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HomeIndustry Advisory Group – Overseas Buildings Operations...OBO Industry Advisory Group Members

# 									OBO Industry Advisory Group Members							

## 								Article Index							

        - Dr. Jeralee Anderson PhD, PE
        - P. Christian Bailey AIA, LEED AP, SARA
        - Sandra Brock PE, CFM, LEED AP BD+C
        - Christopher Budd LEED AP
        - Susannah C. Drake FASLA, FAIA
        - Anne Marie Duvall Decker FAIA
        - Maureen Ehrenberg FRICS, CRE, LAI
        - Bryant Farland
        - Dr. C. Kat Grimsley PhD
        - Suzanne Heidelberger
        - Alysen Hiller Fiore
        - Nico Kienzl DDes, LEED Fellow, ASHRAE, HBDP
        - Cara Lanigan STS, LEED AP BD+C
        - Debra Lehman Smith
        - Daniel Mathews
        - Patty McCaffery PE
        - Thomas Mitchell Jr.
        - Jonathan Moody AIA
        - Reid Nelson (ex officio)
        - Nat Oppenheimer PE
        - Alan Organschi
        - Thomas Phifer III FAIA
        - David Riker, MSCE, MSSM, CFM
        - Mark Robbins
        - David Rubin PLA, FASLA, FAAR
        - Frank J. Sciame, Jr.
        - A Paul Seck ASLA
        - Daniel A. Sesil PE, CE, SE
        - Stacy Smedley
        - Jane Smith FAIA, IIDA
        - Julie Snow FAIA, NOMA
        - Gregory Starr (ex officio)
        - Robert Svedberg FAIA
        - Nader Tehrani
        - Jeremiah Watts
        - Marion Weiss FAIA
        - Elizabeth Whittaker AIA

**Dr. Jeralee Anderson PhD, PE**President/CEO, Sustainable Transport CouncilDr. Jeralee Anderson is the co-founder and executive leader of Sustainable Transport Council (formerly Greenroads Foundation), a globally recognized nonprofit organization leading the green and equitable transformation of the transport industry through education and the independent third-party sustainability rating of transport design and construction projects. Currently, she manages a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure portfolio including hundreds of transport projects in the U.S and internationally and an interdisciplinary education program for industry professionals.

Dr. Anderson worked in a variety of structural, geotechnical, and construction engineering positions after receiving her undergraduate engineering degree with a minor in music performance from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. She earned her doctorate from the University of Washington in construction engineering and sustainability. She also holds a certificate of business administration from the University of Washington Foster School of Business and executive certificates from Cornell University. She is a licensed professional engineer in Washington State and California.

In 2013, President Obama recognized Dr. Anderson and her domestic and international work at Sustainable Transport Council as a White House Champion of Change for Transportation Technology in the 21st Century. In 2021, she was recognized as a national leader in infrastructure as one of Engineering News Record’s Top 20 Under 40 Young Professionals in the construction industry. She is a volunteer member of the Standing Committee on Environmental Analysis and Ecology and the Standing Committee of Rail Transit Infrastructure Design and Maintenance for the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science.

A dedicated public servant, Dr. Anderson is also serving her second term as a Councilmember in the City of Redmond, Washington. She holds a variety of appointments at the local, regional and state level including the State of Washington Public Works Board in the Department of Commerce, appointed by Governor Jay Inslee and the Association of Washington Cities. In her free time, she and her small family fosters beagles and volunteers for the Seattle Beagle Rescue. She is a superfan of first responders and actively volunteers for Redmond Firefighters Benevolent Fund, supporting community members impacted by tragedy and trauma.**P. Christian Bailey AIA, LEED AP, SARA**DIRECTOR, MAP. Christian Bailey is actively involved in design leadership in NYC as well as internationally. Christian joined MA as a Director with over 25 years of architectural experience, most recently a Founding Principal and Director at ODA. He is a registered architect in the State of New York, New Jersey, Michigan, California, and Washington DC. He is also a LEED accredited professional as well as a member of the OBO’s Industry Advisory Board since 2019. In addition to being the SARA | NY Council President, Christian is also a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He serves on the Board of Trustees at FAPC. Christian is an Adjunct Professor at NYCCT and has lectured at many universities including Virginia Tech, Pratt Institute, and Laurentian University. Along with lectures, he frequently serves as a guest critic on design reviews, design award juries and is currently collaborating with the Virginia Tech Diplomacy Lab Studio along with OBO & MA. Mentorship of young architects within the office plays an important role in Christian’s daily practice.

Promoting Art in Architecture in the profession is of particular interest to Christian. He has exhibited his work in multiple Art by Architects shows, solo shows, and is represented by The Art Arsenal with his abstract paintings.**Sandra Brock PE, CFM, LEED AP BD+C**VICE PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING, NITSCH ENGINEERINGSandy Brock, a Vice President and Principal at Nitsch Engineering, has 34 years of expertise in the planning and design of sustainable sites. Her efforts for various private owners and state agencies in preparing strategic site plans and reports have given her a strong background in land use planning to meet local zoning and planning regulations. With her wide range of experience and knowledge, Sandy leads a number of initiatives and has served in a variety of roles at Nitsch Engineering; she currently leads the growing planning department.

Sandy graduated from the University of Massachusetts Lowell with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. She is a registered Professional Engineer in Massachusetts, a LEED Accredited Professional, a Certified Floodplain Manager, and a Certified Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Planning Grant Provider. Sandy brings a depth of environmental and technical knowledge to the industry, serving as a member of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commission, on the USGBC Sustainable Sites Technical Advisory Group, chair of the Grafton Conservation Commission, and a member of the Grafton Community Preservation Committee. Sandy has presented at various industry events on topics such as site development permitting and stormwater management best management practices. She is proud to have spent two years designing and constructing rural water supplies in Malawi, Africa for the Peace Corps.**Christopher Budd LEED AP**PRINCIPAL, STUDIOSChristopher joined STUDIOS in 1989 with a focus on large scale planning and environmental research. Christopher helped establish STUDIOS Consulting Services, a research based resource for workplace and institutional strategies. Throughout his tenure at STUDIOS he has developed ethnographic and survey-based tools to analyze employee populations, work processes, and environments in terms of their impact on the long term business and operational aspirations of his clients.

