American Institute of Architects Ventura County
President: Mary Follenweider, FAIA LEED AP
Mary served as a California member of the 2021-23 AIA National Strategic Council, is a long time member of AIACA Advocacy Advisory Committee and is past AIACA Vice President of State Government Relations (2017-18). She served as President of Cit of San Jose Association of Engineers and Architects, Executive Vice-President of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21, Chairperson of AIA Colorado State Government Affairs, President of AIA Santa Clara Valley.
Mary is licensed in California and Colorado. She was Building Official for Boulder, Colorado, Project Architect with several Colorado firms and Senior Architect with the City of San Jose, California. She holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor of Science from DePaul University.
Vice President: William Growdon, AIA
William A. Growdon is an educated, licensed architect with more than 30 years of experience in architecture, design and building (with hands-on experience in every construction trade).
William has designed and directed hundreds of projects from conception to fruition -- from new homes and remodels to mixed use and commercial buildings (offices, retail shops, studios and restaurants) to city planning and architectonic designs and fabrication.
Having served as a member of the local Planning Commission, William has in-depth understanding of policies and processes and knows how to successfully navigate related challenges and create new opportunities. During his time serving with the City of San Buenaventura Planning Commission, William participated in creating and writing the City General Plan, the downtown specific plan form-based code adopted by the city.
A California native, William was born in San Diego, raised in Manhattan Beach and has spent most of his life in the beach towns along the Southern California coast. When he's not working or traveling, William enjoys a simple beach town life with his family - surfing, camping, hiking and coaching his daughters' soccer teams.
Secretary: Jean Amador, AIA
Owner, Amador Whittle Architect.com for over 30 years, specializing in early childhood and higher education, housing, sports and recreation projects..
Treasurer: Thomas Flitsch, AIA
Tom Flitsch is licensed to practice architecture in NY, CA, AZ and HI and is a Certified Access Specialist (CASp) in the State of California. Tom graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY with a BS Building Science and a BArch. Tom moved to California and obtained an MBA-finance from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angles. Tom’s work principally focuses on multifamily redevelopment and accessibility compliance. Tom lives in Moorpark, CA with his wife. He and his wife are hobbyist wine makers and have won Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals over the past 5 years at amateur competitions. Tom serves on the Southern Ventura County Fellowship of Christian Athletes Board and founded Accessibility to Christ, a foundation to improve physical accessibility at Christian Churches.
AIA Architect Member Director: Mark Pettit, AIA
Mark Pettit graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree and a Bachelor of Architecture degree with an emphasis in Real Estate Development. Mark also studied in England and Europe during college. He started his career with firms on the East Coast before joining Lauterbach & Associates, Architects in 1986. Mark is an expert in local agency entitlement processing, and affordable and market-rate multi-family housing having worked on hundreds of low and mid-rise residential projects, master-planned communities, medical office buildings, corporate facilities, and other projects for local municipalities throughout Southern California. He is a member of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards as well as serving on a number of city planning committees, affordable housing task forces, and other nonprofit boards and community organizations. Mark is a board member of both the Housing Trust Fund Ventura County and the Housing Land Trust Ventura County.
AIA California Delegate Director: Marc Whitman, AIA
As a resident of the Ojai Valley since childhood. With his intuitive sense of balance, rhythm, shapes and interacting forms, Marc Whitman is known as a significant contributor to the Art of Architecture.
After graduating from Nordhoff High School in Ojai in 1976, Marc went on to Arizona State University and received a Bachelor of Architecture in 1981. In 1989 he became licensed with the State of California and a member of American Institute of Architecture. He has received both N.C.A.R.B and LEED certification.
His small, privately-owned firm provides design, planning, pre-design studies, construction documents, and interior architectural services, buts its Marcs’ unique ability to see in three dimension and freehand sketch his ideas in perspective that sets him apart.
Associate Director: Francisco Behr, AIA LEED AP BD C
Francisco Behr is the President and Director of Design for the Award winning firm Behr Browers Architects Inc./BBA Architecture Inc. in Westlake Village, California. He has 40 years of planning and design experience in commercial, retail, and mixed use projects. He was responsible for designing and entitling some of the largest and most significant projects in Ventura County such as the Seventh Day Adventist Specific Plan in Newbury Park, the 2800 acre mixed use “Canyons” Plan in Simi Valley and the 30 acre Westlake Plaza Center East Office complex in Westlake Village.
He enjoys participating in Urban Design charrettes. He was invited to be on multidisciplinary design charrette teams by the cities of New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Petersburg, VA, Kingsman, AZ, Helena, AK, Seattle, WA and many others. Francisco received a National Service Award from the American Institute of Architects for his pro- bono services in these workshops. He is currently on the Design Review Board at the City of Agoura Hills and a Design Review consultant for the Dos Vientos Ranch neighborhood in Thousand Oaks. He has donated his time and resources to organizations such as the Alliance for the Arts, the Fitzgerald House, and most recently the Regional Arts Museum at the Civic Arts Plaza. He has been a Founders Circle Member in the Civic Arts Plaza’s Alliance for the Arts since 1993.
He has been on the Executive Board of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Francisco has been an instructor in U.C.L.A. Extension’s Landscape Architecture Program for the past 38 years.
He received his Bachelor of Architecture from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he graduated with highest honors, and received the Henry Adams Medal for outstanding Architecture graduate. Francisco is also a graduate of Glenn Murcutt’s Masters Class in Sidney Australia and obtained a Mid Career Certificate from Harvard University taught by Edward Larrabee Barnes.
Francisco has lived and worked in Ventura County for over 40 years.