SPEAKERS
Anna Dyson
Founding Director, Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (CEA) at Yale
Anna Dyson
Anna Dyson is the Hines Professor of Architecture, with an appointment in the School of Environment (YSE) at Yale University. She teaches design, technology, and theory at the School of Architecture. At Yale, Anna has also founded a new research entity titled CEA – Center for Ecosystems in Architecture. CEA is a joint initiative between the Yale Schools of Architecture, Forestry & Environmental Studies to unite researchers across multiple fields to develop transformative systems for the Built Environment. CEA supports Masters and PhD level students as well as professional researchers towards the invention and development of building systems that metabolize energy, water and materials while supporting biodiverse ecosystems. CEA has its central think tank within the heart of Yale University in New Haven. Dyson was previously the Founding Director of CASE, The Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE) in 2007 which hosts the Graduate Program in Architectural Sciences / Built Ecologies.
Peter MacKeith
Dean
Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas
Peter MacKeith
Peter MacKeith, dean and professor of architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas, is a nationally recognized design educator and administrator. During his leadership since 2014, the school has grown significantly in student enrollment, retention and graduation outcomes, faculty appointments and accomplishments, curricular programs, diversity initiatives, community engagements and outreach centers, external funded research, new facilities and financial resources.
A nationally recognized leader in advancing the cause of a forest-centered culture and economy, and the cause of a wood-product centered approach to architecture, engineering and construction, MacKeith lectures and presents frequently on these topics, most recently for The Architect’s Newspaper, the Sustainable Forests Initiative, The Nature Conservancy, and the International Living Future Initiative. He is currently working with the Arkansas World Trade Center to organize a state trade and industry delegation to Finland in June 2022, to advance the state’s interests in environmental and economic development, particularly in its forests, timberlands and wood products industries, and with the production team of the PBS series “America’s Forests” on an episode devoted to the Arkansas forests and forest communities.
A 2020 Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, MacKeith has been recognized twice by Design Intelligence as a “design educator of the year” (2017 and 2019) and twice by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture with national awards for “creative achievement in design education,” for his design studio teaching and curatorial work.
MacKeith serves as chair of the advisory committee for the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program, a regional initiative of the Walton Family Foundation, and is a member of the editorial board of Places Journal for architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism. He is currently overseeing the completion of a $75 million capital campaign for the Fay Jones School, and guiding the design and construction of the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, a regional center for research and development of new wood products and new approaches in sustainable construction materials.
John Folan
Director
Urban Design Build Studio, University of Arkansas
John Folan
John Folan is head of the Department of Architecture and professor at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas. He is also director of the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS), which he founded in 2008 while appointed as the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Chair in Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University. Through the UDBS and other collaborative ventures, Folan has made a commitment to work with underrepresented communities on the development and implementation of catalytic projects through participatory design processes. His work prioritizes public interest, social justice and equity as a productive end.
Elizabeth Wendell
Senior Project Designer
Elizabeth Wendell
Elizabeth Wendell is committed to creating uplifting and powerful places that are deeply interconnected with their surrounding community.
She seeks design innovation at the nexus of the city, technology, and culture, deriving architectural solutions that engage and adapt to our rapidly changing urban environments and economies. As a Senior Project Designer and Architect at RIOS, she leads a collaborative design process within her teams that centers the design on the community it serves. Equal parts artist and pragmatist, she builds consensus among clients, stakeholders, and the project team around meaningful architectural concepts while skillfully executing project delivery on time and on budget.
Elizabeth’s work at RIOS and at prior firms Gensler, Morphosis, Graft, and JFAK include notable award-winning urban, institutional, and civic buildings such as the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (Los Angeles), the Denver International Airport Extension, the Emerson Los Angeles Center, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas), and celebrated architectural proposals including the US Embassy in London, Seoul Performing Arts Center in Korea, and King Abdullah Energy Research Center in Saudi Arabia.
She is a founding member of the national Urban Land Institute’s Technology and Real Estate Council, and is a member of the ULI Advisory Board for the LA District Council.
John Skok
Principal
John Skok
John Skok, AIA, Principal of McIntosh Poris Associates, has led the firm’s architectural design, project strategy and management, community engagement, and new project development since joining in 2001. He is responsible for projects from the early schematic phases of design through construction administration. John’s specialties are in commercial architecture, historic preservation, multi-family housing, adaptive reuse, public and cultural spaces, and interiors. John graduated from the University of Detroit Mercy in 2000, with a Bachelor of Architecture degree and is currently active with his alma mater on the School of Architecture Deans Advisory Council. He is a former member of the board of zoning appeals for the City of Ferndale, MI.
