ABOUT US

ANDREW DAVIES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Since graduating from the Fine Art department at Queens University in 1988, Andrew Davies has worked in a wide range of media including sculpture, photography, and interactive digital media. After graduating in 1995 from the masters program in architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI Arc) in Los Angeles, Davies moved to New York City to work in exhibition and interactive design at the Museum of Modern Art. He has also taught digital media courses at New York's Eyebeam Atelier and George Brown college in Toronto. On his return to Toronto he started Andrew Davies Design, currently responsible for the interpretive design strategy for Evergreen @ the Brick Works project in Toronto.

No.9 is dedicated to working with a number of accomplished guest curators, education program managers and production staff, providing unique opportunities to local and international talent to address the relationship between art and the environment.

BARBARA LILKER, Program Developer/Lead Architectural Educator and Project Manager Imagining My Sustainable Community

Barbara Lilker graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto in 1996. She is founding partner of the multidisciplinary design firm Lilker Hecht Design Studio, which concentrates on small-scale residential and commercial architecture. Since 2001 Barbara has developed and taught architecture programs to children of all ages as a faculty member of the Avenue Road Arts School, an outreach instructor for Vibe Arts and for various public and private schools in Toronto. Barbara’s focus has been to use architecture as a vehicle to integrate the arts, science and social studies objectives of the Ontario curriculum. Most recently Barbara co-developed and is an educator for No. 9 Contemporary Art and the Environment’s program: Imagining My Sustainable Community. This program, in partnership with the Toronto District School Board, teaches grade 7 and 8 students about sustainable urban design and architecture with a focus on enhancing eco-literacy. Barbara has taught the Imagining My Sustainable Community program to over 2000 Toronto students as well as in Chicago through a partnership with The Chicago Architecture Foundation and with the Hamilton Wentworth School Board. Barbara is a co-recipient of the 2018 Community Art Educator of the Year award from the Ontario Arts Education Association.

ELIZABETH LENELL DAVIES, Program Developer/Lead Architectural Educator Imagining My Sustainable Community

Elizabeth Lenell Davies received her Masters in Architecture from The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles, California. Over 15 years, pursuing an interest in art and architecture, Elizabeth Lenell Davies assumed the role of designer for numerous Architecture and Design firms in Los Angeles, New York City, and Toronto. In 1995, she assisted the Director of ACE Gallery, LA/NYC with drawings and models for a Contemporary Art Museum in Bangkok, Thailand. Elizabeth then joined Rogers Marvel Architects in New York where she worked on retail, showroom, studio and furniture design for the client, Kate Spade. In 2003, Elizabeth joined Architects Alliance in Toronto on design work for The Four Seasons Hotel and Residences in Yorkville. In 2010, Elizabeth joined her husband, Andrew Davies, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the non-profit Arts organization, No. 9 Contemporary Art & The Environment; and drawing upon the creative and interdisciplinary nature of the architecture education, Elizabeth co-developed ‘Imagining My Sustainable Community’ with Andrew Davies and Barb Lilker. Over eight years, through her work with No.9, Elizabeth, Barb, and Sandra have delivered the IMSC program to over 2500 grade seven through twelve students in Chicago, Toronto, Hamilton, and Kingston. The IMSC program is uniquely designed to incorporate grade 7/8 curriculum with a focus on enhancing eco-literacy, through the ‘lens’ of urban design, art, and architecture. As lead designer for No.9, Elizabeth is currently at work on developing No.9 Gardens. Alongside her work with No.9, Elizabeth is overseeing the construction of a house she designed for a friend on Fishers Island, New York.

SANDRA ISKANDAR, Lead Bilingual Architectural Educator Imagining My Sustainable Community

Sandra Iskander graduated from the School of Architecture at Carleton University in 2000 in Ottawa. Sandra is a community minded individual who enjoys blurring the lines between Art, Architecture and the Public Realm. As an educator, she strives to empower students to think like city builders. Through her workshops, Sandra encourages an open dialogue in the classroom to allow synergy and collaboration amongst students in order to promote ideas for constructing healthy communities. Native from Montreal, she is bilingual Lead Architectural Educator with No.9 Contemporary Art & The Environment; Arts Educator and with Inner City Angels in Toronto, Hamilton and Kingston. With Waterfront Toronto’s Underpass Park, Sandra has been instrumental for guiding public art design ideas and supporting the evolution of this rich urban context, otherwise termed as ‘designing future cities’. Sandra has recently founded her own architectural practice and has been commissioned as Professional Architect for Relive Nature Retreat, Clear Water Farm, No9 Gardens and private residences among other projects. Professionally, she is a licensed Architect and project manager, with accumulated experience, in the fields of Arts and Culture, Adaptive Re-Use, Heritage, Community and Sports. As Project Manager for the TO2015 Pan Am Games, she delivered 10 Capital Competition Venues.

