2026 Design for Freedom Summit

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  • 2026 DFF Summit

Thursday, March 26, 2026 | 9:00 am – 6:30 pm
Grace Farms, New Canaan, CT

The 2026 Design for Freedom Summit convenes leaders of the architecture, construction, technology, manufacturing, finance, government, academic, and real estate sectors to advance the global movement toward a more ethical built environment. 

Through the guidance of the Design for Freedom Principles, participants will explore solutions to identify and address forced labor, advance ethical decarbonization, and prioritize circularity through a human rights lens.

This year’s Summit is a culmination of the past 5 years of partnership, innovation and dedication to creating a more humane future. Attendees will leave inspired and equipped with the technology, tools, and vision needed to take immediate action toward more responsible supply chains.

We look forward to another sold-out audience in 2026! Your ticket includes the full day of programming, tours, exhibits, jazz breakfast, lunch, a cocktail reception, and complimentary shuttles from our partner hotels and local train stations.

$250 | early bird admission through 12/19
$100 | students

AIA CES 5 LU | HSW Pending
SARA CES 5 LU | HSW Pending

To inquire about scholarships, please email [email protected].

2026 Pilot Project announcements, panels, breakout sessions, tours, exhibits, jazz breakfast, lunch, cocktail reception


Sharon Prince, CEO & Founder

Every building tells a story of humanity – either of dignity or exploitation.


2026 Agenda coming soon

click to view 2025 agenda

Sharon Prince
CEO & Founder, Grace Farms
Co-Founder, Grace Farms Tea & Coffee

Biography

Sharon Prince is the CEO and Founder of Grace Farms, a new kind of boundary-defying public space that advances good locally and globally. Prince commissioned Pritzker Prize-winning SANAA architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa to design Grace Farms, which has become widely known as a global humanitarian and cultural center located in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Grace Farms is the platform for the Foundation and its interdisciplinary humanitarian mission to pursue peace through nature, arts, justice, community, faith, and Design for Freedom, a global new movement to eliminate forced labor from the building materials supply chain. The open, porous architecture of the River building at Grace Farms is embedded into 80 acres of natural biodiverse landscapes. The building, designed to break down barriers between people and sectors, invites all to pause and reflect, while also encouraging engagement with Grace Farms’ work, including advancing gender and racial equity, all of which leads to creating new outcomes.

Since opening, Grace Farms has garnered numerous prestigious awards for contributions to architecture, environmental sustainability, and social good, including the AIA National 2017 Architecture Honor Award and the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize.

Grace Farms is pioneering a new form of philanthropic capitalism with a non-profit owned certified B Corp. Prince is the Co-Founder of Grace Farms Tea & Coffee, which offers coffees and teas that demonstrate what the Foundation advocates for: ethical and sustainable supply chains. Through our robust corporate-sponsorship program we’ve expanded the reach into global corporations including JPMorganChase, UBS, Sciame Construction, and Bloomberg. In addition, Grace Farms Tea & Coffee has also introduced its Wellness Teas into 26 Whole Foods Markets in 2024 alone, initializing public demand for ethical sourcing.
100% of the profits from Grace Farms Foods supports the Design for Freedom movement to eliminate forced labor from the building materials supply chain.

After recognizing a void in addressing exploitation in the building materials supply chain in late 2017, Prince launched Design for Freedom in 2020 with a first-of-its-kind publication, a nearly 100-page Report that provides analysis and data on how forced labor is embedded into the very foundations of our buildings. At the inaugural Design for Freedom Summit in 2022, Grace Farms also released the Design for Freedom Toolkit, a practical resource professionals use to implement ethical sourcing strategies into their practices. Prince also initiated the next iteration of the Design for Freedom Toolkit to further advance the international expansion of Design for Freedom. The Design for Freedom International Guidance & Toolkit, which includes contributions from more than a dozen leading international experts across the ecosystem of the built environment.
In addition, Prince has also expanded Design for Freedom internationally through accelerators in the UK, India, and Vietnam equipping public and private sector partners with the tools to address forced and child labor.

