The LAF Board of Directors is a diverse group who bring experience and insights from landscape architecture practice, academia, industry, allied professions, and the nonprofit sector.
Executive Committee
Michael
GrovePresident
Principal
Sasaki
Boston, MAMichael is the Chair of Landscape Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Ecology and sits on the Board of Directors at Sasaki. Leading the much of the firm’s international work, he offers unique insight into the impacts of urbanization in rapidly growing cities around the world. Michael's career spans a variety of project types and scales including regional planning, urban districts, and waterfronts. He collaborates closely with clients, consultants, stakeholders, and a host of allied professionals to generate planning and design strategies that result in visionary yet pragmatic solutions.
Michael is a fierce advocate for the vital role that landscape architects play in shaping contemporary society, and believes that the role of the designer is to make cities more livable, equitable, resilient, and just. He was attracted to serving on the LAF Board of Directors because he feels that landscape architects need to foster collaboration within and beyond our professional expertise to exchange best practices, increase dialogue, remain curious, and be more visible as thought leaders. Landscape architects must claim a strategic seat at the table where decisions impacting the future of the planet are made, and Michael feels that LAF’s focus on expanding diversity in the profession is critical to ensure that a variety of perspectives, expertise, and lived experiences result in more inclusive solutions to the pressing social and environmental issues of our time.
Alma
Du SolierPresident-Elect
Studio Director
Hood Design Studio
Oakland, CAAlma Du Solier is a Mexican-American landscape architect and the Studio Director at Hood Design Studio, an award-winning cultural practice based in Oakland, California, which merges landscape architecture, public art, and urban design. Alma has a Bachelor’s in Architecture from ITESM (Mexico), and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been practicing in the U.S. since 1999, where she has been the lead designer for a wide range of projects primarily in complex urban settings. Alma is a recurrent guest lecturer for advanced design studios at UC Berkeley.
Alma joined the LAF Board of Directors because of her admiration for LAF’s mission which recognizes the transformative effect landscape has in our cities and beyond. In particular, she has contributed time and thought leadership to the LAF programs that provide direct support to students and young professionals.
Roberto
RoviraImmediate Past President
Professor
Florida International University
Miami, FLRoberto Rovira, ASLA, PLA, is Principal of Studio Roberto Rovira, and Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture + Environmental and Urban Design at FIU. His research interests include ecological system visualization, landscape ecology as an element of contemporary urban environments, and art in landscape architecture. Roberto has been recognized nationally and internationally for his work as an educator and profes¬sional. His work has received honors in over 10 open and public international competitions and has been recognized by state and national ASLA, CELA, AIA, APA, and Fast Company Magazine World Changing Ideas. He earned the Emerging Voice award from the Architectural League, one of the most coveted awards in North American Architecture
For Roberto, LAF’s commitment to the future of the profession through its leadership by example, support for new and established voices in our field, forward-thinking programming, and role as an effective facilitator of innovative thinking and research is a constant inspiration.
Alexa
BushVice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Program Officer
The Kresge Foundation
Detroit, MIAlexa Bush is passionate about creating equitable and resilient cities. She is a Program Officer at the Kresge Foundation. The Kresge Foundation is a private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development, nationally and in Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans. Previously, Alexa managed a team of planners and designers responsible for planning and implementing neighborhood development and landscape infrastructure projects on Detroit's east side. She has also been a project lead for Detroit's Reimagining the Civic Commons initiatives, working with a multi-sector team to improve civic engagement, equity, and environmental sustainability through reinvestment into neighborhood scale public spaces co-created with residents. Prior to her Detroit work, she gained diverse experience in communities across the US on urban design, historic landscape preservation and large-scale planning projects.
Alexa received her bachelor's degree in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University and her master's in Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia.
