Blakely C. Dunn, AIA, is president of CADM Architecture Inc. in El Dorado. Since it was founded in 1936, CADM has become one of the oldest architectural firms in continuous practice in the state of Arkansas .
Dunn began his career working as an intern-architect at CADM before working several years for The Stuck Associates in Little Rock and Bullock Tice Associates in Pensacola, Florida. Since his return as principal, CADM Architecture has grown in size and reach, with hundreds of projects successfully completed statewide and in over 12 states ranging from Montana to Wisconsin to Texas to Florida.
Dunn is known as an innovative, thoughtful, dedicated, and visionary leader within the national architectural community where he has had significant influence on the evolution of the practice of architecture. He was the 2014 President/Chair of the Board of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), the second-youngest NCARB President (by less than 3 months) since its founding in 1919, and only the second NCARB President to be from the state of Arkansas. He was the first President of NCARB to have completed the Intern Development Program (IDP).
As a three-time appointee to the Arkansas State Board of Architects and as a national leader of NCARB, Dunn’s visionary leadership led to the development of a new integrated licensure track model and major evolutionary changes to the IDP that will have a significant and positive impact on all 100,000+ members of the emerging professional community by shortening the length of time to complete their licensure track. He was also instrumental in facilitating international practice opportunities for U.S. architects by negotiating and signing a Mutual Recognition Agreement with Canada and a Tri-National Agreement with Canada and Mexico, for which he received a Distinguished Service Medal from the President of the Federacion de Colegios de Arquitectos de la Republica Mexicana (FCARM) and an Honorable Contribution Award from the Consejo Nacional de Registro de la Certificacion Profesional (CONARC) in 2013.
He graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1985.
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