Beth O’Neill
Co-founder
Beth O’Neill
Beth O’Neill co-founded O’Neill McVoy Architects in 2012 on the belief that architecture can elevate the everyday through shaping contours of space and material in light, for heightened awareness of time and nature. The Brooklyn-based multi-scale practice initiates projects by exploring the latent potential and the special qualities of a project’s site and its aspirations to illuminate how architecture can catalyze its purpose. The studio’s award-winning built work, ongoing construction projects and theoretical proposals include residential, commercial, and institutional buildings and spaces realized in collaboration with private and public clients.
Chris McVoy
Co-founder
Chris McVoy
Chris McVoy co-founded O’Neill McVoy Architects in 2012 on the belief that architecture can elevate the everyday through shaping contours of space and material in light, for heightened awareness of time and nature. The Brooklyn-based multi-scale practice initiates projects by exploring the latent potential and the special qualities of a project’s site and its aspirations to illuminate how architecture can catalyze its purpose. The studio’s award-winning built work, ongoing construction projects and theoretical proposals include residential, commercial, and institutional buildings and spaces realized in collaboration with private and public clients.
Stephen Luoni
Director, Distinguished Professor
University of Arkansas Community Design Center
Stephen Luoni
Stephen Luoni is Director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, the Steven L. Anderson Chair in Architecture and Urban Studies, and a Distinguished Professor of Architecture. Under his direction since 2003, UACDC has won more than 200 urban design, research, and education awards. Luoni’s work specializes in interdisciplinary public-interest design combining ecological, urban, and architectural design. Luoni has a BS in Architecture from Ohio State University and a Master of Architecture from Yale University.
Ryan Jones
Partner
Ryan Jones
Ryan Jones, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is a partner at Lake|Flato Architects and a leader of the firm’s Higher Education studio. Ryan thrives in an environment of complexity, where the discovery of simple and holistic solutions are the result of extraordinary collaboration, analysis, and curiosity. During his 18 years with Lake|Flato, Ryan has designed some of the firm’s most sophisticated and award-winning projects that bring harmony to often conflicting project needs through a focus on discovery and collaboration. These qualities have made him a national thought leader in the planning and design of Science & Technology, Performing Arts, and Mixed-Use Cultural Districts. Ryan’s work centers on designing high-performing buildings that elevate the user experience with modern spaces that are warm, tactile, and intensely focused on reinforcing the connections between human wellness and nature. Three of his projects have received AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top 10 awards, the profession’s highest honor for architecture that demonstrates both inspirational design and environmental stewardship.
Eric Lacroix
Director, Strategic Accounts Construction
Eric Lacroix
Eric Lacroix in consistently recognized throughout the design community and construction industry for his firestop expertise, especially in terms curtain wall perimeter fire barrier systems where he is considered the “Industry Specialist”. Eric has over 20 years of real world experience serving as an invaluable resource on many of largest, most complex high profile projects around the world. He works closely with inspectors, glazing contractors, and curtain wall consultants as a trusted advisor during the design, fabrication, construction and installation of a wide range of curtain wall projects.Eric’s wealth of knowledge and experience ensures the project stays on budget and gets done right the first time. He continuously adds value throughout the process, from conception to construction, to close out. Prior to his role as Director of Strategic Accounts, Eric was the STI Firestop Regional Manager, covering the Southeastern United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, South America, and Mexico.
Marty Wood
Program Director
Marty Wood
Marty Wood is the Program Director for The Architect’s Newspaper’s Facades+ Conferences and other AN events and initiatives that bring together AEC professionals to share their stories, expertise, and projects. As a writer, he’s contributed to The Architect’s Newspaper, Metropolis, and other design publications. He is also a visiting instructor at Pratt Institute. Wood has a BA in Communications from San Francisco State University and a M.S. from Columbia University GSAPP.
Jack Murphy
Executive Editor
Jack Murphy
Jack Murphy is Executive Editor of The Architect’s Newspaper. Previously, he was Editor of Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston and Adjunct Professor at the Gerald D. Hines University of Houston College of Architecture and Design. He earned an undergraduate degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a graduate degree in architecture from Rice University. He has worked for award-winning architects in New York City, Houston, Austin, and Boston. His writing has appeared in Places Journal, Dwell, Architectural Record, The Architect’s Newspaper, Texas Architect, Cite, PLAT, Paprika!, New York Review of Architecture, The Houston Chronicle, and SF Gate, among other publications. He was Co-Editor-in-Chief for PLAT 7.5 Oversharing and PLAT 8.0 Simplicity and Assistant Editor of Totalization, edited by Troy Schaum and published by Park Books. He lives in Brooklyn.
