Engaging, Productive, Resilient Landscapes.
Regenerative Design Group was founded as a values-driven business to respond positively to the ecological challenges of our time. Our team draws on diverse and complementary skill-sets to bring all manner of design and planning projects to fruition. In 2020, after over a decade in business, we accomplished a long-time goal of becoming a worker-owned cooperative.
Staff
Anna Klein | Studio Manager, Worker-Owner
Anna is the studio manager at Regenerative Design Group. She is also a self-employed gardener and works on her homestead in Vermont. Anna earned a Permaculture Design Certificate in 2012, and has a BA from Hampshire College.
Elena Zachary | Senior Designer, Worker-Owner
Eric Giordano | Assistant Designer, Worker-Owner
Eric is a designer, musician, and avid composter. He began his journey in ecological design in NYC, where he built rainwater harvesting systems, ran a composting hub, and consulted on several garden projects. He received a Permaculture Design Certification from the Center for Bioregional Living, a Master Composter Certification from the NYC Compost Project, a Certificate of Horticulture from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and a Masters of Science in Ecological Design from the Conway School. Eric is dedicated to rethinking the way we meet human needs in a way that honors and regenerates Earth’s living systems.
Genevieve Lawlor | Senior Designer, Worker-Owner
Genevieve is a designer, artist, and food systems enthusiast with a lifelong interest in how the built environment reflects and forms individuals and communities. She brings to her work a balance of analytical, conceptual, and on-the-ground skills, honed over many years working on agriculture and landscape projects domestically and abroad. Genevieve seeks to create useful and beautiful spaces that build ecological integrity, engage the senses, and inspire connection to the landscapes we inhabit. She holds a MA in Ecological Landscape Design and Planning from The Conway School.
Jono Neiger | Lead Designer, Worker-Owner
Jono is a founding partner of Regenerative Design Group. He has 30 years of professional experience in permaculture, agroforestry, conservation, and restoration. Jono has taught at The Conway School and was the founding Board President of the Permaculture Association of the Northeast (PAN). He has worked as a land manager for Lost Valley Educational Center, a Conservation Officer for the Town of Palmer, MA and a Restoration Specialist with the Nature Conservancy. He holds a MALD from The Conway School and a BS in Forest Biology from S.U.N.Y. College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Jono is the author of The Permaculture Promise and the founder of Big River Chestnuts, a chestnut agroforestry farm in Sunderland, MA.
Kate Sol | Associate Designer
Kate is a designer and artist who aims to serve clients and ecosystems holistically and thoughtfully. She has over a decade of experience developing built projects including residential architecture, public sculpture, gardens, and museum exhibitions. She has taught digital fabrication at The Cooper Union and is a graduate of the NYU Gallatin School and The Cooper Union School of Architecture.
Keith Zaltzberg | Lead Designer, Worker-Owner
Keith is a founding partner of Regenerative Design Group. His approach to design is grounded in understanding the ecological and social potential of place, rigorous analysis, and systematic assessment. Keith combines this approach with on-the-ground skills and a strong social justice mission to create landscapes that are rooted in place and community. He is a popular lecturer and instructor on permaculture design, urban agriculture, community resilience planning, and food systems. Keith has taught at The Conway School and Smith College. He is a certified Permaculture Designer, and holds a BS in Environmental Design from UMass-Amherst.
Laura Krok-Horton | Associate Designer, Worker-Owner
Laura is an ecological designer who believes that designed spaces are a balance of creativity and practicality that function not only for the benefit of the community but the natural environment. Around the studio she is usually working on maps, plan-sets, site analysis and hand drawn graphics. If she’s not sharing a new command in AutoCAD, you can find her crafting intricate pop-up cards for her friends and colleagues. Laura holds a BA from Smith College in Architecture and Landscape Studies.
Rachel Lindsay | Senior Designer, Worker-Owner
Rachel draws from her experiences in farming, community development, and graphic communication to engage people in the design process with cultural sensitivity and environmental integrity. In her role as Head of Landscape Design at Regenerative Design Group, she brings high levels of energy and creativity toward connecting people with their landscapes. Her work is informed by a passion for making art, growing food, exploring the world of native plants and local ecology, and past time living in Latin America. She holds an MS in Ecological Design from The Conway School and a BA in Anthropology from Wesleyan University. When she isn’t working, she may be found messing around in her garden, cooking with the latest harvest, or hiking with her husband and young daughter.
Rafter Ferguson | Senior Researcher
Rafter focuses on research, education, and training for integrating agroecology, racial equity, and social justice. He specializes in participatory research and design, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, popular education, agroforestry, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and grassroots farmer-centered development. Rafter received his Ph.D. in Crop Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Ryan Montella | Regenerative Agriculture Coordinator
Ryan is an organic farmer, designer, and entrepreneur specializing in farm design/build projects and scaling agricultural enterprises, helping start-ups and land owners realize their dreams. He brings 15 years of experience in diverse organic vegetable/livestock operations across the Pacific Northwest, Coastal Mexico, and Massachusetts, most recently co-founding EOS Farms and Cannaflower. As Regenerative Agriculture Coordinator, he guides clients through critical design processes, develops robust business strategies, and optimizes resources to create thriving agricultural operations.
Sebastian ‘Bas’ Gutwein | Lead Designer, Worker-Owner
Sebastian is a living systems designer and founding partner of Regenerative Design Group. His work draws from his interests in the arts, ecology, politics, and place. At RDG Bas utilizes his GIS expertise combined with his artistic sensibilities and practical skills gained in farming, construction, and stonework to plan and create resilient and beautiful landscapes and communities. As a systems thinker, Bas excels at solving complex design challenges ranging from water conveyance to administrative organization. He teaches Surveying, the Adobe Creative Suite, AutoCAD and GIS at The Conway School. Bas holds a BS in Environmental Design from UMass.
Seva Water | Regenerative Agriculture Planner
Seva is a systems thinker, homesteader and agroforestry enthusiast who is passionate about connecting people to place. She works in the regenerative agriculture wing at RDG, combining skills and interests in perennial crops, soil health, and community food systems. She founded Nutwood Farm, a diverse regenerative nut farm, with her partner in 2016. She earned a Permaculture Design Certificate in 2014 and holds a BA from Gettysburg College.
Taurean Gagnon | Production Specialist
Taurean is a production specialist and designer with a focus on environmental public health. He looks for innovative solutions to complex problems with creativity and practicality. An integral part of his core is lifting communities from the bottom up and sharing his expertise. As an established professional, he has worked on many scales from residential gardens to large complex campuses and parks, to city planning. He holds a double Masters of Science in Ecological Design from The Conway School and Masters of Landscape Architecture from UMass Amherst.
Von Harvey | Communications Specialist
Von is a communicator and designer who applies user experience (UX), web, graphic, and marketing design to tell stories and engage with people and communities. She believes technology should have a positive impact on humanity, which includes being equitable and sustainable. Von holds a BA from Hampshire College and has professional certifications in UX design, graphic design, and digital marketing.