Elaine
KearneyVice President of Development
Managing Principal
TBG
San Antonio, TXElaine Kearney, PLA, leads TBG San Antonio as Managing Principal where she works to create compelling landscapes rooted in the ecology and unique environment of the Edwards Plateau region. Before returning to her native Texas in 2015, Elaine practiced in Cambridge, MA and Portland, OR. Her background also includes academic engagements at such institutions as Trinity University, Boston Architecture Center and Portland State University. Elaine was honored as the recipient of the 2022 Texas ASLA Service Award for her commitment to advancing landscape architecture causes in Texas and beyond.
Elaine believes that the issues of our time require the nuanced voices of landscape architects and was attracted to serving on the LAF Board of Directors, in part, by LAF’s emphasis on future practitioners. She’s excited to play a role in expanding diversity and access to landscape architecture education through LAF’s scholarship programs.
Alexis C.
LandesVice President of Leadership
Managing Principal
SCAPE
New York, NYAlexis C. Landes is Managing Principal at SCAPE, where she oversees firm-wide business development, project development, and finances. She liaises with clients to understand their needs, working within SCAPE to develop tailored design solutions, operational strategies, and project teams. Over the past 8 years, she has overseen the firm's expansion from one office with 12 staff members to 3 offices with nearly 100 staff members. As an experienced landscape designer and urban planner, Alexis has led the project teams for the Resilient Boston Harbor Vision and subsequent coastal resilience plan for the Dorchester neighborhood in the city. Profiled in Madame Architect on her leadership role at SCAPE, she frequently lectures about operational strategies for firm growth and practice across the U.S.
In her role at LAF, she works with fellow board members and affiliated groups to advance collaborative leadership across the field of landscape architecture, advocating for diversity of voices across the Foundation's work and professional practice at large.
Emily
McCoyVice President of Research
Principal
Design Workshop
Raleigh, NCEmily McCoy, FASLA, SITES AP, is an Associate Professor of Practice at North Carolina State University and Principal at Design Workshop, an internationally renowned design firm specializing in landscape architecture, urban planning and strategic services with eight studios in the U.S. and projects spanning the globe. Emily leads Design Workshop’s Raleigh Studio and serves on Design Workshop’s Board of Directors. As a landscape architect, educator and ecologist, Emily approaches every project as an opportunity to celebrate the intersection of natural and cultural narratives of place through design and innovative technologies. Throughout her career Emily has remained passionate about her service to the community. In addition to the LAF Board of Directors, she volunteers for Partners for Environmental Justice and serves on NC A&T University’s Landscape Architecture Advisory Board, NCSU’s LAEP Advisory Board, and the Board of Trustees for the Design Workshop Foundation.
Alpa
NawreVice President of Education
Assistant Professor
University of Florida
Gainesville, FLAlpa Nawre, PLA, is passionate about combining process and product when working with communities to create an impact at scale through built environments that can address critical infrastructure issues. Alpa teaches urban design and landscape architecture at the University of Florida and also leads ‘Critical Places’, a non-profit based in India that works with marginalized communities for developing solutions to issues of the built environment. Her scholarship on vernacular water infrastructure systems of water management in India has been published in diverse venues such as Journal of Landscape Architecture, Landscape Journal, Thresholds, and similar. As an architect, landscape architect and urbanist, Alpa has worked on projects spanning the globe from India, Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi, Switzerland and USA, to realize the outstanding potential of as well as the limitations of strategic and operational leadership manifest in the design disciplines.
To bring about any kind of change takes concerted effort – Alpa is humbled and excited by the opportunity to serve on the LAF Board to contribute towards deliberate, positive change in the ways of the world and advancement of the landscape architecture discipline.
Margie
SimmonsVice President of Finance
CEO
Landscape Forms
Kalamazoo, MIMargie Simmons is the Chief Executive Officer at Landscape Forms. She has a passion for design, people, and continuous improvement. At Landscape Forms, she is building upon the solid foundation laid over the past 50 years and is now focusing on new ways to expand the company’s reach. Margie graduated from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University and studied marketing, labor relations, and communications at Purdue University. She began her career as a CPA with Ernst & Young followed by executive leadership in the architecture industry.
