Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, is the president, CEO, and founder of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF). Prior to creating TCLF, Birnbaum spent fifteen years as the coordinator of the National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative (HLI) and a decade in private practice in New York City, with a focus on landscape preservation and urban design.

David Farnsworth is a Principal with Arup’s New York Office and has a depth of experience in the design and management of projects both locally and globally. David leads Arup’s Americas Property Market and has design experience encompassing many program types, construction materials, and methods of construction. He has designed some of the world’s most iconic tall building structures including Marina Bay Sands Hotel Towers in Singapore, the Northeast Asia Trade Tower in Incheon Korea, and the Citic Tower in Beijing. He has a keen interest in the interface between design and construction and has worked on a number of projects that utilize digital fabrication techniques and prefabrication to facilitate construction of complex projects.

Fabian Jabro is a founding principal of Standard Architects, and he brings to that role a decade’s experience as a builder. For 25 years he’s helped keep the firm focused on collaboration and working a diversity of project types, including Little Island in New York City, Nutrabolt’s headquarters in Texas, and Beam Center’s summer camp in New Hampshire. He is a hands-on principal involved in all of the firm’s projects.

Mía Lehrer, FASLA founded Studio-MLA with a vision to improve quality of life through landscape architecture. With offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the robust and multidisciplinary team works to address urban issues through environmental systems planning and built resilience strategies. She has led the design and implementation of ambitious public and private projects including the Hollywood Park Racetrack redevelopment and its new SoFi Stadium and associated public parks, Dallas’s Fair Park Community Park, San Francisco’s Levi’s Plaza, the LA County Natural History Museum Gardens, Vista Hermosa Park, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and many urban river-related projects including the Rio Tietê in São Paulo, and the Los Angeles River Taylor Yard G2 Park and the Upper LA River and Tributaries Plan. Mía is internationally recognized for progressive landscape design, advocacy for sustainable and people-friendly public places, and catalyzing work for a climate-appropriate future. Educated at Tufts University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, she lectures and teaches around the world. Among recent accomplishments, she is the newest member of the Los Angeles Board of Water & Power Commissioners, served on Obama’s U.S. Fine Arts Commission, and was honored with the ASLA LaGasse Medal.

With training in architecture, architectural history, and industrial design as well as in lighting, Paul brings a multi-disciplinary background to architectural lighting. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College with graduate work at Case Western Reserve University and Brooklyn College. He has received numerous accolades over his tenure; most recently the NLB Tesla Award for the Ford Foundation Headquarters; and PALME Middle East Award for the Best Use of Exterior Lighting for the Burj Khalifa; currently the tallest building in the world. Since 2002 Paul has led the FMS “Tribute in Light” team to honor the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center.

Signe Nielsen has been practicing as a landscape architect and urban designer since 1978. She believes in using design as a vehicle for advocacy to promote discourse on social equity and community resilience and has served on multiple panels to effect positive change. She is the recipient of over 100 design awards and is a Professor of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at Pratt Institute. Ms. Nielsen holds degrees in Urban Planning from Smith College; in Landscape Architecture from City College of New York; and in Construction Management from Pratt Institute.

Douglas Reed’s career has been remarkable for the consistency of his design achievement, the passion he shares with students, colleagues, and clients, and his boundless commitment to improving the world we live in through design. Through his diverse projects and non-profit work, he passionately promotes the wise and creative treatment of our cultural patrimony. A committed urbanist, Doug sees the designed landscape as essential to civilizing cities. He has successfully positioned select urban commissions into larger agendas to accelerate revitalization efforts within cities, most recently in Houston, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Doug is a founding principal of Reed Hilderbrand LLC, a 2013 ASLA Landscape Architecture Firm Award winner. His projects, his communications, and his firm Reed Hilderbrand have all won awards from various professional organizations nationwide. Doug is also a founding board member of The Cultural Landscape Foundation and served as board co-chair for 13 years, carving out an agenda for the organization that delivers knowledge about design heritage and how it applies to people’s everyday lives. Doug was Resident at the American Academy in Rome in 2011; he was awarded the 2019 American Society of Landscape Architect’s Design Medal.

