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Vote! USGBC 2007 Board Candidate Michael Alin Is a Voice For The Designer

USGBC's new Board election process expands the voice of its membership; and one candidate expands the concerns of the designer

Penny Bonda -- Interior Design, 9/23/2006 2:14:00 PM

This year, the U.S. Green Building Council Board election has broadened its voter rolls to include every contact affiliated with a USGBC Member company or organization. It is still one vote per company, but now individual votes count as a percentage of the member company's total. This development should put the USGBC Board Elections on the radar of every interior designer in the member organizations. This is even more important when considering the one open seat alotted to Professional Societies & Trade Associations. Our own ASID executive director, Michael Alin, a strong advocate for designers, is running as one of six candidates and he needs your vote.

If your firm is a USGBC member, then get your member number and cast your vote. Michael Alin is the only candidate among the six who is representing a professional constituency, and it happens to be ours. Alin is a candidate who has been guarding and promoting the best interests of the design professions during his 15-year association with ASID. His agenda has been focused on the elevation, escalation, and protection of our industry. He would do the same as Board member for the USGBC, an organization that needs his breadth of experience, and his brand of leadership.

The USGBC is a hybrid council, with members representing all facets of the building industry. As executive director of the oldest and largest professional association of interior designers, he has skillfully directed multi-interest groups into a cohesive organization, and overseen its growth from 20,000 to 38,000 members, while managing a $10 million budget and a staff of 40 people.

Alin is also directly responsible for the growth of the ASID Foundation, a separate tax-exempt entity that is dedicated to issues impacting design and society. The Foundation, with assets that have increased from modest amounts to almost three million dollars under Alin’s watch, has set sustainability as its primary program focus.

Am I cheerleading for Michael Alin? You bet I am, and here’s one reason why. Five years ago ASID created the Sustainable Design Council to assist its members integrate green design into their practices and products. As chair of the group I was astounded (and delighted) to learn that Michael had assigned himself—an extremely busy executive director of a 38,000 member organization—as the SDC’s staff liaison.

When I asked him why, he told me that environmentally responsible design is a body of knowledge and professional skill that is emerging as essential to the practice of interior design, and he needed to learn more about it. He figured the best way to do that was to hang out with ASID’s greenest members. That’s the kind of leadership that USGBC needs. The designer / specifier community can have a consensus building voice in the world’s predominant green building organization. It's up to us!

Cast your vote for Michael and urge others to do the same. The voting deadline is September 30, 2006.