Margie feels that the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s leadership and board members are amazing people who share a common purpose and that serving on the LAF Board of Directors alongside them is inspiring!
Directors
Austin
AllenPrincipal
DesignJones, LLC
New Orleans, LAAustin Allen (PhD, FASLA) approaches urban environments with works including “Claiming Open Spaces.” He has worked on disaster recovery in New Orleans since 2005 and in Haiti in 2010. Allen is part of the landscape architectural firm, Design Jones LLC, with Diane Jones Allen---recipients, 2016 ASLA Community Service Award.
He is the Interim Associate Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs and an Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture, University of Texas at Arlington. Allen was Associate Professor at the Louisiana State University, School of Landscape Architecture. He was also Associate Professor/ Chair of Landscape Architecture at the University of Colorado Denver and an Associate Professor of Film/Communication at Cleveland State University.
Allen received the Distinguished Alumni Award in March 2017 from the College of Environmental Design at the University of California Berkeley. Work includes “Site of the Unseen: The Racial Gaming of American Landscapes,” in, Black Landscapes Matter by Walter Hood and Grace Mitchell Tada, 2020. He is a team member recipient of the S.O.M. Foundation Award for 2020, for work in Joppee and Freedman’s Towns in North Texas on the Trinity River. Allen also is on the Honorary Committee for Olmsted 200, celebrating Frederick Law Olmsted’s 200th birthday.Kofi
BooneUniversity Faculty Scholar and Professor
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NCKofi Boone, FASLA, is a Joseph D. Moore Distinguished Professor and University Faculty Scholar at NC State University. Kofi is a Detroit native and a graduate of the University of Michigan. His work is in the overlap between landscape architecture and environmental justice with specializations in democratic design and interpreting cultural landscapes. He has published broadly and is the winner of student and professional ASLA awards including the Jot D. Carpenter Teaching Medal. He is Director of the Just Communities Lab and serves on the boards of Black Landscape Architects Network and the Land Loss Prevention Project. Kofi loves how The Landscape Architecture Foundation focuses on the future of the profession and invests in the growth and development of its future leaders.
Keith
BowersPresident and Founder
Biohabitats
Charleston, SCFor over four decades, Keith Bowers has been at the forefront of applied ecology. As the founder and practice leader with Biohabitats, Keith has built a multidisciplinary organization focused on conservation planning, ecological restoration, and regenerative design. Biohabitats’ work spans the scale from site-specific ecosystem restoration projects involving coastal wetlands, urban rivers, temperate forests, and arid landscapes to regional watershed management and species conservation planning, to the development of green infrastructure and urban ecology planning for metropolitan areas throughout the country. Keith is a founding board member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology. He also served on the board of the Society for Ecological Restoration for more than 10 years and on the board of the Wildlands Network for 6 years. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a Professional Wetland Scientist. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from West Virginia University and an honorary degree from the Conway School of Design.
Jim
BurnettPresident
Office of Jim Burnett (OJB)
San Diego, CAJim Burnett, FASLA, founded the Office of James Burnett in 1989 and has dedicated his career to creating meaningful spaces that challenge the conventional boundaries of landscape architecture. To date, OJB has garnered over eighty state and national design awards. Taking a multi disciplinary approach to his practice, Jim often works closely with design teams of highly-regarded architects, planners, artists, and other professionals and a diverse range of clients. Throughout his work, there has been a particularly strong focus on designing landscapes that promote healthy living. Most recently, his work has focused on the transformation of American cities through the creation of active public spaces. Jim’s work in this area restores connections between disparate sections within cities, providing open space with a purpose through innovative programming initiatives.
Jim has a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University and has been a member of the Louisiana State University Design Circle since 2000.
