Special Guest: Eric Garcetti

Council President
City of Los Angeles
www.ericgarcetti.com
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A fourth-generation Angeleno, Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti has emerged as an effective local problem-solver and as a strong advocate on citywide and national issues.  He led the effort to fund the nation's largest Affordable Housing Trust Fund, oversaw the economic and cultural revitalization of Hollywood, wrote and championed Proposition O to clean up our local water, won passage of a plan that eliminated the city’s business tax for 60% of all businesses, and helped bring thousands of new high wage jobs to Los Angeles and his district.  In his district, he tackled neighborhoods' most intractable problems, doubling the number of parks, ensuring the availability of an after-school program in every school in the district, and reducing graffiti by more than 60 percent.

Council President Garcetti's work has been recognized in dozens of awards, including the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award for Americans under 40 who are changing their communities with a commitment to public service and the Green Cross Millennium Award from former President Mikhail Gorbachev for environmental leadership. 

Prior to his election, Garcetti taught public policy, diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College and the University of Southern California. In 1998, the Rockefeller Foundation selected him as a Next Generation Leadership Fellow. Garcetti studied urban planning and political science at Columbia University, where he received his B.A. and M.A. in International Relations. He studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and the London School of Economics. He is an avid photographer, jazz pianist and composer. He lives in Echo Park with his partner of twelve years, Amy Elaine Wakeland.

James L. Atkins, P.E.

Partner,
The South Group and Williams & Dame Development
Los Angeles, CA
www.exploresouthgroup.com
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James Atkins joined Williams & Dame Development (WDD) in 1997, and in early 2004, was appointed principal partner for The South Group, a collaboration with Portland’s Gerding Edlen to develop the South Collection in Los Angeles’s South Park neighborhood.In mid-2006, Atkins became a partner in Williams Dame & Atkins Development (WDA), overseeing all of the company’s development projects in Southern California.

The South Group’s commitment to sustainable buildings and progressive approach to urban planning and development continues to take shape at South, the vibrant new high-rise community in South Park consisting of three buildings: Elleven (completed in April 2006; fully occupied), Luma (completed in June 2007; final residences now selling) and Evo (currently under construction and scheduled for completion in spring 2008). Elleven was the first new building in downtown LA in more than 23 years and the first in the state of California to be awarded a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Gold certification.

The company is committed to building smart, sustainable projects that create neighborhoods with lasting value. In addition to incorporating innovative green building practices into their developments, The South Group is helping transform LA’s urban core into a 24-hour neighborhood of pedestrian paths, gardens and a lively streetscape of retail shops and services.

During his tenure with WDD, Atkins’ services have also been vital to Portland’s Broken Top (a 2,000 acre resort development in Central Oregon), Hoyt Street Yards (a 2,000 unit mixed use neighborhood in the Pearl District), and South Waterfront (a 2,500 unit mixed use development with a biotech-education-research center).

Atkins is responsible for day-to-day development activities including public-private development agreements, affordable housing development, brownfield redevelopment and environmental remediation, minority contracting goals, sustainable development practices, and mass transit infrastructure improvements.

WDA’s other projects include Circa, a 194 unit project located in Koreatown, and Jardin, a 648 unit development adjacent to the Staples Center.

Benjamin Ball

Ball-Nogues Studio
Los Angeles, CA
www.ball-nogues.com
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Benjamin Ball grew up in Colorado and Iowa where his mother's involvement in theatre proved influential. While studying for his degree at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Ball logged stints at Gehry Partners and Shirdel Zago Kipnis. Upon graduation, he sought work as a set and production designer for films (including the Matrix series) as well as music videos and commercials with such influential directors as Mark Romanek and Tony Scott. His experience ranges from work on the Disney Concert Hall and small residential commissions for boutique firms to complex medical structures and event design. In his current collaboration with Gaston Nogues, Ball is exploring the intersection of architecture, art and product design through physical modeling and the use of digital and more traditional forms of production. A major goal of his design endeavors is to create experiences; because of this, he feels "a building that is not built is not architecture."

In 2006, Ball-Nogues Studio was awarded the Best of Category distinction for Environments for their installation Maximilian's Schell by ID Magazine. Ball-Nogues is the recipient of two Los Angeles AIA Design Awards and Interior Design Magazines Best of Year Award for their installation Rip Curl Canyon. In 2007 their installation Liquid Sky was the winner of the Museum of Modern Art / P.S.1's Young Architect's Program competition and Ball-Nogues became one three design teams who were awarded a United States Artists Target Fellowship. Their work has appeared in publications worldwide including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Architectural Record, Architectural Digest, Interior Design, Icon, Log 10, Sculpture, and Surface.

Freya Bardell

Principal
Greenmeme
Los Angeles, CA
www.greenmeme.com
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Freya Bardell is an ecological designer and public artist based in Los Angeles, California. She is a principle and co-founder of Greenmeme and has served as a design consultant for Rana Creek Living Architecture and Farmlab. Her work is part of a growing movement in sustainable design that seeks to integrate new materials and ecological systems into art, architecture and landscape environments.

Freya and her design partner Brian Howe see the sides of buildings, vacant lots, road-side medians and islands as sites for their living surfaces, remediating both the environment and community. They have exhibited temporary and permanent installations both nationally and internationally.

Freya graduated from Manchester with a BSC in Environmental Science. Relocating to LA she found work in the entertainment industry as an art director and later a production designer. This experience in fabrication and ecology has enabled her to work within the field of art, architecture and landscape design to create vertical gardens, green roofs, living sculptures and art installations that actively engage the public.

Her belief that public engagement is key to increasing environmental awareness has led her to actively contribute to ecological education through workshops at Art Center College of Design, Strybing Arboretum, Park(ing) Day LA, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Environmental Affairs Department and a number of US based non-profits.

John Brady

Partner
Ford Brady
Los Angeles, CA
www.fordbrady.com

FORDBRADY is the newest independent design gallery in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 2005 by longtime friends Willard Ford and John Brady. Together they travel the world in search of designers to contribute stylish and functional products to their downtown Los Angeles showroom, located in the Kim Sing Theatre, an historical landmark and cultural focal point for the emerging downtown Los Angeles design scene. The theater is within walking distance of art galleries, museums, and shopping districts such as Chinatown’s Chung King Road, Disney Hall, the Mark Taper Forum, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Museum of Modern Art (MOCA). Through a unique partnership with the Earl McGrath Gallery in West Hollywood, FORDBRADY presents special art exhibitions.

Enrico Bressan

Principal & Co-Art Director
Artecnica Inc.
Los Angeles, CA
www.artecnicainc.com
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Enrico Bressan is an architect by trade. A native of Italy, he spent many years as a computer electronic design engineer, then founding Artecnica in 1986 as a joint partnership with Tahmineh Javanbakht.

Initially the focus of the business was in architectural and interior design services with clients including Gianni Versace and Sebastian International, spearheading architectural design of Sebastian Centers in France and California, Cosmetic Boutique and Hair Salon in Amsterdam, and Arsenal project in Holland. His award-winning architectural work has been widely published.

In 1993, Bressan’s focus for Artenica shifted the company toward home decor interior accessories, creating a continuous crescendo of trend setting products. A collection of jewel-tone resin tabletop design led, followed rapidly by an influential collection of naturally inspired die/etch/laser-cut interior décor designs.

Since the early 90’s, he has been involved in developing eco-friendly product design and architectural programs with foundations and design schools in the Dominican Republic, Brazil and California.

As a result of such experience and out of concern for the environmental and humanitarian crisis in the world, he has steered Artecnica’s product development to embrace sustainability through DESIGN WITH CONSCIENCE.

Angela Brooks, AIA, LEED AP

Principal
Pugh + Scarpa Architecture
Santa Monica, CA
Founder, Livable Places
www.pugh-scarpa.com
www.livableplaces.org
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A recognized leader in sustainable design and construction, firm principal Angela Brooks places Pugh + Scarpa at the forefront of the field which promises to dominate future design, construction, and urban planning. Her expertise in the area provides clients financial benefits through long term savings.

