SPEAKERS

In alphabetical order:

Omar Brownson, Executive Director – Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation

Omar is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation. Omar leads the strategic vision and operations of the LARRC in an effort to organize a broad coalition of businesses, community and civic leaders, and environmentalists to champion projects along the river, including the LA River Greenway. Before the LARRC, Omar  led the Los Angeles expansion of Seslia & Company, a financial advisory firm focused on structuring and sourcing project financing for public institutions.  Prior to that, he served as vice president of acquisitions and development at CityView, an institutional investment firm, and spearheaded numerous other mission-driven and community development initiatives. He holds a graduate degree in public policy and urban planning from Harvard University, where he also won the Urban Land Institutes’s Gerald D. Hines Urban Design Competition.  At the University of California, Davis, he earned a dual degree in international relations, and nature and culture.

Douglas Burnham, Principal – Envelope A+D

Douglas Burnham, principal + founder of envelope a+d, is a skilled architectural practitioner with over twenty years of experience. As the conceptual core and fiscal driver of PROXY, a temporary urban intervention, Douglas advanced the notion that a diverse mix of well-curated temporary uses could be a catalyst for a transformational placemaking strategy. Concurrent with his architectural practice, Douglas has been an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts since 2004. From 2007-2010 Douglas led the SFMOMA’s Architecture + Design Forum as Chair, where he now serves on the Forum’s Executive Committee.

Mat Cash, Studio Team Leader – Heatherwick Studio

Mat is Studio Team Leader at Heatherwick Studio in London. Heatherwick Studio is recognized for its work in architecture, urban infrastructure, sculpture, design and strategic thinking. The studio’s work includes a number of nationally significant projects for the UK, including the award-winning UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, the Olympic Cauldron for the London 2012 Olympics, and the New Bus for London.

Amy Eliot, Principal – Dilworth Eliot Studio

Amy Eliot, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is a Principal at the Dilworth Eliot Stuidio. She enjoys working in an expansive set of markets and project types ranging from strategic planning to the most detailed interiors. She has substantial expertise working with institutional, public, and non-profit clients, enhanced by a diverse portfolio of work that includes cultural arts facilities, corporate interiors and multifamily residential work. She has provided leadership to a number of diverse academic and public works projects ranging from park amenities and utility infrastructure at Mission Bay to the Masterplan for the Hearst Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley. Amy holds a Master in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor degree from Smith College.

Jacqueline Flin, Executive Director – APRI

Ms. Flin began her career in union labor with Service International Employees Union, Local 790 (now Local 1021), in 2000 as an administrative assistant supporting union activities within the local.  She has several years of experience working at the California Labor Federation AFL-CIO, participating in legislative campaigns and grassroots organizing, promoting and defending the interests of working people and their families for the betterment of California’s communities.  Over the past 11 years, Ms. Flin has participated in a volunteer participant in the 1997 Youth Labor Study administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, designed to attain employment statistics and background information on United States youth.  Ms. Flin graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Cellular Biology from the University of California, Davis.

Andrea Gooden, Manager, External Affairs, Environmental Remediation – PG&E

Andrea Gooden is Manager of Stakeholder Engagement for the Environmental Remediation department at Pacific Gas & Electric Company. In this role, Andrea collaborates with an interdisciplinary team to manage public participation, communications, and stakeholder engagement at historic utility and manufactured gas plants that are undergoing remediation. In her previous roles with PG&E’s Community Relations organization and Power Pathway workforce development program, Andrea developed initiatives particularly aimed at increasing career opportunities for underrepresented communities and veterans in the utility industry.

Prior to joining PG&E, Andrea held leadership positions within philanthropic and marketing divisions at Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer, and Levi Strauss. She is author of Computers in the Classroom and has served as co-host and instructor of a graduate online course called: Internet for Teachers. Andrea holds a lifetime California elementary and adult education teaching credentials, a BA in Communications and Masters in Broadcast Communications Arts from San Francisco State University. She is an alumnus of California Leadership – a policy and advocacy group.

Daveed Kapoor, Principal – Utopiad/RAC Design Build

Daveed is the founder of utopiad.org, a land development and architecture collective focused on redressing social justice issues in Los Angeles. Working with developers and operators Utopiad has designed, entitled, permitted and constructed multiple housing, hospitality, live/work, and manufacturing places in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and San Francisco. His passion is creating space that improves the quality of people’s lives and to optimize the environment for human habitation. Daveed has been practicing architecture, development and construction in Los Angeles since 2000, and has completed over 70 commissions in California.

Liz Ogbu, Designer and Social Change Agent

A designer and social change agent, Liz is an expert on social and spatial innovation in challenged urban environments. Through her multidisciplinary consulting practice and courses she teaches at UC Berkeley and Stanford’s d.school, she collaborates with communities to develop sustainable initiatives that have social impact. Previously, she was Innovator-in-Residence at IDEO.org and Design Director at Public Architecture.

Stanley Saitowitz, Principal – Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects

Stanley Saitowitz is a Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley and a Principal at Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects. He has taught at numerous schools, including the Elliot Noyes Professor, Harvard University GSD (1991-2), the Bruce Goff Professor, University of Norman, Oklahoma (1993), UCLA, Rice, SCIARC, Cornell, Syracuse, and University of Texas at Austin. His first house was built in 1975, and together with Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects Inc., has completed numerous buildings and projects. These projects have received national and international recognition. Amongst many awards, the Transvaal House was declared a National Monument by the Monuments Council in South Africa in 1997, the New England Holocaust Memorial received the Henry Bacon Medal in 1998, and in 2006 he was a finalist for the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award given by Laura Bush at the White House. Three books have been published on his work, and articles have appeared in many magazines and newspapers. His paintings, drawings and models have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums.

Eric Shaw, Director – Salt Lake City, Community & Economic Development Department

Eric Shaw is the Director of Community and Economic Development for Salt Lake City. He oversees the implementation of city policies related to community and economic development. He is responsible for the restructuring of economic development and housing divisions, restructuring of the city’s plan development and approval process, and development of a new comprehensive citywide civic engagement program. Prior to his appointment in Salt Lake City, Eric served as Vice President of Programs and Policy at Foundation for Louisiana where he led all of the agency’s programmatic initiatives, including grantmaking, advocacy support and policy work on issues of civic engagement, affordable housing, small minority business development and community wealth building. Eric has degrees from UCLA and Harvard’s School of Design.

Marcel Wilson, Principal – Bionic

Marcel Wilson is a licensed landscape architect, writer, educator, based in San Francisco CA. He founded Bionic to focus on the design of inventive landscape architecture, planning, urban design, and ecology projects at all scales. Wilson is a recognized leader of a new generation of landscape architects that are expanding the field by addressing the complex environmental and cultural conditions presented by our world today. His work combines sharp analysis with social responsibility, experimentation, and technology. Wilson graduated with distinction from The Harvard Design School where he was awarded the prestigious Weidenman Prize for design excellence.