The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF), a non-profit dedicated to “changing the culture of the building industry, for women, through education and research,” just announced that after a national search it has chosen a new executive director: James T. Hanley, formerly the senior associate director of development at Barnard College. Hanley has undergraduate and advanced degrees in architecture along with an MBA and an MA in Art History and claims he will use his “skills in program development and financial management to broaden the role of the organization throughout the United States.”

Beverly Willis, the founder of BWAF, said that Hanley is “keenly aware of the issues encountered by women in the design industry” which will “enable BWAF to build on its prior successes and help women achieve their professional and personal goals through our programs and outreach.”

Under Hanley’s leadership, the organization is launching a number of new initiatives in 2014. These include the exploration of a program for women as emerging leaders and the impact of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) as factors in success. Another new initiative is “Built by Women: New York City,” a focused collection within the Foundation’s Dynamic National Archive (DNA), which BWAF plans to use as a pilot for similar projects for cities around the country. Finally In 2014, it will complete its project entitled “Women of 20th-Century American Architecture,” to highlight the contributions of 50 outstanding women who significantly shaped the built environment in America.