Gary Lai
Senior Project Manager, Landscape Architect
LEED AP, Certified Living Building Ambassador, Professional Landscape Architect (State of California)
Gary Lai is an accomplished landscape architect and thought leader in sustainability, resiliency and conservation. Gary leverages three decades of design and planning experience to steer large, complex projects to successful completion. His interest in drawing and environmentalism led him to a field that he describes as the ‘architecture of living things’ with an immense potential to impact quality of life for future generations. He has extensive expertise in sustainable design, resiliency and water conservation issues that enable him to focus and maximize the creative energies of project collaborators toward innovative solutions. Gary has extensive field experience throughout his long career that includes construction administration and field observations for projects that range from single family homes to large transit and transportation projects. Gary is committed to local environmental advocacy and education. He is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors for the United States Green Building Council, Los Angeles and a Co-Chair for the Urban Landscape Committee at USGBC-La. He is a founder of the ILFI collaborative, Living Future Los Angeles and is a founding member of the New Urbanist think tank, New American Dream. He is currently a Lecturer at CalPoly Pomona and has spoken at numerous conferences on a variety of sustainable and urbanist issues including the Net Zero Conference, Greenbuild and the Municipal Green Building Conference and Expo.
Education
B.S., Landscape Architecture, University of California, Davis