Christopher has unique experience with delivering large scale defense and security related facilities such as the 4.5 million sf renovation of the Pentagon. His focus on flexible infrastructures is based on the merging of construction, engineering, design and planning disciplines to create the highest long term value. These infrastructures support zero waste, near zero cost of modification, reduced labor, shortened schedules, and maximum user control.**Susannah C. Drake FASLA, FAIA**PRINCIPAL, SASAKISusannah C. Drake FASLA, FAIA is a recognized design leader in the practice and education of architecture and landscape architecture. She is currently Associate Professor in the ENVD program at The University of Colorado Boulder. Susannah lectures globally about resilient urban infrastructure, and her work and writings are cited frequently in academic publications. She was awarded the AIA Young Architects Award and was also recognized as a New York Architectural League Emerging Voice.

Her firm has received numerous city, state, and national AIA and ASLA awards for complex projects that require a synthesized, analytical, and research-based design approach. Many of her most catalytic projects were funded by grants that Susannah wrote in partnership with local community and environmental groups. Susannah’s large-scale planning work engages many disciplines and systems to create ecologically- and socially-progressive projects that are strategically conceived, well-crafted, and beautiful. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2020 she received the inaugural Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award for Climate Action. Susannah’s writings include chapters for Nature and Cities (2016), published by the Lincoln Land Institute, and a recent publication on Coastal Urbanism co-authored with Rafi Segal in A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation (2021), published by Island Press. Susannah has led design studios at Harvard University, Washington University in St. Louis, Syracuse University, Cooper Union, and City College of New York. Susannah held the Morgenstern Chair at the Illinois Institute of Technology and was Cejas Fellow at FIU.

She served as President and Trustee of the New York ASLA and as a Trustee of the Van Alen Institute. She is currently on the boards of the Regional Plan Association and the Clyfford Still Museum. She received a BA in Art History and Fine Arts from Dartmouth College and MArch and MLA degrees from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.**Anne Marie Duvall Decker FAIA**PRINCIPAL, DUVALL DECKER ARCHITECTS, P.A.Anne Marie Duvall Decker, FAIA, is a founding principal of Duvall Decker Architects. Founded in Jackson, Mississippi, a place of both palpable need and engaging culture, Duvall Decker is a diverse and expanded practice, employing planning, development, design, and building care to foster the public good and deliver design excellence no matter the scope, type, budget, or scale of the project. The firm has been honored with many peer design awards and has been selected for national design excellence projects such as the new Federal Courthouse in Greenville, Mississippi (a GSA Design Excellence project) and the new Springdale, Arkansas Municipal Campus (a Walton Family Foundation Design Excellence project).

The firm’s work and approach have been highlighted in publications such as The New York Times, dwell, ARCHITECT Magazine, Journal of Architectural Education, Houses for All Regions, a book published by AIA’s Custom Residential Architects Network, the Oxford American, and in exhibits such as AIA’s Design for the Decades and A South Forty, Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South. In 2017, the Architectural League of New York selected Duvall Decker as one of its Emerging Voices, and in 2019, the firm was highlighted as a “Game Changer” by Metropolis.

Anne Marie is a recognized contributor to the advancement of the profession. She has served as a long-term board member and past president of AIA Mississippi and a Trustee and 2021 Chair of the AIA Trust. Anne Marie is often invited to share the firm’s work and her experience as a lecturer, critic, teacher, and design juror, most recently serving on the jury for the 2018 AIA Institute Honor Awards for Architecture as a selection committee member for the Architectural League of New York’s American Roundtable initiative.**Maureen Ehrenberg FRICS, CRE, LAI**PRESIDENT, COMMERCIAL DIVISION—LESSENMaureen Ehrenberg, FRICS, CRE, is President of the Commercial Division at LessenTM. She is responsible for setting and driving the business strategy & financial performance of this billion-dollar operating division of LessenTM. She manages overall resources, partnerships, operations & tech strategy to provide the most advanced and innovative integrated facility & property management digital operating platform for commercial properties. Formerly CEO and co-founder of Blue Skyre IBE, Ehrenberg is an internationally recognized real estate industry business leader with over 35 years of experience in business process transformation, strategic positioning, and operations of large, complex portfolios.

Before co-founding BSI, she was the Global Head of Strategic Real Estate Operations for WeWork. Her previous experience includes the International Director and Global President of JLL Integrated Facilities Management Services, the Global Head of Integrated Facility Management at CBRE, the Executive Vice President of Grubb & Ellis Company and the President and CEO of Grubb and Ellis Management Services, Inc.

She serves on the Americas Board of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, Industry Advisory Group (IAG). Maureen is a management trustee for the International Union of Operating Engineers, a trustee of Roosevelt University, and a Real Estate Advisory Board member for the New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS). She has also served on the Global Boards of CoreNet Global, IFMA and OSCRE. She is a founding member of Executive Women in Corporate Real Estate (EWCRE) and a member of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW).

A frequent speaker and published author, Maureen Ehrenberg has been recognized as an industry thought leader with an Innovator of the Year Award from CoreNet Global, the Chair’s Citation Award from IFMA, The Julie Devine Digital Impact and Lifetime Achievement Awards for Vision in Technology from RealComm, Top Women of Influence Hall of Fame by Real Estate Forum and has received several industry and client awards and recognition for service excellence, innovation, leadership, mentorship and service. Ehrenberg was named a 2021 Woman of Influence CRE Consultant/Advisor by GlobeSt.com.**Bryant Farland**CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, EDGE ENERGY

Bryant Farland is the Chief Executive Officer of Edged Energy.  Edged Energy is the global data center company within Endeavour, one of the world’s leading platforms focused on delivering sustainable infrastructure.  On account of its commitment to delivering hyper-efficient facilities with best in class power utilization efficiency and waterless cooling, Edged is among the fastest growing companies in the industry, positioned uniquely to meet the demands of the heavy compute and AI technologies of tomorrow.  As CEO, Mr. Farland leads an organization with responsibilities throughout the U.S. and Europe.  

Prior to joining Edged, Mr. Farland was long tenured at Skanska USA Building Inc., joining in 2006 with responsibility for the Company’s design/build pursuits from a legal and commercial perspective.  In addition to his role with Skanska USA Building he was responsible for the legal affairs of Skanska Infrastructure Development Inc. including his role in bringing to commercial close Skanska ID’s first Public Private Partnership (P3) project in North America, the $2 billion Midtown Tunnel Project in Norfolk, VA.  Mr. Farland was also the commercial lead for the Company’s multi-billion dollar P3 Project at LaGuardia Airport and was the Executive Representative for Skanska as the Managing member of that design-build joint venture.

