Kofi Aidoo (In Memoriam)

In 2019 we were heartbroken to learn of the sudden passing of our Board Member and dear friend, Kofi Aidoo. Kofi had a passion for community engaged design and helped make CUP stronger through his service. His kind words, thoughtful remarks, seemingly boundless energy, and profound sense of joy lifted all of our spirits. We are grateful to have known Kofi and will continue to honor his memory in our work. Rest in power, Kofi.

Jason Anderson

Jason Anderson, one of CUP’s co-founders, is an architectural designer in New York City. Originally from Seattle, Jason has worked and taught in New York and Beijing, where he lived for four years after being awarded the Henry Luce Scholarship in 2005. Jason holds a Master of Architecture from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University. Jason served on CUP’s board and as Treasurer from 1997-2006. He continues to be a supporter and a huge fan.

AJ Blandford

AJ Blandford is a former co-founding CUP board member. As a designer/builder she has worked together with artists including robbinschilds,
AL Steiner, Fritz Haeg, Shannon Ebner, Manfred Pernice, and Davide Balula. She is currently a doctoral student in the History program at
Rutgers University where she studies the cultural history of 19th century American arts and sciences.

Stella Bugbee

Stella Bugbee is a creative director specializing in identity and publication design. Studio projects might range from logos, web sites and books, to self-published projects and collaborations. In addition to running her studio she teaches Advanced Publication Design to seniors in the degree program at Parsons School of Design. Prior to founding a company of her own in the summer of 2005, Stella founded Honest with Cary Murnion and Jon Milott while the three were attending Parsons School of Design. After five years at Honest, she left to work for The New York Times Magazine and then went on to be a Design Director with the Brand Integration Group at Ogilvy and Mather.

Stella’s work has been featured in Print, Res, How, Step, Black Book, Nylon and Eye. Stella Bugbee has worked on Building Codes, Important Housing Rights, and Code City. 

Sarah Dadush

Sarah Dadush, a CUP co-founder, is a lawyer currently serving as legal counsel at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome, Italy. She is also a member of the Rome-based faculty of Loyola University Chicago, where she teaches a class on the Architecture of International Development. Her research explores the legal, economic, and political dimensions of marketizing philanthropy and the growing field of social investing.

Laura Hansen

Laura Hansen is the Executive Director of Neighborhood Plaza Partnership, a new initiative of the Horticultural Society of New York, providing resources and assistance to  neighborhood plaza managers across New York City.  From 2003 to 2013, Ms. Hansen served as Director of the City Life Program for The J. M. Kaplan Fund where she was responsible for awarding grants to non-profit organizations working to improve the common infrastructure of public life:  the parks, waterfronts, plazas, and streets of New York City.  As a co-founder of Place Matters (a project of the Municipal Art Society and City Lore), Ms. Hansen helped pioneer a multi-disciplinary approach to documenting and preserving the city’s cultural landscape.

Mike Hickey

Michael Hickey currently serves as Director of Strategy and Partnerships for the NYC Office of Community Schools, an initiative to address poverty and inequity in public education by embedding non-profit social services in schools.  Prior to this, Mike consulted as Man About Town for nonprofit, foundation, public sector and private partners in project development, strategic planning, and organizational change.  From 2008 to 2011 he served as the founding executive director of the Center for NYC Neighborhoods (CNYCN):  the nation’s single largest foreclosure prevention intermediary.  Before stepping up to lead CNYCN, Mr. Hickey spent ten years as a community development banker and philanthropic program manager with Deutsche Bank, providing loans and investments to leading non-profit partners revitalizing low and moderate income communities throughout New York City and beyond. 

Mike has served on many boards and advisory committees over the years, and currently acts as board chair and Resident Composer for Downtown Art, and as board Treasurer for Civic Consulting USA. Mike has a B.A degree in English Literature from Ohio University and a Masters of Science in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Anisa Keith

Anisa Keith is a Managing Director at BRP Companies, which specializes in green, urban, multi-family housing in the NY Tri-State area. In this capacity she is responsible for the development and expansion of BRP’s relationships with institutional investors. She joined the firm from Mumbai-based Khambatta Securities where she was Head of Global Sales for the firm’s Institutional Brokerage Group and worked on placements of real estate investment vehicles for the Tata Group (India’s largest conglomerate). She has 15 years of experience in the financial services sector, mainly as an analyst and sector fund manager with the $400 billion pension and insurance company, TIAA-CREF. Ms. Keith has held CFO and COO roles at two NY-based service companies, for one of which she also directed new business activities, including an expansion into the Mid-East/Gulf region. Additionally, as an independent consultant, she has provided advisory services to financial companies. Ms. Keith started her professional career as an analyst at Booz Allen and Hamilton.

