At the heart of Architecture for Humanity is a core group of people who have generously donated their time and efforts to keep us running. With advocates around the world, Architecture for Humanity is truly becoming a global organization that encourages designers to make a difference.

Main Office | Design Fellows | Hall of Fame

Main Office

Executive Director/Co-founder: Cameron Sinclair (bio | where is Cameron?)
Managing Director/Co-founder: Kate Stohr (bio)
Operations Manager: Joyce Engebretsen (bio)
Associate Development Director: Barb Alvarado (bio)
Programs Manager: Nathaniel Corum (bio)
Gulf Coast Program Director: John Dwyer
Gulf Coast Program Manager: Michael Grote (bio)
Project Manager: Elaine Uang (bio)
Web Development Manager: Mike McCaffrey (bio)
Web Programs Manager: Ben Hester (bio)
Bookkeeping: Bebe Bertolet (bio)
General Counsel: Steven Meier
Chief Financial Officer: John Hartley (bio)
Program Administrator: Kelsey Ochs (bio)
Media Relations: Galloway Media Group

Design Fellows

Main Office: Stacy Jed, Yes Duffy, Blake Clark, Melanie De Cola, Iheanyi Ngumezi, Sarah Alvarez, Allison Price, Vikky McArthur, Alioune Ba, Henry Kitchen
India: Purmina McCutcheon
South Africa: Eugene da Silva
Liberia: Josh Palmer

Hall of Fame

Architecture for Humanity Hall of Fame: Learn about staff, volunteers and fellows who have worked with us in the past.

Staff Bios

Cameron Sinclair, Executive Director

Cameron Sinclair was trained as an architect at the University of Westminster and at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. During his studies Sinclair developed an interest in social, cultural and humanitarian design. His postgraduate thesis focused on providing shelter to New York's homeless through sustainable, transitional housing. After his studies, he moved to New York where he worked as a designer and project architect.

In 1999 Sinclair co-founded Architecture for Humanity, which seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brings design services to communities in need. Currently the organization is working in a dozen countries on projects ranging from health centers in Sub-Saharan Africa, community centers in Southeast Asia to low-income housing on the Gulf Coast of the United States. In 2007 Architecture for Humanity launched the Open Architecture Network, the worlds' first online community dedicated to improving living conditions through innovative and sustainable design.

He has spoken at a number of international business and design conferences on sustainable development and post-disaster reconstruction, including guest appearances on BBC World Service and CNN International, National Public Radio and PBS.

In 2003 Sinclair was named a Nice Moderist by Dwell Magazine. He is a recipient of the ASID Design for Humanity award and the Lewis Mumford Award for Peace. In 2004 Fortune Magazine named him as one of the Aspen Seven, seven people changing the world for the better, and in 2006 Sinclair was named one of three winners of the TED Prize, which honors visionaries from any field who have shown they can "positively impact life on this planet."

Kate Stohr, Managing Director

Kate Stohr has been instrumental in coordinating design services and bringing in more than $4 million for community development and rebuilding in the wake of the Southeast Asia Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

As a former journalist, Stohr brings a background in project management, website development and a strong understanding of urban planning issues to the organization. She co-edited the book Design Like You Give a Damn, and has served as a panel moderator and guest speaker at a number of design conferences and events, including the New York Public Library speaker series "Live from NYPL," the Aspen Ideas Festival, Structures for Inclusion and the Chicago Architecture Foundation. She has been interviewed about her work with the organization on NPR, CNN and Frontline/World.

She received her bachelor's degree magna cum laude from New York University and her master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Stohr is the recipient of Wired magazine's 2006 Rave Award for Architecture and serves as a board member for the Center for Architecture and Design in San Francisco.

Joyce Engebretsen, Operations Manager

Joyce Engebretsen joined Architecture for Humanity as the Operations Manager in 2008. In this role she manages the internal systems of this rapidly growing organization and acts as project lead and manager for projects with UNICEF and USAID, among others.

She is a registered professional engineer and was formerly the Director of Operations for Hinman Consulting Engineers, where she started her structural engineering career. At Hinman Joyce was project manager on numerous international design and construction projects as well as manager of the resources, business development and financial operations of the firm.

Joyce is also a Board Member and the Art Programming Director of 18 Reasons Gallery, a non-profit art space in San Francisco's Mission District that promotes community through neighborhood-based art and food programs.

Barb Alvarado, Associate Development Director

Barb is involved in everything from planning events to tracking donations to developing programs. She is an architectural graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her previous nonprofit work experience includes work with UNIDOS Against Domestic Violence and SERRV International. Ms. Alvarado’s volunteer experience includes working with the Madison-Arcatao Sister City Project, and as Grants Allocation Committee Member for the Wisconsin Community Fund.

