Our Team

Aaron Leppanen
Marquette, MI

Co-Founder

Aaron Leppanen holds a Master’s degree of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles and a Bachelor’s of Architecture from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. During his career Aaron has worked on a number of award winning institutional, educational, residential and commercial projects across the globe. Aaron has worked at Greg Lynn FORM in collaboration with Gehry Partners in Los Angeles, Naga Studio Architecture in Dubai, McIntosh Poris Associates in Detroit and Belzberg Architects in Los Angeles amongst others. During this time projects included; Sentosa Island Casino Proposal in Singapore, Oqyana – “Australia” (Part of the World Development) in Dubai, Saadiyat Museum Pavilion no. 3 in Abu Dhabi and the Bill and Melinda Gates Discovery Center in Seattle. While at Belzberg Architects Aaron was the Project Manager/Project Designer for The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, which has been recognized both nationally and internationally for design and sustainability. Aaron has reviewed at University of Southern California, Art Center College of Design, Northern Michigan University and Universidad Católica in Quito.

Roberto Anker
Quito, Ecuador

Advisor

Roberto has a Systems Engineering degree with High Distinction from University of Virginia and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Partner and founder of Proventus in 2005 https://proventusadvisors.com/en/home-en/, Roberto worked for Morgan Stanley´s Latin American Investment Banking Group in New York where he was part of the teams that advised clients across the region in transactions surpassing US$3 billion. He then moved to São Paulo to work with Morgan Stanley´s MSGEM Private Equity group covering Latin America. At Proventus, he has led teams advising blue chip corporates including the sale of a 50% stake in Pronaca to CMI, the sale of Ecofroz to Air Water, the investment from Corporación Favorita in Hanaska, the sale of Fisa Group to Constellation Software, the sale of Zuauto, the sale of El Kiosko to Alpina, capital raising for Marathon Sports, the reviews of the Quito subway and the Quito airport projects, among other transactions. He is a board member of private and non-profit institutions. Endeavor Mentor. YPO member.

Gabriela Anker, LEED AP
Quito, Ecuador

Co-Founder

Gabriela Anker holds a Master of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Virginia. She has worked for Rafael Viñoly Architects, Daly Genik Architects and Naga Studio Architecture Dubai and held an associate position while at Lee Burkhart Liu Inc. She was also a panelist during the "Dialogue for Contemporary Latin American Design" Washington DC. She has been invited to exhibit her projects at CTBUH Shenzhen China and Chicago. Gabriela was Invited to the Latin American Summit of "Mixed Use Development" Bogotá Colombia. Additionally, she was an invited jury for Trama magazine for "XX International Call for Projects publication in Trama magazine". Also "Sacha Pavilion" made by CAE in Ecuador. She was an Invited jury for end-of-semester projects for Art Center College of Design, UIDE, Georgia Tech. Gabriela completed the “GIC IX Innovation Executive Program” course, winning “Best Startup Progress”, where she became involved in the management of enterprises for women.