Ms. Keith received her MBA from Columbia Business School in New York City and her Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Aaron Koffman

Aaron Koffman leads The Hudson Companies’ affordable housing pipeline and portfolio. Aaron relishes the challenge of putting Hudson’s best feet forward on public and private competitions for development sites and building lasting partnerships with public, private and non-profit organizations. Aaron is continually inspired by his Hudson colleagues and loves working to bring transformative mixed-use developments like La Central, The Peninsula, BEC II and Greenpoint Hospital to reality. Aaron is a New York State Volunteer Firefighter who earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UC Berkeley and his Master of City Planning from MIT. Aaron also serves on the NYC Waterfront Management Advisory Board as well as the Board of the NYU Furman Center, Coro New York, and the Center for Urban Pedagogy. He remains a diehard Los Angeles Lakers and Angels fan.

Sam Marks

Sam Marks was born and raised in New York City. After graduating from Brown University, Sam founded Summerbridge at The Town School, an educational enrichment program for motivated NYC public school students (now called Breakthrough New York). He received a Masters in Public Policy & Urban Planning from the Harvard Kennedy School and then entered the community development field, working at WHEDCo in the South Bronx and at the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation. He is currently the executive director of LISC New York City. He joined CUP’s board in 2011.

Suzanne Menghraj

Suzanne Menghraj teaches writing in NYU’s Liberal Studies Program, where her courses emphasize the imaginative possibilities of critical reading and writing. Prior to joining NYU’s faculty, Suzanne taught at Columbia University, and served as director of its Writing Center, as well as assistant director of its Undergraduate Writing Program. She has also worked for the Vera Institute of Justice, where her research focused on reentry programs for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated parents. Suzanne is a contributing writer for Guernica and is at work on a book of essays on art, as well as experimental translations of French interventionist criticism. She served on CUP’s board from 2008-2009. 

Damon Rich

Damon Rich is a designer, artist, and the founder of CUP. In his exhibitions, graphic works, and events, sometimes produced in collaboration with young people and community-based organizations, Rich creates fantastical spaces for imagining the physical and social transformation of the world. His work represented the United States at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale, and has been exhibited at PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the Netherlands Architecture Institute. In 1997, he founded CUP, and was Executive Director for 10 years. Damon currently serves as the Urban Designer for the City of Newark, New Jersey, where he leads design efforts with public and private actors to improve the city’s public spaces.

Victoria Shire

Victoria Shire has over 20 years of experience mobilizing public, private and philanthropic investments to advance community, neighborhood and organizational development. She is the Chief Program Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, where she leads and develops programs that reach over 3,000 youth each year. Victoria holds an MPA from Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and a BA in philosophy from Wittenberg University. She lives in Harlem with her husband, daughter, and son, and has never given up on the Chicago Cubs. Victoria joined the CUP board in 2012.

David Smiley

David Smiley teaches architectural design and urban history at the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. His research and teaching focus on the ways the discipline of architecture overlaps with planning, policy, preservation, finance and community-based initiatives. His book, Pedestrian Modern: American Architecture and Shopping, 1925-1956, (Minnesota, 2013) examines how architects joined modernist design and planning ideas with new programs and scales of retailing. Smiley has organized conferences on the use of public spaces and streets in New York City and has written about malls, urban design and suburban housing. He previously taught at Barnard College were he organized symposia including “Rights of Way” in 2009 and “Moving Toward Utopia” in 2010, at which invited planners, architects, community advocates and public officials examined bikeways and other changes to public space in the NYC. Previous publications include Redressing the Mall: Sprawl and Public Space in Suburbia (2002) and Hell’s Kitchen South: Developing Strategies (2001). David is a member and the Chair of CUP’s Board.

Stacey Sutton

Stacey Sutton is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), and the Founding Director of the Community & Capital Action Research Lab (C2ARL). Stacey’s research and teaching engages questions broadly related to social, economic and spatial equity within cities.  More specifically, Stacey examines local economic development concerns, retail landscapes, neighborhood change and community planning processes with a strong New York City focus. Stacey joined the CUP Board in 2011 and hopes to expand the CUP methodology within the academy.