Mr. Farland’s last role within Skanska was one of Skanska USA Building’s three Regional Executive Officers and a member of its Senior Leadership Team.  Prior to those responsibilities, Mr. Farland was a Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Skanska’s Strategic Projects overseeing company projects of scale and complexity including all P3 and project-financed work.  Prior to joining Skanska, Mr. Farland was a construction litigator with Smith Pachter McWhorter and he also worked as a legislative aid to Senator Patrick J. Leahy on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.  Bryant is a former member of the national Board of Directors for the Design Build Institute of America, a current member of Assumption University’s Grenon School of Business Advisory Council, a member of the United States Department of State OBO Industry Advisory Council and is a frequent presenter at national conferences for large scale infrastructure development and alternative delivery including Public Private Partnerships (P3), Design/Build and IPD.  Mr. Farland and his family live in Potomac, Maryland.

**Dr. C. Kat Grimsley PhD**DIRECTOR, M.S. IN REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT, SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITYKat Grimsley is the Director of the MS in Real Estate Development program in the School of Business at George Mason University, where she leads a dedicated community of students, alumni, and faculty. Prior to earning her doctorate, Dr. Grimsley built private sector expertise in market research, feasibility and financial modeling, and leading multidisciplinary project teams for both domestic and international commercial real estate portfolios. Through this unique blend of industry and academic experience, she combines thought leadership with practical expert advice on contemporary topics in commercial real estate through teaching, research, engagement, and consulting.

Dr. Grimsley serves as a Distinguished Fellow of the NAIOP Research Foundation, where she created a Development Approvals Index that is used to measure commercial building approvals in 100 jurisdictions across 30 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario. She is also a subject matter expert member and past Vice-Chair of the United Nation Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) Real Estate Markets Advisory Group under the Committee of Urban Development, Housing, and Land Management. Dr. Grimsley’s ongoing work with the UN involves supporting special projects related to international development challenges, the Sustainable Development Goals, and land management capacity building for developing nations.

At George Mason, Dr. Grimsley’s teaching agenda includes topics related to policy and planning of the built environment, sustainability, and affordable housing. She has published a range of books and articles on commercial real estate and development topics, for which she has won both industry and academic awards.

Dr. Grimsley holds a BS in Finance (hons; specialization in real estate analysis) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MS in Real Estate from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in Land Economics from the University of Cambridge in England. She is an ICF certified Leadership Coach, member of the International Coaching Federation, and a certified Professional Career Coach through the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches.**Suzanne Heidelberger**HEAD OF FIDELITY REAL ESTATE COMPANYSuzanne Heidelberger is the Head of Fidelity Real Estate Company (FREC), the corporate real estate division of Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of investment management, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and other financial products and services to more than 40 million individuals, institutions, and financial intermediaries. Suzanne oversees the management of complex projects to create successful outcomes for Fidelity, covering a global real estate portfolio of more than 10 million square feet, including office and call center space in 50 locations, over 200 retail branches, data centers, solar arrays, and a 428-room hotel in Boston. FREC delivers the real estate strategy, business partnership, workplace services, hospitality, facility management, real estate transactions, construction management, real estate technology, and engineering functions with end-to-end responsibility for creating and delivering physical and virtual spaces and experiences that encourages Fidelity employees, businesses, and customers to thrive.

Prior to joining Fidelity in 2019, Suzanne led American Express’s Global Real Estate and Workplace Experience division for facilities across the globe. She was also a Managing Director and Global Lead of Real Estate and Transaction Management at Deutsche Bank, based in New York and London.

Earlier in her career, Suzanne led real estate for one of the world’s largest law firms: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and previously was Vice President of Finance, Strategy and Transactions at J.P. Morgan. Suzanne developed her skills as an analyst and consultant at both Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Ernst & Young.

Committed to the development of real estate professionals, Suzanne has served on the Global Board of Directors of CoreNet, chaired its New York City Chapter, and served on the organization’s Learning and Women’s Committees. She served on the Board of Directors of the Regional Plan Association, is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and is a member of the Cornell Real Estate Council and Cornell Hotel Society. She lives in New York City with her daughter and enjoys traveling, meeting new people and solving puzzles.**Alysen Hiller Fiore**DIRECTOR, REXAlysen is a director at REX. She has been leading the design team for the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center (nearing completion) since its competition stage in 2014. In this highly complex project on one of New York’s most venerated sites, Alysen has had to navigate extensive structural considerations (including the foundations of a previous design) high-security and terrorism requirements, as well as stringent acoustic and theatrical requirements. Alysen was also a project lead on the re-cladding and renovation of Five Manhattan West, a Brutalist landmark straddling New York Penn Station’s rail yard; the Necklace Residence on New York’s Long Island; the Wakefield School Performing Arts Center in Virginia; and the Calgary Central Library.

Prior to joining REX in 2012, Alysen worked on a wide range of architectural projects with several world-renowned architectural firms including Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in Copenhagen, Denmark and Zago Architecture in Los Angeles, where she worked on the proposed development of a multi-unit social housing complex as part of Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream, a MoMA commissioned project to explore new architectural possibilities for cities and suburbs in the aftermath of the 2008 foreclosure crisis.

Alysen holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Art & Design, with honors, and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, both from the University of Iowa.**Nico Kienzl DDes, LEED Fellow, ASHRAE, HBDP**DIRECTOR, ATELIER TENNico Kienzl is a founding director of Atelier Ten’s New York City office and member of Atelier Ten’s US and International Leadership Group. Nico has over 20 years of experience in sustainability consulting with expertise on the application of advanced building analysis for façade optimization, daylight and shading analysis, and optimization of building systems.Nico has played a significant role on a wide variety of residential, commercial, institutional, cultural, and masterplan projects throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He has not only shaped the environmental performance of these projects, but also influenced the building industry in moving towards a more sustainable future. As Director, he has consulted on over 130 high-performance building projects worldwide. His exemplary contributions to green building and significant professional achievements led him to be among an elite group of 43 exceptional green building professionals worldwide to be named LEED Fellow of 2012. The LEED fellow is the most prestigious recognition awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Nico is a member of the Board of Directors for the Urban Green Council, Storefront for Art and Architecture and the Architecture League of New York. He served as a Representative Member and Peer Reviewer for the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Green Building Federal Advisory Committee and the GSA Design Excellence Program, respectively and is currently a Building Industry Advisor for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Building Operations. Nico has held teaching engagements at various institutions including Harvard Graduate School of Design, Pratt Institute, and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation.

He received a Doctor of Design from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, holds a Master of Science in Building Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received his diploma in Architecture from the Technical University of Munich.**Cara Lanigan STS, LEED AP BD+C**CEO CENTRAL GROUP, CLARK CONSTRUCTION

Cara Lanigan is responsible for early risk identification and deploying best practices on Clark Construction Group’s projects across the country. Cara works with project teams nationwide to enhance and optimize resource planning, team engagement strategies, staffing, and professional development initiatives.

