The Cosanti Foundation

As CEO & Executive Director, Liz oversees operations, facilities, programming, and philanthropic initiatives for The Cosanti Foundation at both Arcosanti and Cosanti, as well as for the artisan bell-making business, Cosanti Originals. Liz’s unique background encompasses art, architecture, and academics, a rare combination that aligns fully with the unique mission of The Cosanti Foundation.

Originally from New York, Liz holds degrees as a Master of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Tulane University. She has more than 30 cumulative years of experience as a practicing and principal architectural designer and more than 15 years of experience as an academic-practitioner teaching domestically and internationally as a professor of architecture and urban design.

Liz was most recently a tenured Professor of Architecture at Kennesaw State University’s College of Architecture and Construction Management in metro-Atlanta, where she chaired the thesis program and serves as the college’s academic outreach liaison.

In the course of her distinguished career, Liz has curated, presented, lectured, and published extensively. Her lifelong commitment to her profession and to her community is evident in her service as part of dozens of commissions, committees, and councils, including the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Women’s Leadership Initiative, Metropolitan Public Art Coalition (MPAC), and AIACC Monterey Design Conference committee. She has been awarded numerous grants, including, most recently, a Precast Concrete Institute (PCI) Foundation Curriculum Development Grant for a project entitled “Integrating Precast: Threads of Constructability, Complexity and Constraint” ($100,000 over 4 years).

Liz has also received a variety of honors and accolades for her dynamic work, such as the AIA/ACSA Practice and Leadership Award (2019), AIAS Educator of the Year Award (2020), and most recently, recognition as part of the ULI Atlanta “The Leaders” 2021 cohort. In addition to her professional accomplishments, Liz is a musician, having graduated from the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division with a major in violin and composition.

Kate is a nonprofit education and development professional with more than 20 years of experience. Her passion is finding ways to take complex ideas and turn them into compelling stories, connecting great causes to people who care.

In 2012, she spent two life-changing years living at Arcosanti, where she was the PR & Development Coordinator as well as a member of Arcosanti Community Council. Her time with Cosanti Foundation was one of growth and transition, and her work included significant expansion of both digital engagement and Arcosanti’s live events, including the establishment of the multi-day FORM festival. She has since served on both the Strategic Plan Steering Committee and the Arcosanti Cooperative Board of Directors. She remains close with the current Arcosanti community and its extended alumni network, and active with the co-op in the planning and production of its annual Convergence festival.

Since 2014, Kate has resided in Portland, Oregon, where she is currently the Development Director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, a statewide nonprofit that safeguards Oregon’s unique land use planning program. This program began in 1973 as a means of protecting Oregon’s vital farmland and environmental treasures from unchecked urban sprawl, while also ensuring the development of compact, highly-livable towns and cities inside of intentionally-set urban growth boundaries. For Kate, it’s a logic that resonates strongly with the principles of arcology upon which Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti are founded. Perhaps that’s why there are so many Cosanti Originals windbells in Oregon!

Nikki Check is an Arizona native that has spent her life cultivating the local communities around her through agriculture, education, and public policy.

With a BA in Agroecology from Prescott College, she launched into developing the Arizona wine industry in 2008 as a vineyard manager for Merkin Vineyards and quickly began working with Yavapai College to teach courses on grape growing. She was the founding director of the Southwest Wine Center at Yavapai College and went on to help emerging vintners establish over 40 acres of new vineyards throughout the state as a vineyard consultant.

During that time she was elected Mayor of Jerome in 2012 which inspired a run for the state senate in 2016. Through public service, she developed an understanding of rural economies and community development in small towns. Nikki also has a strong interest and experience using sustainable building materials that are suitable for the chemically sensitive such as hempcrete and natural hydraulic lime plaster.

Nikki believes in the power of good food, beverages, and meeting places to create and cultivate community . Her skills in vision building, partnership, and strategic planning stand to further develop Arcosanti and Cosanti and as friendly, inspiring, and economical destination locations.

Growing up in Scottsdale (only a few blocks south of Cosanti Originals), Tim’s kinship for Arizona’s natural history runs deep. A self described “desert rat,” he hiked, camped, and rode horseback over much of the state.  After earning degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Education Administration, Tim’s career included experience as a desert survival instructor, horseback wilderness guide, naturalist, outdoor educator, business owner, camp director, horsemanship director, certified equine assisted learning/psychotherapy facilitator, development officer, and school administrator. He most recently invested over a decade as Executive Director for two non-profit, outdoor education centers serving over 3000 clients/year each.  Under Tim’s leadership, both of these centers innovated evidence-based outdoor adventure camps and retreats that promote healing for underserved youth and trauma affected populations. With over 20 years’ experience in nonprofit management, Tim was thrilled to recently return to his beloved Arizona and help steward Arcosanti’s legacy.  When not working, he can be typically found in the company of his four favorite souls: his wife of over 35 years, his daughter (an equine veterinary anesthesia tech), a quarter horse named “Maui,” and a rescue mutt named “Rosie.”

Norm Pratt comes to the Cosanti Foundation with over 30 years of experience in education and the Arts. Norm’s extensive experience in education includes teaching as a Visual Arts teacher, moving into administration as Principal of Grayhawk Elementary School, and then to the district level as Director of Fine Arts for the Paradise Valley School District in Phoenix, AZ. Norm has also worked as an education consultant developing educational programs, community outreach and community workshops. He graduated from Arizona State University with a B.F.A. in Printmaking, a Post Baccalaureate in Visual Arts education, and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership.

As a life-long advocate of the arts as well as a current performing musician, Norm is an active member of the arts community in the Phoenix area. In addition to performing, his broad music career includes recording and producing artists as well as in 2002 starting an independent record label, Perfect Circle Records. Since visiting Arcosanti for the first time in 1976, Norm has been passionate about design and its impact on the environment.