David Malmuth is President of David Malmuth Development, LLC. He established his firm in 2010 with a singular focus: to lead in the creation of art-inspired places and projects that transform communities. This passion grows directly from his witnessing the rebirth that occurred in New York’s Times Square and Hollywood as a result of his well-conceived and executed cultural projects.

Prior to starting his own firm, David was the founder and a Managing Director for seven years with RCLCO’s Development Services Group. Between 1996-2002, David was a Senior Vice President at TrizecHahn Development Corporation. During his six-year tenure, he was the key project executive on Hollywood & Highland and the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, CA (with architects Stan Eckstut and David Rockwell). During this same period, he also initiated Paseo Colorado in Pasadena, CA. Previous to his position at TrizecHahn, David was Vice President/General Manager at Disney Development Company-West. During his nine years at the Walt Disney Company, he managed the development of over $200 million in projects including The Feature Animation Building in Burbank (with architect Robert Stern) and Disney Ice in Anaheim (with architect Frank Gehry). From 1993-1996 he spearheaded Disney’s restoration of the New Amsterdam Theater in New York (with architect Hugh Hardy) and the highly acclaimed development of additional retail/entertainment business on New York’s famed 42nd Street.

Currently, David and his partner, Cliff Ratkovich, are leading the development of second+pch, a $360 million mixed-use project in Long Beach, CA.

Session # 1

Robert A. Wislow serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of U. S. Equities Realty, LLC, the company he founded in 1978. Prior to that Bob served as Executive Vice President and Managing Partner of LaSalle Partners (now Jones Lang LaSalle).

U. S. Equities Realty is an international commercial real estate firm, headquartered in Chicago, with a demonstrated passion for art and architecture. Since its founding, the company has been responsible for a number of major award winning projects in Chicago, including the development of the Chicago Public Library’s Harold Washington Library Center, The Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago, One Financial Place, and the redevelopment of the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower.

In 1999, U. S. Equities Realty was retained by Millennium Park Inc., the group representing the Park’s private donor’s group. In this role, the company oversaw the design, engineering, and construction phases of the Jay Pritzker Music Pavilion designed by Frank Gehry, as well as Gehry’s B. P. Pedestrian Bridge. The latter is the first Gehry-designed bridge ever built. In addition, U. S. Equities Realty oversaw the extremely intricate engineering, fabrication, and installation of Anish Kapoor’s monumental Cloud Gate. The firm also managed the design, construction and production of Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain and acted as the donor group’s advocate on all city-administered work and construction affecting the Park’s enhancements.

Through it’s vast experience with Millennium Park, U. S. Equities has been engaged to assist the development manager and New World Symphony in the design and construction of a Frank Gehry designed music theatre, public park and parking garage in Miami Beach, Florida. This 2.5 acre project promises to become a global hub for creative expression and collaboration.

Session # 2

Since its inception in l981, Mary Livingstone Beebe has been the Director of the Stuart Collection, an ongoing program commissioning outdoor sculpture for the 1200-acre campus at the University of California, San Diego. Major works have been completed by Terry Allen, Michael Asher, John Baldessari, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jackie Ferrara, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Richard Fleischner, Tim Hawkinson, Jenny Holzer, Robert Irwin, Barbara Kruger, Elizabeth Murray, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Alexis Smith, Kiki Smith, and William Wegman. 
The collection has received considerable national and international recognition. Locally it has received two awards from the San Diego Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, one for the collection as a whole in 1989 and another for Alexis Smith's Snake Path in 1992. It was featured on CBS's Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt in August '93 and received a National Honors Award from the A.I.A. in May 1994. A book documenting the first 20 years of the collection: Landmarks: Sculpture Commissions for the Stuart Collection at the University of California, San Diego, was published in 2001 by Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.

Session # 2

For over two decades, Scott White has assisted in developing both private and public collections internationally. In 1992, Scott White Contemporary Art dedicated itself to the promotion of emerging and mid-career artists, the majority of which are represented in the permanent collections of contemporary art museums throughout the world. The gallery features contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, and prints by distinguished artists from the United States, Canada, and Europe.

In addition, Scott White Contemporary Art continues to represent estates and private collections for the acquisitioning and deaccessioning of art work by significant modern and contemporary artists such as George Rickey, Willem de Kooning, Alberto Giacometti, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore and others.