Brooks heads the firm’s Sustainable Development Department and has served as Project Architect and consultant on buildings which range in scope from public and institutional projects, to mixed-use projects, single- and multifamily housing. She joined Pugh + Scarpa as a Principal in 1999. Holding strong operational skills as well as design aptitude, Brooks is responsible for overall project management and supervision of the firm’s designers and staff.

Her expertise is recognized by such entities as the City of Santa Monica, which appointed Brooks to the Advisory Board of Solar Santa Monica. She is a co-founder and past President of Livable Places, Inc., a non-profit development company dedicated to building sustainable mixed-use housing. Brooks has been dedicated to implementing positive urban planning since 1993, when she won the New Public Realm International Design Competition.

Brooks holds a Master of Architecture, Graduation with Distinction from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and a Bachelor of Design in Architecture from the University of Florida.

Jonathan Budner

Program Manager
Sustainable Communities
Southern California Edison
www.sce.com
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Jonathan Budner has always wished he were a designer, but can barely operate a pencil, let alone AutoDesk. Despite this, he manages Southern California Edison’s Sustainable Communities Program, which is tasked with figuring out a way to encourage zero-net energy, green communities. He previously managed the California New Homes Program, and the Advanced Homes Program (Green Homes), and was energy efficiency consultant to new commercial construction projects through the Savings By Design program.

In April 2008, Jonathan accepted the Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious ENERGY STAR award for “Sustained Excellence in Program Delivery” for SCE’s New Homes Program at an awards ceremony held in Washington, D.C.

Jonathan also played a key role in several California statewide efforts, developing the California Public Utility Commission’s Big Bold Energy Efficiency Strategies and the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan.

Prior to joining SCE, Jonathan led his own consulting firm delivering marketing, strategic planning, and EE program support to utilities, ESCOs, and affordable housing developers.  Jonathan is proud to have been employee number three at a then-fledgling U.S. Green Building Council where he worked as a Project Manager to develop LEED-Homes and LEED-Commercial.

Jonathan holds a degree in English from Reed College, and is a Certified Energy Manager. He lives in La Verne with his wife and son.

Valerie Casey

Founder
The Designers Accord
www.designersaccord.org
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Valerie Casey heads a global practice at IDEO, where she designs socially and environmentally sustainable products, services, and business models for companies around the world. Valerie founded the Designers Accord, a call to arms for the creative community to reduce the negative impact caused by design, and to work collaboratively to inspire change in the design industry and in consumer behavior. Valerie has published and lectured on design throughout the international community, and is an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts.

Don Chadwick

Founder/Principal
Chadwick Studio
Los Angeles, CA
www.donchadwick.com
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A native of Southern California, Don Chadwick received his principal training in design at the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating in 1959. He then worked for architect Victor Gruen before establishing his own practice in 1964. In 1974, Chadwick designed Chadwick Modular Seating.

In collaboration with William Stumpf he designed the Equa 1 flexing-plastic chair (1984). Then in 1994, the landmark Aeron chair catapulted Chadwick to national attention; the Industrial Designers Society of America and Business Week Magazine awarded Design of the Decade to the Aeron chair in 1999.

Chadwick has received numerous awards over the past three and a half decades while pioneering the use of modern materials, molding processes and mechanisms leading to cutting-edge products that have raised the standard for their market.

“As a hands-on person, I have always been intrigued with the variety of materials and their respective properties and process capabilities. In my earlier formative years the work of Michael Thonet, The Bauhas, Alvar Aalto and of course the plywood and fiberglass experiments of Charles and Ray Eames had a profound influence on my approach to materials and their integral part of the process of design.”

Chadwick has lectured at UCLA and the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena.

John Chase

Urban Designer
City of West Hollywood
West Hollywood, CA
www.weho.org
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John Chase writes about the actual as-found world, in books such as Glitter Stucco and Dumpster Diving, published in 2000 by Verso, or his most recent book, LA 2000 + by Monacelli Press in 2006.  In his writing, he describes hurling rotten sapote fruit back at a neighbor, explained the pedigree and lineage of the fake mansard roof in California, helped define the stucco box apartment house as a building type, and championed the value of a revolving light-up giant chicken-head. He is happiest when navigating between the world view of competing professions and cultures, operating under the working assumption that they usually don’t understand each other. 

John’s day job is Urban Designer for the City of West Hollywood, where he is in charge of architectural review, reviewing some of the best new development in Southern California, by architects such as Lorcan O’Herlihy, Pugh + Scarpa, and Ten Arquitectos (Enrique Norten). When he first met Dwell Los Angeles Editor Frances Anderton in 1988 he was a Walt Disney Imagineer. He has also had his own design firm, worked as an historic preservation consultant, and taught design, history and theory at USC, UCLA, and SCI-Arc.

Aidan Chopra

Product Evangelist
Google SketchUp
http://sketchup.google.com
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Aidan Chopra works at Google as the Product Evangelist for Google SketchUp, a 3D modeling tool used by design professionals, engineers and 3D enthusiasts all over the world. He is the author of Google SketchUp For Dummies and the textbook Introduction to Google SketchUp, both of which were published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons. Aidan holds an undergraduate degree from NSCAD University in Halifax, and a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University in Houston. At Google, his job is to be an advocate for the everyday communication of concepts, ideas and places in 3D. Aidan is responsible for the SketchUpdate e-newsletter and blog, and contributes to the efforts of SketchUp's marketing, training, product management and development teams.

Mary Cordaro

Healthy Sustainable Home Specialist and Certified Bau-Biologist
President and Founder
H3Environmental
Valley Village, CA
www.h3environmental.com
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Mary Cordaro is the president and Founder of H3Environmental, Corp. specializing in The Mary Cordaro Collection of healthy bedroom products, consulting on healthy, green home building and remodeling, diagnosing and solving "sick building syndrome", and education. Applicable to both the diagnosis of and solutions for the existing "sick home", as well as the building and remodeling of new homes, Cordaro's integrated approach is unique. She synthesizes the fields of Bau-Biologie, Building Science, and green building with an overlay of the low consumption, ecological lifestyle. In short, this practical integration addresses the indoor environmental concerns associated with both human as well as planetary health.  Mary has applied her extensive experience and knowledge of healthy materials to developing her own line of healthy, organic mattresses and bedding. 

Cordaro has been working in the field of healthy, ecological building since 1989 having started by extensively researching to correct problems in her own home. She then decided to use this knowledge to help her clients, many of whom, like herself, are either sensitive to conventional building and interior materials, or concerned about the manufacturing, use and disposal of materials and their effect on human and planetary health. For the past 18 years Cordaro has been directing a team of specialists who work together to test for and abate contaminants in the home, including electromagnetic fields, mold and chemicals. Cordaro also specifies building materials and systems for healthy indoor air quality and low electromagnetic fields. She and her team consult with homeowners and tenants, as well as architects, contractors, designers, health practitioners and medical doctors.

Using over one and a half decades of experience and her academic and professional background in adult learning and instructional design, Cordaro lectures and teaches around the country. She is also currently developing an educational curriculum, which will offer the average homeowner protocols and procedures on environmental home maintenance, do-it-yourself testing and solutions for common home contaminants, as well as the use of healthier, ecological interior and building materials.

Lori Dennis, ASID, LEED AP

Principal Interior Designer
Dennis Design Group
Los Angeles, CA
www.dennisdesigngroup.com
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Lori graduated from UCLA Interior Design program where she currently sits on the Alumni Association Board. In 1998 she formed Dennis Design Group, specializing in green, eco-friendly interior design. Eco-friendly projects include residential, commercial and hospitality interiors in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Miami, Palm Springs and New York. In 2006 Lori passed the NCIDQ Exam, joined ASID and serves on the Green and PR Committees.  In 2007 she passed the USGBC Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Exam, designating her a LEED AP. 

