Rob Peck is an author, humorist and recovering perfectionist! True to the title of his new book-  IT’S A JUGGLE OUT THERE, Rob’s moving speeches and uplifting seminars focuses on three things simultaneously: Stress management, Streamlining, & Simplifying. Rob’s fun, fast paced programs combine comedy and content with eye-catching juggling and balancing visuals. With humor and heart, he offers fresh insights and ‘outside the briefcase’ ideas to decrease stress, increase focus, and go to work feeling less overloaded & underslept.
 
Rob Peck is the C.E.A. (Creativity Energizing Agent) of Zestworks – a motivational speaking and training company whose core mission is to make content come alive by linking lessons with laughter. Rob’s guiding principle is that high spirits mean low attrition, and when workplace morale goes up, energized job performance fuels organizational growth.
 
Rob Peck is a long time member of the National Speakers Association, who has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNBC and was a featured presenter at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institute. He is the recipient of numerous public speaking awards, and three time winner of Toastmaster International’s humorous speech contest. From Harvard to Hewlett Packard, Rob’s expertise in “juggling” has helped thousands of multi-tasking professionals reduce burnout, regain a better life balance, and combine a sense of purpose… with a spirit of fun! 

Bryan Bowen is an architect dedicated to the design of buildings and neighborhoods that explore how we may live more lightly upon our earth in beautiful and healthy environments. Bryan’s niche is cohousing, though his work includes single-family homes, affordable housing, mixed-use neighborhoods, and vibrant community gathering places. His design work includes Germantown Commons, Silver Sage Village, Lyons Valley Village, 30+Pearl, and Wild Sage Cohousing where he has lived with his family for 15 years. Bryan is currently a member of the City of Boulder Planning Board and plays a role on the Design Advisory Board and Housing Advisory Board.

Erik Granum 

Through experiences at home, abroad, and in the military, Erik developed an appreciation for community that underpins his passion for real estate development. He contributes his efforts and attention to UD+P’s various cohousing projects. Whether organizing communities, guiding design, securing permits, or overseeing construction, Erik works diligently to ensure that cohousing clients achieve their highest expectations for value and satisfaction.

Prior to joining UD+P, Erik served for 11 years as a helicopter pilot in the US Navy. He holds Master’s degrees in business administration (UNC) and real estate development (UC Berkeley) and a Bachelor’s degree in English (UVA). Erik values environmental sustainability, social equity, and architectural excellence.

Jenevieve Russell 

Therapist by day, cohouser by night. With all the wisdom of the cohousers that have come before her, wanting to support all the cohousers after her… Jenevieve’s hopeful question she holds in the best and worst of times (which we seem to have a lot of right now): “How are we all in this together?” She lives in Boulder CO, with the privilege / quiet of newer empty nester with her beloved spouse. www.pregnancyparentingboulder.com/jenevieve-russell.html

Joren Bass is an architect and senior development manager and leader cohousing development for Urban Development + Partners in Portland Oregon. Bringing more than 20 plus years of diverse design and construction experience with projects nationally and internationally, he approaches each project with creativity and a passion for building sustainable communities. Joren leads UDP’s cohousing work with over half a dozen communities completed or under development. When not attending community meetings Joren is often presenting on the cohousing development process across the country.

Liz Walker is a passionate advocate for creating sustainable communities. In 1991, she co-founded EcoVillage at Ithaca (EVI) www.ecovillageithaca.org, with a colleague. Liz  dedicated her full-time work for the next three decades to bring this internationally acclaimed project from vision to reality. 

Her  two popular books, EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture, (2005, New Society Publishers) and Choosing a Sustainable Future: Ideas and Inspiration from Ithaca, New York, (October, 2010, New Society) have helped to introduce the concepts of ecovillages and sustainable communities to a broad audience. 

Liz  lives with her husband at EcoVillage Ithaca. Whenever she gets a chance, she loves to go biking, or hiking in the beautiful gorges in the Finger Lakes region of NY. She also loves to garden, and coordinates the EVI Food Hub, which donates excess garden produce to people in need.

Laura Fitch is a founding principal of Fitch Architecture & Community Design in Amherst, Massachusetts and a 24-year resident of Pioneer Valley Cohousing.  Fitch specializes in energy-efficient building design for homes, commercial properties, and smart growth communities.   She has worked on programming, schematic design, and/or full architectural services on over thirty cohousing communities across North America for which the firm has received numerous awards.  In 2006, Fitch was given the Boston Architectural College’s “Distinguished Alumni Award”, stating “because of you, Laura, many people have found more neighborly and sustainable ways to live.  Through your work, our world is a better place”.

Lydia Thrasher is a single mom who lives with her teenage son Nathan and cat Fluffy in Revere MA.  By day she’s a data analyst at an insurance company.  In her off hours, Lydia is a diehard Detroit Tigers fan, loves music, and is currently spending quarantine learning to play the fiddle and mandolin.  Lydia has been a member of Bay State Commons for 4 years, and chair of the social committee for the past 2 years.  She is still constantly amazed that an introvert like her was left in charge of social events.