Session # 2

David Lombardi opened Lombardi Properties in 1999 as a full service brokerage focused on high end residential properties on Miami Beach. He had been working as a realtor for other companies since 1993. In 2000 David began investing in Wynwood a former manufacturing area located just over the Bay and just North of Downtown Miami immediately adjacent to the Design District. The scale of the buildings and the width of the streets and sidewalks felt perfect for creating a “pedestrian friendly” atmosphere. That atmosphere coupled with the presence of a few exhibition spaces back in 2000, David had a vision of what Wynwood could be: a “living/working artist community” in the City of Miami. In 2001 Lombardi Properties offices moved into a former storage warehouse in which a cool build-out with cobalt blue plexi-glass partitions and a ping pong table were incorporated. Also in 2001, David took an old 1926 textile building and made the areas first live/work lofts on the upper floors. The units averaged 2,000 square feet and were an instant success. The first tenant in the building was world renowned artist Sandro Chia.

In 2006, while attending a breakfast during the Miami Beach Art Basel fair, the idea of filling a need for art storage in the area came to David. After doing intensive research and hiring the finest consultants from the art insurance world, Museo Vault was designed and built ground up and opened in November 2008. It has been recognized by such major fine art insurers as AXA and Chubb as being the finest facility of its kind in the country. Also in 2008 with the help of a few dedicated neighbors, David helped create the Wynwood Arts District Association which has over 135 paid member businesses and they employ private security to patrol their streets, they produce a marketing map that is distributed locally and internationally, and they have created Wynwood.com to further market the area. They also began an initiative called “The Women of Wynwood” employing women from the Lotus House homeless shelter to clean their streets and were recently recognized by City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and he awarded them $100,000 to continue these efforts.

Today Mr. Lombardi owns 45 properties in the Wynwood Arts District and is the co-chair of the Wynwood Arts District Association.

Session # 3

Jonathan Segal, FAIA redefines the role of the traditional architect by exclusively eliminating the client and developing, constructing and designing his own work. He has designed, developed, and constructed National award winning and trend setting single family and medium- to high-density residential, live/work, and mixeduse housing in downtown San Diego and La Jolla, California since 1988.
 
Throughout his career, Jonathan has been as devoted to the interests of downtown San Diego as he is to the creativity of his architecture. Staunchly opposed to insensitive development, Jonathan is adamant about preserving historic and important architecture while integrating new development. This passion for architecture and downtown has not gone unnoticed. He has received numerous national, state, and local design awards, and several of those underscore that his standout talents have come at an early age: he has won the most National American Institute of Architecture (AIA) and State of California AIA Honor Awards for Urban Housing of any San Diego architect; he was named by the San Diego Union Tribune as one of “Four Architects” in the city’s history that have made a difference; in 2003, he was named to the AIA’s College of Fellows, FAIA – the youngest San Diego architect to be named to this prestigious fraternity; Jonathan was honored as Residential Architect Magazine’s 2004 National Rising Star; and this year, he received Residential Architect’s highest honor for The Union, a mixed-use residence in residential/office in San Diego, CA.

Session # 3

Tim Jones is a champion for the role that the arts play in transforming cities and communities. Under his direction as President and CEO since 1998, Artscape has grown from a Toronto-based affordable studio provider to an internationally recognized leader in city-building through the arts. In Toronto, Tim has played a catalytic role in the redevelopment of the Distillery District and galvanized the vision, interest and investment to create Artscape Gibraltar Point and the award-winning Artscape Wychwood Barns. In Canada and abroad, Tim acts as a consultant and advisor on projects, policy and initiatives and speaks at more than 20 conferences and events each year. He and his colleagues at Artscape are passionately committed to exchanging knowledge with others on how arts, culture and creativity can help make our world more livable, sustainable, and prosperous.

Session # 4

In January 2004, Alan was hired as the Executive Director of the NTC Foundation to oversee the restoration of 26 historic buildings at the former Naval Training Center and reopen them as a new Civic, Arts & Culture District called NTC Promenade. Since then, he has overseen the creative development of the cultural campus, which has undergone $41 million in renovations to 7 buildings in Phase I. NTC Promenade is now home to 42 civic and nonprofit organizations –as well as artists and designers - with the development of future phases now underway.

One of the leading arts advocates in California, Alan is a founding board member of the California Arts Advocates, for which he is a past Chair. He is also a former 5-year board member and officer for the California Confederation of the Arts and a founder and past co-chair of the San Diego Arts and Culture Coalition. He currently serves on the board of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau and served 3 years on the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce board.

Alan was the first staff person hired by the San Diego Performing Arts League in April 1986. While at the League, Alan created and oversaw the implementation of programs that develop new audiences for the arts, increase community access to underserved audiences and lower operating costs for arts organizations. Prior to coming to San Diego in 1986, Alan was Marketing Director for the League of Chicago Theatres and worked in the Chicago office of the Shubert Organization.

