Meet The Team
It takes a village
Our small core team each have a deep background that overlap and are complimentary to one another.
On the ground we assemble local teams that know the terrain and community landscape to best integrate the work with the place. The specialized teams can include people with backgrounds in: systems + design thinking, planners, community developers, engagement strategists, artists, educators, anthropologists, biologists, historians, archivists, researchers, architects, preservationists, community wisdom advocates.
NICHOLAS
MANG
Nicholas Mang's main focus at R2C is the continued development of R2C’s Roots Approach and IN PLACE platform for growing place-sourced regenerative economies. His work includes the utilization of systemic frameworks for engaging citizens with place, facilitating design charrettes with key community stakeholders, and developing and implementing local economic development strategies that develop healthy, viable relationships between human and natural communities over time. Nicholas has a published doctoral dissertation entitled “Toward a Regenerative Psychology of Urban Planning” and has worked on numerous regenerative development projects in communities across the United States and Latin America.
ADRIANE
ZACMANIDIS
Adriane Zacmanidis main focus at R2C is on the Urban Regeneration Lab. An urbanist, designer, and educator whose focus is on time, memory, and place as both ecology and palimpsest. Over a lifetime of engaging with diverse multigenerational communities, cultures, and cities across the globe, she understands that each person and place has a story to tell in a unique voice. Her approach is regenerative and starts with deep listening, research, and being a skilled translator between expert, wisdom, and audience. She holds graduate degrees in architecture, education, and historic preservation.
ASHLEY
NIELSEN
Ashley Nielsen's main focus at R2C is the development of the COMPETENCY 2 COMMUNITY platform. She works with both K12 and Higher Education designing community-based education programs and curriculum. At its core, her work involves reimagining education and putting schools at the heart of any neighborhood - reweaving students, families, schools, businesses, and communities back together through community education. Ashley has extensive background in competency-based and project-based education and holds a PhD in Psychology with a focus on regenerative education methodologies.
GOPAL
KRISHNAMURTHY
Gopal Krishnamurthy's main focus at R2C is in RADICAL TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION with regard to teaching and learning, curriculum design, and the development of learning environments. He works with holistic education, situated learning, grounded theory, systems awareness, and teaching as research orientations in K12 and Higher Education settings. Gopal holds a PhD in Education, MAs in Education; Philosophy and a BA (Hons) in Physics. He has taught internationally for years and served recently as a Head of School (UK). Since 2009 he designs and teaches a UCSB Ext. accredited course Re-envisioning Education and The Craft of Teaching; Learning for teachers, parents, administrators, and other educators.