Nathaniel Corum, Programs Manager

Nathaniel Corum is an architect and an AfH Programs Manager focused on appropriate technologies, building prototypes, landmark materials and off-grid systems for deployment in humanitarian relief and educational contexts including collaborations with the Navajo Housing Authority and Adventure Ecology's Plastiki Expedition. Nathaniel has been affiliated with AfH since the Design Like you Give a Damn editing chapter in Montana when Cameron and Nathaniel were both teaching at Montana State University and working on books.

Corum's training as a product designer at Stanford University and as an architect at the University of Texas at Austin culminated in a Fulbright Scholarship focusing on preservation and urban poverty issues in North Africa. He is the recipient of a Rose Architectural Fellowship and author of Building a Straw Bale House from Princeton Architectural Press. He has facilitated community design/build processes in diverse situations and climates. Recognition for Nathaniel's work includes coverage in Architecture, BusinessWeek, Dwell, Plan and Metropolitan Home.

Corum has collaborated on architecture design/build studio programs at Montana State University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Southern California and served as lecturer and visiting critic at the Global Studio, West Coast Green, SCI-Arc, and MIT.

Michael Grote, Gulf Coast Program Manager

Since June of 2006, Michael Grote has been the Gulf Coast Program Manager for Architecture for Humanity’s Biloxi Model Home Program and has supported a range of rebuilding initiaties along the Gulf Coast as part of that role. Along with volunteer training and education, he was a visiting instructor for Mississippi State University’s School of Architecture Biloxi Program in the Spring of 2007.

Grote holds a BARCH from the University of Houston and a Masters of Building Construction - Design-Build with a Community Planning minor from Auburn University.

Elaine Uang, Web Content/Project Manager

Elaine Uang joined Architecture for Humanity in 2008 as Web Content/Project Manager. Uang is responsible for managing web communications, graphics and user interface as well as project management for several design initiatives.

An aspiring archi-tarian, Uang has long been an inquisitive generalist interested in how good design can transform the built environment to make good communities. She has B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Virginia.

Mike McCaffrey, Web Manager

Mike McCaffrey is responsible for the technical development and maintenance of the Architecture for Humanity website and other online resources. He was informally involved with the organization for over a year before becoming the Web Manager in June 2008.

Mike has over 10 years of experience developing websites, the last two of which have been concentrated on building sites with Drupal, an open-source content management system. He currently lives in Washington, DC and is one of the organizers of the local Drupal users group. Mike has had a long standing interest in architecture and environmental issues, and enjoys photography.

Ben Hester, Programs Manager

Bebe Bertolet, Bookkeeper

Bebe Bertolet joined Architecture for Humanity in January 2008 as a bookkeeper, to share her passion for community-building. She brings 20 years of management experience in accounting and nonprofit management to the organization. She has held numerous management positions in the for-profit sector before joining the independent sector. She has been committed to philanthropy since her high school days in West Philadelphia, volunteering for youth gang programs to share her passion for the arts and community.

Bertolet is a graduate of Golden Gate University's highly regarded MBA program and has served the community as executive director, fundraiser, board member and volunteer with various nonprofit organizations, including the YWCA, International Institute of the East Bay, The Danny Foundation, Sausalito Art Festival, MOCHA-Museum of Children's Art, Berkeley Women's Crew, a youth rowing program operating at Jack London's Aquatic Center, and UrbanVoice, a nationally recognized West Oakland high tech, job training program. In addition to her work with Architecture for Humanity, she currently serves as part-time Financial Manager with Head Over Heels Gymnastics in Emeryville, California, and as a board member of the Albany Chamber of Commerce. She is an active volunteer in the public schools and lives in Berkeley with her husband and two children.

John Hartley, CFO

John Hartley is responsible for the financial oversight of Architecture for Humanity. He is also Principal of HartleyStudio, whose work includes a broad range of projects. Hartley previously owned and managed a lighting company. He holds a number of design and technology patents in the area of lighting. Hartley also established an equity joint venture manufacturing company in Tianjin, China and has extensive business experience in China, Japan, and Singapore.

Hartley graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University, where he received his Bachelor in Architecture degree and won the John Stewardson Memorial Competition in Architecture. He received his Master in Architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1977. During this time he was the first employee of Machado and Silvetti Associates, working on, among other seminal projects, the Fountain House and The Roosevelt Island Housing Competition. Thereafter he practiced architecture with Abraham Geller and Associates, Davis Brody and Associates, and Mitchell Giurgola and Associates in New York before starting his own practice.

Hartley has taught in the summer studio programs at Carnegie-Mellon University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and has been studio critic and guest critic at the Rhode Island School of Design, as well as guest critic at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona.

Kelsey Ochs, Program Administrator

Kelsey joined Architecture for Humanity in 2008. She helps coordinate volunteers, tackles systems administration and IT issues around the office, and works with project managers to provide support and organize information related to projects around the world.

An aspiring Architect originally from the Pacific Northwest, Kelsey earned a BA in studio art from Whitman College. Prior to joining the Architecture for Humanity team, Kelsey worked with Volunteermatch.org. She enjoys traveling, climbing, hiking, and art-making in her free time, and is interested in design activism.