While studying architecture at Washington University, Vicki Match Suna, AIA, BA ’80, MArch ’82, learned to approach all of life’s endeavors with creativity. “My education provided me with a foundation for addressing issues and solving problems while being open to endless possibilities,” she explains. “I am enormously grateful to WashU for everything I gained there — and how it has informed my career and work.”
Match Suna has demonstrated her gratitude and dedication to her alma mater through her loyal service and support. She is a member of the Sam Fox School National Council and the New York Regional Cabinet and assisted Leading Together: The Campaign for Washington University as a campaign volunteer. This past July, she expanded her commitment when she was elected to the university’s board of trustees.
Of her numerous volunteer roles, Match Suna has particularly enjoyed being involved in the university’s recent capital project to transform the east end of the Danforth Campus. She served on a committee that helped select an architectural firm and advised the design of Anabeth and John Weil Hall, the latest addition to the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
Her daughters, Zoe, BA ’14, and Rose, BFA ’18, also engaged with these efforts, participating in a lively discussion at an event Match Suna hosted in New York City in 2016 to review the architect’s plan for Weil Hall in the context of the overall transformation. Sharing a connection to Washington University has further strengthened the bond between mother and daughters.
The project inspired Match Suna, a longstanding scholarship supporter, to make an investment to establish the Match Suna Family Seminar Room in Weil Hall.
“I was very excited about the concept of Weil Hall being a truly integrated and collaborative environment where students from different disciplines and schools can work side by side.”
— Vicki Match Suna
“I was very excited about the concept of Weil Hall being a truly integrated and collaborative environment where students from different disciplines and schools can work side by side,” she explains. “My family wanted to support it and chose the seminar room because it facilitates those kinds of interactions.”
Match Suna is thrilled to have been a part of this important initiative. “This transformation project has restored great aspects of the original campus plan, revitalized the east end and ensured that it sustains the excellence that defines the institution,” she says. “It reminds me of what we did at NYU Langone.”
For the past 25 years, Match Suna has served NYU Langone Health, where she is senior vice president and vice dean for real estate development and facilities. During her tenure, she has led the planning and implementation of the medical center’s 12-year campus transformation project, the most extensive revitalization in its history. The transformation has included the launch of the NYU Langone Art Program and Collection, conceived by Match Suna, which integrates artwork into the center’s facilities.
“Through this comprehensive project, we have been able to reinvigorate the campus, restoring its original concept in a new and fresh way while we upgrade and expand,” Match Suna says. “I am extremely proud that we have created a cohesive environment across the campus that reflects the exceptional quality of what we do.”
Before joining NYU Langone’s staff, Match Suna practiced architecture in her native New York City. While she was initially hesitant about the transition from practice to campus planning and facilities, she has found her role at NYU Langone highly rewarding. “It has been a great opportunity to be part of a community of extremely talented and dedicated individuals helping advance our mission: excellence in patient care, education and research,” she says.
Washington University recognized her outstanding professional achievement and extraordinary alumni leadership with a 2016 Founders Day Distinguished Alumni Award and with a Distinguished Architecture Alumni Award and Alumni Achievement Award from the Sam Fox School, both in 2014.
“Vicki is passionate about architecture, art and design practice and education, and she understands the enduring value of the arts to enrich and enhance lives,” says Carmon Colangelo, the Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School and E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts. “We have been so fortunate to count her as a dedicated adviser, a generous donor and an exemplary friend of the school and the university.”