Lori has lectured with David Hertz on sustainable interiors for the UCLA Interior Design program. Her work has been featured in Woman's Day Magazine, Smart Home Owner, HGTV Magazine, Small Room Decorating, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Apartment Therapy and countless other magazines and websites throughout the world.  Dennis Design Group is featured in the book, modern design, The American Collection. She writes a home column for Tibesti.com and has been featured as a guest expert on XM radio (Nancy Glass), KABCRadio Los Angeles, HGTV, Discovery Channel, Food Network Channel and NBC.

Jenna Didier

Founder, Materials & Applications
Principal, Fountainhead Design
Collaborator, infranatural
Los Angeles, CA
www.materialsandapplications.org
www.fountainhd.com
www.infranatural.com
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Jenna Didier is in pursuit of a new approach to the built environment. A lifelong interest in the creation and use of public space has led to continual opportunities to expand upon her basic experience in construction and metal fabrication. The trajectory of her career begins with the development of technical skills in design, engineering, and fine arts to create mechanical effects, sculpture, and architectural water features to an active engagement in place-making for communities.

In 2002, Ms. Didier founded a non-profit outdoor exhibition space in Los Angeles called Materials & Applications (M&A). This facility mounts two temporary installations a year that showcase architecture and landscapes by firms or individuals that wish to demonstrate a new or emergent material or technique. M&A has won three AIA Design Honor Awards for their exhibits.

Ms. Didier created M&A in order that it be a driving force to increase public participation in the built environment by inspiring visitors with a fresh interest in their surroundings-while they experience the latest ideas in architectural design and theory. The aim: to push the application of materials beyond what typical limits of commercial, residential and traditional gallery-based projects allow towards a more flourishing, living architecture.

Ms. Didier is the principal of Fountainhead (www.fountainhd.com), a water systems design company that specializes in the intersection of technology and sustainable ecological practices. She also belongs to the art collaboration infranatural, currently developing two large-scale public art installations for the city of Los Angeles.

Sarah Dusseault

Senior Policy Advisor
City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

As Senior Policy Advisor, Sarah helps Council President Garcetti develop policy initiatives on key issues including public safety, education, the environment, housing, and homelessness.  She oversees the legislative policy staff.

Sarah served as Deputy Mayor for Housing and Homelessness during Mayor Jim Hahn's Administration. She played a key role in establishing and implementing Los Angeles's Affordable Housing Trust Fund and helped to inaugurate the Mayoral Housing Summit, a national symposium sponsored by the Los Angeles Business Council. As Mayor Hahn's Policy Director, Sarah also helped lead efforts to develop major policy initiatives, including the city's largest expansion of the LAs BEST after-school program and a program to fix 25 of the city's worst intersections every year.

Sarah currently serves on the Board of Directors for Shelter Partnership, a policy and resources service center working to end homelessness in Los Angeles County. She has also served as a Commissioner on the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Sarah is a graduate of Yale College and earned a J.D. at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.

Jhaelen  Eli

Design Consultant
EMPYREAN International
Acton, MA
www.empyreanint.com/Partnership
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Empyrean International is the fabricator of Acorn Homes, Deck House, and the Dwell Homes. As Empyrean International's consulting designer, Jhaelen has been instrumental in conceptualizing and implementing the Empyrean Design Partnership, a program that embraces collaborations with independent architects. Launched in 2006, the Design Partnership helps architects realize custom residential projects through Empyrean's building systems and processes. Jhaelen has consulted with a prestigious list of firms and collaborated on over 60 individual projects across the domestic and international landscape.  His daily duties challenge him to reconcile the 'creative act' with the necessity to leverage the efficiencies and economies of predetermined building systems.

Jhaelen has directly participated in the paradigm shift from 'mass production' to 'mass customization' to 'systematized customization,' and has lectured extensively about the impact of alternative delivery methods on the business practice of architecture.  He has also served as a design critic and guest lecturer at Harvard University, MIT, and the Boston Architectural Center.

Jhaelen received his B.A. in Architecture from UC Berkeley, and his M.Arch from Harvard University. He splits his time between Empyrean's headquarters in Boston and his home in New York City.

Theresa Fatino

Chief Creative Officer
SBE Entertainment Group
Los Angeles, CA
www.sbe.com
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With a discerning eye for detail, hands-on creative skills, and a sixth sense for emerging cultural tastes and trends, Theresa Fatino oversees all aspects of SBE Entertainment Group’s branding and design, both for its corporate divisions as well as its growing collection of venues. As Chief Creative Officer, Fatino is chief strategist and architect of the company’s public image and product experiences, including brand development responsibilities for SBE Hotel Group and SBE Restaurant & Nightlife Group.

Fatino is the organization’s key collaborator with master designer Philippe Starck on the company’s hotel, restaurant and lounge concepts, including the popular Katsuya restaurant brand, recently-opened S Bar and the upcoming SLS Hotels brand and a yet-to-be-named upscale supper club on the Sunset Strip. Fatino’s background in luxury and lifestyle branding and product development has proved to be an invaluable asset for the brand identities she has created for SBE, its divisions and individual concepts. Fatino oversees all aspects of environmental, interior and graphic design, as well as orchestrates virtually every vital brand touchpoint including staff uniforms, ambient music, collateral, operating supplies, merchandising, brand extensions and retailing.

Prior to joining SBE, Fatino was Vice President of Design and Brand Development for Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ W Hotels. An integral part of W’s founding team, Fatino was a driving force in establishing and guiding the image and design direction of the extraordinarily successful hotel brand. Prior to joining Starwood, Fatino served as Fashion Director of Product Development for home retailing power brand Pottery Barn. Her resume also includes significant positions with luxury retailer Neiman Marcus. After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from Syracuse University, Fatino launched her career as a designer for Polo Ralph Lauren. Fatino has also lent her design and editorial talents to such diverse organizations as Mattel, Country Life Designs and Home magazine.

Willard Ford

Partner
Ford Brady
Los Angeles, CA
www.fordbrady.com
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FORDBRADY is the newest independent design gallery in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 2005 by longtime friends Willard Ford and John Brady. Together they travel the world in search of designers to contribute stylish and functional products to their downtown Los Angeles showroom, located in the Kim Sing Theatre, an historical landmark and cultural focal point for the emerging downtown Los Angeles design scene. The theater is within walking distance of art galleries, museums, and shopping districts such as Chinatown’s Chung King Road, Disney Hall, the Mark Taper Forum, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Museum of Modern Art (MOCA). Through a unique partnership with the Earl McGrath Gallery in West Hollywood, FORDBRADY presents special art exhibitions.

Monica Gilchrist

Green Building Resource Center
Global Green USA
Santa Monica, CA
www.globalgreen.org
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Monica has been involved with Global Green USA's Green Building Resource Center since its inception in April 2004. She helped create and continues to administer the displays, library, programming, databases, outreach and consultations at the center.  She assisted in the creation and opening of Global Green's second resource center in New Orleans, as part of Global Green's response to hurricane Katrina. 
Monica has done extensive work developing municipal green building programs, working with cities such as Irvine, Pasadena, West Hollywood, and Cupertino.  She helped author the Global Green publication "Developing Green Building Programs: A Step-By-Step Guide for Local Governments," a guidebook outlining a process for local agencies to develop green building programs.

Monica sits on the Advisory Boards for Greenopia and the Green Home Guide and has been featured in numerous media outlets as an expert in green building. Monica holds an MA, Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Steve Glenn

Founder and CEO
LivingHomes, LLC
www.livinghomes.net

Steve Glenn is the founder and CEO of LivingHomes, LLC, a developer of modern, prefabricated homes designed by world-class architects that feature healthy/green materials and energy systems.  A fan of architecture and an avid Lego enthusiast from a very young age, Glenn tried his hand at design in college only to find that his true talents lay elsewhere, in the business of innovation.  From Lego to prefab, LivingHomes represents the fulfillment of a life-long ambition to create a company that aspires to “wed profit and purpose” by developing homes that make sustainable design practical and affordable.  The company’s first home, designed by Sci-Arc founder, Ray Kappe, became the first home ever to receive a LEED for Home Platinum rating and was the only residence to win the 2007 AIA Sustainability Award.