Joseph Sutkowi is the Waterfront Design Associate Director at the Waterfront Alliance, leading the Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines (WEDG) program. He brings significant experience in ports and waterfront operations, economic development policy, and infrastructure. Previously, Joseph was a Senior Consultant at Karp Strategies, a New York City-based urban planning and economic development consulting firm where he led projects in infrastructure and sustainability. In previous roles, Joseph has also worked with Living Cities on equitable procurement, a New York City Council member on transportation, the American Red Cross in disaster response operations, and the University of Michigan in foundation relations. Joseph resides in Queens, New York with his wife, Katie. He holds a Bachelor of Public Policy from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Public Administration from New York University.

Victor F. “Trey” Trahan, III, FAIA, is the founder and CEO of Trahan Architects, established in 1992 with a belief that bringing humility and awareness into the design process helps create authentic spaces that elevate our lives.

In both his personal and professional life, Trey is continually exploring ways to cultivate generosity and inclusiveness in our relationships with each other and with our environments. He is deeply committed to social and ecological responsibility, and his admiration for the aesthetically sublime has inspired a lifelong passion for art and nature. His approach to architecture begins with his conviction that a building can create something that goes beyond its walls—that when we build, we are shaping our landscapes, communities, and cultures. As such, he sees humanitarianism as central to his practice, and strives to consider his designs through a lens of conscience, compassion, and curative action, reaching beyond the traditional bounds of architecture to manifest the peace and justice that can lead us to a sense of interconnectivity. It is his profoundly held belief that by working with attunement and leaving space for forces outside of ourselves, we can give rise to beauty, longevity, and ultimately, kindness.

Since 1992, Trey has led Trahan Architects to expand from its New Orleans roots to open a second office in New York City, and rise to be ranked the number one design firm by Architect Magazine, the official publication of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Trey received the Architecture Review Emerging Architecture Award in London in 2005, and in 2006 he was elected to the AIA College of Fellows. He was a visiting critic and distinguished lecturer at the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, the Catholic University of America (serving as the 2021 Walton Critic), the University of Southern California, and the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. From 2015-2017, Trey served as a member of the International Council of the Van Allen Institute in New York, an organization that explores how design can transform cities and landscapes to improve people’s lives, and he is currently a board member of The Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington D.C., a nonprofit that educates and engages the public in our shared historical landscapes.

Trey has established several innovative conservation projects, including Fundo Tic Toc in Patagonia, Chile and which is part of a protected property acquired by Trey from the late Doug Tompkins, founder of North Face as well as former plantation site in St. Francisville, LA. An avid art collector, Trey lends his collections to museum exhibitions around the world. His meticulous curation includes an extensive series of Chawan tea bowls crafted by revered Japanese artist Shiro Tsujimura as well as a collection by the noted artist Genta Ishizuka. He divides his time between New Orleans and St. Francisville in Louisiana, New York City, and Patagonia, Chile.

Led by the conviction that the designed landscape is a vital cultural expression and source of environmental accountability, HMWhite’ s work inspires to create places of unexpected and deep connections with the natural world. Founded in 1983 by Hank White, the landscape architecture and urban design firm’s evidence-based approach respects natural ecologies that consistently inform each design.

HMWhite’s work has been recognized with over 35 significant national and international awards. Through rethinking the aesthetic and role of city and town landscapes, each project’s landscape performance materially enhances its context environmentally, socially, and economically.

Gareth Mahon is a licensed landscape architect in New York State and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. He oversees institutional, multi-family, and private residential projects at RKLA Studio. Gareth’s diverse background influences his approach to design and project management. Raised in rural Ireland, he has traveled extensively and received a Bachelor of Electronic Engineering from the University of Glasgow, Scotland and a Master of Urban Design from the City College of New York. Gareth joined RKLA Studio in 2004 after careers in technology and new-media in Ireland, Spain, and the US.

Gareth’s energy and passion for his work extends beyond the office through involvement in related activities. He won a Design Merit Award from the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects for his collaborative work on the community-driven East River State Park Master Plan in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He has served on desigNYC’s project selection committees and advised their Fort Greene SNAP project. In 2013 he was elected to the board of the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and served as co-chair of the Programs Committee. Most recently, he joined the Program Leadership Council at the Van Alen Institute and has spoken on Playground Design at the Center for Architecture.