Lyons Witten is a 24-year resident, chairman of the Buildings Grounds Circle and a member of the Finance Circle of Pioneer Valley Cohousing (Amherst, MA). From fascinating meal sign-up sheets to complicated replacement reserve spreadsheets, he has helped run a tight ship through the quagmire of cohousing!

Mac Thomson 
Mac is a native of Minnesota. Although he loves his home state, he was happy to trade mosquitos for mountains and now can’t imagine living anywhere other than Colorado.
Family, nature, and community are central in his life. When those converge, life is especially good — such as in whitewater rafting, skiing, camping, Ultimate frisbee, tennis, hiking, and all the other outdoor pursuits that are a normal part of the Colorado lifestyle.
Professionally, in the 80’s, Mac was a CPA in San Francisco before returning to Minnesota to run the family’s photo processing business. In the 90’s, he was a founder and project manager during the development of Heartwood Cohousing. He has now returned to his project manager role for Heartwood as they develop their second phase of homes.

Marilyn Chin

One of the founders of Swans Market CoHousing, an urban, 20 unit community in downtown Oakland, CA. The community began 2000 and has 20 units. Marilyn has experience on the following committees: Finance, Maintenance, Executive, Laundry Reconciliation, Marketing, Gardening, CCRs Revision, and the combined Preparedness/Security committees. Swans Market CoHousing, from nearly the beginning, participated in the City of Oakland annual emergency preparedness drill by way of taking certification courses in City of Oakland Responds to Emergencies (CORE) which arose out of the Oakland fire in October1991.

Mike Mariano

Mike is an architect with a passion for design and resilient communities. His work responds to the complexity of the design and development process, and in the studio Mike provides thoughtful leadership for high-performance buildings and neighborhoods. Mike founded Schemata Workshop in 2004 with architect-partner and spouse, Grace H. Kim, with a focus on empowering communities. The Capitol Hill – Seattle cohousing community he calls home is centrally located in one of the first neighborhoods in North America to be certified under the comprehensive Ecodistricts Protocol.

Neil Planchon is a founding owner of Swan’s Market Cohousing. He is a longtime Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC) ambassador and one of its Co-Directors. Over the last 20+ years, he has held volunteer and staff roles with the Cohousing Association of the US (Coho/US). His national Cohousing tours have introduced hundreds to the rich and wonderful world of cohousing and intentional communities (ICs). He is a certified life coach who helps individuals through life’s many transitions. He enjoys working with community seekers and residents, nonprofit technology consultants and leaders looking for more, or less. Neil proudly sits on Coho/US’ events team, is a well respected connector, contributor and a keen technologist. Family, music, nature, poetry, convening, using tech for good are activities Neil gets joy from. https://www.neilplanchon.com

Scott Drennan is Canadian but spent many years living in California.  He returned to Nova Scotia last month to help develop Treehouse Village Ecohousing (Bridgewater, NS).  While in California he was an active member of the “maker” movement and a member at several maker spaces.
Professionally, he’s an engineer and product manager, but he prefers to be building things or outdoors in nature: biking, hiking, skiing…
He currently leads the Treehouse Village Development Circle and is also keeping busy creating a mini-maker-space in the garage of his temporary home in Bridgewater until Treehouse Village is ready for move-in.

Sean Davey has lived at Sonora Cohousing since it was built in 2000. He’s a computer programmer at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He started with a simple contact list and over the years developed a web site for managing community people, teams, calendars, documents, photos, accounting, work hours, meeting proposals + agendas, minutes, and much more. About ten years ago Sean began hosting websites for other communities for free and modifying the software to meet their needs (more info at https://cohousing.site). It’s been a wonderful collaboration, with many new feature requests coming from different communities. Sean is interested in using technology to solve problems, empower community members, and free up people from tedious work so they can focus on the less mundane aspects of living together.

Sheila Hoffman & Spencer Beard have had “founder’s energy” for decades, having founded and led the local chapter of EarthSave International in the ‘90s as well as founding the Evergreen Tandem Club in 2001 and of course being part of founding Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Sheila develops WordPress websites and was co-chair of the National Cohousing Conference in Portland in 2019. Spencer is a retired elementary school teacher. At 70 & 68 respectively, they are the elders in CHUC.

Vlad Barash is a researcher, writer and gamer who lives in Somerville, MA with his partner and their tiny dog Lando. In his “day job,” Vlad is a computational sociologist who studies how large groups of people use social media. Vlad was one of the founding members of Bay State Commons, and is regularly between impressed and astounded at how far we’ve come. In the last seven years, Vlad has done everything from help design Bay State Commons’ by-laws to answer trivia questions (badly) at fundraisers to raise visibility for our community. He is very excited to share some of his experiences with new communities as his own cohousing adventure moves towards construction and move-in!