Amber Lombardo

Amber Lombardo is Executive Director of AIA Memphis, 2023 AIA CACE President and 2024 AIA National Board Member. She has presented on the topic of AI in architecture since first mentioning it from the 2023 AIA Leadership Summit Opening Plenary stage, "A Conversation with AIA Leadership." Her 2024 AIA Board service included serving as the Board AI Advisory Chair, on the Government Advocacy Committee and as the Strategic Council AI working group liaison. Lombardo has a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture, Civil Engineering and Marketing from Mississippi State University. Upon graduation, she worked as a web developer for a variety of organizations (most notably the National Science Foundation Engineer Research Center) in the then-emerging tech industry. In 1999 she began her own web shop and sold it 17 years later after it evolved into an advertising agency, community magazine, art gallery and digital print shop, garnering over 70 industry awards ranging up to international recognition. In 2016 she returned to architecture through grassroots advocacy efforts for the Mississippi Historic Tax Credit and later, in coordination with the National Trust, the Federal Historic Tax Credit. She has presented at several AIA National conferences, at the National Main Street Conference, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Action's National Preservation Week and more. Her creative works (photography, writing, etc) have appeared in numerous notable publications including National Geographic Traveler, Preservation Magazine, Where to Retire, Southern Bride Magazine, and others. She has launched three magazines, Elevation the Journal of the Mississippi Heritage Trust, TourCollierville Magazine, and Folio the Annual of AIA Memphis. Recent awards include the 2021 AIA Memphis President's Award, the 2022 Memphis Business Journal's Women Who Lead in Architecture, the 2023 AIA National Louise Blanchard Bethune Fellowship and the 2024 AIA National Richard Upjohn Fellowship.