Raymond L. Gindroz, a co-founder and principal emeritus of Urban Design Associates (UDA), has pioneered the development of participatory planning processes for neighborhoods, downtowns and regional plan. Gindroz earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture with honors from Carnegie Mellon University and a diploma from Centro per gli Studi di Architettura, A. Palladio, Vicenza, Italy. He received the John Stewardson Award and a Fulbright Grant for study in Italy early in his career and continues to travel extensively to sketch and study urban space.
Mario Girbau was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1916. After being educated in the United States, Girbau graduated as an accountant from the University of Havana in 1943 and worked as an official in the government's Ministerio de Utilidades until 1960, when he left Cuba for Miami.
Actively involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion, Girbau managed funds for Brigade 2506, the CIA-funded incursion force that invaded Cuba in 1961. His counter-revolutionary activities continued into the 1970s.
