Speakers
Karen Aird
Co-Founder & President, Indigenous Heritage Circle & Heritage Program Manager, First Peoples’ Cultural Council (Kamloops, BC)
Karen Aird is a member of Saulteau First Nations in the beautiful Treaty 8 territory of BC, through her mother, Marlene Cameron/Desjarlais. She has worked as an archaeologist and cultural heritage planner across Canada in projects that convey a strong sense of place in Indigenous landscapes, encompassing the stories, legal traditions, and intangible and tangible elements of Indigenous heritage. Some of the projects include acting as an expert witness for Indigenous Nations during the Site C Dam environmental assessment; project coordinator for the Secwepemc cultural heritage study; project lead for the Tse’K’wa National historic site; co-author of the FPCC Policy Paper on Recognizing and Including Indigenous Cultural Heritage and a Living Heritage paper with UNESCO Canada and FPCC; lead of three national engagements on Indigenous heritage with Parks Canada; leading several initiatives to decolonize heritage and implement UNDRIP; and much more. Karen has presented to the Standing Senate and been a Keynote speaker at national and provincial events. She is the co-founder and president of the national, not-for-profit organization, the Indigenous Heritage Circle and was formerly on the Parks Canada National Indigenous Advisory and the Royal BC Museum Boards. Currently, Karen is the Cultural Heritage Manager for First Peoples’ Cultural Council, a provincial Indigenous-led crown corporation.
Karen Carter is a cultural sector executive who enjoys working in creative and educational environments. She has over 25 years of experience working and volunteering in a range of arts, culture and heritage settings. She is the former Executive Director of Heritage Toronto, a City of Toronto agency responsible for the education and promotion of Toronto’s heritage. She is the founding Executive Director of Myseum of Toronto and co-founder of Black Artists' Network and Dialogue (BAND), an organization dedicated to the promotion of Black arts and culture in Canada and abroad. She is also the founder and president of Karen Carter and Associates Cultural Consulting, a firm that focuses on building new community-centered cultural organizations, projects, and initiatives. She is Founder of C-Art, a Caribbean Art Experience launched in January 2020 in Mandeville, Jamaica. C-Art connects artists from the Caribbean region to the international art world. Karen’s most recent project is as co-founder of the BIPOC Fellowship to help support the development of a more diverse cultural landscape in Canada.
Karen Carter
President, Karen Carter & Assoc. Cultural Consulting (Toronto, Ontario)
Carl Elefante
Principal Emeritus, Quinn Evans - Senior Fellow, Architecture 2030 - 2018 President, American Institute of Architects (Washington, D.C.)
Known for coining the phrase: “The greenest building is…one that is already built”, Carl practiced architecture at the intersection of historic preservation and sustainable design. Serving as Principal and Director of Sustainability with Quinn Evans for more than twenty years, Carl helped formulate the principles of sustainable stewardship working at some of the nation’s most beloved and iconic buildings.
Throughout his career with Quinn Evans, Carl’s work focused on the rehabilitation of existing buildings, many designated historic structures, extending their useful service life while adapting them for a new generation of occupants. As a body of work, Carl’s projects illustrate the real-world application of sustainable stewardship principles, leveraging the inherently sustainable qualities of historic structures, employing cutting-edge analytical and design tools, adopting contemporary performance standards, and integrating innovative technologies like renewable energy.
Throughout his career, Carl has advocated for the relevance of architecture, writing and speaking internationally on historic preservation, sustainable design, climate change, and urban topics. He has served countless leadership roles in both professional and community organizations: co-chair of the Housing and Land Use Working Group of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development; Board of Directors of the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) and co-chair of APT’s Technical Committee on Sustainable Preservation; Board of Directors and President of AIA Potomac Valley (2009), AIA Maryland (2012), and national President of AIA in 2018.
Carl was a founding Board member of the National Capital Region Chapter of USGBC and the Climate Heritage Network (CHN). Carl is a Senior Fellow with Architecture 2030. Carl was elected to the College of Fellows of both AIA and APT.
