Doylestown, PA
Jen Adams is a marketing and brand leader with more than 15 years of experience helping organizations grow by deepening their connection to people, place, and purpose. Her work spans lifestyle, retail, hospitality, and consumer brands, with a focus on translating strong ideas into meaningful audience engagement and sustainable growth.
She spent over a decade at Urban Outfitters leading integrated marketing across digital, retail, and experiential channels, helping shape how the brand connected culture, creativity, and community. She later built the marketing function at Tröegs Independent Brewing during a period of rapid growth, leading a full brand repositioning and elevating the brewery as a destination that welcomes more than half a million visitors annually through storytelling, partnerships, and immersive experiences.
Most recently, Jen led brand and marketing transformation efforts at Burpee Gardening, helping reposition the company for a new generation of gardeners through research, audience development, and community-focused programming, including the expansion of large-scale public events at its historic farm.
Jen is drawn to organizations that bring together design, nature, and human experience, and is particularly interested in how storytelling, partnerships, and shared experiences can expand awareness and deepen engagement while staying true to an organization’s core mission.
Nadia Begin
Mayer, AZ
Nadia, originally from Montreal, Canada, fell in love with Arcosanti on a tour in 1993. She has been here ever since! Recently graduated from Architecture School, the Arcosanti Project represented for her what Architecture should provide; an alternative to the way cites are designed. « Arcology » played the music she believed the world needed to hear!
She made Arcosanti her home and with her husband David Tollas raised her 2 sons; Tristan and Sasha both born in the urban laboratory.
During her many years at Arcosanti, she worked in different parts of the project from managing the Planning Department, cooking in the café to making the Famous Ceramic bells. She worked closely with Paolo Soleri on the Hyper Building, the Lean Linear City and the East Crescent Complex at Arcosanti. With Jeffrey Zucker, Architect & Alumni, she developed a design for the keystone Unit Theater of the Complex.
She has been an active member of the Arcosanti Leadership Team, the Cosanti Foundation Steering Committee and the Arcosanti Community Council many times over.
She now works as an Architectural Associate at Architecture Works Green for Reynold Radoccia, Architect & Arcosanti Alumni in Clarkdale, AZ. She also teaches at ECOSA Institute of Regenerative Design with Tony Brown, Ecosa President & Arcosanti Alumni in Prescott, AZ, She and David have participated in exchanges with the Auroville International Community in India. That experience has inspired her the vision and possibilities for Arcosanti. She is grateful for all she has learned while living and working at Arcosanti and truly believes Arcosanti has the potential to become one of the biggest undertakings the world needs!
Scottsdale, AZ
David Fordon received his technical training in international businesses and ocean architecture, including a B.A. Architecture from Texas Tech University, a double Masters from University of Washington, and doctoral research at Nihon University in Tokyo.
David is a managing partner in Fordon Partners International, a commercial investment and professional advisory firm providing corporate management services to start-up ventures, including real estate development undertakings and joint-venture formations in the high-tech, entertainment, world trade, hospitality/convention, and ocean-marine industries. He is also General Manager and Chief Executive of the Solanna Group LLC, appointed by the Solanna family in 2005. He brings considerable Native American experience to the Solanna Group, having previous assisted tribes in the Pacific Northwest to implement multiple self-determination initiatives including: an Indian Nation limited liability company code, port authority, foreign trade zone, industrial development district, exclusive economic zone and commercial municipality.
Prescott, AZ
Newt Lynn grew up as the 4th generation on a family farm in Northwest Louisiana. He moved to Prescott, AZ in 2000 and received his undergraduate from Prescott College in Environmental and Cultural Studies with a specific interest in sustainable design. Newt furthered his studies earning a Masters from the Tulane University School of Architecture with an emphasis on Historic Preservation and working on the Master Plan for the City of New Orleans in post-Katrina redevelopment. In 2017 Newt returned to Prescott to work in community development. He is the COO of Deppeana, LLC, a group that purchases historic properties in the downtown corridor, restores them, and subsidizes startup businesses with community forward objectives. He has a strong background in agricultural economics, property development through the lens of historical and cultural preservation, small business and community development and has served on non-profit boards in the fields of healthcare, conservation, historic and cultural preservation, the arts, and higher education
Treasurer Phoenix, AZ
Stephen Ostwinkle has worked as a Structures Operations Manager and Contracting Director for Hunter Contacting Co. since 1985. Stephen has worked in most phases of Heavy Civil Construction, with an emphasis on concrete structures from headwalls and bridges to water/wastewater structures. He is also a member and Director of the Dons of Arizona, whose mission is to promote the Lore, Legend and History of Arizona and the Southwest.
Stephen became acquainted with The Cosanti Foundation in 2005 as a contractor selected to construct silt cast wall panels as art features for the Soleri Bridge Project. Paolo Soleri and Roger Tomalty were involved in the project as artist and artistic consultant respectively. The Architecture of Cosanti intrigues Stephen, and served as the catalyst to become more involved with the organization as a volunteer.
