Management Team

Executive Staff

Michael J. Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer
Prior to joining NCARB in 2011, Mike held positions at the International Code Council, ICF International, FEMA, and the Colorado Governor's Office of Energy Conservation. He began his career with 10 years as an assistant city attorney specializing in land use, zoning and planning, code enforcement, historic preservation, and human resources management. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Juris Doctorate from the Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, CA, where he served on the Law Review.

Mike is an adjunct professor at The George Washington University and is a trustee on the Association of State Floodplain Managers Foundation Board. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the District of Columbia Preservation League.

Mike has authored a number of articles for professional journals, and he has provided testimony before committees of the U.S. Congress. He is licensed to practice law in Colorado and before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Mary S. de Sousa, CAE, Vice President, Operations
Mary is a 20-year veteran of NCARB—serving initially as the controller; then as director of finance and administration; and now, as vice president of operations. Mary’s areas of responsibility includes records management, communications, information systems, and finance. Facilitating these diverse areas allows Mary to focus on NCARB’s first strategic goal—turning NCARB into an organization dedicated to excellent, personalized customer service.

Mary earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is a licensed CPA in Maryland. In June 2001, Mary received the NCARB President’s Medal in recognition of her distinguished service to the Council and its mission to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. In her current role, Mary also serves as a member of the board of directors for the Federation of Associations of Regulatory Boards (FARB).

Stephen Nutt, AIA, NCARB, CAE, Vice President, Programs
Stephen joined NCARB in April 1997 as manager of the newly launched computerized Architect Registration Examination^® (ARE^®). During his time with the Council, he has been a driving force in the continued improvement and development of the ARE. As vice president of programs, his reach now encompasses the three program directorates of Education, the Intern Development Program (IDP), and the ARE. He is also involved in the negotiation of NCARB’s mutual recognition agreements with foreign countries in an effort to promote international reciprocity. Stephen has a NAAB-accredited degree from Kansas State University (B.Arch 1983), completed the IDP during his early career in San Antonio, TX, currently maintains his professional registration in Virginia, and is an active NCARB Certificate holder.

Directors

Erica Brown, AIA, NCARB, Director, Architect Registration Examination
Erica earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Ball State University and is licensed to practice architecture in Indiana. As director of the ARE^®, Erica oversees the development, administration, and management of all divisions of the exam. Before being promoted to her current position in 2007, she was the assistant director, ARE development, where her focus was on all graphic divisions, especially vignette development, scoring and improvement, updates to all candidate documents, and security monitoring. Prior to joining NCARB in 2003, Erica was a project architect at InterDesign^® in Indianapolis, IN.

Harry M. Falconer Jr., AIA, NCARB, Director, Intern Development Program
After earning a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Harry moved to the Washington metropolitan area. His experience includes 15 years working in architecture-engineering firms and seven years working in facilities planning and design. His practice of architecture, while varied, focused on the college and university market sector. Harry joined the Council in April 2006 as the assistant director, Record services. Harry became the director of IDP when the Council was reorganized in 2007. He is licensed to practice architecture in Virginia, has been certified as a construction documents technologist by the Construction Specifications Institute, and holds the NCARB Certificate.

Greg Hall, Ph.D., AIA, NCARB, Director, Education
Greg’s professional background includes work in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States, and teaching and academic administration in the United States and Asia. He was part of the design team for several notable international building projects: the Kansai International Airport Passenger Terminal Building, Osaka, Japan; the Sea Hawk Hotel, Fukuoka, Japan; and Sky Central Plaza, Guangzhou, China. Greg holds an NCARB Certificate and is licensed to practice architecture in North Carolina and South Carolina. He has received several architectural design awards including the Paris Prize and an award from the Van Alen Institute.

Greg holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in architecture from the University of Hong Kong, where he was also a Fulbright Fellow and taught part-time. Prior to joining NCARB in 2007, Greg taught in the department of architecture at Savannah College of Art and Design.

Katherine E. Hillegas, CAE, Director, Executive Office
Kathy joined the Council in 2005 as the assistant director, corporate affairs. In January 2010 she was promoted to director, executive office. Her current responsibilities include Member Board relations, support for the Member Board Executives Committee, support for the NCARB Board of Directors, and planning of all Council related meetings including the Annual Meeting and Conference. She recently earned the distinction of Certified Association Executive through the American Society of Association Executives. Her background is primarily in association management, with a focus on working with Boards of Directors, meeting planning and education. Prior to NCARB, she spent two years at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture serving as interim executive director. She spent 10 years with a medical association where she was responsible for the education and accreditation department, which included development of four specialty certification examinations and planning and execution of a six-track annual meeting.

Kim Kerker, Director, Communications
Kim’s education began in Buffalo, where she pursued a degree in design before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She went on to acquire a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio State University. For more than 20 years her work in Washington has been primarily in marketing and communications for nonprofits and arts organizations. She joined the NCARB Communications department over 10 years ago when the Records department was still using microfiche, and the primary source of communication with our constituents was through the website. Today, communicating with our various customers is a major priority. A variety of media is utilized to reach out to everyone from the public—who may not know all that it takes to become an architect—to architects—who may not know what it means to be NCARB certified.

Doug Morgan, Director, Records
Doug has an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Maryland and two master degrees—one in management of information systems and one in business administration—also from Maryland. During his nearly 20 years of experience with records management, he has specialized in modernizing operations through improved process management and technology implementation. Since arriving at NCARB in June 2007, he has spearheaded the reinvention of the NCARB Records department. Since then, Records has been transformed through the use of technology to provide online tools for our customers. Effective regulation is the Records department’s primary business obligation and enhanced customer service is our #1 strategic objective. Doug and the entire Records team are committed to reducing processing times, adding transparency into our systems, and working to meet the expectations of our customers.

Guillermo Ortiz de Zárate, Director, Information Systems
Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Guillermo joined NCARB in April 2007 as the assistant director, information systems. Previously, he worked in the information technology field for close to 18 years both in Argentina and the United States, leading the development of business software for companies in industries such as engineering, urban development, healthcare, banking, international commerce, marketing, and government. In August 2009, Guillermo was promoted to director, information systems to lead the modernization of the Council’s technology including the website, line of business applications, infrastructure, and helpdesk. Guillermo attended Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional where he studied chemical engineering and information systems, respectively. Guillermo’s most important role is to bring technology and business together aligning them with NCARB’s mission and vision of the future.

Zerrin Sayar, Director, Administration
Zerrin joined NCARB’s then examination department in June 1995, right on time to work through the transition from paper-and-pencil to computerized ARE. She has a B.S. in journalism and public relations from University of Istanbul, a Master of Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins, and has completed a year of coursework toward an M.A. in comparative literature at the King’s College in London. In 2002, she earned the Professional in Human Resources certificate by passing an examination administered by the Society for Human Resource Management. Zerrin was promoted to director, administration in 2007. In her current position she oversees the human resources and accounting teams at NCARB.