Throughout her tenure with Clark, Cara has provided leadership on some of the country’s most complex projects including U.S. Penitentiary Coleman 2, San Antonio Military Medical Center, LCDR Vincent Otis Tolbert Joint Intelligence Operations Center at MacDill Air Force Base, and Fort Bliss Replacement Hospital.

Cara holds bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and political science from Northeastern University and a juris doctor degree from Stetson University College of Law. Cara was recognized as a Top Young Professional in Texas and Louisiana by Engineering-News Record in 2018.****

**Debra Lehman Smith**FOUNDING PARTNER, LEHMAN SMITH MCLEISHDebra Lehman Smith is the founding partner of LSM, a design studio with projects that are lauded as models of design excellence and catalysts for promoting organizational vision and change. Her client list includes corporate leaders Bloomberg, General Dynamics Headquarters/ Gulfstream, Rockefeller Capital, Covington, Milbank, and Google.

The firm’s accolades span the business and design communities, with awards for design, workplace and excellence in real estate strategy from Business Week, the US General Services Administration and the American Institute of Architects. She has been responsible for award-winning environments for some of the world’s most respected organizations, and advises developers, architects and major corporations as they execute the world’s most innovative commercial real estate developments. Her projects have been recognized as a paradigm of business excellence, winning the British Counsel of Offices Best of the Best Award; Architectural Record’s Good Design is Good Business, IIDA’s Global Excellence Award; and National AIA Honor Award.

Ms. Lehman-Smith was named Designer of the Year by Interior Magazine and has been inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame. She is an advocate for public art and design education and has served as an advisor to universities and institutions nationwide, including the University of Texas at Austin and Visiting Committee at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

She currently serves as a Design Excellence Peer Reviewer for the General Services Administration and on the State Department Bureau of Overseas Buildings Industry Advisory Panel. Most recently as one of the design industry leaders, she was a Juror for Interior Design 2019 NYCxDESIGN Awards in New York City.**Daniel Mathews**FOUNDER, MATHEWS ASSOCIATES LLCAfter 25 years of federal service in Congress and the executive branch, Dan founded Mathews Associates LLC as a strategic consulting and business development firm. He helps his clients navigate the highest levels of Washington and the complex world of federal real estate and government procurements to expand their revenue, identify new partners and enter new markets.Mathews served as the Head of Federal Sales at WeWork where he led a team of professionals dedicated to bringing the quality and cost savings of flexible workspace solutions to the federal marketplace. He helped secure WeWork a spot on the federal government’s Flexible Coworking Services contract and several other agency acquisitions.

As Commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service (PBS), he managed the nationwide asset management, design, construction, leasing, building management and disposal of approximately 371 million square feet of government owned and leased space. He led a team of 5,500 employees, over 30,000 contractors and a budget of $12 billion. In 2017, Mathews launched an aggressive strategy to lower the cost and improve the quality of real estate housing federal agencies through consolidations and strategic investments, disposing of 420 properties with proceeds totaling over $293 million during his tenure.

Prior to GSA, Mathews served as staff director of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. He helped authorize billions of dollars in federal real estate leases, construction projects and real estate policies for federal buildings and courthouses, the General Services Administration, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Art, and numerous other federal facilities. He also played a key role in drafting every emergency management and most homeland security legislation from 2001 until 2017.

Prior to serving on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mathews worked for the House Rules Committee, several California Members of Congress and the Texas Department of Health. He holds a bachelor’s in government and philosophy from Georgetown University.**Patty McCaffery PE**PRINCIPAL, MEYERS+ ENGINEERSPatty McCaffery is a Principal of MEYERS+ Engineers, a consulting engineering firm specializing in the design of high performance mechanical and electrical building systems.

During Patty’s career as a professional engineer, based New York City, she has completed projects in various market sectors including corporate interiors, performing arts, cultural and most notably the federal market sector. Patty has successfully led a design practice focused on working with the federal government both internationally and domestically having successfully completed award winning projects in 40+ countries on 5 continents. Her portfolio of completed work has ranged in scope and complexity from master planning studies to major renovations and new construction. Patty has executed projects through a variety of delivery methods including design-bid-build and design-build.

Patty holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Manhattan College.****

**Thomas Mitchell Jr.**FM3IS ASSOCIATES LLCWith over 35 years of facility and asset management experience gained from serving in positions of increasing leadership responsibility withinthe government, commercial and not-for-profit industries, Tom is committed to advancing the performance of an organization’s two most valuable assets – the workforce and the workplace – by providing solutions that increase individual competency, business sustainability, and organizational longevity.

Tom presently serves as senior vice president and chief operations officer for FM3IS Associates, L.L.C., where he oversees organizational strategic and market development activities, as well as directs corporate business operations for independent contracted consultants who specialize in the development and delivery of service offerings in the areas of facility portfolio performance, workforce capability development and organization functionality alignment. 

Tom was previously employed with the Fortune 500 strategy & technology consulting firm of Booz |Allen | Hamilton, where he provided facilities & asset management services that helped clients and colleagues develop vision, strategies and solutions that shaped, improved, and optimized the built environment. Tom retired from U.S. Air Force active duty in the grade of Lieutenant Colonel, after serving twenty years as a civil engineer officer in a wide variety of positions, where he was responsible for leading people and/or managing programs that directed the development, acquisition, sustainment, and protection of facilities at military installations throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.  

Tom joined the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) in 1998 and served on the Global Board of Directors from 2005 to 2011, which include elections as the 2nd vice chair, first vice chair, and chairman between 2007-2010. Tom received IFMA’s 2012 Chairman’s Citation and bestowed the IFMA Fellow designation in 2013.  He currently serves on the IFMA Military Community Board of Directors.

Tom presently serves as chair of Florida A&M University’s Facility Management Degree Program Academic Advisory Council, as well as an adjunct faculty member at the School of Architecture & Engineering Technology. He also serves as an assistant professor practice at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Tom previously served two terms as an appointed director on the National Institute of Building Science Board of Directors, and two terms as an appointed member of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Building Operations’ Industry Advisory Group.

In addition to earning the Certified Facility Manager designation and qualification as a licensed IFMA FM course instructor, Tom’s list of credentials also includes a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies, a Master of Arts in Management, and Master of Military Operational Arts and Science degrees, as well as a Master’s Level Certificate in Facility Management. 