Enlai is an architect and industrial designer specialising in the integration of engineering fields within circular design and architecture. He brings a variety of skills in dealing with complex challenges in the built environment.
As Head of Innovation, he leads the practice’s sustainability approach in competitions and develops thought leadership together with Perkins+Will on the topics of adaptive transformation in architecture, circular construction methods, materials health and change management. His projects include the integration of circular design and engineering systems into architecture, adaptive recycling, master plans and the development of a range of patented architectural products that contribute to the sustainable performance of buildings.
Enlai has won a number of awards in both architecture and design. He represents Danish Industry in several foreign conferences as a speaker and host, including: the UN Climate Conference. His experience traverses the fields of strategic consulting, system design, product design, architecture and master planning, and his experience with climate, structural and mechanical engineers allows him to communicate fluently across professions.
Enlai Hooi
Head of Innovation, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects (Copenhagen, Denmark)
James Lindberg
Senior Policy Director, National Trust for Historic Preservation (Denver, Colorado)
James B. Lindberg is Vice President of Research and Policy at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In this capacity, he directs the Preservation Green Lab, the ReUrbanism initiative for cities, and the National Trust's work to address the impacts of climate change on our nation's heritage.
Jim has led a range of nationally recognized preservation and sustainable development projects during his tenure at the National Trust, including the adaptive use of a former dude ranch in Rocky Mountain National Park and the green rehabilitation of a historic school in Denver. He has authored numerous reports, articles, and books on architecture, planning, and preservation and is a lecturer in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado Denver. Jim received his BA degree in the Growth and Structure of Cities from Haverford College and his MS degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Vermont.
Randy Mason teaches in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation and is a Professor in the Department of City & Regional Planning. His courses focus on historic preservation planning, urban conservation, history, and cultural landscape studies. Mason's research interests include history and theory of preservation, preservation planning, the economics of preservation, historic site management, and the history and design of memorials. He served as Program Chair from 2009-2017 and Executive Director of PennPraxis from 2014-2017.
Mason leads two research groups: the PennPraxis’ Urban Heritage Project, which undertakes planning, preservation and cultural landscape projects for the National Park Service and other clients; and the Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites, which conducts research, teaching and fieldwork related to Black heritage places marking civil rights histories.
His publications include several books: The Once and Future New York: Historic Preservation and the Modern City (University of Minnesota Press, 2009, winner of SAH’s Antoinette Forrester Downing award) and Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States (edited with Max Page; Routledge, second edition, 2019); Values in Heritage Management (edited by Erica Avrami, Susan Macdonald, Randall Mason, and David Myers; Getty Publications, 2019).
Randall F. Mason
Professor, Historic Preservation/ City & Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Penn.)
Dr. Kisha Supernant
Vice-President, Indigenous Heritage Circle & Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta)
Dr. Kisha Supernant (Métis/Papaschase/British) is the Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology and a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta. An award-winning teacher, researcher, and writer, her research interests include the relationship between cultural identities, landscapes, and the use of space, Métis archaeology, and heart-centered archaeological practice. Her research with Indigenous communities (including Métis and First Nations) in western Canada explores how archaeologists and communities can build collaborative research relationships and uphold Indigenous rights to cultural heritage.
She leads the Exploring Métis Identity Through Archaeology (EMITA), a collaborative research project which takes a relational approach to exploring the material past of Métis communities, including her own family, in western Canada. Recently, she has been increasingly engaged in using technologies to locate and protect unmarked burials around residential schools at the request of Indigenous communities. She has published in peer-reviewed journals on GIS in archaeology, collaborative archaeological practice, Métis archaeology, and indigenous archaeology in the post-TRC era, as well as co-edited two books. She was recently named to Edmonton’s Top 40 under 40 by Avenue Magazine and elected to the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Scientists, and Artists. She is also Vice-President of the Indigenous Heritage Circle.
Stay tuned for the full list of exciting speakers!