Sandra
Nam CioffiFounding Principal
Ink Landscape Architects
Scarsdale, NYSandra Nam Cioffi is the Founding Principal of Ink Landscape Architects, PLLC (INK), a certified MWBE practice, whose portfolio of work is defined by the art of craft, deep cultural research, regional ecology, and elevating the human experience in the built and digital environments. Drawing upon her experience as a marketing manager in New York City’s beauty industry and at the Nature Conservancy, Sandra launched INK to push the boundaries of landscape architecture and to help redesign how we approach the practice of convening people & community and creating meaningful landscapes.
While working at two excellent firms, Sandra designed and managed complex urban, institutional, and cultural projects across the United States and abroad. Her work has been recognized by the Virginia and Potomac Chapters of ASLA, AIA|DC, and is a 2012 University Olmsted Scholar, awarded by the Landscape Architecture Foundation.
In addition to her role at INK, Sandra is the Chief Executive Officer at QiqoChat, a trustee on the board of the Ecological Landscape Alliance, a steering committee member of PDC/ASLA-NY/FAF Streetscapes for Wellness, and volunteer for Green Schoolyards America in the New York Hudson Valley region. Sandra is a licensed landscape architect in New York and Virginia. She holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Virginia Tech’s Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago.
Sandra sees her time on the LAF Board as an opportunity to learn, grow, and innovate alongside other emerging leaders in the field and those who have had more practice. She looks forward to joining the Board for three main reasons: to observe the future of leadership, to learn non-profit financial management, and to be a part of advancing LAF’s mission.
Keiko
Tsuruta CramerPrincipal
WRT
Philadelphia, PAKeiko is a Principal at WRT with nearly two decades of experience working on both urban design and landscape architecture projects. With degrees in landscape architecture, architecture, and engineering, Keiko uses her interdisciplinary training to provide an integral design process and unique perspective to transforming urban landscape through the lens of local, cultural, and natural significance. Her projects have included the 2017 Ruby Bruner Award Gold Medalist for Urban Excellence SteelStacks Arts & Cultural Campus in Bethlehem, PA, the ASLA award-winning Georgetown Waterfront Park, FDR Park Vision Master Plan in Philadelphia, PA, Crystal City: A Placemaking Framework in Crystal City, VA, Trinity River Vision Master Plan and Design Guideline in Dallas, TX, and Principal Riverwalk in Des Moines, IA. In addition, Keiko maintains her architectural license in Japan, which has led to a number of international projects for WRT including the Daiichi Mutual Life Insurance Office Landscape in Kanagawa, Japan, Harvest Walk Vision Master Plan, and SCBD Lot 10 Development in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Gonzalo
CruzDesign Principal
AECOM
New York, NYGonzalo Cruz, ASLA, is the Design Principal for Metro New York and leads AECOM’s Urbanism + Planning Practice locally as well as strategic collaborations across the Americas and abroad. His award-winning studio portfolio incorporates traditional forms of practice as well as large-scale infrastructure as it is driven by public realm design. Gonzalo’s diverse professional accomplishments are rooted in his interdisciplinary background. In recent years, he has been creating innovative work at the intersection of large-scale infrastructure and placemaking with a focus of coastal resilience design, including South Battery Park City Resilience Wagner Park and Pier A Plaza, Brooklyn Montgomery Coastal Resilience Open Space and Hoboken Cove Waterfront Park to name a few. His practice has received awards from ASLA, AIA, NYC by Design and the Chicago Atheneum Design Excellence Award in Open Space design for World Trade Center’s Liberty Park. Gonzalo holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the City College of New York and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
Aida M.
