Dear Friend,
As you know, The Cosanti Foundation spent the summer undertaking an international search for our next executive. Today, after months of careful consideration of a number of excellent candidates, I'm delighted to let you know that the process is officially complete.
It is my absolute pleasure to announce that The Cosanti Foundation Board of Directors has selected Elizabeth Martin-Malikian as our new CEO & Executive Director.
As CEO & Executive Director, Liz (pictured below) will oversee operations, facilities, programming, and philanthropic initiatives for The Cosanti Foundation at both Arcosanti and Cosanti, as well as for our artisan bell-making business, Cosanti Originals.
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Says Liz: “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead The Cosanti Foundation. The foundation is well-positioned to develop its vision and build on the momentum of the past fifty-five years. As the world reopens and recovers, we are looking to create more just, safe, healthy, and resilient environments for our lives. This is precisely the objective and role of The Cosanti Foundation—sparking curiosity about the built environment in order to create a reimagined sustainable urbanism, and this mission has never been more relevant. I look forward to working with The Cosanti Foundation’s board, staff, supporters, and alumni family to deepen its impact as it enters this next chapter.”
Liz's superb qualifications speak for themselves. Originally from New York, Liz holds degrees as a Master of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Tulane University. She has more than 30 cumulative years of experience as a practicing and principal architectural designer and more than 15 years of experience as an academic-practitioner teaching domestically and internationally as a professor of architecture and urban design. Liz is currently a Professor of Architecture at Kennesaw State University's College of Architecture and Construction Management in metro-Atlanta, where she chairs the thesis program and serves as the college’s academic outreach liaison.
In the course of her distinguished career, Liz has curated, presented, lectured, and published extensively. Her lifelong commitment to her profession and to her community is evident in her service as part of dozens of commissions, committees, and councils, including the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Women’s Leadership Initiative, Metropolitan Public Art Coalition (MPAC), and AIACC Monterey Design Conference committee. She has been awarded numerous grants, including, most recently, a Precast Concrete Institute (PCI) Foundation Curriculum Development Grant for a project entitled "Integrating Precast: Threads of Constructability, Complexity and Constraint” ($100,000 over 4 years). Liz has also received a variety of honors and accolades for her dynamic work, such as the AIA/ACSA Practice and Leadership Award (2019), AIAS Educator of the Year Award (2020), and most recently, recognition as part of the ULI Atlanta “The Leaders” 2021 cohort.
It is Liz's unique combination of skills across art, architecture, and academics that made her a stand-out during the search process.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Liz is a musician, having graduated from the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division with a major in violin and composition. Her professional focus on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainable development as well as on tourism and urbanism, coupled with her personal interest in the arts, make her a perfect fit for The Cosanti Foundation, Arcosanti, and Cosanti as we look forward to our next 50 years. We are incredibly fortunate to have discovered someone with such stellar qualifications in all the key areas of our mission and work.
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Our Interim Executive Director (and prior Board Chair) John Walsh, who led the search process, adds: "Liz brings a renewed educational approach to The Cosanti Foundation. She immediately enhances our emerging collaboration with The School of Architecture and is already developing relationships with other schools, universities, and professional circles. Her extensive background in the world of architecture is especially positive for our national and international outreach and advocacy efforts. I am very excited to welcome Liz to The Cosanti Foundation and I look forward to our work together."
Liz will be stepping into her new role beginning December 1st, when she takes the reins from John. We will be sharing more information about opportunities to meet and get to know Liz as the date approaches. In the meantime, please join us in sharing the exciting news and welcoming Elizabeth Martin-Malikian as the new CEO & Executive Director of The Cosanti Foundation.
Thank you for all you've done to support this wonderfully successful search!
Sincerely,
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Matteo Di Michele
Chair of the Board of Directors
The Cosanti Foundation
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Since 1965, The Cosanti Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has advocated for the built environment to be created in balance with nature through the concept of arcology (architecture + ecology), and through our Arizona demonstration projects, Cosanti and Arcosanti.
Join us in our mission to inspire a reimagined urbanism that builds resilient and equitable communities sustainably integrated with the natural world.
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Photos courtesy Kate Bemesderfer, Elizabeth Martin-Malikian, Dave Caselli, and Jessica Jameson |
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