Session # 4

Cheryl Nickel is an artist with a Master’s Degree in landscape architecture. She has worked on community design projects and design-integrated learning projects in schools in San Diego, New York and elsewhere. Other work includes many design/build arts and landscape projects with husband Bob Leathers. She has exhibited installation and sculptural work in various cities in New York State and California, including the Grove Gallery UCSD, and Calif Center for the Arts, Escondido. She is a member of Allied Craftsmen. Awards include four New York State Council on the Arts Grants for design/planning, Cornell University Arts Grant, San Diego State Foundation/Price Charities. Current projects include a major environmental piece, “Path of the Just” at La Sierra University in Riverside, CA. In 2007 She joined Synergy Art Foundation to help establish artist affordable housing in San Diego.

Session # 4

Over the past 35 years, architect  Robert Leathers has done more than 1500 volunteer-built projects in all 50 states and 8 foreign countries. These projects have included playgrounds, parks, science parks, community centers, theaters, zoos, etc. His work has won numerous AIA and other awards and has been featured in various media, including Time, Smithsonian Magazine; New York TImes, Washington Post, CBS Evening News, PBS, Sesame Street.

Over the last 9 years he has worked as a studio artist. The medium has been fiber art, and his work has been shown in galleries, museums and juried international exhibits. After moving to San DIego, CA, he got involved with local community-build projects. Following completion of the Art Quilt Visions Gallery in '08, he began working with wife Cheryl and others on the development of affordable artist space in San Diego: Space4Art.  

Session # 4

Robert Lynch is the president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, the national organization dedicated to advancing the arts and arts education in people's lives, schools and communities. He was Executive Director of the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies for 12 years, and managed the successful merger of that organization with the American Council for the Arts to form Americans for the Arts in 1996. In 2005, Mr. Lynch oversaw the merger of the Arts and Business Council, Inc. into Americans for the Arts. In the same year he also created the Americans for the Arts Action Fund and its connected political action committee to engage citizens in advocating for the arts and arts education to ensure arts-friendly public policies.

With more than 30 years of experience in the arts industry, Mr. Lynch is motivated by his personal mission to empower communities and leaders to advance arts and arts appreciation in society. Under his 25 years of leadership, the services and membership of Americans for the Arts has grown to over 50 times its original size in 1985. He has personally reached audiences in 49 states and eight countries, ranging from Native American tribal gatherings to the U.S. Armed Forces in Europe and the President of the United States. Mr. Lynch currently serves on the board of the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, the Arts Extension Institute, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts Board. He is a member of the Executive Committee for United Voices for Education and is on the Advisory Council of the National Museum for Children in the Arts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Mr. Lynch plays the piano, mandolin, and guitar, and lives in Washington, DC.

Session # 5

Victoria L. Hamilton has been the Executive Director of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture since its inception in 1988. Victoria administers the City's $8 million arts agency including the design and development of the arts and culture organizational support program, neighborhood arts and festivals programs, public art in public and private development and technical assistance and services to artists and arts organizations. With over thirty years experience as an arts administrator, she was the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission and Special Projects Coordinator for the Tacoma Arts Commission.

Victoria has played a leadership role on national and statewide service organizations including Chairing the California Confederation of the Arts and the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies and serving on the board of Americans for the Arts. She has served on review panels, for the California Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts, and on public policy committees at the local, state and national levels in the areas of cultural tourism, leadership, cultural planning, cultural diversity and grant making. She served as President of the United States Urban Arts Federation in 2006 and 2007 and is currently on the USUAF Executive Committee. In 2009, Victoria was an invited participant in the first Americans for the Arts Local Arts Agency Leadership Seminar at The Aspen Institute.

Among a number of tributes, she was named Headliner of 2000 for Arts Advocacy by the San Diego Press Club and received the 2004 American Institute of Architects/San Diego Chapter Michael J. Stepner Community Design Award and the San Diego Hotel Motel Association’s Golden Key Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Hospitality Industry in 2006. In 2009, Victoria received the Selina Roberts Ottum Award for achievements of an individual who has made a meaningful contribution to the arts through arts leadership in the local arts agency field presented by Americans for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Art. The Selina Roberts Ottum Award is the highest, most distinguished recognition in the arts administration field.

Session # 5

Aaron Paley is president and co-founder of Community Arts Resources (CARS), a trailblazing company dedicated to Los Angeles’ cultural scene, as well as the founder and board chair of Yiddishkayt, the largest organization devoted to Yiddish culture west of the Hudson. Paley has thirty years of experience in production, administration, and planning and has directed seminal Los Angeles festivals, including the 1987 Fringe Festival (first in the U.S.), the Festival of Masks, the 1990 Open Festival, and the Getty Museum’s ongoing Family Festivals.