CurtisPresident
Curtis + Rogers Design Studio
Miami, FLAs one of the founding principals of C+R, Aida Curtis, FASLA, has built a practice over four decades focused on the enrichment of the public realm. Through the range of her experience — from the largest public projects in South Florida to meaningful philanthropic efforts — she leads with a spirit of collaboration centered on design and social equity. She is the only landscape architect appointed to serve on the Climate and Heat Health Task Force of Miami-Dade County and helped to develop its first Extreme Heat Action Plan. Aida convinced the City of Miami to establish an ordinance that requires a landscape architect to be involved in all projects that involve stormwater and encourages all waterfront development to follow the Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines.
On the LAF Board of Directors, she looks forward to collaborating with a diverse group of professionals to advance landscape architecture into a leadership role in addressing climate crisis. As a Hispanic female, she wants landscape architects with diverse backgrounds and voices coming together to answer this urgent call to action.
Jerico
FarfanPrincipal
BrightView Design Group
Orange, CAJerico Farfan is a seasoned landscape professional with a career spanning over two decades. He has passionately dedicated his expertise to a diverse set of projects. His portfolio includes designing children's play areas, hospitality spaces, and master plan communities. He has also been involved in theme park development projects across the globe, from California to Florida, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Jerico is an advocate for the idea that open spaces should be accessible and beneficial to all, especially as urban environments continue to expand. He firmly believes in providing green, educational, and refreshing havens within the built landscape. Furthermore, he actively promotes diversity within the field of landscape architecture, working recently with organizations like the Cie Foundation to create opportunities for inner-city youth in Los Angeles. Jerico currently serves as a Design Review Committee Member for the City of Orange and other Board of Advisors boards.
Diana
Fernandez BibeauDeputy Chief of Urban Design for the City of Boston
Boston Planning and Development Agency
Boston, MAAs Deputy Chief of Urban Design, Diana Fernandez Bibeau works to elevate the importance of design and champion the transformative power of green, equitable and walkable communities for all. As part of her work, she partners on the Mayor's Green New Deal agenda and various city departments to align urban design efforts into a comprehensive vision for the city. Over the span of over a decade, Diana has worked across private and public sectors to build a design portfolio that reassesses the policies that have perpetuated race, gender, environmental and socioeconomic inequality, and created new design methodologies that can respond to and correct them.
Diana is honored to join the LAF Board of Directors in supporting the advancement of landscape architecture and the power of design to make our world a better place. LAF has profoundly transformed the trajectory of her career and she is honored to serve as a board member.
Ying-yu
HungManaging Principal
SWA
Los Angeles, CAYing-yu Hung, FASLA, PLA, is a registered Landscape Architect in California and a Fellow at the American Society of Landscape Architects. She holds a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University, and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Architecture from UC Berkeley. Ms. Hung has over 30 years of experience practicing landscape architecture; she is the recipient of multiple national awards. Currently, Ms. Hung manages the Los Angeles office of SWA – an international landscape, planning and urban design firm with over 60 years of history working on projects in the U.S. and abroad. Ms. Hung relishes working in the public realm. Her deep passion lies in the design of small-scale intimate spaces. As a designer who focuses on serving local communities, her ability to choreograph spaces and materials lead her to create beautiful, timeless environments that are rich in experience as well as sustainable. A strong believer in mentoring the next generation of environmental stewards, Ms. Hung has taught design studios at University of Southern California and at Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, and continues to give lectures at various professional conferences.
Rikerrious
GeterAssociate
SCAPE
New York, NYRikerrious Geter, ASLA, LEED Green Associate, is an Associate at SCAPE. His experience working across the west coast conveys his approach to practice – working with and for community. In his work, Rikerrious examines how public space can encourage equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities through active community participation, while maximizing ecosystem health. Rikerrious received his BLA from the University of Georgia. He also serves on the Executive Board of BlackLAN and formerly on the Washington ASLA – SEP Committee, and the Seattle Design Commission.
Rikerrious believes that an important strategy to increasing awareness of climate change and access to public space in marginalized communities of color is by increasing their voice and participation in the profession. He is excited to help continue the LAF legacy of reducing financial barriers through the LAF scholarship programs and focus on climate resilience.
