One of the leaders of the American architectural community, Michael Stanton, FAIA, has held positions of responsibility and leadership at the local, state, and national levels of The American Institute of Architects. Michael is a former president of AIA San Francisco and of the AIA California Council, and in 1999 he was elected the 75th President of the AIA.

Mr. Stanton has lectured extensively on urban design and practice issues throughout the world. He delivered the key note addresses to the Bulgarian Chamber of Architects, the 2011 lecture at the Balkan Conference of energy conservation in Sofia, the Second Hemisphere Meeting of Architecture Deans in Panama City, Panama and gave an address entitled “Teaching Architecture for a World Without Borders,” to the Association of Collegiate Schools Of Architecture Administrators Conference at the University of Hawaii.

Michael Stanton was twice awarded the American Institute of Architect’s (AIA) Citation for Excellence in Urban Design. He was a key participant on the AIA design team that assisted Spitak, Armenia, after the severe earthquake in 1988, and was responsible for the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) re-planning of downtown Watsonville four design awards, California, after a 1989 earthquake.

In 2010, Michael received a lifetime achievement award from the AIA California Council. Receiving this honor has not slowed down his practice or his passion for good design.

In recent years, Michael has served as an accreditation team leader for the National Architectural Accreditation Board, visiting schools of Architecture across the globe, from Amherst, Massachusetts and Tuskegee, Alabama to Bahrain and the Kingdom of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.