Thomas Robinson is the Founder of LEVER Architecture, a US-based design practice with offices in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles, California. His firm is widely recognized for material innovation and for pioneering work with Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). Thomas’ projects encompass first-of-their-kind timber buildings for clients such as The Nature Conservancy and Adidas and include more than $1M in research to develop and test wood building assemblies. He has lectured on mass timber throughout the US, Europe, and South America, and served as the United States Department of Agriculture Wood Innovation Grant Visiting Professor at the University of Arkansas. LEVER was recently recognized by Fast Company as one of the world’s most innovative companies; and in 2017, was named to Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard and to the Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices.

Daniel Safarik is Director, Research and Thought Leadership at CTBUH. His responsibilities include providing high-level directional oversight for the Council’s research functions, data studies, topical publications, and dedicated tall building database. Additional responsibilities include the development of content for CTBUH publications, particularly the CTBUH Journal. Safarik interfaces directly with the CTBUH President to identify topics and areas in need of detailed exploration and research, then engages analysts, writing staff, and production/digital team members to execute projects using clear operational workflows.

Safarik has co-authored or co-edited numerous of the Council’s recent technical publications. He served as CTBUH’s Editor from 2013 to 2021, and as the Director of the China Office of CTBUH at Tongji University, Shanghai, from 2015 to 2017, spearheading the Council’s efforts to expand influence and membership in China. Trained as an architect and a journalist, Safarik was the director of marketing for Brooks + Scarpa Architects (formerly Pugh + Scarpa Architects) from 2008 to 2011. Safarik reported on technology or edited for business publications for 16 years, including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist Group, Fast Company, Advanced Trading, Individual Investor, and others. Safarik has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Oregon.

Adam Jongeward, PE, SE, Associate Principal has been a member of the DCI family for over a decade, climbing the ranks from Intern to Senior Project Manager and now Associate Principal. Driven by a passion for structural behavior and modeling, Adam engineers by interpreting the system - be it computer program input and output or jurisdictional standards. He believes successful engineering begins with mastering the framework. He believes that first-principles are the key to all successful engineering projects, no matter how simple or how complex.

Adam is a graduate of the University of Illinois: Urban Champaign and earned his Master's in Structural Engineering from Stanford University. Throughout his career with DCI, he's taken on several higher education projects, including spearheading the primary gravity and lateral design of the Cal State San Marcos Student Union, as well as managing the design of the University of Oregon Recreational Facility. Throughout his career with DCI, he has create a niche for himself in “odd projects”. Starting with seismic upgrades of historic structures, he dealt with 100-year-old timber beams and seismic behavior of nontraditional lateral systems. This formed the basis for his specialties in modern mass timber design and high-rise steel modular project.