Glenn focuses as much energy on his non-profit endeavors as he does on his for-profit businesses. In his ‘spare’ time, Glenn has worked with the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation on a variety of projects for several years. Most recently he helped organize an initiative with the American Heart Association to address childhood health and nutrition. Before that, Glenn worked full-time with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and managed the development of a $330 million program in Mozambique which will provide care and treatment to over 350,000 HIV+ individuals over the next five years.

He also co-founded and serves on the board of the Sustainable Business Council, Kaia Parker Dance Fund, and the Hope Street Group.  He is also a member of the board of directors for LA Works and the Brown University Entrepreneur Forum.

Sarah Graham

Principal
AGPS Architecture
Los Angeles, CA
www.agps.ch
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Sarah Graham is a principal of agps architecture, a multidisciplinary team in Los Angeles and Zürich, Switzerland, bridging the realms of infrastructure, architecture, and landscape. Founded in 1982 with Marc Angélil, the group considers architecture as a collaborative enterprise, exploring relationships between design processes and products. 

agps’s work ranges from transportation infrastructure including the Portland Aerial Tram and the Midfield Terminal at the Zürich International Airport, to Master Planning including the adidas World Headquarters Master Plan in Hergogenaurach, Germany, to institutional buildings such as the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles and the World Conservation Fund in Geneva. Residential projects are built in Switzerland and throughout the United States. agps has won numerous design awards and has extensive publication of projects worldwide.

Sustainable design has been part of the team’s multidisciplinary design approach for almost 20 years, beginning with the Esslingen Town Center near Zürich, Switzerland.

Sarah Graham holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University and a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.  She was an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California and a visiting professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, and the University of California, Berkeley. 

Fritz Haeg

Principal, Fritz Haeg Studio
Founder, Edible Estates and Gardenlab
www.fritzhaeg.com
www.gardenlab.org
www.edibleestates.org
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Like a system of crop rotation, Fritz Haeg works between his architecture & design practice Fritz Haeg Studio (though the currently preferred clients are animals), the happenings & gatherings of Sundown Salon (now Sundown Schoolhouse), the ecology initiatives of Gardenlab (including Edible Estates) and his role as an educator.

He studied architecture in Italy at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia and Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his B. Arch. He has variously taught in architecture, design, and fine art programs at CalArts, Art Center College of Design, Parsons, and the University of Southern California. In 2006 he initiated Sundown Schoolhouse, the alternative educational environment based in his geodesic dome in Los Angeles.

He has produced projects and exhibited work at the Tate Modern; the Whitney Museum of American Art; Mass MoCA; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; the Wattis Institute; the Netherlands Architecture Institute, Maastricht; and the MAK Center, Los Angeles, among other institutions.

His new on-going series of projects called Animal Estates will debut at the Whitney Biennial in 2008 with a commissioned installation in front of the museum. His first book, "Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn", was published by Metropolis Books and distributed by D.A.P. in February 2008.

Michael Hricak, FAIA

B. Science, cum laude, University of Southern California
M. Arch., Harvard University
www.hricak.com

Michael Hricak has been in private practice since 1980, after working for Welton Becket & Assoc. and SOM. Since that time his firm has been honored with numerous awards and has been published in GA Houses, Metropolis, Architectural Review, LArca, Interior Design, Interiors, Trends, and Deseno Interior, among others and in numerous books.

Mr. Hricak coordinates project team efforts providing direction, analysis, design and construction strategy, and management. He has worked with public, institutional, commercial, industrial and private clients on historic restoration, adaptive reuse and renovation, multi-unit housing, custom residences, office buildings, corporate headquarters, department stores, retails shops, restaurants, and a wide variety of interior design assignments.

An AIA Upjohn Fellow, he served as a member of the national AIA Board of Directors from 2001 to 2004. Prior positions include vice president of Communications/Public Affairs and then president of the AIA California Council. In 1996 he served as president of the AIA Los Angeles Chapter. He is frequently invited to speak at conferences, universities and professional meetings and writes on a variety of topics.

Mr. Hricak is a Lecturer in Professional Practice at USC. He is also a Senior Design Instructor at UCLA Extension, having received the Deans Distinguished Instructor award in 2006. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Student Edition of the Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice to be published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Scott Johnson, FAIA

Design Partner
Johnson Fain
Los Angeles, CA
www.johnsonfain.com
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One of the most highly regarded architects based in California, Scott Johnson is also one of the few architects known to the general public and the design profession alike. A prolific designer of residential, commercial and institutional buildings, a number of his best-known designs are widely published and have become landmarks in their regions.

Among them are the Opus One and Byron wineries, San Francisco’s Rincon Center and the MGM Tower in Los Angeles. Mr. Johnson is an alum of Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley and the Harvard Design School. Following his university years, he worked at The Architects Collaborative, Skidmore Owings & Merrill and the office of Philip Johnson before returning to the West Coast where he founded with his partner William Fain, Johnson Fain, a Los Angeles-based international architecture, planning and interior design firm. He is active in the arts community and is a professor at the University of Southern California School of Architecture where he has been the Director of the Masters Programs.

He frequently writes and lectures on design and is the author of the recent book, THE BIG IDEA: CRITICALITY AND PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE, published by Balcony Press. He has a new book coming out in 2008 on the design of skyscrapers and he is currently designing tall buildings in Asia and the US.

Kameon, Judy

Founder/Principal
Elysian Landscapes
Los Angeles, CA
www.elysianlandscapes.com
www.plainair.com

Born and raised in Santa Monica, Judy Kameon graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Fine Arts. Shortly after graduating, Kameon purchased a bungalow and an empty dirt lot next to it, with the simple intention of making a garden. That intention became an obsession and then a career.

In 1996, Kameon founded Elysian Landscapes sitting at her kitchen table with some friends. In the last twelve years, Kameon has grown Elysian Landscapes into an award winning landscape design and construction firm that specializes in creating dramatic and compelling garden environments for both residential and commercial clients on coasts east and west. Known for its work on architecturally significant homes, the firm has also designed unique gardens for the stores of fashion designers Balenciaga and Marc Jacobs, in addition to the grounds of the Parker hotel in Palm Springs. In addition, Kameon and her firm’s work have been featured in numerous books and publications, including Dwell,Architectural Digest, House & Garden, and Metropolitan Home.

In 2000, Kameon and husband Erik Otsea launched Plain Air, a small collection of modern outdoor furniture. They reside in the charming neighborhood of Elysian Park with their son Ian, and spend as much time in the garden as possible.

Christoph Kapeller, AIA

Principal
CK-Architecture
Los Angeles, CA
www.ck-architecture.com
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Christoph Kapeller, AIA is the principal of CK-Architecture, a research oriented design firm in Los Angeles whose goal is to combine advanced, emerging technologies and interdisciplinary approaches to design a better, more sustainable, and more livable environment. Christoph was a founding partner of the Norwegian firm, Snøhetta, after being awarded the First Prize in the international competition for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the new library of Alexandria, Egypt in 1989. During the course of the project, Christoph spent 8 years in Egypt overseeing the design and construction of this world renowned $200 million project.

Since his relocation to Los Angeles, his firm has won numerous prizes and awards in international design competitions. Among others, the Aga Khan Award for architecture in 2004, finalist at the Aomori Northern Housing Complex Competition in 2002, Honorable Mention in the Malama Learning Center competition, Hawaii in 2004 and the Urban Habitats competition in Charlottesville in 2005.

CK Architecture has been reviewed in numerous articles, most recently for a Private Library Addition in Hancock Park, the downtown Pharmaka Gallery and the Robert H. Timme Architectural Research Center at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture.

