Maria is a Food Systems expert working with foundations, nonprofits, and universities in their process of defining, co-designing, and executing their food systems strategy so that they identify where they are best positioned to make the most impact, design effective programs, and are better able to track and share their impact internally and externally. She supports impact-driven teams tackling complex challenges by leveraging systems thinking, human-centered design, and emergent strategy principles. 

Over the last 10 years, Maria has focused on understanding food and agricultural systems, exploring pathways to their transformation, and working with teams to co-build the food futures our planet desperately needs. Her passion to be part of building inclusive and regenerative food systems has brought her to work with The World Bank, Oxfam International, The Rockefeller Foundation, UN Foundation, SecondMuse, Food System 6, UC Berkeley, among many others. Maria completed two Master's programs, including a Master in Public Policy from UC Berkeley (with a focus in food policy, systems thinking, and innovation), and a MS in Biological & Agricultural Engineering from North Carolina State University. She holds a BA in Philosophy and a BS in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. To learn more about her work, you can visit her website here.

Marwah Garib is an urban designer and planner. Her research and practice investigate climate resilience and social equity in urban environments and infrastructures. Marwah’s work ranges from public realm design, mixed use developments, academic and health campus planning, and net-zero masterplans. With a diverse international portfolio, she has worked on projects in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Oslo, Cairo and Hong Kong.

Marwah studied architecture at the German University in Cairo and holds a Master of Science in Urban Design from Columbia University GSAPP in New York. In 2022, she founded Place+, a data-driven, community-centered research practice aiming to design equitable and resilient places in our cities. 

Marwah currently serves on the AIA Regional and Urban Design Knowledge Committee (RUDC) and AIA Orlando's Women in Architecture (WIA) committee. She is a certified urban planner by the American Institute of Certified Planners and is a WEDG associate through The Waterfront Alliance.

Candelaria is an Urban Designer at Gehl where she oversees the design and management of people-first projects in different cities in the Americas and the Middle East, bringing her expertise in climate action, sustainable development, and community engagement. Candelaria is committed to creating urban responses that address the climate crisis through an inclusive, people-centered approach. For the past two years, she has applied Gehl's Foodscapes methodologies in Bogotá and Philadelphia assessing how the built environment impacts on people's food choices, health, and wellbeing. Her previous experience across cities in Argentina, Mexico, Europe, and the US has shaped her passion for understanding diverse cultural-ecological characteristics and celebrating them through design. To achieve long-term resilience, she believes that it is crucial to integrate ecosystems and climate-sensitive infrastructures in the design process. She holds a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University GSAPP, where she is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Urban Design.

Craig Verzone is co-founder of Verzone Woods Architectes, a collaborative multi- disciplinary studio working within the overlapping realms of landscape, urban design, and architecture. Their work highlights the interdependence and reciprocity between building and open space. Extending practice into research and looping results back to project development is part of the process, as deployed in their first public space mandate, in 1996, for the redesign of the landscape at the foot of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Briey, France. Since then, Verzone has continued testing hypotheses and implementing design at a wide variety of scales from 1:1 prototypes for new urban furniture to regional studies such as the cantonal landscape masterplan for the 2’500 square miles of Vaud, Switzerland.

Challenges regarding complex urban contexts, compromised natural systems, and tense human exchange fuel ongoing thinking. Current active projects include the construction of a 25-acre urban-agro park in Geneva as well as a new dense neighborhood of 1’200 residents near the Morges train station. The ruderal entry garden of Fribourg’s new Natural History Museum and the landscape of Bluefactory Technology and Innovation Campus on the historic Cardinal Brewery site are also in the works. In addition to new project prospection, design, and construction oversight, Verzone co-manages the business of VWA studio and is shaping its future leadership.

Steve Wilson is the 2022 Chair of the Regional and Urban Design Committee (RUDC). The RUDC is dedicated to improving the built environment through promoting excellence in design, planning, and public policy in the built environment. It serves as an education and information resource for its 7,500 members and works in concert with allied community and professional groups.

Steve is also a Senior Associate with Gensler, and leads their Urban Design Practice for the North Central Region. As a senior urban designer, he helps clients and communities imagine and achieve their future cities and towns through design and development strategies. Trained as an architect and planner, he has 26 years of experience in planning and urban design and has worked in more than 40 communities across the country. His master planning experience includes downtowns, urban districts, neighborhoods, corridors, transit oriented development, campus planning for healthcare and higher education, and mixed used developments. Steve holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. He also an active member of the Chicago Central Area Committee, and the Chicago Chapter of Lambda Alpha International, and the Urban Land Institute.