Diana Lind. our keynote speaker, is a writer and urban policy specialist. Her book, BRAVE NEW HOME: OUR FUTURE IN SMARTER, SIMPLER, HAPPIER HOUSING was published in October. Diana has worked at Architectural Record magazine, Next City, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently the Executive Director of the Arts + Business Council for Greater Philadelphia and housing fellow at NewCities.
Bryan Bowen
Bryan Bowen is an architect, cohousing nerd, and lover of community-based sustainable design. Bryan grew up in a passive solar home in an artists’ community at the foothills of the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA with minors in art and anthropology in 1995, and has been a practicing architect for about 25 years. Clients comment on his ability to distill the chaos of development and construction in a logical and insightful way, creating a bubble of calm around their process.
Caddis Collaborative was founded by Bryan in 2002. Caddis is a multidisciplinary design collaborative that explores ways of living more lightly upon our earth in beautiful, healthy environments. A leader in sustainable design, Passive House, net-zero homes, urban infill, and livable communities, Caddis applies sophisticated design and creative solutions to every project. Caddis has become a well-respected national cohousing expert, creating beautiful, innovative, highly functioning communities.
Bryan has lived in Wild Sage Cohousing in Boulder with his wife and two boys since 2004. His home and EV’s electricity are provided 100% by the sun, and his family tries hard to keep a light footprint. Bryan loves life in cohousing and revels in the simple benefits of community – friends right outside the front door, casual interactions, great food, a rich life for his kiddos, but mostly happy hours and time in the wood shop. Website
Crystal Byrd Farmer
Crystal Byrd Farmer is a North Carolina native who speaks and writes about ways communities can be more welcoming to people of all kinds of backgrounds. She serves as a board member with the Foundation for Intentional Communities and a member of the BIPOC Intentional Community Council. Her book The Token: Common Sense Ideas for Increasing Diversity in Your Organization is out now. Crystal is passionate about encouraging people to change their perspectives on diversity, relationships, and the world.
Erik Bonnett
Erik Bonnett is a registered architect with deep expertise in sustainability and participatory design. His experience includes facilitating integrated design of groundbreaking LEED and net zero carbon projects, while at Rocky Mountain Institute. His work focuses on integrating the economic, environmental, and social components of sustainability with a focus on equity and empowerment. Erik taught sustainability from an interdisciplinary perspective at Montana State University and has published research on cost optimization of energy efficiency. He has worked to design and also found cohousing communities across the United States. He is passionate about collaborating with clients who possess a strong mission, be they intentional communities, individuals, or NGOs. Website
Grace H. Kim
Grace Kim is an architect and co-founding principal of Schemata Workshop, an award-winning architectural practice with a keen focus on building community and social equity. She brings innovative ideas to her projects that merge client goals and sustainability measures – such as urban agriculture, modular construction, and a focus on building community.
Grace is also the cofounder of Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing, a collaborative residential community which includes her street level office and a rooftop urban farm. She walks the talk of sustainability – leaving a small ecological footprint while incorporating holistic ideals of social and economic resilience into her daily life.
Her TED Talk on cohousing as an antidote for loneliness has been received more than 2 million views. Grace is an internationally recognized expert in cohousing, particularly for her expertise in designing the Common House.
Grace has visited more than 90 cohousing communities in North America, Denmark and South Korea. For four years Grace served on the national board for the Cohousing Association of the US and she currently serves on the Professional Advisory Council.
Grace also serves on the Seattle Planning Commission and the Board of Directors for the Housing Development Consortium.
Karen Gimnig
Karen is a relationship and connection consultant for communities, organizations and teams of all kinds. Her work includes support for conflict, consensus, sociocracy and agile. Her recent book, coauthored with Yana Ludwig, is The Cooperative Culture Handbook available at ic.org/handbook.
Katie McCamant
Katie McCamant, who has worked as an architect, project manager, development consultant, and developer with cohousing groups for the last 35 years, as well as owning and living in 4 different homes in two different communities. As a development consultant, she uses this experience to assist forming communities across North American create their communities.