Christoph received his Dipl. Ing. of Architecture in Graz, Austria and his Master of Architecture at the University of Southern California in 1986. In addition to his professional practice, Christoph Kapeller has lectured, written and published a number of critical articles, and is currently a member of the design faculty at the University of Southern California School of Architecture. ia School of Architecture.

Michelle Kaufmann, AIA, LEED® AP

Founder and Chairman
Michelle Kaufmann Designs
Oakland, CA
www.mkd-arc.com
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Growing up in Iowa, Michelle always had a deep understanding of the relationship between humankind and the environment. She deeply believes that how we develop our landscape is an integral part of our culture and that what we build and how we build should improve the environment rather than harm it.

When Michelle later relocated to Northern California, she found a lack of affordable, sustainable, well-designed homes. She soon realized that she could do something to solve the problem through her architecture. In 2002, she founded Michelle Kaufmann Designs and began her effort to make thoughtful, sustainable design accessible to all.

Michelle has since become a leader in the green design community. Her commitment to sustainable living and design remains constant throughout all of her work, including her sustainable home designs as well as her custom designs and holistic, green communities.

Michelle received her undergraduate degree from Iowa State University, and her Masters from Princeton University. She has been a lecturer and keynote speaker for numerous events and has taught at Iowa State University and Woodbury University. Prior to founding Michelle Kaufmann Designs, Kaufmann was an Associate with Frank O. Gehry.

Michelle’s work is widely published, and her homes have been showcased in a number of museums including the National Building Museum, the Vancouver Art Center, and MOCA in Los Angeles. MKD was listed as one of "The Green 50" by INC magazine, and Michelle was listed as one of the “Top 100 People Who Matter Now” by Business 2.0 magazine.

Nat Kreamer

President & Chief Operating Officer
Sun Run Generation LLC
San Francisco,CA
www.sunrunhome.com

Nat decided to start Sun Run Generation while serving with the U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan because he wanted to live in a cleaner, safer nation. He worked in power industry consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers, serving Fortune 500 energy companies and financial institutions. Before PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nat completed $300 million in venture investments in the Clean Technology Ventures group and was a member of the Emissions origination and trading group at Enron. He was also the Manager of market research and customer care at Epipeline. Nat holds an MBA from Rice University and a BS from Northwestern University. He is a U.S. Navy Officer (Reserves) and a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal. An avid sailor, he co-founded Delphia Yachts USA, the fastest growing brand of pleasure sailboats in North America. Nat is a member of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Nature Conservancy, and Sierra Club.

Roger Kurath, Architect MA/FH/EC

Founder and Principal
Design 21, LLC
Marina del Rey, CA
www.goDesign21.com
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Swiss-born Architect Roger Kurath is the founder of Design 21, LLC, established in Los Angeles in 2000. Design 21 is an international renowned practice that provides full architectural, interior design, product and furniture design services for both public and private sectors.
The practice is committed to providing architecture of high quality that responds to its environment and addresses issues of context and sustainability.

Roger Kurath was educated in Switzerland and the USA and was working extensively in various offices in Europe before moving to Los Angeles. He received his Master of Architecture degree from UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) and his Bachelor of Architecture as well as his Structural Engineering degree in Switzerland. He won a series of awards for design excellence and his work has been widely published in numerous national and international magazines, newspapers and books in the USA and Europe.

For Roger Kurath, architecture is not just a job, it is his passion. Healthy living and building sustainable architecture were key elements Roger Kurath promoted and practiced successfully in Switzerland and now continues in the USA. His work is based upon a solid foundation of design excellence, budget and program control, proficient project management and architectural quality. Working closely with the clients Roger Kurath is actively involved in the design and supervision of each project from concept, planning, construction through completion. High quality results from the continuity of the design process and intensive dialogues with the client, consultants, contractors and end users.

Alejandra Lillo

Partner
GRAFT LLC,
Los Angeles, CA
www.graftlab.com
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GRAFT is a full service architectural firm located in Los Angeles, Berlin, and Beijing. Our collective professional experience encompasses a wide array of building types including Hospitality Design, Fine Arts, Educational, Institutional, Commercial and Residential facilities. The firm has won numerous awards in Europe as well as in the United States.

GRAFT was established in 1998 in Los Angeles, California by Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz and Thomas Willemeit. Alejandra Lillo became a partner at Graft LA in 2007. Graft later opened offices in Berlin, Germany in 2001 as well as in Bejing, China in 2005 with Gregor Hoheisel as a partner.

GRAFT was conceived as a ‘Label’ for Architecture, Urban Planning, Exhibition Design, Music and the “pursuit of happiness”. Since the firm was established, it has been commissioned to design and manage a wide range of projects in multiple disciplines and locations. With the core of the firm’s enterprises gravitating around the field of architecture and the built environment, GRAFT has always maintained an interest in crossing the boundaries between disciplines and “grafting” the creative potentials and methodologies of different realities. This is reflected in the firm’s expansion into the fields of music, car design, art installations, academic projects and “eventings” as well as in the variety of project locations in Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Italy, France and in the U.S. and Mexico.

With a staff of talented architectural professionals and administrators, GRAFT has the resources and technology necessary to execute a project from programming to design and through construction, including construction documents, construction administration, and governmental agency review phases. GRAFT has rigorously undertaken an increasing role in programming, master-planning and urban design. Additionally, our firm maintains successful relationships, as needed, with associate architectural and engineering firms and specialty consultants.

Andy Lipkis

Founder and President
TreePeople
Beverly Hills, CA
www.treepeople.org
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Andy Lipkis began planting trees to rehabilitate smog and fire damaged areas when he was 15 years old. He founded TreePeople in 1973 at age 18 and continues to serve as its president. Now one of California’s largest independent environmental organizations, TreePeople is dedicated to helping nature heal our cities.

Among Andy’s accomplishments are inspiring the planting of one million trees in Los Angeles before the 1984 Summer Olympics, and with his wife Kate, writing The Simple Act of Planting a Tree, which has become a touchstone for the international Citizen Forestry movement, a term he coined. 

Andy is a creative problem solver who addresses pressing public health, economic, and environmental issues by forging partnerships between diverse and conflicting parties. Over the past 15 years, Andy has spearheaded “integrated watershed management,” an approach that uses trees and forest-inspired technologies to create a sustainable water supply as well as flood and pollution prevention. This approach is being used in a long term retrofit of the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles (pop. 80,000) creating a new paradigm for increasing environmental health and sustainability in cities.

Andy’s honors include being named to the U.N. Environment Programme’s Global 500 Roll of Honour, and American Forests’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

TreePeople has involved more than two million volunteers in planting more than two million trees. Its environmental education programs reach over 200,000 students each year. Opening soon at its 45-acre Coldwater Canyon Park headquarters, the Center for Community Forestry will be a new sustainability resource for the LA region.

Richard Loring

Elena Manferdini

Principal
Atelier Manferdini
Los Angeles, CA
www.ateliermanferdini.com
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Elena Manferdini graduated from the University of Civil Engineering (Bologna, Italy) and later from University of California Los Angeles (Master of Architecture and Urban Design).

In 2003 Elena Manferdini funded Atelier Manferdini, a design office that has been highly visible advocate of design excellence and has been recognized internationally for its ability to create imaginative architecture, fashion and object design. The work is based on the philosophy that design can participate in the new developments that are defining our culture, translating the complexity of contemporary technology into built form. Currently the firm is designing a 250,000sft master plan in Macerata (Italy) including 80 apartments, a museum, a public library and an open theater. Recently the firm has collaborated with numerous industries: MTV, Fiat, Nike, Alessi, Guzzini, Ottaviani, Leucos, Valentino and FolliFollie are selected examples.

