Alice Min Soo Chun

President and CEO
Alice is the CEO and a co-founder of FAARM and previously, Studio Unité. She has built award-winning community outreach projects in Philadelphia and her work has been published in the New York Times, Architectural Record, Dwell, and the Journal of Architectural Education. In collaboration with architect Laura Briggs, she recently won the Brunner Grant from the Architecture Foundation NY for the “3rd Skin,” an adaptable building system that both saves and generates energy. She is currently working with Wiley Press on a book publication entitled “GROUND RULES in Humanitarian Design.” She is Assistant Professor of Design and Material Culture and Director of the Donghia Materials Library at Parsons The New School.

Irene Brisson

Vice-president
Irene is the vice-president and a co-founder of FAARM and previously, Studio Unité where she leads the design team for the Jonc Dodin Community Health Clinic as well as a variety of research projects. Irene’s research interests include low-cost water management techniques that can be integrated into existing buildings and new construction to maximize access to clean water and on-site reuse and treatment of grey and waste water. Working for Ann Beha Architects, in Boston, she designed interiors for the Carl A. Fields Center at Princeton University and the Cambridge Public Library (BSA 2010 Interior design award). She holds a Bachelors of Science from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology and her Masters in Architecture from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning and has taught introductory design studio at Parsons the New School for Design.

Maryline Damour

Maryline Damour has over 15 years experience as a change management and business development and marketing specialist working with major consulting firms, including Accenture, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. She has helped author books on business transformation and performance management. In the nonprofit arena, she was a communications and development director for an organization fighting gentrification and focused on social change for low-income communities. Born and raised in Haiti, she brings her knowledge of Haitian culture to develop design solutions in keeping with the local landscape and aesthetic. She is fluent in French and Haitian Creole and has a degree from Hamilton College in French and Spanish Literature.

Shari Turitz

Shari Turitz became Director of Programs in the Public Health Program at the Open Society Foundations in January 2008. In her role, Ms. Turitz oversees four of the Public Health Program’s ten health and human rights initiatives and leads the Program’s planning, evaluation and staff development efforts. From 1997-2007 she worked at the Synergos Institute where she ran a global program to build philanthropy and foundations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Prior to that she was Deputy Director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, consulted to the Covenant House Latin America programs and worked for the UNICEF NGO Committee on Exploited Children where she researched and wrote a report on global NGO initiatives on child labor. Ms. Turitz holds a BA in Political Science and Latin American Studies from Tufts University and an MA from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.

Laura Briggs

Laura Briggs is an Assistant Professor of Architecture, Interior Design and Lighting and the Director of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Architectural Design program at the Parsons School of Constructed Environments. She is a founding partner of BriggsKnowles Architecture+Design. Laura has taught design studio and construction technology at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Columbia University New York/Paris, Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Michigan, where she was the Muschenheim Fellow.

Tim McDonald

Tim McDonald is a founding partner of Onion Flats, a development and design/build firm in Philadelphia and a founder of BLOX Sustainable Building Systems. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Philadelphia University, Temple University University of Calgary, and University of Pennsylvania.