Tom also strives to advance facility management (FM) knowledge-sharing and industry advocacy via magazine publications, internet radio interviews, and professional presentations at industry events around the globe. His prior speaking engagements include: IFMA’s World Workplace, the NFMT High Performance Building Conference, the US General Service Administration’s Training Conference and Exposition, the Australian Facility Management Association’s IDEACTION, the European Facility Management Conference, the Marché International des Professionnels d’Immobilier (MIPIM) Conference, Czech Republic Tyden FM Conference, the Slovak Association of Facility Management’s DNI Conference, the Hanze University of Applied Science’s International Space Seminar, The Hague University of Applied Science’s Academy of FM Congress, Malaysia’s National Facility Asset Management Conference, the Africa Facilities Management Conference, and the Egypt Facility Management Forum.

**Jonathan Moody AIA**PRESIDENT / CEO, MOODY NOLANJonathan’s work resides at the intersection of architecture and service— bringing transformational design to underserved communities. He believes architecture is a medium through which people can come together and participate in positive social change.

As CEO of Moody Nolan— the largest African American owned firm in the country—Jonathan is driven by a passion to continue his father’s legacy of diversifying the practice of architecture. His dedication to advancing diversity garners national attention, recently earning Moody Nolan the 2021 AIA Architecture Firm Award. Recognized by his peers as an exceptional leader and mentor, Jonathan recently received the AIA Young Architect Award.

With nearly 15 years of service to the practice, Jonathan’s leadership facilitates ongoing expansion of the firm, with 12 locations across the nation. Moody Nolan’s work continues to exceed industry benchmarks, receiving more than 300 design awards and citations from AIA and NOMA. Passionate about serving his community, Jonathan works to advance education opportunities for students of color and serves as a vocal ally for communities in need.****

 

**Reid Nelson *ex officio *******EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Reid J. Nelson is the Executive Director of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). The ACHP promotes the preservation, enhancement, and sustainable use of the nation’s diverse historic resources and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy. A major component of the ACHP’s efforts in this area includes oversight of the regulations that implement Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. As Executive Director, he oversees the operations of the ACHP in Washington, DC. Reid reports to the Chairman of the ACHP and provides executive oversight and budget control for the entire agency.

Leading up to these positions, Reid worked at the ACHP for thirteen years as the Director of the Office of Federal Agency Programs (OFAP), and two years prior to that as an assistant director in charge of OFAP’s Federal Property Management Section. Prior to coming to the ACHP, he worked with the Navajo Nation in its Archaeology and Historic Preservation Departments for 18 years, the last nine of which were as a program manager for the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department. Reid has also carried out additional archaeological and ethnographic research across the Western United States.

**Nat Oppenheimer PE**SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, SENIOR PRINCIPAL, SILMANNat Oppenheimer joined Silman in 1988. He has extensive experience in the areas of new construction, renovation, sustainable engineering, and historic preservation and is Principal in Charge of much of the firm’s institutional, cultural, and residential work. He has led over 3,000 projects at Silman, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Grace Farms, The Reach at the Kennedy Center, and is currently leading the effort at the adaptive reuse of Metropolitan Warehouse in Cambridge for MIT.Nat is a board member of the Architectural League of New York, currently serving as its Treasurer, and is a member of the US Department of State Bureau of Overseas Building Operations Industry Advisory Group. Nat is devoted to engineering education and teaches at The School of Architecture at Princeton University.

He has been an invited jury critic for the architecture schools at Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton, Rice, Parsons, and the University of Michigan. He is an Emeritus Board member of the Salvadori Center, a not- for-profit organization that uses the built environment as a motivational tool to teach math and science to students. Additionally, Nat is a member of the International Council at the Van Alen Institute.**Alan Organschi**PRINCIPAL, GRAY ORGANSCHI ARCHITECTUREDIRECTOR, YALE BUILDING LAB YALE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTUREAlan is a principal and partner at Gray Organschi Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut, recognized internationally for its integration of design, construction, and environmental research. He is also the founder of the fabrication workshop and construction management firm JIG Design Build.

As a member of the Senior Design and Technology Faculty at the Yale School of Architecture, Mr. Organschi directs the newly inaugurated Yale Building LAB, which conducts advanced research in the contemporary building sector, its global environmental impacts, and its potential to mitigate climate change through the adoption of bio-based building assemblies and circular economic construction practices.

His ongoing research project, the Timber City Initiative, examines the application of emerging structural wood fiber technologies to the construction of global cities. Timber City has been awarded grants from the Hines Fund for Advanced Sustainability Research in Architecture, the US Forest Service Wood Innovation Grant program, and the SITRA Finland innovation Fund for the Circular Economy. Mr. Organschi has written and lectured extensively on the carbon storage benefits of biogenic material substitution in urban building and is a co-author of the upcoming book Carbon: A Field Manual For Building Designers and the scientific paper “Buildings as a Global Carbon Sink” published in the journal Nature Sustainability in January 2020. That same year, the paper received the Acquila Capital Transformation Award, which honors scientific research that offers implementable solutions to the challenges of climate change.

Gray Organschi Architecture was recognized by the Architectural League of New York as an Emerging Voice in Architecture and has received American Architecture Awards for the three projects. In 2012, Mr. Organschi and his partner Elizabeth Gray were honored for their work with an Arts and Letters Award in Architecture by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.**Thomas Phifer III FAIA**PARTNER, THOMAS PHIFER AND PARTNERS LLPSince founding Thomas Phifer and Partners in 1997, Thomas Phifer has completed expansions of the Glenstone Museum and the Corning Museum of Glass; the Salt Lake City United States Courthouse; the North Carolina Museum of Art; the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion at Rice University; an outdoor performance pavilion in Austin; and numerous houses in the Hudson River Valley. Thomas Phifer and Partners has received four Design Excellence awards from the General Services Administration and more than thirty honor awards from the American Institute of Architects, as well as numerous national and international citations. His projects have been published and exhibited extensively in the United States and overseas, including in a monograph by Skira Rizzoli.

Thomas Phifer received the Rome Prize in Architecture in 1995 and was awarded the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the AIA in 2004. He was elected as an Academician of the National Academy of Design in 2011. In 2013, Mr. Phifer received the Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2016, he was honored by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects with the President’s Award and by the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation. He gave the 2016 keynote lecture to the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 2019, he was awarded the National Design Award in Architectural Design from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2022, he was elected as a lifetime member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Mr. Phifer is a Fellow of the AIA and serves on the board of the Architectural League of New York. In 2022 the Clemson University of School of Architecture announced the Thomas Phifer Fellowship for two graduate students for two years in an effort to increase access and broaden a more diverse pathway within the profession of architecture in South Carolina.