She has guest lectured about Design for Freedom and Grace Farms to universities and industry associations around the world. In recognition of this impactful work, Fast Company named her to its list of the Most Creative People in Business 2022: For Cleaning up Construction and the AIA NY and Center for Architecture recognized her with the NYC Visionary Award.
At the start of the COVID 19 pandemic, when countries around the world shut down, Prince converted Grace Farms into a humanitarian hub to address two emerging crises: the lack of PPE for frontline health care workers and soaring food insecurity. Under her leadership, Grace Farms became the largest supplier of PPE in the state, securing, donating, and delivering more than 2 million pieces of PPE within weeks to close the acute state-wide PPE gap. She also initiated a critical food emergency program that provided more than 150,000 wholesome meals to neighbors in need. For this humanitarian work, Prince received the CEO Forum’s Transformative CEO Award | Leading through Crisis.

Lindsay Baker
CEO
Living Future

Biography

Lindsay Baker is a movement leader, speaker, author, and podcast host working nationally and internationally to transform the building industry for a regenerative future. As CEO of Living Future, Lindsay advocates for a world where everyone lives in buildings that are safe, healthy, decarbonized, and affordable. 

A lifelong environmentalist and building scientist, Lindsay has spent her career leading and scaling impactful initiatives, partnerships, and programs across sectors. She was a Senior Fellow at RMI, taught at UC Berkeley, and serves as a board member and advisor to numerous nonprofits and climate tech startups, including The Clean Fight and SPUR. 

Prior to joining Living Future, she served as Global Head of Sustainability and Impact at WeWork, co-founded successful smart buildings start-up Comfy, worked with Google’s Real Estate Sustainability Team, and was a building science researcher at the UC Berkeley Center for the Built Environment. Her career began at the US Green Building Council developing early standards for the LEED Rating System.

Lindsay is a published author and frequent speaker on subjects including climate action, the regenerative building movement, and social impact in the building industry. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and Masters Degree in Architecture and Building Science from UC Berkeley. She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and now lives in Oakland, California with her partner and their many precious houseplants.

Kyle Bergman
Festival Director & Founder
Architecture & Design Film Festival

Biography

Architect Kyle Bergman founded the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) in 2008 and serves as its festival director. He has always recognized the strong connection between architecture and film and ADFF provides a unique opportunity to educate, entertain and engage people who are passionate about the world of architecture and design. Mr. Bergman also serves as vice president on the board of Pacific Rim Parks Organization whose mission is to use the process of designing and building parks as a tool to connect communities around the Pacific.

Kyle Bergman has been involved with design/build education since 1994 when he created and moderated an architectural lecture series about the design/build process for the Smithsonian Institute. An entrepreneur at heart, Mr. Bergman founded Alt Spec in 1999, a publishing company that produced a visual resource of unique and alternative products for architects and designers. He also produced a play entitled The Glass House, about the design and construction of two famous homes, Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and Phillip Johnson’s Glass House.

Kai-Uwe Bergmann
Partner
BIG


Biography

Kai-Uwe Bergmann is a Partner globally at BIG, bringing his expertise to proposals around the world, including work in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Working out of the New York office, Kai-Uwe coordinates with BIG’s five international offices, helping lead work in over 40 different countries. Licensed as an architect in the U.S. (sixteen states) and Canada (one province), Kai-Uwe most recently contributed to the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (the BIG U), a resiliency plan that will protect 10 miles of Manhattan’s coastline. Additionally, his work expands to the exhibition and publication of BIG’s literary portfolio by way of Hot to Cold, Yes Is More, Formgiving, and the newest Culture book. He complements his professional work through teaching assignments at Pratt Institute and Georgia Tech. Kai-Uwe is also an AIA Fellow and past board member of the Van Alen Institute, and participates on numerous international juries and in lectures globally on the works of BIG.