Her architectural projects have been exhibited internationally in both architecture and art museums: her work is currently showcased at “Skin and Bones”, in Tokyo. Last year she was invited to curate the West Coast USA session of the Beijing Biennale exhibition and she designed the West Coast pavilion for the Chinese Millennium Museum. Elena Manferdini has been featured in several publications: Domus, New York Times, Elle, Vogue, ID, Icon, Form, Contemporary, Metropolis, Architectural Design are selected examples. In addition to leading her design practice, Elena Manferdini teaches design studios and seminar at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

Sebastian Mariscal

Founder and Principal
Sebastian Mariscal Studio
San Diego, CA
www.sebastianmariscal.com
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Sebastian Mariscal is founder of Sebastian Mariscal Studio, established in 2000 in San Diego,California. Seeking full control for the realization of its ideas, the studio employs the challenges of design, development, construction and habitation. With this hands-on approach to architecture, every design decision becomes more concrete and more practical and every building, more thoughtful. Born in Mexico City in 1970, Sebastian Mariscal started his architectural education and experience at an early age at his father’s studio. In 1988 he opened his own studio in Mexico City and later joined Tonet Sunyer in Barcelona (1995-1996). After collaboration with Jonathan Segal (1997-2000) he started his own practice in San Diego.

The work of the studio has been featured in numerous national and international publications and was awarded Design Vanguard 2007 by Architectural Record magazine. Sebastian Mariscal gives lectures throughout the country and is a Co-Director of the Master’s of Real Estate Development program at Woodbury University in San Diego.

Leo Marmol, FAIA

Managing Principal
Marmol Radziner and Associates
Los Angeles, CA
www.marmol-radziner.com
www.marmolradzinerprefab.com
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Leo Marmol , FAIA, is Managing Principal of the design/build architectural firm, Marmol Radziner and Associates in Los Angeles, California. Leo manages a variety of residential projects as well as public and community-based urban projects. With a passion for mid-century Modern residences, his extensive research and creative construction methods have resulted in numerous awards for the firm’s renovation and restoration work, including Richard Neutra’s 1946 Kaufmann House in Palm Springs. Leo’s home near Palm Springs is the prototype for Marmol Radziner Prefab, the firm’s new line of green modular homes that are built in its factory and delivered complete. The firm’s unique business practice and commitment to design excellence was rewarded with the honor of being named the AIA California Council’s 2004 Firm of the Year. Leo received his Bachelor of Architecture, with a Minor in Philosophy from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California .

Cara Mullio

Principal,
Root Development, LLC
www.rootdevelopment.com
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Mullio established Root Development, LLC, in 2006 as a Los Angeles-based company that develops residential, commercial and raw land properties in urban areas in Los Angeles County. The company also provides consulting services in the realm of expediting and entitlement work, feasibility studies, development guidance for property owners, architects, and other developers.

In conjunction with launching her development company, Mullio is a freelance writer and curator specializing in contemporary architecture projects. Her publications include Trespassing: Houses x Artists, coauthored Long Beach Architecture: The Unexpected Metropolis and other writings have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Arcade Architecture and Design Journal, and Two Minds: Artists and Architects in Collaboration. Mullio is often invited to lecture on issues of architecture and urbanism for various Los Angeles institutions. Previous work includes the directorship of The MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House and curatorial associate at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Mullio holds a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California and a Master of Arts in Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Lorcan O’Herlihy, AIA

Founder/Principal
Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects
Culver City, CA
www.loharchitects.com
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Since LOHA’s inception in 1990, founder and principal Lorcan O’Herlihy has sought the opportunity to engage the operative layers of the urban landscape with respect to spatial, sensory and experiential information. In 2004 the Architectural League of New York selected Lorcan O’Herlihy as one of the eight “emerging voices” in the United States. Lorcan’s commitment to design excellence in commercial, educational and residential projects has earned 26 national and international awards including seven AIA/LA Design Awards. In addition, his work has been recognized internationally with a number of exhibitions and has been published extensively.

Lorcan’s professional practice has been coupled with intellectual rigor since the inception of his office. He has taught and lectured extensively over the last decade, including the Architectural Association in London, Southern California Institute of Architecture [SCI-Arc], Cranbrook Academy of Art, Columbia University, and the National Building Museum, Washington D.C. among others.

Previously, Lorcan worked at I.M. Pei and Partners on the celebrated Grande Louvre Museum in Paris and as an Associate at Steven Holl Architects, where he was responsible for several projects including the award-winning Hybrid Building in Seaside, Florida, which received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects.

Rose Olson, AIA

Director of Development
Urban Environments
Los Angeles, CA
www.urbanenvironmentsla.com
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Rose Olson has been Director of Development at Urban Environments since 2006. UE is an award-winning Los Angeles based development company specializing in multi-family infill projects that exemplify cutting-edge design and a commitment to enhancing the urban fabric of LA. UE is currently building projects designed by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects and Kanner Architects and was a recent participant in LA’s Architecture + Design Museum’s exhibit “Enlightened Development”.

Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Rose worked as an architect in Boston for Bruner/Cott & Associates and Brian Healy Architects. Her work in architecture has always been guided by a passion for contemporary design and a commitment to build sustainable urban communities and she was able to pursue this interest on projects ranging from “Channel Center”, a redevelopment of an entire street of historic properties in Boston’s Fort Point Channel, to educational facilities for Dartmouth College using the latest green design technologies. Rose was also a frequent guest critic at the Boston Architectural Center.

Rose holds a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California and Bachelor of Architecture from McGill University in Montreal.  A native of Ontario, Canada, Rose now lives in Hollywood with her husband Gregory D. Morrow, an urban planner/designer.

Francisco "Cisco" Pinedo

CEO and Founder
Cisco Brothers
Los Angeles,CA
www.ciscobrothers.com
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Francisco Pinedo, known as “Cisco,” is the CEO and Founder of Cisco Brothers Corporation, an award-winning custom furniture manufacturer based in Los Angeles, California.

Cisco, who moved with his family to South L.A. from Jalisco, Mexico when he was 13, first entered the furniture industry by working part-time in a Huntington Park upholstery shop during high school. In his early twenties, he began making custom furniture in the garage of his South Central Los Angeles home. As his enterprise began to rapidly grow, he recruited his brothers, sister, and other family members to help him with the business. In a highly competitive, design driven industry, Cisco Brothers quickly distinguished itself with its superior craftsmanship, cutting edge style, and unparalleled value. Moreover, the intimate, family-like atmosphere of the company helped nurture uncommon client loyalty.

After the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Cisco decided to move his manufacturing company to the heart of South Central Los Angeles. Though this was viewed as a risky business decision, Cisco had resolved to play a role in revitalizing his ailing childhood neighborhood. The move proved to be a tremendous success as Cisco Brothers has since more than tripled in size. The company continues to grow at a meteoric pace and has been a critical component in the redevelopment of the neighborhood surrounding the factory.

Cisco’s accomplishments were soon recognized outside of the furniture industry, and the company has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and NPR, among other media outlets. Cisco Brothers was selected for the City of Los Angeles’ national marketing campaign, and Cisco himself has received numerous civic and business awards, including the prestigious Treasures of the City award by the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office.

Cisco lives in Pasadena with his wife Alba, and their three daughters.

Michael Pinto, AIA

Principal-in-Charge
Osborn
Glendale, CA
www.osborn320.com
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Michael joined Osborn in 1993, becoming a partner in the role of Design Principal in 2000. He has taught in the Environmental Design Program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and is currently coordinating the Outreach and Community Program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCIArc). His work has been published in Thresholds: Journal of the MIT School of Architecture, Art Journal of the University of Chicago,and Loud Paper architectural magazine. He recently co-authored an article for the Los Angeles Times regarding the potential for design of public schools in Los Angeles.

Michael’s interests lie in the relationship of community, program and form. In 2007, he served as the President of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. He is a founding member of the CityWorks Los Angeles. Michael holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture.

Greg Reitz

Founder and Principal
rethink Development
Culver City, CA
www.rethinkdev.com
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Greg Reitz is Principal and Co-founder of REthink Development, a development company focused on sustainable, in-fill projects.

