Co-Chair
Carlos Augusto Garcia, AIA, NCARB, WELL AP

Carlos Augusto Garcia is an architect, designer, and artist with 15 years of industry expertise. Specializing in design research, sustainability, wellness, and carbon reduction, his global outlook manifests through work with UIA World Congress of Architects, New Buildings Institute, National Endowment for the Arts, and LA Planning’s Urban Design Studio. Carlos serves on AIA COTE and ASHRAE committees, influencing climate action and greenhouse gas standards. This passion was ignited by his start in emergency management and disaster recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans, where he completed B.Arch and M.Arch degrees from Tulane University. He is committed to pursuing dignity in practice, promoting equity in both membership and leadership.

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Co-Chair
John Arnold, AIA

John Arnold, AIA, is a Partner at KFA Architecture in Culver City. He has been with the firm since 1999, with a focus on multi-family housing, including mixed-use, affordable, and adaptive reuse projects. Much of John’s recent work has been in affordable housing assisting developers with the complex challenges of funding, cost, and public oversight while providing design that stays true to KFA’s mission to provide “great places where people flourish.” Since becoming a Partner at KFA in 2016, John and his two partners have worked to expand the firm’s robust culture and dedication to staff professional growth and diversity.

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Past Chair
Chava Danielson, AIA

Chava Danielson, AIA, is Principal of DSH // architecture with specialties in design, project advocacy, and serving non-profit organizations. She focuses on imparting beauty and sensitive programming to recharge underserved neighborhoods through educational, therapeutic and residential projects for non-profits committed to the community.

Within a portfolio of award-winning projects, Danielson leads DSH’s civic and child-centered work, including early education centers in which alternatives to conventional practices are employed to spark curiosity and wonder in the minds of young children.

Danielson is on the Faculty of Otis College of Art + Design where she teaches design studio and courses in urban history and theory. She has served as chair of the Political Outreach Committee, and is currently a Vice-Chair of the Government Outreach Committee of the AIA Los Angeles; as Director for the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design and as a founding Director of Larchmont Charter School. She holds an M.Arch. from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Past Chair
Rick Corsini, AIA

Rick Corsini, AIA was born in Los Angeles and received his Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University and his Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly Pomona. In addition to over 25 years of professional practice, Rick has held faculty appointments at schools of architecture including Cal Poly Pomona, Woodbury University, and the University of Southern California.

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