Annie Bevan
President
mindful MATERIALS


Biography

Sustainability collaborator, facilitator, and visionary. Annie doesn’t just want to talk about sustainable impact, she wants to facilitate action to create large-scale, global change. She enables this market transformation through her role as President for mindful MATERIALs Inc.

Over the last decade, Annie has become a trusted executive leader in sustainability for corporate, government, and nonprofit entities. Annie offers a unique blend of business and technical expertise that compliments her over 15 years of sustainability marketplace experience. She knows a truly sustainable world will not be achieved by just one person. She is passionate in working with people and building relationships to catalyze sustainable change. Her expertise and experience allow her the ability to provide unparalleled strategic advice to quickly enhance and increase the robustness and productivity of various sustainability standards, certification organizations, businesses, and nonprofits with a personal mission to drive industry collaboration and acceleration of collective action to scale global impact reduction.

Luis C.deBaca
Ambassador (ret.) Professor from Practice
University of Michigan Law School

Biography

Luis C.deBaca is a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School. He led US government activities in the global fight against contemporary forms of slavery during the Obama administration. As Ambassador at Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, C.deBaca updated statutes created after the Civil War and through the 13th Amendment to develop the victim-centered approach to modern slavery that has become the global standard for combating human trafficking.

In the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), C.deBaca investigated and prosecuted complex criminal cases, negotiated labor and human rights advances, and managed multimillion dollar grant portfolios combating slavery and sexual abuse. As one of the most decorated federal prosecutors in the US, he investigated and prosecuted cases of human trafficking, hate crimes, and police misconduct, as well as immigration, organized crime, and money laundering.

He built his litigation record into policy, incorporating the voices of victims, workers, and the advocacy community into decision making. As principal DOJ drafter of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act and a member of the team that negotiated the United Nations’ anti-trafficking protocol, he helped to enshrine the “3P” anti-trafficking approach of prevention, protection, and prosecution in US and international practice.

Following his prosecution career, he served as counsel to the House Committee on the Judiciary, where he handled issues of civil rights, immigration, and civil liberties, including revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In the Obama administration, he served as director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons from 2009 to 2014 and as the director of the Justice Department’s Office for Sex Offender Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking from 2015 to 2017.

After retiring from government service, C.deBaca was a Senior Fellow of Modern Slavery at Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, and served as a lecturer in law at Yale Law School and lecturer of architecture at Yale School of Architecture. He also was a 2017-2019 Soros Open Society Human Rights Fellow focusing on worker-led social responsibility and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

C.deBaca’s teaching and research interests include criminal law, race and slavery, policing, immigration, national security, labor, Indian law, international law, and civil rights. Current projects include an inquiry into the imprint of current and historical forms of slavery and involuntary servitude on the built environment, re-thinking business practices that incentivize the use of forced labor, and preparatory work toward a national slavery memorial in Washington, DC.

Nina Cooke John
Principal
Studio Cooke John

Biography

Nina Cooke John’s work has been featured in The New York TimesDwell, NBC’s Open House, the Center for Architecture’s 2018 exhibition, Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture and PBS NewsHour Weekend.

Born in Jamaica, Nina has always been inspired by the creativity she witnessed in her homeland: the art of people transforming everyday hardships and limitations into innovative solutions through multiple spheres of life. She imbues the spirit of transformation and innovation into every design project, from the structure of a home’s interior to the streetscape of a city block.

Nina began her professional career designing houses in Connecticut, Arizona and Virginia with the architecture firm Voorsanger and Associates. She went on to work on large cultural institutional projects like the New York Botanical Gardens master plan, the Clinton Library and the Biltmore Theater at Polshek Partnership (now Ennead).