His company launched the public performance series at downtown Los Angeles’ California Plaza, wrote the governance and programming strategy for Civic Park - part of the Los Angeles Grand Avenue redevelopment scheme, drafted master plans for the historic Los Angeles Broadway Movie Palaces, the 52 acre Rancho Los Amigos, the new Plaza de Cultura y Arte in the heart of historic LA, Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, Blossom Plaza in Chinatown, the reuse of the historic Lompoc Theater, and provided infrastructure detail for Nokia Plaza at LA Live.

He is currently focused on the use of public space in Los Angeles through a two-year Stanton Fellowship funded by the Durfee Foundation. Paley also served as a creative consultant to Disney Imagineering at theme parks around the world, where his work is still enjoyed by thousands of unsuspecting tourists.

Session # 6

Jean Isaacs is a critically acclaimed, award-winning choreographer whose work has been presented in Switzerland, Germany, China, Mexico, Guatemala, Canada and Poland, as well as on both coasts of the US. In 2002, the Village Voice called her "a warm, witty, and wise choreographer," and the New York Times said of her dances, "...they were intelligent dances danced by Sharp Speedy dancers." Isaacs is the Artistic Director of the San Diego Dance Theater and the originator of the annual site-specific project Trolley Dances. Her work has been commissioned by the San Diego Opera, The La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theater, The San Diego Repertory Theater, and for Chuck Mee’s “Big Love” at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, the Goodman Theater, Long Wharf Theater and for the "New Wave" Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Isaacs created the Festival of Mexican Contemporary Dance at San Diego State University and earned awards from UC Mexus, the US/Mexico Fund for Culture, Arts International, and the UC Civic Collaborative for this work. Recent awards have included the Craig Noel San Diego Theater Critics Award, the Bay Area Theater Critics Award, two California Arts Council Choreography Fellowships, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sign-On San Diego Editors Award, and the Distinguished Teaching Award at UC San Diego.

Session # 6

Gary Steuer has headed Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy since 2008. The Office’s charge is increasing the public’s access to and awareness of the arts, arts education and cultural opportunities and activities, coordinating the efforts of City agencies and cultural institutions, and promoting public and private investment in the creative economy sector. As Chief Cultural Officer, he serves as a member of the Mayor’s Cabinet, advising the Mayor and all City agencies on cultural and creative economy issues. Before joining the Nutter administration, Mr. Steuer was the Vice President for Private-Sector Affairs at Americans for the Arts, and had the additional title of Executive Director of the Art and Business Council of Americans for the Arts. He was responsible for leading efforts to stimulate more private sector support for the arts, including promoting partnerships between the arts and business sectors.

Mr. Steuer served for ten years as the President and CEO of the Arts & Business Council Inc. before and during its merger with Americans for the Arts. Earlier in his career he was a theatre producer, both in the commercial and nonprofit theatre, served as a program director for the New York State Council on the Arts, and was an aide to a United States Congressman. He has written, lectured and taught extensively on arts management and policy issues and has served on many boards of directors and funding and advisory panels for local, statewide and national organizations. He blogs at www.artscultureandcreativeeconomy.blogspot.com

Session # 7

Mr. Garcia was born in Cuba, and at age thirteen he moved alone to the United States where he attended high school. In 1969 he graduated with High Honors from the University of Florida with a degree in Industrial Engineering. He began his career with Exxon where he spent three years performing a multitude of assignments in engineering, construction, and marketing.

Today, he consults for several companies, including EMCOR Group, inc. a Fortune-500 company and one of the biggest engineering, construction, and facility services companies throughout the US, Canada, and the UK. In Public Service, he is Chairman of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Foundation, Chairman of the Board of AVID Center, Past Vice-Chair of the State of California Commission for Economic Development, Board member of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, and a member of SDSU Science and Engineering Advisory Board.

Additionally, Mr. Garcia has written and produced an acclaimed motion picture, authored an award-winning novel, and his paintings are held by several private collectors and corporations throughout the U.S., San Jose State University, and SDSU. Mr. Garcia has traveled extensively throughout the world and has transacted business in Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Taiwan and Japan. He is bicultural and bilingual in fluent Spanish. Mr. Garcia is married and has two adult daughters.

Session # 7

Dr. Steve Altman joined NewSchool of Architecture and Design as its president in May, 2006, bringing a wide range of academic and business experience to his new role. He previously served as President of the University of Central Florida, Texas A&M University, Kingsville; was the Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs at Florida International University; and held various other teaching and administrative positions at FIU and the University of Southern California. During his tenure, he developed the foundation for two new architecture schools and dozens of other new programs.

