SARA NY COUNCIL COMMITTEES
The 2026 SARA NY Council Committees will be working to bring you amazing programming and events this year. If you are a SARA NY Member and would like to get involved in a specific committee, please reach out to webmaster@sarany.org to be connected to the selected committee chair.
Membership Engagement Co-Chairs: Jeremiah Reilly & Jordan Rogove - Members: Valerie Costa - Taylor Spruill - Melita Cekani
The SARA NY Membership Engagement committee is dedicated to expanding SARA NY membership recruitment, engagement, and retention strategies. Develops and implements new strategies to enhance the diversity of age, background and membership base of SARA New York. Membership engagement committee members work to promote connection and relationship-building among members within SARA and across the organization. Membership Engagement Committee members are expected to attend SARA Socials, answer questions about the organization for prospective members and provide connections/introductions to other members and resources within the organization.
ACNY / Government Affairs Chair: Robert Strong - Members: Jeremiah Reilly - Allysa Taylor
The SARA NY ACNY/ Government Affairs committee is dedicated to keeping up to date with current code, zoning and governmental affairs that effect the practice of architecture in New York. Committee members are expected to attend regular ACNY, governmental and private sector meetings. Committee members will then provide brief written summaries of understandings and report to the SARA NY Board of Directors. Upcoming procedural and technical changes will be disseminated to SARA NY members. *ACNY Meetings are typically held on the first Monday of every month.
Emerging SARAS NY Co-Chairs: Shreejit Modak & Gates Breeden - Members: Allysa Taylor - Valerie Costa - Sean Pickering
The Emerging SARA NY Committee engages a diverse young professional community with programming aimed towards career development of future registered architects. Committee members are expected to develop and manage programs for young professionals in conjunction with the SARA National student organization. All programs created are aimed towards licensure, design excellence and community outreach. *The Committee will release a schedule of anticipated student and young professional programs quarterly.
Sponsorship Co-Chairs: Taylor Spruill & Melita Cekani - Members: Jordan Rogove - Sean Pickering - Jeremiah Reilly - Lia Dikiogoropoulou - Tzara Peterson
The Sponsorship committee connects industry products, design solutions and manufacturing knowledge to the SARA NY community through sponsorship. In addition to targeted outreach for SARA NY sponsorship committee members are expected to develop and manage a calendar of tasks. The committee is also responsible for setting and achieving annual Sponsorship targets serving the SARA NY Design Awards.
Scholarship Co-Chairs: Lia Dikigoropoulou & Anne Chen - Members: Valerie Costa
The Scholarship committee designs and implements scholarship requirements and runs point on the funding and award of Kathryn Marie Firneis Memorial Student Scholarship. The Scholarship committee is expected to regularly interface with the SARA ART Committee, SARA NY Treasurer and Design Awards. The committee members are responsible for long -term planning around the scholarship program(s), scholarship alumni engagement and promotion of the scholarship itself.
Communications Co-Chairs: Allysa Taylor & Sean Pickering
The SARA NY Communications Committee is dedicated to keeping our growing member base up to date with current programming and opportunities for SARA NY. The 2026 Committee will pioneer the efforts of SARA SAYS - a quarterly, 1 or 2 page newsletter sharing digestible updates and recaps of SARA NY events, ACNY updates and other opportunities for SARA NY members. This Committee will also assist the Executive Director by providing content for SARA event recaps by providing photos and posts on LinkedIn and Instagram.
SARA ART Chair: Christian Bailey - Members: Alex Lavecchia - Jordan Rogove - Anne Chen Supporting Members: Allysa Taylor - Jeremiah Reilly - Shreejit Modak - Melita Cekani
The SARA ART committee is responsible for the promotion, planning, implementation and execution of the annual SARA ART event. At monthly SARA NY board meetings, the SARA ART committee will report on current status of the event, anticipated budgets and any logistical issues urgently requiring resolution. The SARA ART committee will closely interface with the Scholarship committee as this event is a fundraiser for the Kathryn Marie Firneis Memorial Student Scholarship.
CEU Chair: Gates Breeden - Members: Alex Lavecchia - Shreejit Modak
The CEU committee connects industry products, design solutions and manufacturing knowledge to the SARA NY community through continuing education courses. Committee members are expected to develop and manage a calendar of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for our registered professionals. The committee is also responsible for setting and achieving ceu goals & targets serving the SARA NY members. *The Committee will release a schedule of anticipated CEUs programs quarterly.