John Cary, Executive Director (on leave until August 2008), joined Public Architecture in October 2003 and leads the development and outreach of the organization as well as serves as the staff liaison to the board of directors. John writes and speaks extensively on issues relating to architectural education, internship, licensure, and public service. In 1999, he co-founded ArchVoices, a nonprofit organization and think tank focused on the future of the architecture profession. For over seven years, John was actively involved at all levels of the AIA, including national service on its 2005 Gold Medal & Firm Award Advisory Jury and numerous other committees. John serves as a board member, advisor, and consultant to over a dozen nonprofit organizations nationwide. In 2006, at 29, he became the youngest person ever recognized as a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, alongside nine building industry and environmental leaders including Al Gore, Bruce Mau, and others. John was among a delegation of social entrepreneurs invited to attend the 2007 Aspen Ideas Festival as an "Ideas Festival Fellow." John is a 2008 recipient of the Rome Prize fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, where he will be in residence from February through July 2008. John earned his Bachelor of Arts in architecture, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota and Master of Architecture from UC Berkeley.
Evelyn Lee, Program Manager, joined Public Architecture in July 2007 and oversees all aspects of The 1% program. Previously, Evelyn was a job captain at the firms of Dougherty+Dougherty Architects in Costa Mesa, Calif., and WD Partners in Irvine, Calif. Evelyn is also a senior editor for Inhabitat.com, a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices, and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future. Evelyn has also been involved extensively at the local, state, and national levels of the AIA, including current service on the national AIA Board of Directors as well as the AIA California Council Executive Committee and Board. In those capacities, she is one of the foremost representatives and spokespeople for unlicensed architecture professionals or what the AIA currently terms emerging professionals. In 2008, Evelyn will serve as a member of the national AIA Executive Committee and Board. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and a candidate for architect registration in the State of California. Evelyn earned her Bachelor of Architecture with honors from the Drury University and her Master of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture.
Milton Marks, Managing Director, joined Public Architecture in January 2008 and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization. He is presently serving as Acting Executive Director and will remain in that capacity until August 2008. Milton has dedicated his career to working in the nonprofit sector, mainly in senior leadership capacities, in New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Following his graduate training in Philadelphia, Milton worked for the Shared Housing Resource Center where he managed shared houses in adaptively reused historic rectories and consulted on the development of new shared houses. Later, during the five years he was with the Preservation Coalition (later, the Preservation Alliance), Milton developed and ran programs in preservation advocacy and education as well as in historic site planning and management. On return to his native San Francisco, Milton joined Friends of the Urban Forest as Executive Director, increasing FUF’s ability to plant and care for the street trees it plants throughout San Francisco. Milton has twice been elected to the Board of Trustees of City College of San Francisco, an institution in the midst of a major building program using $750 million in state and local funding to rehabilitate existing and construct new buildings throughout San Francisco. He has been the leader in promoting the creation of the College’s Sustainability Plan. Milton earned his Bachelor of Arts in history with departmental honors from Bowdoin College and Master of Science in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth (Liz) Ogbu, Design Campaign Manager, joined Public Architecture in August 2006 and is responsible for design campaign selection, execution, and advocacy. Previously, Liz was a designer at Simon Martin-Vegue Winklestein Morris (SMWM), an architecture and urban design firm in San Francisco. She has been the recipient of several traveling fellowships, including the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Through these grants, she has pursued research projects, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, examining the intersections in the socioeconomic and physical spaces of the informal sector. Findings from this work have been presented at several conferences both in the U.S. and abroad, and were the subject of her Master's thesis. Liz has also been involved with many community focused projects and organizations here in the U.S., including the launch of the Community Design: Now or Never website and its associated symposium; the Mayors' Institute on City Design; a design outreach program for local youth in Cambridge and Boston; and an affordable housing developer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She recently was selected as "Green Giant" by Steelcase, Inc. for her work in promoting environmentally and socially sustainable design. Liz earned her Bachelor of Arts in architecture from Wellesley College and Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Mia Scharphie, Administrative Assistant, joined Public Architecture in 2008. Previously, Mia worked in a similar capacity for Fernau & Hartman Architects in Berkeley, CA. Mia has followed her interest in the relationship between built and natural environments through research on low-energy cooling technologies at the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at Sde Boker in Israel, and through her work developing and teaching units on environmental justice and community gardens for the Green Cities urban landscape history course at Brown University. Mia has also been involved in the movement for voter-owned elections through her work for the Campaign for Public Financing of Elections in Rhode Island. Mia earned her undergraduate degree with honors in Urban Studies from Brown University.