Greg entered the real estate industry 6 years ago as green building consultant for E2.  At E2 Mr. Reitz worked with world-renowned sustainable development consultant, John Picard, helping design a sustainable master planned community.  Greg next became the Green Building Advisor for the City of Santa Monica where he was responsible for overseeing all green building activities and programs.  During his tenure in Santa Monica, the city went from having zero LEED certified buildings to having more LEED buildings per capita than any city in the country. 

Mr. Reitz is a LEED Accredited Professional and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Chapter of the US Green Building Council (USGBC).  He is the founding chair of the Southern California Public Agencies Council for Green Building and was elected to the national USGBC Green Codes Committee.  Greg has supported the efforts of many other cities across the state to develop their green building programs. 

Before entering the field of green building, Greg helped start several businesses in the high tech industry including multi-national Velodea, Inc., and was a Customer Relationship Management/ Business Process Reengineering consultant for Andersen Consulting. Mr. Reitz has a BS in Cybernetics from UCLA.

Mark Rios, FAIA, FSLA

Founding Principal
Rios Clementi Hale Studios
Los Angeles, CA
www.rios.com
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As Founding Principal, Mark Rios, FAIA, FASLA, has been the leader of both the design and business direction of Rios Clementi Hale Studios since first establishing the firm Rios Associates in 1985. Under his design leadership, the firm has developed an international reputation for its collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach, establishing an award-winning tradition across an unprecedented range of design disciplines.

Though formally trained in both architecture and landscape architecture, Mark’s eclectic interests and innate curiosity have propelled his creative explorations beyond traditional professional borders. The firm—renamed in 2003 to acknowledge its collaborative nature—spans the design disciplines of architecture, landscape, interiors, graphics, branding, planning, and product design for clients that include entertainment studios and venues, cultural institutions, schools and universities, city agencies and departments, retail and restaurant establishments, and private individuals. This approach spurred the American Institute of Architects California Council to bestow its 2007 Firm Award to the multi-discipline practice.

Mark was Chairman of Landscape Architecture at USC from 2001 to 2007, and has been on the faculty at UCLA. He was elevated to AIA Fellow in 1999 and to ASLA Fellow in 2006. Mark received his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from USC in 1978, and both Master of Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture degrees from Harvard University in 1982.

Janet Sager

Partner
Sager Monti
Los Angeles, CA
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Janet Sager is a passionate advocate for “design thinking”, the term for an emerging practice defined as a way of creative problem solving that produces transformative innovation and explores strategic synergies between the interconnected set of values, ideas, and activities that can be applied to framing or reframing the understanding of a given situation.

Prior to establishing Sager Monti with Christina Monti in 2007, Janet founded Sager Design Research and Communication, a broad-based consulting practice that specialized in positioning design and arts organizations. Her educational background includes Fine Art and Environmental Design studies and practice in New York City as well as a degree in Art History / Visual Culture at UCLA. Professional commitment to the design profession began in 1989 working beside Thom Mayne for nine years as the Business Development “Maverick” for Morphosis Architects, the Pritzker award-winning architecture firm based in Santa Monica and New York, producing twelve publications and coordinating over fifty exhibitions for the firm. From 1998 to 2005, Janet served as Director of Research and Publications for the international practice of Santa Monica-based architecture firm Moore Ruble Yudell, positioning the firm for national recognition as winner of the National AIA Firm award in 2006.

Sager Monti is founded on the belief that during these times of accelerated change, today’s design professionals and their constituents require an increased capacity for adaptive leadership and innovative problem-solving strategies to accomplish the goal of inventing new possibilities for a sustainable future. The firm works with clients to communicate their value proposition and identities with clarity and meaning to engender trust and elevate “the conversation” in a way that is customized to suit each client's unique requirements. By working closely with a network of luminaries - affiliated thinkers, makers and doers working on the frontiers of knowledge, social change and creativity, the firm is nimble, and swift in execution, ensuring that their clients, and their clients’ client’s receive maximum value.

Sager Monti develops and supports working relationships across a broad range of constituencies through expertise in strategic planning and external positioning for accelerated business development; print and media production coordination, event and exhibition coordination, and market research and fundraising strategies for promoting working partnerships. The firm’s work includes developing new market sectors, building strategic alliances and presenting their clients to prospective clients, publishers and curators.

Cass Calder Smith, AIA

Principal
CCS Architecture
San Francisco, CA
www.ccs-architecture.com
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Cass Calder Smith established the San Francisco architectural firm that bears his name in 1990. Celebrating its 17th year in the Bay Area, CCS-Architecture is located in a converted warehouse in the South of Market district with a staff of 20. In 2005, CCS-Architecture opened an office in NYC to better meet the needs of its diverse range of residential, commercial and mixed use clients.

Born in 1961, Cass earned his Bachelor and Master of Architecture from the University of California , Berkeley . A native of New York City, he has lived in California since 1972 and now splits his time between San Francisco and Manhattan . As the son of an Academy-Award winning filmmaker and a California landscape painter and designer, his early years were influenced by both Greenwich Village intellectuals and rural California artisans.

Smith is recognized internationally for his architectural and interior design projects. In 1999 he was named “One of the 60 Most Powerful People in the Bay Area", and in 2005, he was featured in 1000 Architects, a pictorial directory of the worlds leading architectural firms. Hospitality Design Magazine also named Cass Calder Smith as "one of 8 designers considered the "Wave of the Future 2004".

Firmly based in the modernist idiom, Smith draws inspiration from history’s great architects and cities as well as the epic filmmakers of the last century. Bold imagery and intricate detail are characteristic of his designs balanced with experience and common sense.

Paul Solomon

Founder and Partner
Linear City
Los Angeles, CA
www.linear-city.com
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Paul Solomon, founder and partner of Linear City, is a visionary Los Angeles developer. He has turned his passion for architecture and urban life into an art form on Industrial Street, creating a distinctive mixed-use, Tribeca-style neighborhood in downtown LA’s Arts District. Linear City has converted an unused 1920s toy factory and the historic Nabisco Bakery building opposite into 225 live/work lofts with spectacular views, innovative common areas and independent retailers and start-up fashion and technology companies on the ground floor. To enhance the pedestrian experience while maintaining an openness to the city, Linear City is expanding sidewalks, planting trees and converting Industrial Street to one-way traffic.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Paul graduated from Duke University, where he studied philosophy and played varsity golf. He is a photographer and travels with his cameras and shows his work from time to time. He collects modern art, particularly young California artists, and has wide-ranging, eclectic tastes. He earned a JD/MBA from the University of Chicago and returned to his hometown to practice law. He formed Linear City in 1999. Paul’s manages the acquisition, financing, entitlement, programming, marketing, sales and leasing of Linear City projects. He also recruits retailers to serve the needs of the local community, and organizes the annual IndustrialFest block party.

Paul serves as vice president of the Los Angeles River Artists and Business Association (LARABA), co-chaired the Central City Association’s (35 and Under) Movers and Shakers committee, and sits on the boards of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency Central Industrial Community Advisory Committee (CICAC) and the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District Business Improvement District.

Katherine Spitz, AIA, ASLA

Principal
Katherine Spitz Associates
Marina Del Rey, CA
www.katherinespitzassociates.com
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Katherine Spitz, AIA, ASLA, is a Los Angeles-based landscape architect. Her career of nearly twenty-five years of exceptional landscape architectural design ranges from streetscapes and parks to college campuses, commercial developments, resorts and private residences. Her dual training as an Architect and Landscape Architect combines an appreciation of formal rigor and the built environment with respect for the natural habitat and an intimate knowledge of the living materials of the landscape architect’s palette.

Her firm, Katherine Spitz Associates, Inc., is known for its work in the public realm as well as campus, commercial, institutional, and private residential projects. Highlights include the Pico Boulevard streetscape in Santa Monica, Exposition Park in Los Angeles, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills, the Manzanita Village Housing complex at UCSB, and healing gardens at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Current works in progress include parks in West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Watts, Ventura, and the Puente Hills, and new streetscapes in East Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Redondo Beach.

