The Seattle Design Commission (SDC) is pleased to announce the appointment of five new members who will start their terms this month, and the reappointment of two members who will continue to serve for another two years.

The new members—selected from a highly competitive pool of more than 40 candidates, appointed by the Mayor, and confirmed by City Council—include:

• Sheri Olson, FAIA, architect. A practicing architect and journalist, Olson’s design career in Boston, New York City and California focused on civic and commercial projects. But she is perhaps best known for her design criticism work, having earned a national reputation as the NW contributing editor for Architectural Record and also, until recently, as the architecture columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
• Darrell Vange, member-at-large. Vange is a commercial developer and president of Ravenhurst Development in Seattle with extensive experience in transit-oriented development and large-scale urban development projects.
• Anindita Mitra, urban planner. Trained as an architect in India before studying planning at graduate school in the United States, Mitra’s experience has included major urban design projects in Kansas City and Seattle. She was employed for five years at LMN Architects before starting her own design and planning firm a few years ago.
• Karen Kiest, landscape architect. A registered Washington landscape architect now in private practice, Kiest previously was a principal at Murase Associates in Seattle and also worked at Wallace Roberts Todd in San Francisco.
• Hannah McIntosh, participant in the City’s “Get Engaged” program (a special one-year appointment to a young member). Currently employed at Foster, Pepper Shefelman in marketing, McIntosh studied urban cultural development and philosophy in Belgium before returning to Seattle last year.

In addition, Nic Rossouw (engineer) and David Spiker (architect) were both reappointed as members for additional two-year terms. Spiker was also reappointed as chair of the commission. Complete biographies will be posted on SDC’s website soon.