Emily Conklin
Managing Editor
Emily Conklin
Emily Conklin (she/her) is a writer, architecture historian, and the managing editor of The Architect’s Newspaper. She holds a M.S. in Historic Preservation from Columbia GSAPP, and her current areas of research include office to residential conversions and designs for coliving.
Michael Zanotelli
Facade & Curtain Wall Specialist - Western US & Canada
Michael Zanotelli
Michael has over 20 years of real-world experience on many of largest, high profile projects throughout the Western United States. Through his knowledge and expertise, Michael developed a solid reputation working closely with inspectors, glazing contractors, and curtain wall consultants as a trusted resource on a wide range of curtain wall projects.
Michael is committed to ensure your project stays on budget and gets done right the first time from conception to close out. Prior to his role as Façade and Curtain Wall Specialist for the Western US and Canada, Michael was the Western United States and Hawaii Regional Manager.
Aaron Alterman
Curtain Wall & Facade Specialist
Aaron Alterman
Curtain Wall & Façade Specialist for the Strategic Accounts Division of STI Specified Technologies, covering the central United States and Canada.
Aaron joined STI Specified Technologies in 2015 and has over 30 years of experience in construction materials. He has conducted firestop trainings for STI, The International Firestop Council and to a variety of groups including; architects, engineers, consultants, code officials, inspectors and all types of trades. He is certified at Level 2 of Firestop Instructional Training (FIT II).
Chris Perkins
Facade & Curtain Wall Specialist - Eastern US & Canada
Chris Perkins
Chris has over 14 years of real-world experience working closely with inspectors, glazing contractors, and specialty firestop contractors throughout DC and N VA developing a solid reputation as a technical resource for perimeter fire containment solutions on a wide range of projects types including CLT Mass Timber.
Prior to his role as Façade and Curtain Wall Specialist for the Eastern US and Canada, Chris was the Territory Manager for DC, MD, and VA.
Gray Dougherty
Director of Architect / Research and Development
Gray Dougherty
Gray integrates design with systems thinking to develop smarter ways to build. A long time practicing architect, he has completed a broad array of projects, from large scale interiors for Meta to ground up academic buildings. While a Studio Director at Gensler, Gray led a research project in partnership with StopWaste and the SF Department of the Environment to analyze construction material reuse streams and develop concepts for replicable reuse infrastructure.
Dan Sullivan
Vice President of Research and Development
Dan Sullivan
Dan is an Architect who is enhancing resiliency and human potential through the design of the physical environment. He attended UC Berkeley earning a BA in Architecture and earned his Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. As a founding member and Head of Design at the Google R+D Lab, Dan advanced a high-performance, low-cost, future-proofed workspace. His current projects include building systems leveraging neuroscience to elevate the human potential by advancing environmental resilience.
Mark Fusco
National Sales Manager
Mark Fusco
Mark Fusco, LEED AP, GRP is the National Sales Manager for Bison Innovative Products and has comprehensive rooftop deck and green roof construction experience. A decade of experience with Bison and a decade of experience at Denver Botanic Gardens have given Mark the expertise to assist architects, developers, designers, and installers with all their project needs. The synthesis of combining rooftop amenity spaces, pools, pergolas, and green roofs has now become the focus of Mark’s work. Mark is most fulfilled when working with the Bison Sales Team, assisting clients with solutions for their projects. His vision and ability to nurture relationships lead to long-term solutions and success. Mark has degrees in Landscape Design, Environmental Science, and Marketing.
Amelia Baxter
Co-Founder & CEO
Amelia Baxter
Amelia Baxter believes that the 21st century built environment is filled with opportunities for trees. Baxter co-founded WholeTrees in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of waste-trees in commercial construction, increasing forest revenues, and offering green construction markets a new material for the 21st century. Amelia has led project teams in over $2M in USDA research grants working toward the commercialization of the tree’s natural engineering. By raising equity investment for her company, attracting national executive talent, and pinpointing nascent urban markets for trees as structure, Baxter has participated in the growth of a truly conscious and regenerative company.
Robert Levit
Acting Dean & Associate Professor
Robert Levit
A partner in the design firm Khoury Levit Fong, Robert Levit is associate professor and acting dean at the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. His work links the urban and architectural scales, and his design work and writing on architecture have appeared in numerous anthologies and journal publications. Levit has been the director of both the Architecture and Urban Design programs at the Daniels Faculty, and holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University. Prior to starting his own practice, he worked for the architect Alvaro Siza in Portugal.