Thomas Phifer has served as a visiting professor at numerous architecture schools. He has been appointed the William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor of Architectural Design and the Louis I Kahn Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture. Mr. Phifer received his Bachelor of Architecture and his Master of Architecture from Clemson University.****

 

**Dave Riker MSCE, MSSM, CFM**

Mr. Riker has more than 40 years of experience in engineering, facilities management, and construction. He served as the Senior Facilities Officer (SFO) for the University of Texas at San Antonio for fourteen years, before accepting the challenge of building a 100% online facility management graduate certificate and master’s degree program.  Mr. Riker currently teaches courses in Leadership and Excellence and the Graduate Capstone Project class in Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision-making and Communication.

Prior to coming to UT-San Antonio, Mr. Riker served four years as the Facility Manager for Experimental Science Facilities at The Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, after serving as the Los Alamos County, NM, Public Works Director for nine years. Riker also served 14 years in the United States Air Force as a Civil Engineering Officer involved in construction and maintenance at various military installations throughout the world.

He holds master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado and in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from New Mexico State University. Riker is a Certified Facility Manager (CFM) with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).

Mr. Riker has long been a proponent of achieving excellence in all areas of facilities management.  As a result of more than 10 years of sustained efforts to achieve excellence, the University of Texas at San Antonio was awarded the 2016 APPA Award for Excellence, the highest honor in higher education facilities management.  In 2017, UTSA Facilities was awarded the inaugural “Stars Across Texas” Award for Facility Management Excellence from the Texas APPA (TAPPA).  He is a sought-after speaker with both IFMA and APPA, and is a partner in FM-Excel, a Facility Management consulting firm specializing in facility organizational assessments and strategic planning to help institutional facility management organizations achieve excellence. 

**Mark Robbins**EMERITUS, AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME

Mark Robbins is past President and CEO of the American Academy in Rome, a leading residential center for the support of independent study and creative work in the arts and humanities. During his tenure of nearly ten years, the Academy has become increasingly international with more extensive links with the city of Rome, Italy and the wider Mediterranean. The diverse community of artists and scholars is now joined by Italian Fellows from Sicily, the Piemonte and across Italy. The composition of the board of trustees reflects this commitment to the interchange between Italy and the United States. The Academy also offers a more robust program of exhibitions, conferences, concerts and lectures open to the public in Rome. In addition to collaborations with academic and cultural institutions in Italy, the Academy has produced events with the Italian Cultural Institute and Consulate in New York as well as programs in other cities in the United States.

Robbins has previously held positions as Executive Director of the International Center of Photography in New York, Dean and Professor at Syracuse University School of Architecture, Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts in DC and the inaugural Curator of Architecture at the Wexner Center for the Arts. A widely published author on issues of art and design, Robbins’ creative work encompasses photography, installations, and site-specific projects. His awards include a Rome Prize in design and a Fellowship in the visual arts from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard and grants from the Andrew W. Mellon and Rockefeller Foundations. He was an Associate Professor at the Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University as well as Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of Virginia and visiting professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard.

**David Rubin PLA, FASLA, FAAR**FOUNDING PRINCIPAL, DAVID RUBIN LAND COLLECTIVEDavid Rubin is the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, a landscape architecture, urban design, and planning studio committed to practicing with an emphasis on socially purposeful design strategies. David’s visionary contribution to the field in “empathy-driven design” is a hallmark of the studio, earning increasing renown for fusing issues of social justice in cities with excellence in the design of public spaces. Educated at Connecticut College and Harvard University, he has taught and lectured at a number of institutions, including Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, and Southern California Institute of Architecture. David is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. His projects have received awards and honors from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Society of College and University Planners, and the American Institute of Architects, among others.

David’s current work includes the National World War I Memorial, new comfort stations throughout the National Mall, Franklin Park, and an expanse of riverfront along the Anacostia in Washington, D.C., multiple projects for the Fort Wayne Riverfront in Indiana, and a new plaza for Temple University in Philadelphia. His studio’s work includes diverse typologies in locations from Los Angeles to Rome, Berlin, New York City, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. He has had the pleasure of working in collaboration with the OBO on both the US Embassy Berlin and the US Embassy London Competition.

**Frank J. Sciame, Jr.**CEO/CHAIRMAN, SCIAME CONSTRUCTION, LLC

Frank J. Sciame, Jr. established Sciame Construction, LLC in 1975. In the years since, he has led the firm to its current position as one of the tri-state’s leading construction management firms. With a degree in Architecture from CCNY, Mr. Sciame has been referred to as a builder with the vision of an architect and the eye of a constructor. His talent, combined with that of his long-time Senior Executives, has positioned the firm to be entrusted with some of the metropolitan area’s most notable projects.

**A Paul Seck ASLA**COO/PARTNER, MICHAEL VAN VALKENBURGH ASSOCIATESThroughout his career, Paul Seck, ASLA, has helped advance landscape- based approaches to environmental design, particularly with respect to integrated stormwater management. Currently the Chief Operating Officer and Partner at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, (MVVA), Paul has been a vital part the firm since 1996. Paul is a firmwide advisor, working with colleagues to integrate design vision, leadership in sustainability, public engagement, and effective project management. He has been part of a core leadership team that has helped MVVA grow to one of North America’s leading landscape practices, with a current size of 100 team members, spread across 3 offices.

Paul has extensive expertise in every aspect of landscape architectural practice, leading some of the MVVA’s most technically complex projects as well as its most intimately-scaled gardens and plazas. For the past two decades, Paul has led work on Brooklyn Bridge Park (BBP), a project that has transformed an abandoned port facility into a vibrant waterfront park, visited by millions of people per year. BBP has received numerous awards, including the 2018 Design Excellence Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the 2021 Rosa Barba International Prize in Landscape Architecture. Paul’s leadership extends across a range of project types and sizes, including Maggie Daley Park in Chicago, the redesign of water systems at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the design of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park in Buffalo, planning and design at Amherst College and the landscape of the Obama Presidential Center.