Rob
GrayPrincipal
Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects
Kansas City, MORob Gray is a principal at Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects where he leads their Kansas City studio. He has over 20 years of experience spanning the fields of planning and landscape architecture, including streetscape design, campus and community planning, healthcare, public parks, botanical and zoological gardens and theme parks. Rob has a passion for sustainability and approaches it as a key aspect of the design with innovative solutions that place strong emphasis on both the visibility and performance of sustainable practices in the built environment.
Rob believes the work landscape architects do ensures the future health of our people and planet. As part of the LAF Board of Directors, Rob is excited to advance the discipline while cultivating the next generation of passionate practitioners.
Nick
JabsSenior Associate
PORT
Philadelphia, PANick Jabs AIA, PLA, ASLA, is a Senior Associate at PORT where his work is focused on the research, conceptualization, design, and implementation of projects in the public realm. A Midwesterner at heart, Nick brings an emphatic and pragmatic approach to designing with communities across the country. His experience as both a registered architect and landscape architect enable him to leverage the knowledge and skills of both disciplines to benefit each project he manages. His work at PORT has helped to transform often obscure, overlooked, or contested places into vibrant public spaces for gathering and community.
While serving on the LAF Board of Directors, Nick is excited to bring forward his multi-disciplinary and varied experiences as an Olmsted Scholar (2018) and LAF Fellow (2019-20), plus his perspective as an emerging professional, to deepen connections between the Board and a new generation of landscape and public realm designers.
Clarence
LacySenior Project Director
RIOS
Los Angeles, CAClarence Lacy is a Senior Project Director at RIOS. His experience working in Toronto, the San Francisco Bay area, and Los Angeles works to transform the way we think about cities - using landscape architecture to express inclusively the individuals’ voices to unify, inspire, and enlighten communities. Throughout his career, Clarence has been dedicated to increasing pathways into the profession for BIPOC students, creating equitable access to public space and examining scaled impacts of environmental justice.
On the LAF Board of Directors, Clarence is particularly interested in initiatives that address the growing inequities around climate change and access to nature and quality green space. He is also wants to make the profession more accessible and supportive of Black and Brown students and young professionals.
B. Scott
LaMontChief Executive Officer & Principal
EDSA
Fort Lauderdale, FLB. Scott LaMont, PLA, ASLA, is a 25-year veteran of EDSA. As CEO, his responsibilities include overseeing the 180-person firm, setting the tone of a firmwide culture, and developing a growth strategy that prioritizes design excellence. Possessing a collaborative style, LaMont has a proven track record in leading teams, projects, and strategic initiatives. In addition to his leadership role at EDSA, he is currently involved in several project initiatives, which include the revitalization of Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s Food and Technology Village, the redevelopment of The Boca Raton resort, along with various international planning efforts. Optimistic and a critical thinker, his domestic and international experience spans large scale planning assignments to mixed-use, residential, hospitality, and urban works that have strengthened EDSA’s reputation as a creative leader. LaMont holds a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Florida, where he currently serves as the Chair of the Landscape Architecture Advisory Board.
Scott is looking forward to joining the Landscape Architecture Foundation Board of Directors because he strongly believes in the profession’s ability to shape the future through resilient design solutions. During Scott’s time on the board, he hopes to use his personal experiences to problem solve and contribute to thoughtful conversations while supporting the mission and initiatives of the organization.
Lauren
LeightyPrincipal
SmithGroup
Ann Arbor, MILauren Leighty, PLA, ASLA, LEED AP BD+C, is a Principal and Campus Studio Leader with SmithGroup. She is a trusted partner to many respected higher education institutions across the country, helping them plan for their futures and address the multi-layered challenges they are facing. Notable clients include top research universities such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, North Carolina State University, Boston University, Auburn University, and the University of California, Riverside.
