Leah Bayer, AIA

Leah Alissa Bayer, AIA, is an architect, business leader, and advocate focused on reshaping how architectural practice works and who it works for. She is President of Architects FORA, a fully virtual, women-owned practice known for advancing affordable housing while experimenting with alternative business models, research-driven design, and employee-centered workplace culture.

With more than 15 years of business leadership experience, Leah has built FORA as a living laboratory for practice innovation—prioritizing equity, transparency, and wellness while expanding the firm’s work into community engagement, research, and development. She recently served as Chair of the AIA Strategic Council’s Resilient Practice Models group, where she advocated for strengthening architects’ business acumen and advancing AIA’s research agenda to support people, fortify firms, and secure the profession’s long-term relevance.

A frequent keynote speaker on alternative practice models, leadership, and the future of work, Leah brings a systems-level perspective grounded in day-to-day firm management. Drawing on her training as an architect, she extends the profession’s obligation to health, safety, and welfare beyond buildings to the people who design them, because architecture can only care for communities when the teams behind it are cared for first.