HELENE CLARKSON, DIRECTOR
President, Esprit Orchestra Board
President, Max Clarkson Family Foundation

Helene Clarkson is President of the Board of Esprit Orchestra, Canada's only full sized orchestra dedicated to commissioning, performing and promoting new orchestral music. She is also President of the Max Clarkson Family Foundation which is a Toronto based foundation with a mandate to support Canadian art and culture. Helene has been a member of the Campaign Cabinet for Evergreen Brick Work's $50 million capital campaign. In 2004, Helene co-founded with her husband Andrew Livingston, the retail concept Neat, which aims to bring the best in household design to Canadian consumers.

In her past life she was an actress. She was nominated for a Genie for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film Blood and Donuts, 1996. Helene is a graduate of Queen's University and of the Neighbourhood Playhouse Theatre School.

KAREN JALON, DIRECTOR
Head of sustainability nationally for Cadillac Fairview

Karen is Director National Sustainable Operations at the Cadillac Fairview Corporation (subsidiary of Ontario Teachers Pension Plan) and hence has great experience in sustainability and real estate, with a good sector network.

GERRY MABIN, DIRECTOR
Executive Director of Friendship In Action

Gerry Mabin is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of early childhood education and has a wealth of experience in teacher training and classroom teaching. She received her training in the UK and taught there before coming to the Institute of Child Study (ICS) in Toronto, where she taught and became principal. In 1980 she founded The Mabin School and in 1998 moved on to help open the Children’s Own Museum, where she was Education Director for three years. In 2001 she co-founded Words in Motion and first conceived of the Friendship in Action program, which she incorporated into a separate registered charity in 2013.

DR. FRANCISCA QUINN, TREASURER
Sustainability Business Consultant

Francisca is the Founder and President of corporate sustainability consultancy Quinn & Partners Inc. where she advises large Canadian companies and institutional investors on sustainability leadership. Francisca graduated with a Master Sc. Economics and Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics and she has pursued continuing education courses in climate change and corporate social responsibility at King's College London and the University of Waterloo. Her professional career includes positions with Asea Brown Boveri, Mercer Management Consulting, the Carbon Trust and Loop Initiatives in Europe and North America. Francisca is a regular speaker on sustainability and climate change related topics to business and investor audiences. She writes on sustainability integration topics for publications in the hospitality and real estate industries and Tweets on sustainability leadership. Francisca has a deep personal commitment to environmental issues and champions a low carbon lifestyle

DEAN GOODMAN, DIRECTOR
Barch, OAA Partner

Dean Goodman co-founded LGA in 1989. His insatiable interests in design, construction and technology are inseparable from his aspiration to make the world more humane and sustainable, one project at a time.

For-profit, affordable housing and shelters, and projects with a First Nations focus have been central to his more than 35 years of practice. Dean was LGA’s partner-in-charge on the RAIC Innovation in Design Award-winning addition of two storeys of prefabricated living units to the rooftop of a St. Clare’s Multifaith Affordable Housing building in Toronto. He has led large-scale new-build and renewal projects for Toronto Community Housing and WoodGreen Community Housing and was recently partner-in-charge on the OAA Design Excellence Award-winning Eva’s Phoenix youth residence and skills training centre. Dean’s many projects for Native Child and Family Services of Toronto range from the Centre for Native Child and Family Well Being in the city’s core to a dining hall and ceremonial performance space for NCFST’s summer camp in Grundy Lake Provincial Park. His eclectic interests are reflected in areas of expertise that range from design for aging in place to the design of car dealerships.

Skilled at creatively designing within budget and time constraints, Dean works collaboratively with clients to translate their ideas and goals into innovative designs. His honest and straightforward approach brings clarity to complicated issues.

LEE JACOBSON, DIRECTOR
Design and Communications Consultant

Lee Jacobson is a brand, design and communications strategist and, at heart, a problem solver. He has over 25 years of experience in developing and implementing projects that help achieve results for his clients.

He works with public, private and not-for-profit organizations to help them articulate and express their value in ways that are compelling and tangible to key audiences – from strategy and design to marketing programs and organizational alignment.

Lee has an undergraduate degree from Brandeis University and a Masters Degree in architecture and urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a founding member of the Urban Design Group at the City of Toronto and a founding Board member of the Design Exchange in Toronto.

JOHN NORMAN, CHAIR OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Investment Manager

John started his investment career in 1993 at Burns Fry Ltd. He moved to the mutual fund industry in 1996 focusing on marketing, sales and compliance and in 1998, join Phillips, Hagar & North Investment Management Ltd. where he was a portfolio manager overseeing private client and foundation/endowment assets. John has a B.A. in Economics (1991) from the University of Western Ontario, has been a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI) since 1998 and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, which he obtained in 1999.