Katherine Spitz has worked extensively with the Los Angeles chapter of the AIA as a board member and on its Political Outreach committee, acting as an advocate for the better design of Southern California’s urban fabric and for more effective collaboration between design professionals and public entities. She has lectured on intention and form in Landscape Architecture at UCLA and Cal State Pomona, and has taught design and drawing at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Otis Parsons, and USC.

Doug Suisman, FAIA

Principal
Suisman Urban Design
Santa Monica,CA
www.suisman.com
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Doug Suisman, FAIA, is the principal of Suisman Urban Design, which he founded in 1990. An award-winning urban designer and architect, he has gained international recognition for his ideas and designs of urban public space. He was educated at Yale and Columbia, where he won the American Institute of Architects Medal. In 1999, he was honored by his peers and made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. His work focuses on sustainable regional development, urban revitalization, public spaces and buildings, and public transportation. His clients range from ministries and public agencies to think tanks, developers and community groups in cities such as Doha, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, and San Francisco. His projects include master plans and detailed designs for regional transit systems, downtowns, civic centers, plazas, parks, and streetscapes. In partnership with RAND Corporation, Mr. Suisman has developed a national urban design plan for a new Palestinian state. The proposal has earned numerous awards, including a prestigious national Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. The project was the subject of an extensive front page article in the arts section of the New York Times, as well as articles and interviews for more than 150 media outlets worldwide. Mr. Suisman has briefed world leaders including EU Foreign Minister Javier Solana, Special Envoy to the Mideast Peace Process James Wolfensohn, and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The plan is described in the 2005 book “The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State,” of which Mr. Suisman is the lead author.

Patrick Tighe, AIA

Tighe Architecture
Santa Monica,CA
www.tighearchitecture.com
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Patrick Tighe, AIA, FAAR is principal and lead designer of Tighe Architecture located in Santa Monica, California. The firm is committed to realizing an authentic, contemporary Architecture informed by technology, sustainability and building innovation. Since the inception of the practice in 2000, the firm has received numerous accolades. In 2007, Patrick Tighe was awarded the distinguished Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy. Honors include several National AIA Awards, the AIAs Young Architect Award, 40 under 40 Award, American Architecture Awards, a Progressive Architecture Award as local AIA Honors.

Tighe received a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to establishing the practice, Tighe was an integral part of the Morphosis Team where he was an Associate. Tighe is a licensed Architect in the State of California and a Member of the American Institute of Architects. Teaching appointments have been conducted at USC, UCLA, and Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) where Patrick is currently a Faculty Member. The work has been exhibited internationally and published extensively.

Olivier Touraine

Olivier Touraine,
Partner
Touraine Richmond Architects
Venice, CA
www.touraine-richmond.com
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Olivier graduated from the School of Architecture of Paris La Villette in 1987. Awarded the “Album de la Jeune Architecture” in 1994 (best architectural firm under 40). He received the “Villa Medicis Hors les Murs” Grant in 2000. He worked from 1987 to 1998 with Renzo Piano, OMA/Rem Koolhaas, and Jean Nouvel in Paris. Olivier is “Chevalier des Arts et lettres”. Olivier is a partner of Touraine Richmond Architects in Venice, CA, established in 2000, and has since received various awards including the AIA/LA Design Award in 2007.  Olivier currently teaches design studios at University of California in Los Angeles and Columbia University in New York City.

Warren Wagner

Founder and Principal
W3 Architects
Venice, CA
www.w3architects.com

Warren Wagner AIA, principal architect and founder of W3 Architects, has been involved in the passive solar movement for over 27 years beginning with his degree from UCSC in environmental studies and appropriate technology, his work in the early 80’s with Edward Mazria, author of the Passive Solar Energy Handbook, and including his master of architecture degree from UCLA.

Warren established W3 Architects in 1993 specifically to create buildings that seamlessly blend sustainable design strategies, passive solar design, state of the art solar electric and solar thermal technologies and a wide spectrum of ‘green’ building materials into the highest level of architecture. Warren has completed over 40 built projects including W3’s own LA-AIA award winning studio and is currently working on residential, multi-family and small commercial projects as well as teaching sustainable design in the undergraduate architecture program at Woodbury University. 

Walker Wells, AICP LEED AP

Director of the Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Communities Program
Global Green USA
Santa Monica, CA
www.globalgreen.org
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Mr. Wells is Director of the Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Communities Program for Global Green USA, a national non-profit organization headquartered in Santa Monica. He works with affordable housing developers, municipalities, and school districts across the country to further green building and sustainable development practices by providing technical assistance, conducting charrettes and workshops, and developing public policy. Mr. Wells is an editor and a co-author of the 2007 book Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing and the 2006 publication Creating Successful Green Building Programs.

Prior to joining Global Green Mr. Wells was a Senior Urban Design with Gruen Associates in Los Angeles, an Associate Planner with the City of Santa Monica, and an Urban Planner for the City of Malmo, Sweden. Mr. Wells holds Bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara and a Master’s of City and Regional from the California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo. He also studied at Lund University and the Lund PolyTechnic Institute School of Architecture in Swden. Mr. Wells is a certified urban planner, a LEED Accredited Professional, an advisor to the AIA National Housing Committee, a member of the US Green Building Council’s LEED for Home Committee (representing the affordable housing sector), an invited contributor to the Planetizen web site, and a lecturer on Green Urbanism at the Claremont Colleges.

Tone Wheeler

Principal Architect
Environa Studio
Sydney, Australia
www.environastudio.com.au
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Tone Wheeler is an architect, author, educator and consultant with an abiding interest in environmental architecture and sustainable design. The award winning ‘environa studio’ founded by Tone 20 years ago is widely recognised as a leading innovative ESD architectural practice. Sustainability is the core of the firm’s work and the driving force of environa’s design philosophy.

Tone has been involved in the planning of whole suburbs, the reuse of existing warehouse buildings and completed designs for environmental residential and tourism projects. Notable projects include individual and multiple housing schemes, commercial buildings and urban design master plans, all with a strong emphasis on experimental, social and and environmental responsibility. environa studio is committed to integrating architecture, interiors and landscape for a more sustainable future.

Tone has won numerous awards and competitions, is the immediate past chair of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects National Environment Committee, has been on the faculty of three universities and is also on the Board of the Association of Building Sustainability Assessors. He is a frequent speaker at architectural conferences and seminars, has been a judge on “the New Inventors” program on ABC Television, and is widely quoted in the media for his activism.

Rachel Winokur

Founder and Lead Designer
Etta Designs
Marina Del Ray, CA
www.ettadesigns.com
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Etta Designs is a multidisciplinary boutique design firm with a focus on interior architecture and design for residential & commercial applications including stunning eco-friendly solutions. Rachel Winokur is the Founder and Lead Designer of Etta Designs which handles the entire design process - concept, budget, space planning, selecting FF&E, purchasing and installation.

Etta Designs is based on Ms. Winokur’s 15 years of textile design, fashion merchandising, event planning & design, and commercial, residential & green design. In addition, following her B.S. in Consumer Studies from the University of New Hampshire, she spent 4 years studying in the Boston Architectural Center’s Master of Interior Design and UCLA’s Certificate of Interior Design programs.

Rachel’s professional design career began at the award-winning Boston architecture firm Ann Beha Architects specializing in libraries, museums and preservation. She then moved to Los Angeles to work with residential and commercial architecture and design firms including the highly regarded and widely published design firm Michael S. Smith, Inc. There, Rachel was the Director of the Commercial Department managing over $450 million in projects in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and NYC.

Recent Etta Designs projects include an eco-friendly nail salon in Hermosa Beach, CA and a residential renovation in LA. Past projects by Ms. Winokur include hospitality and residential - LA designated LEED mixed-use condo project, House Beautiful showcase NYC boutique hotel penthouse, luxury Santa Monica hotel, 4-star 97-room in Santa Barbara, 7-story town home in NYC, estate development in Shanghai, and homes throughout Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.