As both an urban designer and a landscape architect, Lauren is skilled at working across scales. She artfully translates an institution’s strategic vision, identity, regional context, and physical framework into solutions that are both visionary and achievable. Lauren received her Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Master of Urban Design from the University of Michigan. She is a member of SmithGroup’s Board of Directors and the University of Michigan’s Taubman College Alumni Council.
Lauren is incredibly honored to continue the rich legacy of SmithGroup’s (formerly JJR) involvement with LAF. Lauren was fortunate to be one of the over 700 landscape architects to gather in Philadelphia in 2016 to craft a new vision for landscape architecture for the 21st century – The New Landscape Declaration. Six years later, Lauren is excited to join LAF’s Board of Directors as an opportunity to magnify her own capacity to influence change, and also to work alongside her peers in landscape architecture to translate energy and passion into action.
Jade
PaulPrincipal
Jacobs
Chicago, ILJade Paul is a landscape architecture principal for Jacobs. For over two decades Jade has dedicated her career to design inspired by natural processes, based on the notion that ecology and vibrant people-centered space can thrive simultaneously. She leads Jacobs’ nature positive strategies for the Americas and has worked with organizations such as the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and the Urban Land Institute to advance regenerative design and implementation strategies.
Jade is humbled and thrilled to serve on the LAF Board of Directors. She truly believes landscape architects are a key in solving our climate crisis because landscape architects have a deep understanding of how nature can give back, balance, add beauty, and self-repair, simultaneously.
Veronica
RiveraAssociate Partner
Field Operations
San Francisco, CAVeronica Rivera is a registered landscape architect and architectural designer at Field Operations in the San Francisco office. Having worked in Puerto Rico, Berlin and New York City, she brings a broad international perspective of culture, ingenuity, and creativity. Veronica is a remarkably creative designer with a notable attention to detail, focusing on the continuity of projects from concept to construction. Veronica’s experience includes Resilient by Design work in South Bay, the Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront and Salisbury Gardens in Hong Kong, Navy Yards Central Green in Philadelphia, and the Presidio Tunnel Tops project in San Francisco.
On the LAF Board of Directors, Veronica looks forward to infusing her creativity, enthusiasm, and range of cultural insights into the organization's mission. She wants to further amplify the reach and impact of landscape architecture, elevating it as both a discipline and a passion.
Richard
RoarkPartner
OLIN
Philadelphia, PARichard Roark is a landscape architect and partner at OLIN. Physical and social resilience are the principle drivers in his work, which spans a range of scales and types from planning a climate adaptation plan for New York’s food distribution system, to building a resilience park in Hoboken New Jersey, organizing a community based economy in the Eastern Market of Detroit, and connecting Los Angeles across the 51 miles of the LA River. Richard is committed to bringing communities together in the public realm while ensuring development creates value without displacement, is socially just, and creates opportunities for many.
Trinity
Simons WagnerExecutive Director
Mayors' Institute on City Design
Washington, DCTrinity Simons Wagner has served as the executive director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) since 2012. In this role, she works with mayors across the country on the nation’s most pressing urban planning and design challenges. She speaks about the intersection of design and politics at universities, events, and symposia across the country.
During MICD sessions and throughout the year, Trinity adds to her deep understanding of mayors’ challenges and needs, forming long-standing relationships with local leaders around the country. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the Institute’s transition to serving mayors in a virtual environment, including the creation of new program offerings, such as Mayors’ Virtual Seminars, MICD Alumni Technical Assistance, and the MICD Just City Mayoral Fellowship (in partnership with the Just City Lab at the Harvard GSD). Under her leadership, in 2021, MICD was awarded the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Founders’ Award, its highest honor for organizations.