Paul was an architecture advisor to the Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, convened by the City of New York to address resilience after Hurricane Sandy, as well as provide long-term planning to protect the city against the impacts of climate change. He has lectured at the national conference of the Society of Landscape Architects, and as well as the American Institute of Architects’ national conference. In 2003, he was a Fellow in Landscape Architecture at the American Academy in Rome, and he is a graduate of the Ohio State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture, with a minor in City and Regional Planning.**Daniel A. Sesil PE, CE, SE**PARTNER, LERA CONSULTING STRUCTURAL ENGINEERSDaniel is a Partner at LERA Consulting Structural Engineers. With the firm since 1983, his extensive expertise lives in special design projects that answer to function and innovation. He specializes in long span, column- free spaces, high-rise buildings, creative solutions and research initiatives. He has also led several major forensic investigation projects domestically and internationally. He is currently Partner-in-Charge of a wide range of high-profile, sensitive and complex projects, including the New U.S. Embassy in Nassau, Bahamas; the New U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey; the New U.S. in Nogales, Mexico; the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, CA; the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital Critical Services Structure & Campus Renovation in Brooklyn, NY; Lasker Rink & Pool in Central Park, Manhattan; the new Hillman Cancer Hospital at UPMC’s Shadyside Campus in Pittsburgh, PA; the super-tall Hyundai Global Business Center in Seoul, South Korea; and more. He also leads LERA’s structural design efforts for Global Building Modules, a steel-framed modular system, inspired by shipping containers, whose scale and design allows for efficient transportation and offers a potential solution to high- cost housing, and led designs for NYC HPD’s new modular affordable housing development at 581 Grant Ave in Brooklyn, NY.

Throughout his career, Dan has led the design of several of LERA’s landmark projects. He has also led the structural design of sculptures for such notable artists as Richard Serra, Beverly Pepper, Jonathan Borofsky. Donald Lipski, Alyson Shotz, Andrew Rogers and more.

Dan is a widely published author, having written articles in STRUCTURE Magazine, Modern Steel Construction and Civil Engineering Magazine, among others, and is a frequent speaker at design and engineering events. He serves on the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations Industry Advisory Group and the Marquette University College of Engineering Thought Leaders Council. For his actions following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, he received the Medal of Valor from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Dan holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Marquette University, and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Purdue University.**Stacy Smedley**EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BUILDING TRANSPARENCYStacy has a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Washington, and over 18 years in the architecture and construction professions. Her resume includes the first LEED for Homes Platinum certified project in Washington State as well as the first project in the world to be certified under Living Building Version 2.0 standards. As Sustainability Director at Skanska, Stacy has led sustainable initiatives, and is considered a subject matter expert in LEED, Living Building Challenge and carbon emissions associated with buildings and construction.

In her role at the newly established nonprofit, Building Transparency, Stacy leads the continued management and development of the free, open-access Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool and works to educate and engage the building industry on actionably reducing embodied carbon emissions of building materials.

Stacy has served in various advisory and leadership roles, including: Co-Chair of the Washington Businesses for Climate Action; Advisory Board Member for the University of Washington Carbon Leadership Forum; Construction Taskforce Chair for the Embodied Carbon Network; Advisory Group Member for AIA Materials Working Group; Emerging Professional Regional Chair for USGBC; Membership Chair for the Cascadia Green Building Council. She is a 2020 Grist 50 Fixer, a 2019 ENR Top 25 Newsmaker, and shared a Living Building Challenge Hero award for her work on the Bertschi School Living Science Building.**Jane Smith FAIA, IIDA**PARTNER, SPACESMITH

Jane Smith is the founding partner of Spacesmith, a New York-based architecture, planning, and interior design studio. The firm’s design approach is rooted in the belief that function and spatial experience are essential to the creation of meaningful interactions that enable physical, social, and psychological well-being. 

With a diverse portfolio of mission-driven clients, Spacesmith has completed work for city, state, and federal agencies—including many US embassies—as well as schools, non-profit institutions, and private sector clients in luxury retail, finance, and media. The firm has been honored with industry awards and has been featured in prominent publications for its expertise in workplace design, its commitment to sustainability and well-being, and its sophisticated use of trauma-informed design principles. With its culture of inclusivity and transparency, the firm has been able to successfully adapt to the ever-evolving needs of the built environment, leading to innovative projects across all sectors.

Jane holds a BA in architecture from Arizona State University and an MBA in finance from New York University. She is currently pursuing an MLA in Creative Writing and Literature at Harvard. For thirteen years, Jane was the Chair of the Interior Design: Built Environments Department at the School of Visual Arts. In 2017, she was elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and awarded the prestigious AIA New York State President’s Award for demonstrating lasting influence within the profession. She has spent much of her career on industry boards, including six years on the AIANY executive board and several years as co-chair of the Architecture Leadership Council for the NY Building Congress. Jane is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for the Olana Partnership, a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve the Olana State Historic Site in the Hudson Valley. 

**Julie Snow FAIA, NOMA**FOUNDING PRINCIPAL, SNOW KREILICH ARCHITECTSJulie Snow leads a studio-based practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The studio’s interest in pragmatic and critical programmatic reflection results in innovative designs that expand our understanding of architectural performance. Design strategies engage issues of how architecture performs within each project’s, social, cultural and economic context.

The practice has been recognized with numerous awards including the AIA’s 2018 Architecture Firm Award, an honor that recognizes a practice that consistently has produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years. Projects have been recognized with several AIA Honor Awards, a Holcim North American Bronze Award, a Progressive Architecture Design Award, the Chicago Athenaeum’s American and International Architecture Awards, Architect Magazine Annual Design Review, the Design Distinction Award from I.D. magazine, several Business Week/Architectural Record Awards and several US General Services Administration’s Design Excellence Awards. The work of the studio was exhibited at the Chicago Architectural Foundation.

Julie Snow has held several visiting professor positions including the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, USC, and Washington University, St. Louis, as well as teaching at the University of Minnesota College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture where she received the Ralph Rapson Award for Distinguished Teaching. She was selected as an “Emerging Voice” by the New York Architectural League in 1998. In 2005, Princeton Architectural Press published the first monograph on the studio’s work in its series on emerging designers from around the world. In 2011 she was awarded the Architecture Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

**Gregory Starr *ex officio***SECURITY CONSULTANT

Greg Starr is a retired senior United States Foreign Service Officer with a specialized career in the field of diplomatic security.  He served primarily at the US Department of State (33 years), ultimately serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security (2013-2017).  In this position he was the senior officer in the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service, and advisor for security and law enforcement matters to the Secretary of State. He testified multiple times before Senate and Congressional Committees on the Benghazi incident and developed policy and procedures to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

From 2009 to 2013 Mr. Starr served as Under Secretary General for Safety and Security at the United Nations, reporting to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. He was the senior official of the UN Security Management System, overseeing the formulation of security policies and the implementation of programs to ensure the operations of UN political, humanitarian, and relief activities were conducted in as secure an environment as possible around the globe.