Dr. Altman is the author of 13 books and over two dozen articles on management, leadership, education, healthcare and organization development. He has won several awards for outstanding teaching and professional leadership, and has been a neutral arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. In addition to his university appointments, he has been a leading consultant in the education, healthcare, and technology fields. He served as a Principal and CEO in several financial and strategic advisory firms in Los Angeles.

Dr. Altman holds a doctoral degree in Business Management from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the same institution. His bachelor's degree is in Mathematics from UCLA.

Session # 7

Stan Eckstut, FAIA, is a founding principal of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn (EE&K) Architects. Stan has a national reputation as an innovator and leader in large-scale architecture extending back over thirty years to his pioneering work designing the Master Plan for Battery Park City. His singular understanding of architecture as a practice that creates and sustains the public realm is evident in all his designs, from large-scale waterfront developments and intermodal transportation hubs to campuses, schools, and even prototypes for bus shelters. In each case, his work has strengthened the urban fabric by creating new centers of social and civic activity; as he points out, “even my smallest buildings are about being part of a larger community.” A pragmatic visionary, Stan’s creative exploration of the possibilities of place is tempered by his keen sense of market and political realities.

Stan received his bachelor of Architectural Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and his Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the National Building Museum in Washington DC and the New York State Museum Institute. From 1974 to 1989 he was the director of the Urban Design program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, and from 1992 to 1996 he chaired the Municipal Arts Society of New York’s Streetscapes Committee.

Many of Stan’s projects have received awards and critical acclaim. In 2006, Stan received a Distinguished Service Award from the Citizens Housing & Planning Council, and in 2004 he was given a Distinguished Achievement Award from the New York Society of Architects. Project awards include: the 2005 AIA New York Award of Merit for Binghamton University Appalachian Collegiate Center; the 2000 AIA Kansas City Design Excellence Award for Science City @ Union Station; the 1997 Los Angeles Business Council Beautification Award for Gateway Center; the 1995 AIA National Honor Award in Urban Design for Baltimore’s Inner Harbor East; the 1993 Waterfront Center Award of Excellence for South Cove at Battery Park City; the 1990 AIA National Honor Award, Citation of Excellence for Battery Park City; and the 1989 City Club of New York’s Albert S. Bard Award of Excellence in Architecture for South Cove, Battery Park City. Battery Park City was also hailed by TIME as one of the ten best designs of the decade.

Under Stan’s leadership, EE&K recently designed the last two buildings in Battery Park City, now under construction. After these are finished, BPC will be complete. EE&K is also serving as the design architects for San Diego's North Embacadero waterfront, currently being implemented.

Other current projects include: The new waterfront district for DC's Southwest Washington, The new downtown redevelopment of the Cleveland waterfront , Canal Side, Buffalo's new downtown waterfront , Houston's intermodal transit center

Session # 8

Marco Li Mandri has been involved in business district revitalization efforts since 1988. As a former President of a (BID), Marco entered the Business Improvement District arena as a stakeholder first, and later as a professional consultant. In 1992, Marco formed the Marco Group, a business dedicated to the formation and administration of Business Improvements Districts in Southern California. In 1997, the Marco Group evolved into New City America, Inc. and established itself as the premier company dedicated to business district revitalization throughout the country.  
 
Since 1996, New City America has established 55 BIDs and Community Benefit Districts. New City America is currently under contract to manage or form 20 districts in the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Berkeley, San Jose, as well as Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Bethlehem Pennsylvania, Baltimore Maryland and multiple contracts pending on the east coast.
 
In May 2010, the Little Italy District of San Diego, a district that has been managed by New City America since the late 1990s, was awarded the “Smart Growth Neighborhood of the Decade” for the San Diego/Tijuana Chapter of the Urban Land Institute.  The first award of its kind in Southern California.
 
New City America has established the first assessment district in any Little Italy or Italian district, in North America (San Diego), the first in any Chinatown in North America, (Los Angeles) the first Korean American business district in North America (Oakland); and the first ecumenically based district in North America, (Los Angeles).  We have created at least 4 districts in primarily Latino business districts and completed the formation process with bilingual newsletters. In 2002, New City America formed the first predominantly African America PBID in the state of California, (Leimert Part Village/Crenshaw in Los Angeles) and later the Fillmore Jazz District in San Francisco. New City America’s work has included running multi-lingual campaigns in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese; no other business district revitalization company in North America can make such a claim.

Session # 8