2023 Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Pascale Sablan – President

Pascale Sablan, FAIA, NOMA, LEED AP, Associate Principal at Adjaye Associates, with over 15 years of experience, has been on the team for numerous projects around the world. Pascale is the 315th living African-American woman registered architect in the United States. She is an activist architect who works to advance architecture for the betterment of society by bringing visibility and voice to the issues concerning women and BIPOC designers. She founded the Beyond the Built Environment organization to address the inequitable disparities in architecture.

She has been quoted in the New York Times regarding her efforts, and Forbes magazine described her as “the powerhouse woman…actively changing history with a simple mission: women and designers of color must claim and be credited for their contributions to the built environment.” More recently she was featured on Oprah’s Future Rising platform for Black trailblazers moving our world forward in the Audacious category.

Pascale serves as the Global President of the National Organization of Minority Architects, the 5th woman to hold this position in the organization’s 52-year legacy. She was awarded the Architectural League 2021 Emerging Voices award and the 2021 AIA Whitney M. Young. Jr Award for her advocacy efforts and ascended to the AIA College of Fellows, the youngest African American in the nation to reach that honor in the organization’s 167-year legacy. Pascale has given lectures at Colleges and Universities nationally and; cultural institutions such as the United Nations and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

Tiffany Brown – Executive Director

Tiffany Brown, MBA, NOMA, Assoc. AIA, is the Executive Director of the National Organization of Minority Architects. Brown is a co-founder of the Urban Arts Collective, a nonprofit focused on increasing underrepresented groups in careers in science, technology, engineering, art and architecture, and mathematics. Brown is a passionate leader within NOMA and the architecture industry, recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) with 2020 Associates Awards for outstanding leadership and creative thinking in her communities and the architecture profession. She was awarded the AIA Detroit and Michigan honors in 2019. Brown held national NOMA board leadership positions and is also a founding member of NOMA Detroit. Brown created 400 FORWARD, which aims to seek the next 400 women architects with an underlying focus on African American girls through access to education on design through provided programming and scholarships. Her work with the organization was recently featured in a new documentary in partnership with Target, “Design for All.” Previously, she worked at SmithGroup and Hamilton Anderson Associates in Detroit. Brown earned her B.Arch, M.Arch and MBA from Lawrence Technological University.

Bryan Lee, Jr. – President Elect, Vice President – South Region

Bryan is an architect and leading design justice advocate. As the founder and director of Colloqate Design, a nonprofit design practice, Bryan is committed to using design as a tool for social change. Bryan is also a founding organizer of the Design As Protest Collective and Dark Matter University, which work to uplift the voices and perspectives of marginalized communities in the built environment.

Bryan has led two award-winning architecture and design programs for high school students, one through the Arts Council of New Orleans and the other through the National Organization of Minority Architects. Bryan is the National NOMA President-Elect and the South Region Vice President. Bryan has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the 2018 Fast Company Most Creative People in Business, the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices award in 2019, the 2021 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, and a 2023 United States Artist Fellow.

• Gary J. Nelson, Vice President, West Region

  NOMA, AIA, NCARB

• Saundra Little, Vice President, Midwest Region

  NOMA, AIA, LEED AP

• Edward Anthony Ransom, Vice President, Northeast Region

  NOMA, AIA, LEED AP, CCM, BOC Lvl. 1

• Julian Owens, Parliamentarian

  NOMA

• Mntambo Fisher, Treasurer

  NOMA, Assoc. AIA, LEED GA

• Julia Weatherspoon, Recording Secretary

  NOMA

• Jason Pugh, Immediate Past President

  NOMA, AIA, AICP, LEED AP

Directors

• Jamilla Afandi, University Liaison, West Region

  NOMA

• Andreea Vasile Hoxha, University Liaison, Midwest Region

  NOMA, Associate AIA

• Atianna Cordova, University Liaison, South Region

  NOMA

• Melanie Ray, University Liaison, Northeast Region

  NOMA, AIA, LEED Green Associate

• Catherine Chattergoon, Student Representative

  NOMAS, Pratt Institute

• Chloe Smith, Student Representative

  NOMAS, The University of Kentucky

• Andrea Simpson, Director of Young Professional Development

  NOMA, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP

• Bernard Suber, Membership Co-Chair

  NOMA, AIA, LEED AP