Trinity believes that in shaping our public realm, landscape architects have the ability to expand conceptions of inclusion, justice, and beauty in our cities. She hopes to use her time on the LAF Board to broaden the influence of landscape architecture.Gary
SorgeVice President
Stantec
New York, NYGary Sorge, FASLA, AICP, is the Landscape Architecture Practice Lead for global design firm, Stantec. His 35-year career has been dedicated to advancing a collaborative and systems-based approach to landscape architecture as it intersects with transportation, ecosystem, public realm, and community design. Leading nearly 300 landscape architects, designers, and technicians, Gary’s breadth of knowledge from ecology to economics yields a richly grounded practice. Under his leadership, the practice has maintained a longstanding focus on the role of landscape architecture in addressing complex infrastructure renewal and adaptation challenges.
Gary has led major interdisciplinary projects from planning to implementation. He is a fellow with the American Society of Landscape Architects and has held numerous elected and appointed civic positions with a focus on conservation, education, preservation, and economic sustainability.
As an LAF Board member, Gary hopes to help broaden our presence as interdisciplinary leaders, elevate STEM education to best prepare practitioners for the technical environmental challenges facing our communities today, build awareness of and access to the profession, and establish fairness in compensation so that students and emerging professionals can foresee life-long careers in practice.
Roana
TiradoProject Manager, Associate
HOK
San Francisco, CARoana Tirado has over 12 years of experience in landscape, open space planning and community engagement in the bay area. Throughout her career, she has donated her time to working with youth and underserved communities to increase access to open space. Roana has been nationally recognized for her service work as well as completing a competitive fellowship with the Piero N. Patri Fellowship in Urban Design where she created a visioning project for the historically underserved community of Bayview Hunters Point in Southeast San Francisco. Roana has been working as a Senior Designer and Project Manager with HOK since 2014, where she continues to pursue her local community engagement work among other project endeavors.
Roana received her Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Master of City Regional Planning from Cornell University.
Ernest C.
WongFounder and Principal
site
Chicago, ILErnest C. Wong, FASLA, PLA, APA, Founder and Principal of site, has been instrumental in the evolution of the firm as a multi-cultural innovative and socially-conscious design entity. Based in Chicago, Illinois and managing the firm since 1990, site has established a reputation for creative design solutions and developing thoughtful, community-oriented urban spaces throughout the country. Through a generous proportion of civic and community engagement, Ernest has elevated and fostered the landscape architecture profession in the City of Chicago and on a national scale. Serving on numerous boards, service organizations and professional juries including the Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design, Chinese American Service League, City Parks Alliance, Student Conservation Association and currently the Chair of the Chicago Landmarks Commission, Ernest believes that service that impacts others can elevate the profession of Landscape Architecture to a higher degree.
Ernest feels that the value of serving on the LAF Board is yet another avenue to elevating the profession. Particularly in changing the face of the profession to a more diverse and equitable profession, the work that lies ahead sits squarely on a new and upcoming generation of professionals. Solving societal and climate change problems through landscape architecture is paramount and seeing the opportunity with young professionals is both inspiring and comforting.
Ex Officio Representatives
Jun-Hyun
KimCELA Representative
Program Director and Professor
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MIJun-Hyun Kim, Ph.D., ASLA, is a professor and program director of the Landscape Architecture Program in the School of Planning, Design & Construction at Michigan State University (MSU). He is also the program director of the Master of Environmental Design (MED) degree. Before joining MSU through a target search, he held positions as an assistant professor at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. Dr. Kim specializes in assessing the impacts of environments on human health and community resiliency, with a focus on both human and ecological health.
He serves as the 2024-25 President of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA).
Emily
O’MahoneyASLA Representative
Partner
2GHO
Columbus, OHEmily M. O’Mahoney, FASLA, PLA, has over 40 years of experience in landscape architecture, site planning with emphasis on conceptual and detailed design at all scales. In 1993 she started her own company and then joined with George Gentile and Troy Holloway to form the 2GHO partnership in 1998. Within the firm, Emily is responsible for project design, direction and management for a wide variety of projects and is also a proponent of sustainable green design in every project.
She served as the 2022-23 President of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).