About DCAT
Who We Are
David Eisenberg, Director
and President of Board of Directors
Carlos Nagel, Vice President of Board of Directors, Sonoran Institute
- Board Member, International Translation Services - Associate, Arizona/Mexico
Commission - Founding Member, Sonora-Arizona Commission - Founding Member,
Arizona-Mexico Border Health Foundation - Founding Member, Friends of PRONATURA
- Board Member
Robert W. Cook, Treasurer of Board of Directors, Strategic planner
Ingrid Cardon-Downey, Secretary of Board of Directors, Repp Construction
- Construction Office Manager
Barbara Elfbrandt, Member of Board of Directors, Educator and retired
lawyer, Retired from American Friends Service Committee, UN Office
Tim Spears, Member of Board of Directors, Permaculture Consultant,
Beth Spiva Timmons Foundation -Officer of the Board of Directors
David Eisenberg | Tony Novelli | Loretta Ishida | Holly Altman | Jean Eisenhower
David is Director of the Development Center for Appropriate Technology. His work in the area of sustainable building is informed by over twenty years of construction experience, including building the spaceframe and glazing systems for Biosphere 2 in Oracle, AZ, a $2 million structural concrete house, a structural steel hypoallergenic house, a rammed earth house, and building with adobe and straw bales as well as with most other conventional building systems. He has also participated in design and construction of demonstration housing projects in Guadalupe, AZ, on the Navajo reservation in Arizona, and the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota.
For more than eight years, David has been involved in straw bale construction, co-writing The Straw Bale House book and writing numerous articles on straw bale building. He has led straw bale workshops from coast to coast in the US, as well as in Canada, England and Scotland. He consults on design and construction details and code issues, as well as with research and testing projects for straw bale construction. He has co-written or consulted on straw bale building codes for the City of Tucson, Pima County, AZ, the state of California, and Austin, TX. His working paper, "Straw Bale Construction and the Building Codes," has won praise from building officials, designers, builders and owner-builders alike.
David has made many presentations at national conferences and meetings on the issue of sustainability and building codes. In addition to his work with codes, he currently is leading efforts to develop support for the research, testing and development of very low-impact building materials and building technologies which are based on the design strategies found in nature.
Tony works as assistant to David Eisenberg, handling most of the day-to-day operations of DCAT. He manages personnel, bookkeeping, grant writing, the website, computer systems and most of the cooking! Tony has a strong background in environmental issues and alternative technologies, previously acting as director of compliance for a hazardous waste clean up company, and as a consultant in energy efficiency, co-generation, and alternative wastewater systems. Tony has developed a strong understanding of the issues surrounding alternative construction, and participates in numerous community-related organizations on the topic of sustainability and related issues.
Loretta has an environmental science background with a focus on community development. With work experience in the Ivory Coast (West Africa) and Mexico, she specializes in community participation and particularly enjoys working in cross-cultural contexts.
Holly covers DCAT's bookkeeping and other organizational work, and serves as the task master for keeping momentum up on improvements to DCAT's physical office space. She comes with Barley the Papereater, her golden retriever friend, who works for snacks and crumbs on a barter system.
Jean Eisenhower has an MFA in Creative Writing, "almost a certificate" in Permaculture Design, and experience in community organizing and business management. She handles project tracking for DCAT and researches and assists in writing grant proposals--all long distance, thanks to the internet, from her off-the-grid strawbale home she designed and helped to build in Cochise County.
David
Eisenberg