Title: Principal, Kelly Design Group, design-bid landscape architecture firm established in 1994 in Williams Bay, Wis., after relocating from San Diego.

Title: Faculty Associate and Director of Center for Sustainable Design: U. of Wisconsin, Madison, Dept. of Landscape Architecture

Interests: Has worked with multiple First Nation reservations (Ojibwe) in northern Wisconsin through the UW Extension, and in his practice.

ASLA Service: Wisconsin ASLA Chapter President (1999); Wisconsin strategic planning chair and chair/author of the Wisconsin Practice Act. ASLA Board of Trustees (two terms). Currently serving as VP of membership.

Awards: Two ASLA Merit awards, and five chapter Merit awards.

Kelly has the honor of being married to Barbara for 32 years. He is the father of Alison, MLA 2010, and sons Evan and Parker.

Candidate's Concepts and Aims Statement

The management of stormwater is central to my practice and my teaching. We are running out of potable water, and landscape architects are the best qualified of the design professions to take the lead in the application of better water management practices. I propose to be the voice of our profession in legislation and advocacy for making this a priority in development and having landscape architecture take the lead in this work.

I contend that our profession is best suited to changing the way development is accomplished to become a sustainable modification of the environment. The sponsorship of the Sustainable Sites Initiative, along with our continued advocacy for best management practices for stormwater management and emphasis on our policies for practice, will keep us in the forefront of design. This will provide work for our profession, along with better food and water security, safe routes to schools, and better construction and design practices.

Our continued advocacy for licensure protection and enlargement will keep our practices contemporary and engaged in the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare. We must remain diligent in our efforts to advocate for our profession in each state. We must enlarge our limits of practice where state laws are prohibitive.

We must continue to grow our professional membership and retain current members. This critical mass will allow our member-centric organization to enlarge programs to assist and promote the professional practice of landscape architecture. This includes the student and affiliate memberships, as well as the corporate category. With increased membership we gain revenue to aid our professional outreach and advocacy, as well as reach a critical mass to gain more attention on Capitol Hill and in our respective states' legislatures.

We must increase our support of our programs in education. The students are the future of our profession. We must engage them to become more active advocates and bring them into the profession they will inherit. This requires our engagement on juries, guest lectures, closer ties between state and student chapters, and outreach from firms to students and young employees to become mentor/intern partners.