
July and August have reminded me why the Small Firm Exchange exists-and why this moment matters.
Much of our work this year has centered on a simple idea: small firms should not merely receive information from AIA; the realities of small-firm practice should help inform the Institute itself.
That is particularly important right now as AIA considers the next evolution of its governance. SFx has chosen to participate constructively in that conversation. We support modernization. We support competency-based leadership. And we believe competency and representation are complementary-not competing-ideas. Our governance position calls for an Institute that is more agile, accountable, and transparent while maintaining dependable connections between national leadership and the architects practicing every day in communities across the country.
Modernizing SFx While AIA Modernizes Governance
At the same time AIA is examining its governance structure, we have been looking inward.
Our SFx Charter is undergoing a significant modernization effort with the assistance of our official liaison to the AIA Board, Jeff Seabold, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP, At-Large Director on the AIA National Board of Directors. Jeff's engagement has helped us navigate the relationship between our internal governance work and the larger Institute conversation.
The value of that direct connection has already become evident. Our Charter moved from having never received formal Institute review to being actively reviewed within months, while SFx gained a clearer pathway for bringing small-firm concerns to national leadership.
That experience reinforces something important: institutions cannot depend solely on who happens to know whom. Good governance creates relationships that survive leadership transitions.
Our goal is therefore bigger than protecting a particular structure. As our governance position says:
"Our objective is not to defend the past. It is to help design a stronger future for the Institute and the profession."
SFx Makes Its Leadership Exchange Debut
August also brought an important milestone: SFx participated for the first time in AIA's national Leadership Exchange calls.
And we did not enter that room through a single voice.
SFx was represented across the Leadership Exchange calls by members of our Executive Committee: Chair Darguin Fortuna, AIA, Chair-Elect Joshua Zinder, AIA, Sustainability & Resiliency Chair Marisol Gallagher, AIA, and Outreach Chair Will Teass, AIA. The official Leadership Exchange materials identify each of these SFx leaders as presenters across the calls.
That matters.
Leadership Exchange exists specifically to increase transparency, create a feedback loop to the AIA Board, and strengthen communication among leaders across the Institute. For SFx to now have a place within that exchange alongside the Strategic Council, College of Fellows, YAF, NAC, and other national leadership bodies is a meaningful step toward the connectivity we have been advocating for.
We used that opportunity to explain not only who SFx is, but why our network matters: small firms represent approximately 74% of architecture businesses nationwide, and our 53 State Representatives connect practitioners across every state, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and internationally.
This is progress.
Congratulations to Our Newly Elected Strategic Council Leaders
August also brought elections within the AIA Strategic Council, and I want to congratulate the leaders selected to serve:
Jessica O'Donnell, FAIA, NCARB - 2027–2029 At-Large Director to the AIA Board
Darguin Fortuna, AIA, NCARB, NOMA - 2027–2029 At-Large Representative to the Strategic Council
Jeff Jeno, AIA - 2027–2029 At-Large Representative to the Strategic Council
Jamie Crawley, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB - 2027 Moderator-Elect
Matt Barnett, AIA - 2027 Moderator
And yes-I am incredibly grateful to say that one of those names is mine.
Being elected to the Strategic Council is personally meaningful, but I also recognize the opportunity it creates to continue building bridges across AIA. The Council itself is actively asking how components and member groups can provide insights that inform its work. That is exactly the kind of two-way relationship SFx has been advocating.
I look forward to serving the entire profession on the Strategic Council while bringing with me everything I have learned from this extraordinary SFx network.
From Practice Models to Building Visibility
Our State Representative network continues to be one of the engines behind everything we are doing.
In July, our monthly call explored the remarkable diversity of small-firm practice-from sole practitioners and architect-led design-build firms to networked teams, sustainability practices, multidisciplinary partnerships, and architects practicing nationally through increasingly mobile models.
Then in August, Finn MacLeod of Camron joined us for Pursuing vs. Attracting Work: The Value of Branding, Presence, and Strategic Visibility. The conversation challenged small firms to think intentionally about their message, visibility, digital presence, media, awards, storytelling, and even how AI-driven discovery may change the ways clients find architects.
These conversations represent exactly what SFx should be: practitioners teaching practitioners, sharing what works, and making the collective intelligence of our network accessible across the country.
Recognition for Small Firms
We have also begun what I believe could become one of the most consequential initiatives of our year.
SFx recently participated in a meaningful working session with the new National Honors and Awards Committee focused on developing the framework for a potential Small Firm Award.
This is something SFx has advocated for, and I am grateful that we are now helping shape the conversation.
There is still work ahead, but our hope is ambitious: to develop a pathway that could potentially allow applications in 2027 toward recognition during the 2028 awards cycle.
Recognition matters. Small firms produce extraordinary architecture, often with limited resources and while maintaining incredibly close relationships with the communities they serve. Creating meaningful national recognition is not about lowering the bar for small firms. It is about ensuring that excellence is visible across the many different environments in which architecture is practiced.
And we don't have to wait for a future award to begin celebrating that work.
If your small firm has won a local, national, or international design award, we want to feature your work through SFx social media.
Submit your award-winning project to SFx
Telling the Stories Behind Small-Firm Practice
Our SFx Deep Dive Interview Series is also continuing to grow.
We want to hear the stories behind small firms: how they started, mistakes they made, decisions that changed their businesses, unconventional practice models, difficult moments, breakthroughs, and the lessons that other architects can take from those experiences.
Our Leadership Exchange presentation put the goal simply: "Let's amplify the voices and stories of small firm practitioners."
If you have a story worth sharing, we want to hear it.
Apply to join the SFx Deep Dive Interview Series
And There Is More Coming
We have also been having exciting conversations with America ByDesign, AIA's official television series, and we look forward to welcoming their team to an upcoming SFx Board/Executive Committee conversation.
There are possibilities here that extend beyond any single program. How do we tell the stories of small firms better? How do we showcase exceptional architecture happening outside the firms that traditionally receive national attention? How do we connect practitioners to one another? And how do we make SFx an increasingly effective bridge between practice and the Institute?
Those questions are driving much of our work.
July and August have demonstrated what happens when SFx moves simultaneously on practice, recognition, communication, leadership, and governance.
We are not interested in simply occupying a seat at the table.
We want to strengthen the table, widen the conversation, and make sure the knowledge flowing through our nationwide network contributes to a stronger AIA and a stronger profession.
Thank you to our Board, Executive Committee, State Representatives, AIA staff, our liaisons, and especially every small-firm practitioner who continues to participate, challenge us, share ideas, and show us where SFx should go next.
We have accomplished a great deal.
And we are not done.
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Darguin Fortuna, AIA, NCARB, NOMA
2026 Chair
AIA Small Firm Exchange (SFx)
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