Kim Pipkin
Founder and Principal
Black Kite Consulting
IEQ, Real Estate Asset Value, Health and Productivity

Ms Pipkin is an expert sales and marketing professional with extensive expertise in commercial real estate (CRE), and architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) and a visionary leader with a strength for developing strategic roadmaps to meet complex challenges. She has held a number of positions in CRE and AEC, including Marketing Director for Quezada Architecture; Principal at Pipkin Marsh Advisors; Business Development Manager, Interiors Division at Swinerton Builders; and Director of Marketing and Business Development at EHDD Architecture. Kim has a MBA in Executive Management and Marketing from St. Mary’s College of California and a BA in Political Science and Fine Arts from Antioch College.

Venna Resurreccion
Senior Designer
HLB Lighting Design
Experiencing the Daylight Dynamic

Born in Manila, Philippines, Venna’s love of lighting drew her to the study of architecture. Upon receiving her Bachelor of Science in Architecture, she began her career as an Architect. Venna continued her lighting studies in New York where she received a MFA in Lighting Design. Since joining HLB Lighting Design, she has primarily focused on daylighting, corporate, hospitality, site and landscape, and residential projects.

Oriana Romero
Director
Cienlux
Social Inclusion: A Sensitive Response Through Lighting Design

An architect by profession, Oriana has been part of the lighting design industry for over 12 years where she has had the opportunity of designing projects in Mexico and abroad, across a range of typologies and scales. She teaches at the Architectural Lighting Design Program in UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and is a member of the research group developing the Federal Regulation for Dark Skies and Light Trespass in Mexico. She is a foundational member of Tonal Taller, a social organization focused on developing social lighting projects through community participation. She holds a Masters degree in Urban Studies from University College, London.

Lawrence Scarpa
Principal
Brooks + Scarpa Architects
Discovery Through Design: A Journey Toward Light

Lawrence Scarpa has garnered international acclaim for the creative use of conventional materials in unique and unexpected ways. Mr. Scarpa’s work has been featured in numerous publications and has been exhibited in venues such as Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, The National Building Museum and the Gwanju Bienale. Mr. Scarpa has also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He is currently on the faculty at the University of Southern California and has taught and lectured at the university level for more than two decades. Some of those institutions include UNC Charlotte, Harvard University, UCLA, SCI-arc, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley. He is a co-founder of the Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute Livable Places, Inc.; a nonprofit development and public policy organization dedicated to building mixed-use housing and to help develop more sustainable and livable communities. He is also the recipient of the AIA Los Angeles Gold Medal and lifetime achievement awards from Interior Design Magazine and the AIA California Council.

About BROOKS + SCARPA
Brooks + Scarpa is the recipient of the American Institute of Architects 2022 Gold Medal, the highest award given by the AIA. They are also the recipients of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Award in Architecture, the State of California and National American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award, The Maybeck Award and others. Brooks + Scarpa has received more than 100 major design awards, including 30 National AIA Awards, Record Houses, Record Interiors, the Rudy Bruner Prize, five AIA Committee on the Environment “Top Ten Green Building” Awards and the World Habitat Award, one of ten firms selected worldwide.

Brennan Schumacher
Associate Principal
Mazzetti
Designing Systems for Operations & Maintenance

Brennan works at the intersection of art and science and provides sustainable, integrated lighting design solutions, improving occupant health and enhancing architectural collaboration. He enjoys educating clients and design teams about opportunities to improve the quality of the visual environment using layers of light with a focus on surface reflectance. Before Mazzetti he was Principal Lighting Designer at David Nelson Associates, Principal Lighting Designer and Green Building Consultant at Be Green Consulting, and Electrical Designer at Merit Electric.

Kenny Seeton
Central Plant Manager/Energy Manager
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Designing Systems for Operations & Maintenance

As the energy manager of CSUDH Kenny Seeton is focused on projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A graduate of the A.I.B. Maintenance Engineering Program with over 26 years’ experience at Hostess Twinkies. The recipient of 5 CHESC Best Practice Awards since joining CSUDH, he is a frequent speaker at U.S. DOE conferences and a participant in its programs.

Alana Shepherd
Founding Principal
Intangible Light
Alana spent 15 years in New York in lighting design, project management, and sales. Notable projects include the W Hotel Times Square; Thompson Hotel Miami Beach; and control systems for the Times Square Ball. She founded the North American Coalition of Lighting Industry Queers, which provides advocacy for LGBTQIA+ lighting professionals, and works with the larger lighting justice community to support all marginalized groups. She has a MFA in Lighting Design from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in Theatre from Eastern Washington University.

Addie Smith
Senior Lighting Designer
AE Design
The Dynamic Evolution of The Lighting Agency Today

Passionate and experienced in architectural lighting design, interior design, graphic design, branding, and fine art, Addie brings a wide range of experience to the practice of design. Since has been with AE Design in Denver since 2016. Before AE, she was a lighting designer with several industry leading firms: Bouyea & Associates, Shuler Shook, and Fisher, Marantz, Stone. She is also a fine artist and designer with Studio Adelia. Addie has a BFA in interior design from Savannah College of Art and Design.

Mariel Taviana Acevedo
Director of Distribution and Specification Sales
Solus
Inclusive Design as a Catalyst for Change

Mariel has been involved in the lighting industry since 2003. She studied Theater and Anthropology at the University of Puerto Rico, specializing in Theater Lighting Design, and later went on to work in architectural lighting design for the largest lighting representative in Puerto Rico. In 2009, she got her Lighting Consultant Certification and in 2013 relocated to Portland to join the Solus team, where she supports local specifiers and design build contractors and heads up the distribution sales team. Mariel is driven by her passion for lighting and joyfully shares that passion with others.