Cindy Dyer
Ambassador (ret.) Chief Program Officer
McCain Institute

Biography

Ambassador Cindy Dyer (ret.) is a human rights expert and lawyer with more than 30 years of experience working at the local, national, and international levels.  Ambassador Dyer currently serves as the Chief Program Officer at the McCain Institute leading the design and delivery of the Institute’s Human Rights & Freedom, National Security, Democracy, and Leadership Programs.  She has held presidentially appointed positions in the Departments of Justice, Defense, and State in both Republican and Democratic administrations.   

From 2023-2025, she served as the Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. Department of State.  She was nominated to serve in that role by President Joe Biden and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. While Ambassador, she  travelled to and directly engaged with government officials in 20 countries throughout every region of the world and oversaw a budget of over $300 million. 

From 2021-2023, she worked at the U.S. Department of Defense serving on the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military (IRC) that was ordered by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, III, at the direction of President Biden. Her appointment was extended to assist the Department of Defense with the implementation and oversight of the IRC recommendations. 

 For 12 years, she was the Vice President for Human Rights at Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO advancing women’s leadership. While at Vital Voices, she worked with local governmental and civil society leaders in more than 25 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe to improve and implement laws and policies related to human trafficking and gender-based violence.  

From 2007 – 2009, she served as the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice.  She was nominated to serve in that role by President George W. Bush and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. As Director, she was responsible for developing the Department’s legal and policy positions regarding the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act and overseeing an annual budget of almost $400 million.  

Ambassador Dyer began her career at the local level serving as a specialized domestic and sexual violence prosecutor in Dallas, Texas for more than 13 years and also served as a weekly hotline volunteer at a local women’s shelter for 9 years. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M in Business Administration and Management and her J.D. from Baylor Law School. 

Gustavo Ferroni
Program Manager
The Freedom Fund

Biography

Gustavo is the Program Manager for the Amazon hotspot and joined the Freedom Fund in 2024. He brings more than a decade of experience as a policy and program lead at Oxfam Brasil, where he helped establish the organization and later served as a policy and advocacy advisor for Oxfam internationally.

He specializes in human rights, corporate accountability, labor issues, agriculture, and natural resource justice. His previous work includes roles with global INGOs such as CARE, The Nature Conservancy, and Greenpeace, as well as Brazilian organizations including the Ethos Institute and Vitae Civilis.

Gustavo has a background in International Relations and Journalism and currently focuses on business and human rights, agriculture, forced labor, development, inequality, democracy, and colonialism.

Julia Gamolina
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Madame Architect

Biography

Julia Gamolina is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Madame Architect. Trained as an architect herself and with over a decade of experience across all aspects of design, business development, and communications, Julia is also an Associate Principal at Ennead Architects and teaches graduate professional practice and media courses at Pratt Institute.

In 2024, Madame Architect received the AIANY Architecture in Media Award. In 2024 and 2023, Julia was listed in the Wallpaper* USA 300, a list of the people defining America’s creative landscape. Julia also received the Special Citation from AIANY in 2019 for her work with Madame Architect. Her writing has been featured in A Women’s Thing, Fast Company, Metropolis Magazine, and the Architect’s Newspaper.

Julia has lectured widely, across college campuses such as Harvard, Mount Holyoke, and UCLA; at international conferences like the Women, Architecture and Sustainability Congress in Bogota and the 2023 UIA World Congress of Architects in Copenhagen; and at events such as the New York Architecture Film Festival. She also organizes “Madame Architect Presents,” Madame Architect’s event series where she interviews architects in the spaces they designed.

Julia earned her Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell University, graduating with the Charles Goodwin Sands Medal for exceptional thesis. She was born in Novosibirsk, raised in Toronto, and is based in New York City, having also lived and worked in Austria, Italy, and Brazil.

Miranda Gardiner
Executive Director
iMasons Climate Accord

Biography

Miranda Gardiner is the Executive Director of iMasons Climate Accord (ICA) — a groundbreaking trade association, focused on emissions reductions and sustainability in data centers. Under her visionary guidance, it has emerged as the premier, collaborative arena for digital infrastructure’s commitment to achieving ambitious climate goals by uniting the largest and most influential companies (such as Google, Meta, Dell Technologies, and Microsoft) in driving transformative initiatives.

