By Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO

In April, I had two strategic opportunities to collaborate with our allied professional association leaders at the American Planning Association conference and at the D7 CEO Retreat during Design Week in Kansas City.

At the I co-presented Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ’s Climate Action Plan with Principal and Co-Founder TEN x TEN. I focused on talking about the goals we must achieve through the plan and Maura brought to life the Climate Action Field Guide. Maura showed the audience step-by-step how to use the field guide through the lens of her firm’s project , which was a partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society and the Dakota Community Council.

The audience was very engaged, and I later heard from Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ members that their planner friends were excited by what they heard and are looking for ways to collaborate more deeply. I also spent some time with Joel Albizo, FASAE, CAE, CEO of APA, and we discussed ways we can work on climate action together.

Continuing my travels in the Midwest, I joined a panel discussion at Kansas City Design Week with the six other CEO’s of allied professional associations:

• , FASAE, CAE, American Planning Association
• , Hon. FIIDA, International Interior Design Association
• , SEGD, , AIGA Design
• , FASAE, CAE, Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)
• , CAE, The American Institute of Architects (AIA)

D7 CEO Retreat in Kansas City / Paul Andrews Photography

The wide-ranging discussion was moderated by Anne Quito, and we covered everything from the ways design lives in each of our professions to diversity and inclusion, the impact and potential of AI, accessibility, the value of membership organizations and the ways we’re all working on climate. The audience was an even mix of local chapter members from each of our associations and the discussion and Q&A was very collaborative in nature.

Torey Carter-Conneen, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ CEO, at D7 CEO Retreat / Paul Andrews Photography

DLR Group sponsored the D7 and I reconnected with , a landscape architect serving as the Chief Climate Officer at DLR who I met at COP28. In Dubai, Premnath, Pamela Conrad, the team from Architecture 2030 and I met to discuss ways to unify climate and biodiversity messages across professions in order to amplify our collective voices. Through our fellowship with Pamela we’ll have more opportunities to collaborate ahead.

Kansas City Design Week has been going strong for 15 years–this was the first year they brought together all of the CEO’s from allied design professional groups and it was a great success–our discussion focused on identifying collaborative solutions for shared challenges. Big thanks to , Executive Director of .

I met with Tim Duggan, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ, Founding Partner, , and we toured the in downtown Kansas City.

I stopped by to visit the firm Confluence and their President and CEO , Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ, who is currently the Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ Vice President of Finance.

Torey Carter-Conneen, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ CEO, with Confluence

I also visited Populous, which has a deep history in bringing nature-based solutions to sporting venues across the world. And I love their tag line: drawing people together. I met with , Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ, Principal, and , Founder.

Torey Carter-Conneen, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ CEO, with Populous Founder, Chris Carver

Torey Carter-Conneen, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ CEO, with Populous

I have also recently spent time with chapters most notably in Kansas City. I met with , Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ, Principal at DLR Group and former Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ Board Trustee and , Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ, Principal at Land3 Studio and current Board Trustee and , Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ, Team Lead at Professional Engineering Consultants and Prairie Gateway Chapter president and Jackie Dietz, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ, Midwest Territory Manager at Forms + Surfaces and VP of Sponsorships and Education for the Prairie Gateway chapter.

Torey Carter-Conneen, Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ CEO, with Prairie Gateway Chapter

And earlier in April, I was happy to be back in Tennessee at the chapter conference after my last visit in 2021 for the Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ Conference in Landscape Architecture. I gave the keynote address and talked about our 125th anniversary and the future of the profession. Big thanks to , Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ, Tennessee chapter President-elect and , former Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ Board Trustee and Middle Tennessee Section Chair.

P.S.Ìý for Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ’s Conference on Landscape Architecture in Washington, D.C. on Saturday October 5 thru Wednesday, October 9. It’s our 125th Anniversary celebration–don’t miss it!