2020 NCASLA Candidate Bios

President-Elect (one candidate)

Hollie Colony

Hollie Colony is an Associate and Studio Manager at Urban Design Partners. She graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture and has been practicing in Charlotte, NC since 2010. Hollie is a licensed landscape architect whose planning and design experience includes adaptive re-use, residential and multi-family design, and urban infill projects. She is the previous Charlotte Section Chair. Her hopes are to continue to bring more opportunities for professionals to engage with each other through events that are both social and engage the community like Park(ing) Day. She is particularly passionate about professionals engaging with students to learn about what landscape architecture is and grow the profession. In her spare time, Hollie enjoys traveling, going to concerts, being actively involved in the local Purdue Alumni Association, and spending time with her husband, Eric, and their two dogs, Jax and Remy.

Trustee (two candidates)

Emily Blackwell

Emily is dedicated to the profession of landscape architecture and has nine years of experience, including over six at Stewart in Charlotte. Emily’s portfolio includes many successful parks and recreation projects, from conceptual design and public involvement through construction to opening day. Emily has been an active member of ASLA since 2007. She served as NCASLA's Secretary from 2013 to 2016 during which she was a strong, involved member and attended the Public Relations Summit in 2016. Emily began her presidency tenure in Fall of 2016 when she was voted as President-Elect. During her 2016-2017 year as President-Elect, she led the planning team for the first Southeast Regional ASLA Conference in 2017. Emily led the NCASLA ExCom as President in 2017-2018, implementing the annual multi-day ExCom planning retreat in January of 2018 so that the board can set the tone and schedule for the year and grow as a team. As Past President, Emily assisted with the planning for the 2019 SERC, served as the liaison to the NC Board of Landscape Architects, and has become involved at the National level. She served on the Leadership Development Committee in 2018-2019 and is in her second year on the Government Affairs Advisory Committee (2018-present). Emily continues to support NCASLA and its leadership.

Brian Starkey

For the past 3 years it has been my privilege to represent NC on the Board of Trustees. These are challenging times for ASLA and I would like to continue my service by serving one more term. Climate change, licensure and membership concerns top my list of issues that are critical to the organization and the profession. While there are leadership changes coming and financial challenges to overcome, we as a profession cannot loose sight of the climatic issues and our national leadership role.

I serve on the ASLA Licensure Committee as well and my commitment in protecting licensure stems from my previous involvement in NCBLA. We are membership organization. While I am confident we have much to offer a potential member, we need to better communicate the benefits of membership. I am committed to identifying and implementing measures to maintain and increase membership. It would be an honor to continue to represent NC and my commitment is genuine.

Treasurer- (one candidate)

Crystal Ross

For the last year, Crystal has served as the interim treasurer for the NC Chapter of North Carolina and would like to continue in this role for the next coming term. She is a licensed landscape architect who focuses her design strategy on having a positive impact on the communities she works in by creating healthier, safer, more enjoyable outdoor spaces that respond to social needs as they evolve. With passions for art, pattern, materiality, horticulture and cultural celebration, Crystal produces colorful, lively and environmentally conscientious design concepts. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornell University and now has over eight years of professional experience working on a wide range of projects. She enjoys working through a collaborative design process with other design professionals to consider new ideas and ways of thinking about design solutions. Her own expertise lies in quality designs through construction documentation and implementation. Crystal currently works with the Stewart team in Raleigh. She previously served as Secretary for the Boston Society of Landscape Architects and was actively involved in the Emerging Professionals group. Crystal looks forward to continuing to advocate for the landscape architecture profession in North Carolina through communication and education.

Associate Member at Large (one candidate)

Saeideh Teymouri

Saeideh Teymouri is a landscape designer with a bachelor's degree in architecture and a 2017 graduate of the Master of Landscape Architecture from NCSU. She has worked in the landscape and architecture fields for seven years. Currently, she works at the CLH Design P.A. for ~4 years, where she collaborates on different scale community projects from pocket parks to nature preserves, schools, museums, and libraries. Her interests lie in studying the socio-cultural and artistic aspects of design, where she collaborates with professionals on the topic of social and gender justice. She is a 2019-2021 ASLA WiLA PPN co-chair and one of the recipients of the 2019 WxLA scholarship.