Miranda has grown the iCA to a robust network of member companies with a combined market cap of over $8T, with 30+% of them represented on the various technical committees to ensure a “by the members, for the members” approach. Centered around Power, Equipment, and Materials — and in 2026, addition of Water — iCA has published a Maturity Model and case studies to address critical topics in these areas.

She has presented at Climate Week NYC and Datacloud Global Congress, and contributed to publications like PERE’s 2024 Data Centers Report.

In 2020, she received LEED Fellow status from USGBC, and in 2025, was recognized in Data Centre Magazine’s inaugural “Top 100 Women in Data Centers”.

Jon Jacoby
CEO
GoodWeave International

Amanda Kaminsky
Founder & Principal
Building Product Ecosystems

Biography

Amanda Kaminsky is Founder + Principal of Building Ecosystems. At Building Ecosystems, Amanda Kaminsky builds on 25 years of experience in Architecture, Real Estate Development, Construction, and Materials R&D to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams in building and scaling industrial ecosystems necessary for well-performing beneficial building industry innovations to thrive. 

She has led piloting, standardization, and scaling of systemic industry improvements for: recycled ground-glass pozzolan cement replacement, gypsum drywall closed loop recycling, commercial and residential portfolio organics collection, building material ingredient transparency and health, and uptake of electric construction equipment. 

Amanda sits on the Boards of Carbon Leadership Forum, Health Product Declaration Collaborative, Construction & Demolition Recycling Association, Recycling Certification Institute, Center for Zero Waste Design, and is a Member of Build Reuse. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia.

Steve Kooy
Technical Director Health & Sustainability
BIFMA

Biography

Steve has more than 20 years of experience as a sustainability professional in the furniture industry. He currently leads BIFMA’s Health and Sustainability programs including the e3/LEVEL sustainability certification program adopted by most commercial furniture manufacturers. Steve also services in the role of government advocacy for the commercial furniture industry with a focus on environmental and trade policies.  

Steve served as Haworth’s Global Sustainability/Open Innovation Manager for 10+ years as the built environment’s interest in green building flourished. Highlights at Haworth included: creating and driving well-being initiatives, setting sustainable design criteria for cleaner chemistry and responsible supply chains, and pursuing product certifications.  WELL and LEED experience includes managing or co-managing LEED certification projects in Asia, Europe, and North America as well as piloting the WELL certification in Shanghai and Los Angeles. 

In addition to his corporate roles, Steve has served on serval boards including mindfulMATERIALS and Certification Oversight Board for Eco-Certified Composite.

He graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s in Civil/Environmental Engineering. 

Gavin Laughland
Designer
BIG

Mae-ling Lokko
Founder
Willow Technologies

Biography

Mae-ling Lokko is an architectural scientist, designer and educator focused on the intersectoral design and research of biobased materials to drive ecological health and generative justice goals. She is an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Architecture where she teaches environmental design and on the history and contemporary design of biobased building technologies. At Yale’s Center for Ecosystems in Architecture, she directs doctoral research on the whole life cycle development, distributed infrastructures design and policy around non-toxic, low-carbon materials.

Given biobased building materials are poised to become part of the rapidly growing 21st century building materials economy, Lokko’s current research and writings aim to understand both the historical patterns, risks and opportunities around biobased material technologies. Her research has been funded by the reARC Institute, Yale’s ASCEND Program, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the SOM Foundation, the British Council, MIT’s Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative, the Luma Foundation, Housing the Human 2019 and NYSERDA. Her work and writings have been featured in the New York Times, Blueprint, ICON Magazine, eFlux, Blueprint, Wallpaper, MOLD, Frieze Magazine, RIBA Journal, DOMUS, Dezeen, DAMN Magazine, and other global design publications.

