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Tami Chen is vice president/president-elect of NOMA PDX and serves as national sponsorship chair for the National Organization of Minority Architects. She received the NOMA 鈥淢ember of the Year鈥� award in 2024. At NBBJ, where she is a project architect, she works as a Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion ambassador, facilitating activities and ensuring transparent communication firmwide.

In 2023, Chen chaired the NOMA national conference planning committee in Portland, drawing over 1,500 architects of color. She led design work on the Montage Health Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health in Monterey, California, a pediatric behavioral health facility applying neuroscience research to create healing environments for patients, families and caregivers.

From 2019 to 2024, Chen served on the Portland Backpack board, including terms as vice president and president of the nonprofit that addresses food insecurity for public school students. She continues to volunteer with the organization.

Chen鈥檚 leadership philosophy centers on collaborative team dynamics, believing stronger results emerge when teams work collectively toward common goals and transform organizational potential into reality.

Since Brad Cloepfil founded Allied Works Architecture in 1994, his creative leadership and body of work have been informed by the Oregon landscapes that surrounded him while growing up, a deep sense of place, and a love of craft, making and tectonics.

His architecture pairs an intense focus on the specific character of each project with an understanding of the transformative possibilities of space, light, form and material. His first major project was an adaptive reuse of a Portland warehouse for iconic advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy.

Cloepfil went on to design such key projects as the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University; the U.S. Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique; Eleven Madison Park in New York; the National Music Centre of Canada in Calgary, Alberta; and the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado.

Allied Works has received numerous design awards, and Cloepfil is a National Academy of Design Academician and a 2018 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award winner. He has lectured and taught widely throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

Ericka Colvin likens architecture to a team sport in that it requires coordination, trust and a shared goal. She enjoys the rhythm of a team effort and the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues, clients and communities to bring visionary ideas to life.

Over the past two decades, Colvin has worked to ensure sustainable and equitable design in higher education and civic projects so that they don鈥檛 just meet performance metrics but also help shape the lives of the people who use them and reflect their values.

鈥淚 am passionate about using design to improve people鈥檚 lives and I love to see the power of design demonstrated in the outcomes of our work,鈥� she said.

Whether reusing a structure, reducing embodied carbon or advocating for healthier materials, Colvin sees every design project as an opportunity to contribute to a better climate future. She also guides operational carbon reduction efforts across Integrus鈥� offices and is integral to the firm鈥檚 participation in the Just label program, offering transparency of internal corporate social justice and equity practices.

Milena Di Tomaso, principal and project architect at ZGF Architects, has spent 28 years shaping the architectural landscape through complex, high-stakes projects. She managed design and construction plans for more than a million square feet of laboratory space for UC Davis and Wexford Aggie Square in Sacramento. The project was delivered on time and within budget via virtual coordination with teams across Portland, Los Angeles, Seattle and New York during the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, she oversaw three additional construction-phase projects: PAE Living Building in Portland, Sobrato Campus at Santa Clara University and the U.S. Embassy in Paraguay.

Throughout her career, Di Tomaso has mentored emerging architects and designers, particularly focusing on women and immigrants entering the profession.

She served on the board of p:ear, a nonprofit mentoring homeless youth, from 2007 to 2010. Di Tomaso is a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects and supports ZGF emerging professionals through high school career days. She has participated in the University of Oregon Architecture program, leading student critiques in a professional practice class.

Stuart Emmons is principal of Emmons Design, founded in 1997, and has 35 years of experience in architecture. He has established a national reputation for housing innovation and modular housing solutions, with particular focus on designing housing for homeless populations. His work has addressed critical housing challenges through innovative approaches to modular construction.

Throughout his career, Emmons has contributed to major civic projects, including some for Portland schools. He has been active in historic preservation, working to save significant structures including Veterans Memorial Coliseum. His practice emphasizes community outreach and engagement in architectural solutions.

Emmons serves on the boards of the Modular Building Institute and Clatsop Community Action. He is co-director of Friends of Memorial Coliseum. A member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, he continues to advance modular housing approaches and community-focused design. His professional philosophy centers on persistence, creating meaningful impact, and serving communities in need.

Tonie Esteban has devoted her career to improving public schools and, over the last two decades, she has worked on several different types of education projects.聽

鈥淚t feels good to know that my work will continue to support future generations, especially those who are leveraging their education to advance their opportunities.聽Every completed K-12 project is very fulfilling,鈥� she said.

Esteban鈥檚 work extends to university career fairs, portfolio reviews, job shadowing and career days at middle schools and high schools. She also leads BRIC鈥檚 Project Management Collaboration Forum, a mentorship space for project managers to meet, share insight into their projects, and receive advice and potential solutions from their peers.

鈥淚 learned very quickly that a complex project requires teamwork.聽You can鈥檛 do it all!聽I try to create a 鈥榯eam鈥� environment, with a good mix of working, planning, learning, laughter and support,鈥� she said.

Among other professional affiliations, Esteban is a board member of the Oregon Board of Architect Examiners and a National Council of Architectural Registration Boards volunteer and committee member.