Martie Weatherly
Marty recently retired after 20 years as a hospital supervisor. She has been a personal and life coach for over 20 years, where her passions are health, well-being, vitality and community. She is also a consultant on community decision making and is being trained as a virtual facilitator to provide vibrant, interesting meetings on zoom.
Martie became a partner in Liberty Village in 1995 and participated in the planning and building of the community. She has studied consensus and facilitation since then and has taught many groups over the last 20 years. She is a member of the Facilitation and Marketing Teams at Liberty Village.
Mary Kraus
Mary Kraus, AIA, LEED BD+C is a cohousing architect and facilitator who has worked with over two dozen communities in the US and Canada over the past thirty years. She is on the board of Coho US and was a founding board member of the Cohousing Network (precursor to Coho US). She lives at Pioneer Valley Cohousing, the first cohousing community in the eastern US, where she enjoys preparing dinners for her neighbors and working in the community garden. Website
Mathilde Berthe
Mathilde Berthe is a graduate architect from ENSA Normandie School in France. Her background in Cohousing design includes working at McCamant and Durrett Architects, who introduced the concept of Cohousing in America. She also helped develop a cooperative that aims to facilitate the emergence of Cohousing projects in France, called Habitat & Partage. Between France and the USA, she has visited and contributed to many communities exploring the relationship between design and the social structure of communites. While living at Les Hérisons in Prades de Lez (FR), for example, she contributed to the auto-construction phase – engaging with straw-bale construction while living with the residents. She is experienced in designing workshops and giving public presentations inspired by her diverse experiences. Website
Molly Jones
Molly A. Jones, AIA is an Oklahoma and Arkansas Architect, NCARB certificate holder, LEED® Accredited Professional, Green Globes Professional, Guiding Principles Compliance Professional, and DBIA Professional with nearly 30 years of experience in the profession. She has designed and managed large and small projects for private and federal clients with vast experience across many building types and project delivery methods.
Molly founded Jones Design Studio, PLLC (JDS) to create life changing environments that improve health and heal communities while being good stewards of the environment. JDS is Oklahoma’s First JUST™ Organization. JUST™ is a voluntary transparency program that rates an organization’s social justice and equity based on specific and measurable accountabilities.
Molly designed the first project in Oklahoma seeking certification as a Living Building. This residential project, called The Joinery is currently under construction. Learn more at our website where you will find a link to a recent TEDx TulsaCC talk on the project approach.
Molly is an advocate for cohousing communities. She is the Architect for Heartwood Commons in Tulsa, OK, where she has worked tirelessly with the community members to help them bring their vision of a vibrant, sustainable community to life.
Shelly Parks
Shelly Parks spent a career leading professional sales and marketing teams in retirement living start-ups. In 2017, she founded CoVision Consulting to share her skills and knowledge with forming and developing cohousing groups. As Shelly partners with groups, her goal is to always offer tools to implement best practices and to create strategies for successful membership recruitment. Shelly is a graduate of Katie McCamant’s 500 Communities Program and is now an affiliate of Cohousing Solutions. Shelly and her husband are members of Skagit Cohousing, a community under construction in Anacortes, WA. Website
Ted Rau
Co-founder of Sociocracy For All; co-author of the sociocracy handbook Many Voices One Song. Transgender man. Lives in Pioneer Valley cohousing with partner and 5 children.
Trish Becker
Trish is the co-founder of StorySpring Consulting and the Director of Community Engagement at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work. She supports people and organizations advancing social change by connecting them to resources, opportunities and each other.
As a consultant and owner of StorySpring, she provides strategy, facilitation and coaching to nonprofits and social changemakers, specifically around their communications and public image efforts. At the University of Denver, she leads community engagement initiatives and creates gatherings that explore a variety of social justice topics. She listens to community organizations and co-creates mutually-beneficial partnerships that push forward social change.
She is a founding member of Denver’s newest cohousing community, Aria Cohousing, and a passionate advocate for housing solutions that address both the crisis of affordability and the global loneliness epidemic. She is in the process of establishing a micro-village in Wheat Ridge that addresses both.
She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Colorado State University. She is most alive when gathering people around a common purpose.