Lokko is also the founder of Willow, based in Ghana, aimed at developing academic-community research partnerships to implement and scale demonstration architectural projects. Through public exhibitions, Lokko’s work aims to explore new aesthetics associated with plant-based building material technologies that address deeply seated, social and cultural barriers to their adoption. Her recent work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Nobel Prize Museum, the Museum of the Future, Dubai, Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands; Serralves Foundation, Portugal; Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, Belgium; Sonsbeek Biennial, Netherlands; Triennale Milano, Italy; and Somerset House, London. Funded by the United Nations Environmental Program and Yale CEA, Willow’s research on both the regional and global biobased building materials industry was published in the key Building Materials and Climate: Constructing a New Future global report.Lokko previously taught at Cooper Union and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she served as the Director of the Building Sciences Program as well as Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture and Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE). Lokko holds a Ph.D. and Master of Science in Architectural Science from the Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology, RPI, and a B.A from Tufts University. Lokko currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Living Future Institute and the Architectural League of New York.

Sydney Mainster
Vice President of Sustainability & Design Management
The Durst Organization

Toshiko Mori
Principal
Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC

Biography

Toshiko Mori, FAIA is the founding principal of Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC, and the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD). She was previously chair of the Department of Architecture from 2002-2008. She is a graduate of the Cooper Union Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture and holds an honorary master’s degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In 2022, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Pratt University. She has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2016 and the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2020, where she is currently Vice President of Architecture.

She participates in international symposia and conferences and has lectured at universities across the country and around the world. Her projects have been the focus of several publications, including the February 2020 issue of A+U magazine. Mori has won numerous awards including the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the AIA New York Chapter Medal of Honor; the 2016 ACSA Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society Gold Medal; the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education; Architectural Record’s Women in Architecture Design Leader Award; Isamu Noguchi Award; and most recently the Philip Hanson Hiss Award in 2023 and Asia Society Asia Arts Game Changer Award in 2024. Architectural Digest has featured Mori in its annual AD100 list since 2014 and named Mori to the AD100 Hall of Fame in 2023; she was also named an Elle Decor A-List Titan. Mori was guest editor of Domus magazine for 2023.

Beverly Parenti
Co-Founder
The Last Mile

Biography

Beverly Parenti, a serial entrepreneur with a focus on innovative technologies, co-founded The Last Mile (TLM) in 2010 at San Quentin State Prison alongside her husband and longtime business partner, Chris Redlitz.

TLM’s mission is to break the generational cycle of incarceration and reduce recidivism by providing education and training in prison that leads to gainful employment for its returned citizen graduates. It has quickly become one of the most sought-after prison education programs in the United States.

Notably, TLM was the first program to offer curriculum that teaches incarcerated men and women to become software engineers through web development and computer programming, as well as providing Audio Video Production training for sound and video engineers. Working as software developers while incarcerated, TLM graduates participated in a Joint Venture with CalPIA and earned a market wage determined by the EDD.

TLM’s success is evident across the 19 classrooms it runs in 9 states. Graduates achieve a 75% employment rate and maintain a recidivism rate under 5%, which is significantly lower than the national average exceeding 60%.

Rodolfo Perez
VP Standard Development
IWBI

Biography

Rodolfo Perez is part of the Standard Development team at the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), where he develops and maintains Materials- and Water-related strategies for the WELL Building Standard since 2018. Before joining IWBI, he conducted water surveillance at the NYC Department of Health, after a career in startups bringing nanoparticle-based technologies from experiments to prototypes. He holds MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering and Aesthetics from the Catholic University of Chile.

John Sabraw
Artist, Activist, Professor
Ohio University

Biography

An activist and environmentalist, Sabraw’s paintings, drawings and collaborative installations are produced in an eco-conscious manner, and he continually works toward a fully sustainable practice. He collaborates with scientists on many projects, and one of his current collaborations involves creating paint and paintings from iron oxide extracted in the process of remediating streams polluted by legacy coal mining. This sustainably sourced pigment is now for sale from Gamblin Artists Colors.

