Women’s Leadership Summit
Women’s Leadership Summit (WLS), founded by AIA, is a premier leadership experience that brings together the industry’s largest network of women who are breaking down barriers, making themselves visible, and manifesting the careers they want—while making a difference in the world.
WLS 2024 is coming to Chicago October 8-10
Women are one of the most influential segments in the AEC industry, yet when looking at leadership roles in these industries we still ask: Where are they?
AIA created Women’s Leadership Summit to deliver essential leadership training designed to help women unlock their full potential, make a lasting impact on their careers, and lead change in architecture and the allied professions.
What happens at WLS is unique.
- It connects you with a diverse community that wants to support you and help you achieve your goals.
- It shares pathbreaking ideas that challenge traditional thinking and lead change.
- It celebrates women leaders at every career stage, empowering all of us to change the future.
It’s all powered by the AIA community, the largest, most influential network of architecture professionals and allies designing a better world.
Registration opens summer 2024.
Sponsor WLS 2024
Our profession is changing, and it’s about time. Signal your support for women in AEC and turn barriers into opportunities by sponsoring WLS. Up to five sponsorship tiers are available, plus custom options.
Email us to get started.
2024 Theme: Building Resilience
What does relevant leadership look like in 2024?
Questions like this can be hard to ask and even harder to answer authentically when there’s so much instability in our workplaces and the world around us. In an environment like this, it’s hard not to be chronically stressed or feel safe.
That’s why we’re designing this year’s Women’s Leadership Summit around the theme of building resilience—the ability to adapt to an ever-changing landscape, recover from setbacks, and persevere through difficult times.
This theme asks: How do we protect the health, safety, and welfare of our society when we’re struggling individually? Where does our power reside? Are we challenging ourselves to find our own blind spots and biases in an all-female room? How do we create equity using our personal social capital? Is the concept of safe space a myth? How does the lens of intersectionality help us uncover the skills needed for impactful change?
Women’s Leadership Summit has always been a conference that pushes boundaries, challenges traditional thinking, and explores new ways of thinking and doing to create change. Join us and lean in.
The 2024 Call for Proposals is Open!
You’re invited to submit a proposal for WLS 2024 in Chicago anytime between May 6 and closes June 14, 2024. Decisions will be sent out in mid-July.
Through our Call for Proposals, we invite leaders from across the industry to contribute their expertise through an educational session delivered live at WLS.
2024 WLS Advisory Group
Given their role in helping establish the program, the jury panel is comprised of professionals from the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit Advisory Group.
Janeen Harrell, AIA Chicago (Co-chair)
Breah Page, AIA, Chicago (Co-chair)
Maria Kook, AIA, Chicago
Jennifer Wright, AIA, Portland, Oregon
Whitney Lewis, Assoc. AIA, Seattle
Saakshi Terway, Assoc. AIA, Washington, D.C.
Lisa Chronister, FAIA, Oklahoma City
Aimée Moore, Assoc. AIA, Columbus, Ohio
Questions? Please reach out to womeninarch@aia.org for inquiries and questions.