As Vice President for HDR, a global architecture, engineering and planning firm, Kaia leads the national urban design, planning and landscape architecture practice, driving geographic and strategic growth through centers of design excellence. She works collaboratively with inter-disciplinary teams to create solutions for land-based projects at various scales. With an engineering degree from Stanford University and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Colorado, Kaia is passionate about problem-solving, healthy place-making and community development. Based in Denver, Colorado in the United States, Kaia’s experience includes award-winning park designs for the Central Park community (formerly Stapleton) in Colorado, one of the largest in-fill developments in the United States. She also works with watershed districts and transportation agencies across the United States to implement mixed used development and parks that also solve water and mobility infrastructure challenges. Kaia works with the Urban Land Institute and other organizations around the world to promote smart city and healthy community initiatives. Her projects have won awards and recognition ranging from Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas, the Conference of Mayors Best Practices, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Design and Research Awards, and ACEC Engineering Excellence.