Sabraw’s art is in numerous collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Honolulu, the Elmhurst Museum in Illinois, Emprise Bank, Bank of America, and Accenture Corp. He is represented by Gallery Les Bois, London, UK; Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, CA; and McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL.

Sabraw is a Distinguished Professor of Art at Ohio University where he chairs the Painting + Drawing and Digital Art + Technology programs and is Board Advisor at Scribble Art Workshop in New York. He has most recently been featured in TED, Smithsonian, New Scientist, London, Great big Stories, Business Insider, and Time.

Yiselle Santos Rivera
2026 President-Elect &
2027 AIA President
AIA

Biography

Yiselle Santos Rivera is an architect, educator, and organizational strategist whose work lives at the intersection of design excellence, social impact, and systems change. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Yiselle’s journey blends science, storytelling, and service—shaped by a commitment to community, justice, and belonging.

She is the AIA 2026 President-Elect and will serve as AIA President in 2027. As the first Latina and neurodivergent woman to be elected to this role, Yiselle brings a perspective deeply rooted in advocacy and equity. Her leadership draws from over 15 years of experience spanning global design firms, academic institutions, and grassroots coalitions. She is the founder and CEO of YSR, LLC, a woman- and Latina-owned consultancy advancing intercultural design, healthcare architecture, and organizational transformation.

Formerly the Global Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at HKS, Yiselle led the firm’s equity strategy across 26 offices and more than 1,600 employees—launching internal policy reforms, firmwide education initiatives, and external partnerships like HKS xBE and the LIMITLESS equity series. She also founded WIELD (Women Inspiring Emerging Leaders in Design), a national platform for mentorship and visibility, and co-founded LA.IDEA, the first Latin American committee within AIA DC.

In her teaching role at Howard University, she is building the country’s first HBCU-based Healthcare Architecture program. Her academic work is complemented by doctoral research in Leadership Psychology at William James College, with a concentration in applied neuroscience.

Throughout her career, Yiselle has served across the full ecosystem of architectural leadership—including the AIA Strategic Council, NAAB, NOMA, LFRT, and AIA DC. She is known for her clarity, warmth, and deep belief that architects are not just builders of spaces, but stewards of culture and care.

Her presidency will focus on rebuilding trust, aligning strategy with impact, and ensuring that the AIA becomes a more resilient, inclusive, and future-ready organization—one that centers people in every design and every decision.

Wes Sullens
Director, LEED
USGBC

Biography

Wes Sullens, LEED Fellow, leads Materials & Resources activities at the U.S. Green Building Council. Wes guides leadership criteria related to construction waste, product manufacturing, material transparency, circular economy, and embodied carbon. He has worked in the public, private and nonprofit sectors for over 20 years on broad topics including energy efficiency, building codes, supply chain sustainability, and chemicals transparency.

Dave Wildman
Global Head of Data Centers, Infrastructure & Workplace Sustainability
Bloomberg

Biography



 Dave Wildman is Bloomberg’s Global Head of Datacenter, Workplace Infrastructure & Sustainability, overseeing critical infrastructure worldwide and driving the company’s sustainability strategy. With over 25 years at Bloomberg, he holds an Executive MBA from Cornell and is a member of MIET, IEEE, ASHRAE, and IFMA. Dave serves on the HEAF Board, mentors with The Fortune Society, chairs Infrastructure Masons NYC chapter, a member of the Bloomberg New Economy Energy Technology Coalition, and is an advocate for clean air and the eradication of forced labor in supply chains. Dave also serves on various other related industry working groups. 

Sponsor a More Humane Future


As a Summit sponsor, you are directly supporting the Design for Freedom movement and sharing your commitment to this important humanitarian work. Non-profit organizations are invited to join us as promotional partners.

Should you have any questions or wish to contribute in another manner, please email [email protected].

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