STAFF
Public Architecture's staff is regularly supplemented by the contributions of board members, consultants, research assistants, and other advisors.
people
John Cary, Executive Director (on leave until August 2008), joined Public Architecture in October 2003 and leads the development and outreach of the organization as well as serves as the staff liaison to the board of directors. John writes and speaks extensively on issues relating to architectural education, internship, licensure, and public service. In 1999, he co-founded ArchVoices, a nonprofit organization and think tank focused on the future of the architecture profession. For over seven years, John was actively involved at all levels of the AIA, including national service on its 2005 Gold Medal & Firm Award Advisory Jury and numerous other committees. John serves as a board member, advisor, and consultant to over a dozen nonprofit organizations nationwide. In 2006, at 29, he became the youngest person ever recognized as a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, alongside nine building industry and environmental leaders including Al Gore, Bruce Mau, and others. John was among a delegation of social 
Evelyn Lee, Program Manager, joined Public Architecture in July 2007 and oversees all aspects of The 1% program. Previously, Evelyn was a job captain at the firms of Dougherty+Dougherty Architects in Costa Mesa, Calif., and WD Partners in Irvine, Calif. Evelyn is also a senior editor for Inhabitat.com, a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices, and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future. Evelyn has also been involved extensively at the local, state, and national levels of the AIA, including current service on the national AIA Board of Directors as well as the AIA California Council Executive Committee and Board. In those capacities, she is one of the foremost representatives and spokespeople for unlicensed architecture professionals or what the AIA currently terms emerging professionals. In 2008, Evelyn will serve as a member of the national AIA Executive Committee and Board. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and a candidate for architect registration in the State of California. Evelyn earned her Bachelor of Architecture with honors from the Drury University and her Master of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture.
Milton Marks, Managing Director, joined Public Architecture in January 2008 and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization. He is presently serving as Acting Executive Director and will remain in that capacity until August 2008. Milton has dedicated his career to working in the nonprofit sector, mainly in senior leadership capacities, in New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Following his graduate training in Philadelphia, Milton worked for the Shared Housing Resource Center where he managed shared houses in adaptively reused historic rectories and consulted on the development of new shared houses. Later, during the five years he was with the Preservation Coalition (later, the Preservation Alliance), Milton developed and ran programs in preservation advocacy and education as well as in historic site planning and management. On return to his native San Francisco, Milton joined Friends of the Urban Forest as Executive Director, increasing FUF’s ability to plant and care for the street trees it plants throughout San Francisco. Milton has twice been elected to the Board of Trustees of City College of San Francisco, an institution in the midst of a major building program using $750 million in state and local funding to rehabilitate existing and construct new buildings throughout San Francisco. He has been the leader in promoting the creation of the College’s Sustainability Plan. Milton earned his Bachelor of Arts in history with departmental honors from Bowdoin College and Master of Science in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth (Liz) Ogbu, Design Campaign Manager, joined Public Architecture in August 2006 and is responsible for design campaign selection, execution, and advocacy. Previously, Liz was a designer at Simon Martin-Vegue Winklestein Morris (SMWM), an architecture and urban design firm in San Francisco. She has been the recipient of several traveling fellowships, including the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Through these grants, she has pursued research projects, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, examining the intersections in the socioeconomic and physical spaces of the informal sector. Findings from this work have been presented at several conferences both in the U.S. and abroad, and were the subject of her Master's thesis. Liz has also been involved with many community focused projects and organizations here in the U.S., including the launch of the Community Design: Now or Never website and its associated symposium; the Mayors' Institute on City Design; a design outreach program for local youth in Cambridge and Boston; and an affordable housing developer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She recently was selected as "Green Giant" by Steelcase, Inc. for her work in promoting environmentally and socially sustainable design. Liz earned her Bachelor of Arts in architecture from Wellesley College and Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. 
