Mani Ardalan Farhadi

A creative thought leader, Mani Ardalan Farhadi’s experience spans 30+ years of strategizing for learning environments. As Senior Facilities Planner at Stanford University School of Medicine, OFPM (Office of Facilities Planning and Management), Mani combines her passion for education with extensive planning skills to develop design ideas and solutions for research space. Using strategic thinking and consensus-building, she is integral to campus planning, having collaborated with public and private institutions from K-12 to Higher Education. Mani’s keen abilities include advocacy and building consensus with her customers.

Mani’s leadership roles include: WIA (Women in Architecture) AIA Silicon Valley Steering Committee; Co-founder of BIBI (Banous in Building Industry) for Iranian-American women; DEI Officer for Wellesley College Alumnae Class; Advisory Board of NICA (Niosha International Conservatory of Arts); Board Member of Institute for Traditional Psychoethics and Guidance; 2022 Steering Committee for WLS (Women’s Leadership Summit); former Board of Trustee (Los Gatos Union School District); and Chair of Bond Oversight Committee (upon which she received ‘Citizen Architect’ award).

She has served as moderator, juror, panelist, speaker, and docent at professional events and conferences, such as Learning by Design, SF Design Week, GenARTS, SCUP, EQxD, WLS, WIA, AIA, CCFC, CCLC, A4LE, SPUR, Wellesley and Mills College; topics ranging from Career-Building to Inclusivity and Intersectionality. A graduate of Wellesley College (B.A. Arch) and Boston Architectural College (B.Arch), Mani supplemented her formal education with training at Stanford LEAP (Leadership, Education, Access, Power) and Stanford Supervisory Academy, MIG (Management in Governance), SCUP Planning Institute, and Leadership Los Gatos.