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The Â鶹ӰԺ Program in Environmental Design has announced the recipient of the 2024 Environmental Design Alumni Awards. This year’s honoree for the Distinguished Alumni Award is Mark Meiser and the Young Designer Award recipient is Kate Sector.

The Environmental Design Alumni Awards honor individuals who have demonstrated leadership and made significant contributions to the design and architectural professions.

Celebrate the 2024 Alumni Award winners on Thursday, Sept. 19, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Environmental Design Building. To kick off the celebration, an opening reception will be held for the Spirit of ENVD: Five Decades of Community and Innovation exhibition, curated by Teaching Professor Jade Polizzi. 

Schedule of events:
4:30 to 5:30 p.m. | ENVD Gallery reception with light appetizers
5:30 to 6:30 p.m. | Presentation of ENVD Alumni Awards

Distinguished Alumni Awardee:

Mark Meiser, CRX, CDP, founder, president and CEO of Rothschild Downes, LLC in 1994 and MEIZ Development Company, LLC in 2004.

Meiser, winner of the 2024 ENVD Distinguished Alumni Award, has over 30 years of experience in the mixed-use real estate development industry, in Englewood, Colorado. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from the Â鶹ӰԺ. Providing national Third Party professional Owner’s Representation and Project Management Services under the Rothschild Downes banner, his commercial achievements include over $10 billion in oversight of design and construction execution that entails more than 15 million square feet of new retail, entertainment and hospitality encompassing 5,500 stores and restaurants opening for business. He has orchestrated retail tenant activity for over 25 new and renovated shopping center grand openings, which have included some of the nation’s highest-profile and most successful mixed-use retail projects. Mark is the co-inventor of TCTrac®, one of the first leading project management and tenant coordination tracking software in the industry. The software provides real-time mobile tenant tracking for day-to-day workflow and reporting systems for the retail industry. 

His passion is design and architecture. From historical renovations to mid-century modern, his firm has specialized in cutting-edge sustainability and biophilic design practices on over $20 million design-build residential real estate developments. Projects range from urban multi-family to luxury mountain homes on private ridgelines to the revitalization of Denver Urban Landmark circa 1894 Ross-Lewin Double Residence. His recent development Two Dancing Trees in Breckenridge, Colorado, featured two custom single-family mountain retreats and received the 2023 Platinum Award in Best in American Living (BALA).   

In collaboration with extraordinary clients and colleagues, the Rothschild Downes Team has received over 20 awards in Development Excellence and Design achievements. A few to name include the Innovating Commerce Serving Communities (ICSC) North American Design and Development Award for multiple projects, such as Westfield’s Century City in Los Angeles, The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk in New Orleans and a Finalist for Mack Weldon retail store of the year at Hudson Yards in New York. Additional achievements include the LEED Neighborhood Development Gold Certification for Hudson Yards in New York, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Award for Excellence for multiple projects including Fifth + Broadway in Nashville, Water Street Tampa in Tampa and Park Meadows in Littleton, Colorado, and most recently the ULI Award for Excellence in Development for Nashville Yards in Nashville. 

Meiser is a father to three remarkable children, Maxwell, Karis and Beckett. He spends most of his time traveling the Great American West in a Sprinter van with his Mountain Cur and bestie Taos. Chasing snow on his snowboards in the winter and crushing single-track trails in the summer. 

Young Designer Awardee:

Kate Sector, the Environmental Design 2024 Young Designer Award recipient, graduated in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design from the Â鶹ӰԺ, where she also earned a certificate in renewable energy and sustainability. During her time at ENVD, she pursued her passion for sustainable architecture, taking on leadership roles within the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) and receiving several awards, including the AIAS CRIT Scholar Fellowship for her senior research project in biomimicry. 

After graduation, she joined Lake|Flato Architects in San Antonio, where she now serves as the design performance manager. In this role, she guides firm-wide design performance efforts, including performance goal setting, building simulations and sustainable certification management. Sector also researches emerging building performance topics such as embodied carbon and climate resiliency, presenting her findings at national and local conferences like AIA National, Greenbuild and the TxA Conference. Additionally, she led the certification of Lake|Flato’s office to WELL Platinum, the first of its kind in San Antonio. 

In her Texas community, she has chaired the local AIA San Antonio Committee on the Environment (COTE) and actively engaged with UTSA’s School of Architecture and Planning as a guest studio critic, presenter and organizer of the second-year student COTE Top 10 competition. She has been recognized with two emerging professional awards–the 2023 San Antonio Rising Star and the 2024 Texas Society of Architects (TxA) Associate of the Year. Sector now serves as a committee member of the TxA Committee on the Environment (COTE) and aims to continue empowering designers and fostering a regenerative future through her commitment to sustainable architecture. 

"Reflecting on my time at ENVD, the most memorable takeaway is the close-knit community of students and teachers, which fostered lifelong friendships. My involvement in AIAS was transformative, enhancing my leadership skills and providing opportunities to meet local architects and attend the AIA Forum in Boston, Seattle and Austin. Participating in the restoration of the Â鶹ӰԺ Dushanbe Teahouse ignited my interest in historic preservation and led to meeting Maruf Miramatov, artisan and architectural historian from Dushanbe,Tajikistan, as well as collaborating with Nate Jones and Shawhin Roudbari on the book An Architecture of Dialogue: Learning from the Â鶹ӰԺ Dushanbe Teahouse. 

ENVD’s unique multidisciplinary approach, encompassing architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning, has been crucial in my career development. This approach helped me think holistically about design, from the big picture to the smallest detail. Additionally, ENVD introduced me to the work of Lake|Flato Architects, leading to my first internship and a five-year tenure with them. Overall, my time at ENVD was marked by significant personal and professional growth, preparing me for a successful career in sustainable architecture."