Phoenix, AZ
Monique de los Rios-Urban has practiced architectural design, regional and urban planning for thirty years initiating her career in South America and continuing her professional practice in the US. Her experience spans from urban planning and development to sustainable systems and strategic planning for the greater Phoenix region during the last twenty years. She received a professional degree in Architecture and has a Masters of Environmental Planning Degree from Arizona State University with a concentration on infrastructure and energy systems for the built environment. Monique was an active collaborator and member of the Arcosanti Strategic Planning Committee from 2014 to 2016. De los Rios-Urban is currently retired from MAG, the Maricopa Association of Governments, after managing the Regional Performance Program at MAG since 2006, leading the implementation of performance management at the planning and programming level as well as developing web-based reporting applications based on data systems analysis, visualization and policy development.
Boston, MA
Jeff Stein AIA is an award-winning architect, journalist, educator and long-distance motorcyclist; alumnus of Arcosanti’s workshop program, and past president of Cosanti Foundation. Mr. Stein taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, headed the school of architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology and was dean of the Boston Architectural College where he served as architect-of-record for the BAC/Tufts 2009 US Solar Decathlon entry.
Mr. Stein has lectured about the work of Cosanti Foundation/Arcosanti in numerous public arenas including DOCOMOMO, FORBES’ Techonomy Conferences, AIA Conferences, The Santa Fe Institute, Oregon’s HOPES conference; and throughout Europe and the Middle East. Jeff was a longtime board member of the Boston Society of Architects, The Frank Lloyd Wright School, Ecosa Institute, and EcoCity Builders. He has published widely, including “Visionary Architecture” in the AIA 150th Anniversary book, ARCHITECTURE: CELEBRATING THE PAST, DESIGNING THE FUTURE.
Secretary
Port Townsend, WA
Jeffrey L. Zucker, AIA, LEED-AP, is a practicing architect and a longtime active alumnus of The Cosanti Foundation’s multi-week workshop program. He participated in his first Arcosanti workshop in 1973 and returned as a volunteer in 1974. The next four years found him in southern Ohio, constructing a cabin from mostly recycled materials for a cost of $37.47, and also building a stone house dedicated to “American energy independence.” In 1978, Jeff returned to Arcosanti where he became the construction supervisor of the Soleri Office and Drafting Unit, and then project architect of the Colly Soleri Amphitheater.
Jeff opened his own practice in Prescott, Arizona in 1986 with Tom Reilly, also an Arcosanti participant. One of their earliest commissions was the design for La Loggia, one of the potential future structures at Arcosanti, followed by the Energy Apron Greenhouses.
In 1995, Jeff teamed up with Paul Moore, yet another Arcosanti alumn, to create a company called Cohocom, dedicated to the fostering of cohousing communities. Together, they founded Manzanita Village of Prescott, which continues as a thriving community to this day.
Over a career spanning five decades, Jeff’s clients ranged from private residences, to Indigenous cultural centers, and nature centers. His stone house was published in “The Cabin Book” by Linda Leigh Paul. His work also appeared in “Architecture + Magazine” for “The Leaf House.” His design for The Los Alamos County Nature Center received the Southwest Building of the Year award from McGraw-Hill publishing. He also received the “Architect of the Year” award from the Grand Canyon Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Jeff continued his association with Arcosanti as a consultant until 2019, and joined the Board of Directors of The Cosanti Foundation in 2022.
A former member of The Screen Actors Guild, Jeff is also an accomplished actor, having appeared on stage numerous times, including in over a dozen plays by Shakespeare. He now lives in Oracle, AZ with his wife, Jean Wilcox. These days, in addition to practicing architecture, he has turned his attention to writing, and is currently working on the third book of “The New Moon Trilogy.”
Board Member Emeritus
Charlotte, NC
Matteo DiMichele is originally from Milan, Italy, and has lived in the U.S. since 2002. He received his Juris Doctor Degree in Como, Italy, with a doctoral dissertation on the international protection of human rights.
After working in Milan as a contract law adviser with a large telecommunications company, Matteo moved to Arcosanti where he resided and worked for more than 10 years with a variety of responsibilities including human resources management, workshop coordination, operations management, and the development of strategic partnerships with cultural institutions and universities.
In 2012 Matteo received his MBA in Supply Chain and Operations Management at Arizona State University and relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife Emily, and their two daughters. Matteo currently works with Bank of America where he holds the position of Senior Vice President with the Global Corporate Services team.
Board Member Emeritus
Berkeley, CA
Bio Coming
Education
Committee
Nadia Begin, Chair
Development Committee
David Fordon, Chair
Land Use, Master Plan, and Infrastructure (LUMPI) Committee
Steve Ostwinkle, Chair
The committees above are each chaired by a current board member and open to public involvement. Please reach out to the committee if you are interested in participating. In addition to these committees, the board’s Executive Committee consists of the board officers (chair, vice-chair, secretary, and treasurer) and the committee chairs, with the Executive Director as a non-voting member.
News, events, ideas, and updates from Arcosanti.