Member at Large- Awards (one candidate)

Dan Lambert

Dan Lambert is a Senior Landscape Architect with McAdams in their Charlotte office. Dan has twenty years of wide-ranging experience the last 17 of which have been spent in the Carolinas. He has been a dedicated member of ASLA since his student days. His focus is on urban design and streetscapes and in recent years he has become an advocate and expert in the realm of inclusive play parks for children of all abilities. His projects span 13 states, Canada, and the Bahamas. Dan has several award-winning projects including the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk, Savannah’s Playground (An Enabling Park), and the planning of Georgetown County Parks. Mr. Lambert is active on the NCASLA 2020 Conference Committee and has also dedicated time helping to organize the last two Urban Land Institute Carolinas Spring Conferences. Mr. Lambert has been an invited conference speaker for the ASLA North Carolina and South Carolina chapters at their annual conferences as well as for the North Carolina Main Street Conference. Dan holds licensure in four states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and his (original) home state of Colorado. Mr. Lambert has spent his career dedicated to advancing the image of Landscape Architecture within the professional world.

Member at Large- Communications (one candidate)

Emily Rothrock

Before moving to Raleigh, Emily spent almost 7 years in Virginia Beach at WPL. Her experience was built with a foundation of waterfront projects requiring layered solutions ensuring long term resiliency. Currently with Andropogon Associates, Emily has found her niche in the ecological world. Her previous time at Site Collaborative focused on solutions that engaged users and advocated for the collaborative design process. Consistently involved in VA & NC, Emily participates in school career days or design charrettes. She works to build the relationship to landscape architecture in children’s’ younger years. Emily is a panel member for thesis review each spring at Virginia Tech. She strives to promote connection of professional practice & design education through consistent support of their program. Over 10 years ago, Emily found herself in Hawai’i. Though only a short time, her experience with mentors Leland Miyano and Jason Umemoto lit a fire that she continues to fuel. Her found respect for the land and its natural systems has carved a path forward. She is a potter reforming the earth into functional elements and a volunteer for regenerative agriculture farmers. Her research continues as she learns the science of rebuilding our world in a responsible way.

Charlotte Section Chair (one candidate)

Darneka Waters

Darneka Waters graduated from NC State University in 2013, and she is an active member of ASLA. Waters is a Planner for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation and pursuing licensure in North Carolina. She volunteers in many community outreach and engagement organizations as a design educator and facilitator. Waters has participated in ASLA's Diversity Summit whose goal was, and is, to increase and promote diversity and inclusion within landscape architecture. Currently, she's a member of ASLA's LARE Prep Committee and serves as a Strategic Advisor for the Charlotte Planning, Design, and Development Department. She has years of experience in conceptual, community, and infill design via her college and professional career. Education and mentorship are some of the pay-it-forward principles that have provided the main foundation for her continued success.

Triangle Section Chair (one candidate)

Bentley Ruggles

Bentley Ruggles is a practicing landscape architect with Dewberry in Raleigh, North Carolina. Raised in the Southeast, he received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia. He is CLARB certified and currently licensed to practice in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Bentley has been practicing for 6 years and his professional portfolio includes multi-family projects, mixed-use projects, private estates, and fine garden designs. Currently, his skills are focused on public projects, including civic campuses and master planning efforts. Driven by a passion to create unique spaces, Bentley is dedicated to creating works of art. When he is not in the studio, he is spending time with his wife and two daughters.

As a member of the ASLA, I believe our greatest strength is our community of members. I would be humbled to serve the ASLA community in the Triangle. My desire is to find additional members of the ASLA, within the Triangle, to partner with. Together, we would work towards developing an engaging program for the rest of our members. The goal is to provide value to our members through social events and providing continuing education opportunities.

Voting members will be sent a link to participate in the process, which will be open until July 15, 2020 at 5pm ET.