Bryan J. Soukup Extends ASID Reach To Communities Nationwide with New Role
Bryan J. Soukup, Esq., VP of Government and Public Affairs, American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Alliance for National & Community Resilience (ANCR), the resilience subsidiary of the International Code Council (ICC), joining distinguished representatives from Target Corp., Dow Chemical, and several other public and private institutions. Recognizing the importance of community preparedness before and during times of potential vulnerability, ANCR’s goal is to develop a resilience toolkit and benchmarking system to support governments, businesses, and people nationwide. With a rich history of spearheading human-centric and community-focused policy, Soukup will serve on the ANCR Board as a representative of the Society.
“I’m honored to continue to be a part of this important initiative,” remarks Soukup, who served as ANCR’s founding-Executive Director from 2016 to 2018. “In an ever-changing world, we must create prepared communities that can withstand any sudden changes, whether they be economic, climatic, meteorological, or from as yet unknown factors. By developing guidelines and resources for the nation’s 89,000+ communities, we’re providing assurance for their future growth and success.”
Founded in 2016 by the International Code Council, the Meridian Institute, and the United States Resiliency Council, ANCR (pronounced “anchor”) is a non-profit collaborative dedicated to building the nation’s first whole-community resilience benchmarking system. ANCR intends to give communities a transparent, usable, and easily understandable metric to gauge their cross-sector resilience quickly and simply. Under the leadership of its Board, ANCR is forming a preliminary system of Community Resilience Benchmarks encompassing elements including buildings, communications, housing, water, food distribution, energy, waste management, finance, education, public health, transportation, public safety, and business. The system will serve as a centralized tool to help communities, businesses, governments, and people make decisions to become more resilient, based on consistent and comparable information – on where to live, where to invest, what to prioritize, and how to measure progress.
Continues Soukup, “At ASID, we understand the power that design has to bring together communities. It’s exciting to apply this perspective to the goal of strengthening and preparing communities across the country.”
As Vice President, Government and Public Affairs for ASID, Soukup leads the Society’s efforts to advocate for the interior design profession from a policy and legislative standpoint at the federal and state levels. Prior to joining ASID in summer 2018, Soukup served as Director of Resilience Initiatives and as a registered federal and state lobbyist for the International Code Council (ICC). In these roles, he was responsible for federal and state advocacy, outreach, and policy concerning resilience and disaster mitigation. He served as the International Code Council’s chief ambassador to national and international resilience and sustainability projects. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) and a Juris Doctor from the University of Richmond School of Law (Richmond, Virginia). Mr. Soukup is a licensed attorney in the District of Columbia and in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he currently resides.
About ASID
The American Society of Interior Designers believes that design transforms lives. ASID serves the full range of the interior design profession and practice through the Society’s programs, networks, and advocacy. We thrive on the strength of cross-functional and interdisciplinary relationships among designers of all specialties, including workplace, healthcare, retail and hospitality, education, institutional, and residential. We lead interior designers in shared conversations around topics that matter: from evidence-based and human centric design to social responsibility, well-being, and sustainability. We showcase the impact of design on the human experience and the value interior designers provide.
ASID was founded over 40 years ago when two organizations became one, but its legacy dates back to the early 1930s. As we celebrate nearly 85 years of industry leadership, we are leading the future of interior design, continuing to integrate the advantages of local connections with national reach, of small firms with big, and of the places we live with the places we work, play, and heal. Learn more at asid.org.
About the Alliance for National & Community Resilience
The Alliance for National & Community Resilience, a member of the ICC Family of Companies, is a coalition of public and private entities working to create the nation’s first whole-community resilience benchmark.