During his career he also served as DS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Countermeasure, and then Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of the Diplomatic Security Service, leading a force of Special Agents, Diplomatic Couriers, Security Engineering Officers, Security Technical Specialists, General Service staff, and other specialists. (March 2007 – May 2009)

Mr. Starr served in multiple domestic and foreign assignments, including tours abroad as a Regional Security Officer in Israel, Tunisia, Senegal, and Kinshasa, Zaire (presently the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

******Robert Svedberg FAIA**PRINCIPAL, TVSDESIGNRob Svedberg is the principal in charge of tvsdesign’s public assembly practice. His work is known for integrating very large buildings into complex urban environments that preserve and enhance the life of our cities. Rob’s projects include the expansion of New York’s Jacob Javits Convention Center, Mumbai’s Jio World Centre, the Puerto Rico Convention Center, the expansion and transformation of the Las Vegas Convention Center and Nashville’s Music City Center. Rob’s work has won more than thirty national, regional and local design awards and has appeared in multiple publications. Rob is regularly asked to speak on the emerging trends in the global meeting industry and on the design of large mixed-use destinations.

Rob is a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects, sits on the Board of Directors of the Council for Quality Growth, and is a founding member of the City of Atlanta’s SPI-1 Development Review Commission. Rob is a licensed Architect in twelve states, two Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico. He received his undergraduate degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a M. Arch degree from Rice University.

**Nader Tehrani**PRINCIPAL, NADAAA

For his contributions to architecture as an art, Nader Tehrani is the recipient of The American Academy of Arts and Letters’ 2020 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize. Tehrani has also been named the 2022 National Design Awards Design Visionary by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; honored for his innovation and impact on the field of architecture. Working on interdisciplinary platforms, Nader Tehrani’s research has been focused on the transformation of the building industry, innovative material applications, and the development of new means and methods of construction, as exemplified in his work with digital fabrication. Tehrani’s work has received many prestigious awards, among which are an unprecedented eighteen Progressive Architecture Awards. The works of Nader Tehrani have been widely exhibited at MOMA, LA MOCA, and ICA Boston. His work is also part of the permanent collection of the Canadian Center for Architecture and the Nasher Sculpture Center. Tehrani is the former Dean of The Cooper Union’s Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture where he served from 2015-2022 and former Head of the Department of Architecture at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning where he served from 2010-2014. Tehrani has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he served as the Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design, and The University of Toronto where he served as the Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architecture. He also served as the William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.

**Jeremiah Watts**PRINCIPAL, D|WATTSJeremiah Watts is the co-founder of D|Watts Construction, a high-end boutique commercial interior construction firm committed to redefining the construction experience. He has over 20 years of experience helping companies deliver complex projects and has proudly established an 85% repeat and negotiated client base.

Jeremiah is a prominent figure in the Washington, DC AEC industry and is involved in various advisory roles. He is a frequent panelist and participant in industry events hosted by organizations such as CoreNet, IIDA Mid-Atlantic, WBC, and NAIOP Northern Virginia, the latter of which he serves as a board member. Jeremiah is deeply committed to making a positive impact in the community and has for the past three years served as the President of the Board of Directors at Woodley House – an organization dedicated to helping homeless people get back on their feet by providing temporary housing, counseling, job training, and support.

Jeremiah’s passions can be summed up into three key areas: diversity, elevating the industry, and mental health and well-being. He is dedicated to growing a diverse, talented team, challenging his peers to do the same, and refining the collective game to deliver complex work at the highest levels. He is also an outspoken champion for mental health and well-being, prioritizing these issues personally and within his workplace.

Jeremiah earned his BS in Public and Private Sector Organizations from Brown University and has been recognized for his exceptional leadership by being named to both the Washington Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 and Engineering News Record Mid-Atlantic’s Top 20 Under 40 list in 2019. He currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Beata, and their three children, Jaden, Jasmine, Julia, and their bernedoodle dog, Buddy.

**Marion Weiss FAIA**COFOUNDER, WEISS/MANFREDIMarion Weiss is cofounder of WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/ Landscape/Urbanism based in New York City and the Graham Chair Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. She was honored by Architectural Record with the Women in Architecture Design Leader Award in 2017 and her firm won the 2018 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture and the 2020 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in architecture.

Weiss/Manfredi operates at the nexus of architecture, art, landscape, and urbanism and projects including the Olympic Sculpture Park exemplify this cross disciplinary design approach. The Sculpture Park has been recognized internationally and Time Magazine identified the park as one of the top 10 projects in the world.

The firm’s projects have been exhibited internationally including the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, The Museum of Modem Art, the Sao Paulo Biennale of International Architecture and Design, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, The Guggenheim Museum, the National Building Museum, Harvard University, the International Landscape Architecture Biennale in Barcelona, and the Design Centre in Essen, Germany. Princeton Architectural Press has published three monographs on their work: Site Specific, Surface / Subsurface and PUBLIC NATURES: Evolutionary Infrastructures. The firm has received the Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was named one of North America’s “Emerging Voices” by the Architectural League of New York. The firm has also won the New York AIA Gold Medal and the Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal.

Marion received her Master of Architecture at Yale University and her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia where she was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnae in 2020. She Is currently Professor of Practice in Penn’s Weitzman School of Design and has also taught design studios at Harvard, Yale, and Cornell University. Marion is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a National Academy of Design inductee.****

**Elizabeth Whittaker AIA**FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL, MERGE ARCHITECTSElizabeth Whittaker, AIA is the founder and principal of MERGE Architects. She has lectured extensively in the US and abroad, and the work of MERGE has been widely published both nationally and internationally, including Architectural Record Magazine’s 2014 Design Vanguard issue, naming MERGE one of the top ten emerging practices in the world.

Elizabeth is also a recipient of the 2015 AIA Young Architects Award, one of eight recipients of the Architectural League of New York’s “2015 Emerging Voices” program, recognizing the top eight emerging voices in architecture in North America, and was awarded the sole recipient of Architectural Record’s 2017 “Next Generation Leader”—an honor that awards one female architect in the country each year. In addition, Elizabeth was most recently nominated for election to the National AIA College of Fellows, the AIA’s highest honor for exceptional work and contributions to the profession and society in the US.

She has served on the BSA/AIA Board of Directors, the BSA/AIA Rotch Traveling Fellowship Committee and the BSA/AIA Nominating Committee. Elizabeth graduated from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design with Distinction where she received numerous awards during her graduate studies including the Core Studio Prize, the Faculty Design Award, and the John E. Thayer Award for overall academic achievement.

Elizabeth approaches architecture as a discipline embedded in both practice and academia. She has taught design studios in several Architecture programs including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, the Boston Architectural College, and Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she was also Lead Faculty in Architecture in their Career Discovery Summer Program from 2011-2015. She has been teaching Core Architecture Studios at Harvard since 2009, and currently holds a faculty position as Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Graduate School of Design.

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