2022 AIA Communities by Design Reimagining Petaluma SDAT - Report - Page 57
Petaluma DAT
Team Roster
Michael R. Davis, FAIA, LEED AP- Team Leader
Michael R. Davis, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal and
President at Bergmeyer Associates, Inc., is a practicing
architect and an advocate for sustainable public
policy. He was 2013 President of the Boston Society of
Architects and 2015-2016 Chair of the Board of Trustees
of the BSA Foundation. For the American Institute
of Architects, Mike currently serves as Advocacy
ambassador for the National AIA Committee on the
Environment and as a newly appointed member of
the AIA Board Government Advocacy Committee. He
participated on a national AIA Materials Knowledge and
Transparency working group and was a contributing
author for an April 2016 AIA sustainability white paper,
“Materials Transparency and Risk for Architects”. Mike
has participated on or led AIA Sustainable Design
Assessment Team (SDAT) and Sustainable Design
for Resilience Team (DART) charrettes in Ithaca, NY,
DeKalb County, GA, Augusta, GA, Tremonton, UT, St.
Helens, OR, Louisville, KY, and Bath, ME, as well as the
AIA’s first International R/UDAT charrette in Dublin,
Ireland. Mike’s recent professional projects include a
modular student residence hall at Endicott College,
a LEED Certified facility for Hosteling International
Boston in an adaptively-reused historic building,
and a deep-energy retrofit of public housing units
for the Boston Housing Authority at the Cathedral
Family Development, which achieved LEED Platinum
certification. He blogs about his firm’s work as
signatory to the AIA 2030 Commitment at http://
mikedavisfaia.wordpress.com. Mr. Davis advised the
Boston Planning and Development Agency as a Member
and Chair of the Boston Civic Design Commission from
1996 to 2018and served on Boston Mayor Thomas
Menino’s Green Building Task Force and Massachusetts
Governor Deval Patrick’s Net Zero Energy Building Task
Force. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture
from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of
Architecture from Yale University
Dr. Luis Aguirre-Torres
Dr. Luis Aguirre-Torres is the Director of Sustainability
for the City of Ithaca, N.Y., where he leads the city’s
decarbonization and climate justice strategies. He is
also co-chair of the New York State Climate Impacts
Assessment, Society and Economy. Prior to joining
the City of Ithaca, he was the President and CEO of
GreenMomentum, a think tank organization focused on
climate change and renewable energy in Latin America.
He is the former chairman of the Latin American and
Caribbean Council on Renewable Energy and former
energy chair of the Mexico-US Entrepreneurship and
Innovation Council. He holds a first degree in computer
engineering from Mexico’s National University, a
master’s in computer science and a Ph.D. in electronic
and electrical engineering from University College
London.
Aida Curtis
Aida Curtis is a practicing Landscape Architect, Arborist,
and certified Landscape Inspector. She has led Curtis +
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Rogers Design Studio in Miami for three decades. Long
focused on innovation and sustainability, her firm works
primarily on urban public projects. Aida’s over 35 years
of experience includes award-winning transportation,
recreational, institutional, and civic projects. Leading
the go-to Hispanic/Woman-owned landscape
architecture firm in South Florida has allowed her to
create sustainable spaces that are economically and
socially inclusive. Aida’s commitment to environmental
stewardship, sustainable development and resilient
landscapes has benefitted hundreds of successful
municipal, department of transportation and civic
projects.
Abe Farkas
Abe Farkas is a highly sought-after national leader
in managing catalytic, sustainable, and equitable
development projects. He has three decades of
experience shepherding large, complex projects from
an idea to reality utilizing public-private partnerships.
His past projects include the adaptive reuse of vacant
Washington High School in Portland OR into creative
office, music venue, community theater and rooftop bar;
a 33-acre development on Portland’s South Waterfront
that includes a major university research hospital
expansion, mixed-use, housing and neighborhood open
spaces served by a streetcar, aerial tram, and light rail;
and a 118-acre redevelopment on Southshore in Austin
TX, which is under construction. Abe’s experience on
both the public and private side of development projects
gives him the ability to maximize the community benefit
components of projects and achieve financially feasible
outcomes. Evidence of his successful past work is visible
across the country in the form of vibrant, catalytic,
mixed-use projects in communities large and small.
Previously, Abe served as Director of Development
Services for ECONorthwest, Development Director
for the Portland Development Commission, Planning
and Development Director for Eugene, Economic
Development Manager for Seattle, and Community
Development and Planning Director for Fort Wayne.
Abe has a Ph.D. in American Studies from University
of Minnesota and a M.A. in American Studies from
Purdue University. He has served on the board of the
International Economic Development Council (IEDC)
and on several advisory boards for the Urban Land
Institute (ULI).
Trung Vo
Trung Vo is a planner and engineer who focuses on
building multimodal transportation systems to advance
equity, public health, quality of life, and mobility. He
works across the spectrum of project development
to ensure that streets are planned, designed, and
maintained to be safe, comfortable, and inviting for
people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. He
serves as the Director for Toole Design’s Denver office,
partnering with communities in Colorado and across
North America.
Mariam Yaqub
Mariam Yaqub is an Architectural Designer at
Bergmeyer, a multi-disciplinary design collaborative
with offices in Boston and Los Angeles. She came to
