Penn Weitzman Alumni Association Announces New Board President and Vice-President

The Penn Weitzman Alumni Association announces new board president and vice-president. Since the fall of 2020, Charlette Caldwell (MSHP’16) and Suzanne Mahoney (MCP’14, MLA’14) have held the roles, respectively, of president and vice-president of the Alumni Association. Two current members of the board are excited to take over these roles. Taylor Knoche (MArch’16) will be the new president and Peichao Di (MArch’17) will be the new vice-president.

Taylor Knoche (MArch’16) R.A., AIA, is a Project Manager/Owner’s Representative in the Civic and Cultural Division in Sterling Project Development’s (SPD) New York office, representing not-for-profit institutions and owners. Since joining SPD in the summer of 2022, Taylor has collaborated and assisted on a range of projects under the leadership of Sandra Polsak and Joelle Byrer, Co-Directors of the Civic and Cultural Division. From historic theatre façade restorations and infrastructure upgrades to new cultural institutions and urban green spaces, Taylor dedicates her 10+ years of industry experience to deliver projects that meet owner expectations, budgets and schedules. 
 
Prior to joining SPD, Taylor served as an architect and team lead for Diamond Schmitt Architects, overseeing the back-of-house spaces for the renovation of David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center, set to open Fall of 2022. Shortly following her graduation from the University of Pennsylvania with a master’s in architecture, Taylor was an architectural designer with the international acclaimed firm, Foster + Partners in their New York and Philadelphia offices. There she worked on projects across different typologies including higher education laboratories and classrooms, tenant corporate fit-outs, and most significantly the Pavilion, a 1.5 million square foot flexible inpatient facility for the University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine). 
 
Taylor is a licensed architect in the state of New York. She holds a certificate in Ecological Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and a minor in Germanic Language and Literatures from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is an active member in the community serving as the President for the Penn Stuart Weitzman Alumni Association, Vice-President for the NYC Metro Illini Alumni Association, and an active member of the AIA NYC Cultural Facilities Committee. 

Peichao Di (MArch’17) AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, PMP, moved to the United States from China in 2015 and currently lends his skills to CosciaMoos Architecture as a Project Architect. He is actively involved in all phases of projects and specializes in the mixed-use, multi-family housing, hospitality, and healthcare sectors. Since 2020, Peichao has served on the Penn Weitzman Alumni Association, where he reviews current student portfolios and organizes alumni relationship and future student admissions events. Peichao is also an active Urban Land Institute member and he serves on its Young Leaders Group in planning educational programs and outreach initiatives. In 2022, Peichao received the AIA Philadelphia Young Architect Award. 
 
The Alumni Association is here to be a professional, creative, and social resource to all  Alumni of the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. A global community 11,000+ strong, the Penn Weitzman Alumni Association (PWAA) connects graduates with each other and the School for the benefit of all. Whether your interests lie in career advancement, professional leadership, creative stimulation, support for your department or school, or some combination of these, you’ll find resources, activities, and like-minded peers in the PWAA. 

The Penn Weitzman Alumni Association (PWAA) is here to be a professional, creative, and social resource to the Weitzman alumni community of over 11,000 members. The PWAA aims to support and strengthen the School by increasing communication amongst graduates from all departments and their friends, by offering counsel to its leadership, by assisting with fundraising on its behalf, and by connecting alumni from its various departments with the professional disciplines which its graduates profess.