about our team

Individual commitment to a group effort – that’s what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

meet our team

Our team consists of experienced landscape architects who develop the projects starting with a sketch and following it up to complete implementation of intended ideas.

ray dunetz

Principal 

Tim Nickerson

Associate Principal

nancy leask

Landscape Architect Emeritus

michelle de tarnowsky

Landscape Architect

Marco Sanchez

Landscape Architect

Sakina Dong

Designer

Pian ZHang

Designer

Jessy Qiu

Designer

Carissa daniels

Accounting


 

RAY DUNETZ, RLA, ASLA

Principal 

Ray founded RDLA in 2002 and is the Principal of the firm. Ray has over 30 years of experience and has worked at such notable firms as Sasaki Associates, EDAW, Rhodeside and Harwell, and Walker-Kluesing Design Group. Ray received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1985 and is a registered Landscape Architect in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ray has served as President of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects; he currently serves the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, as a board member for their non-profit partner, Friends of Fairsted. Out of the studio, Ray enjoys his yellow labrador, music, and spending time with his family.

NANCY LEASK, RLA

Landscape Architect Emeritus

Nancy Leask has over 35 years of professional experience and has been a Senior Associate at RDLA since 2004. Previously, Nancy worked for Walker-Kluesing Design Group, Katherine Field and Associates, Sasaki Associates Inc., and Pressley Associates. Nancy received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota and is a registered Landscape Architect in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

As our resident expert horticulturalist, Nancy brings her working knowledge and love of plants to review planting material for each project. Her oversight of planting plans helps refine botanical palettes and tailor selections to specific conditions to meet the needs of each site. She also plays the role of technical director at RDLA, offering precise input for each project. With her unerring sense of how a plan can be fine-tuned, her review of project specifications and detailed drawings is greatly valued.

MICHELLE DE TARNOWSKY, RLA, ASLA

Landscape Architect

Michelle joined RDLA in 2016 after nearly a decade as a landscape architect in Boston, and she has worked on a wide range of project types. She has used her written and graphic communication skills to lead work on several municipal projects and master plans at RDLA, most recently Boston’s Historic Burying Grounds and Mary Cummings Park in Burlington, a Trustees of Reservations property.
Michelle holds a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). As a landscape architect, Michelle has built a diverse portfolio of work that showcases her versatility and well-rounded skills as a designer and communicator. A natural team player, Michelle is capable of contributing to a variety of projects in multiple ways, from promotion through production. Her work for Boston firms gave her experience with New England projects ranging from institutional work on hospitals and schools to mixed-use projects, multi-family residential developments, playgrounds, and parks.

When not practicing landscape architecture, Michelle enjoys running, skiing, yoga, camping, hiking, and spending time with her husband and two children.

Tim nickerson, RLA, ASLA, CSI

Associate Principal

Tim joined RDLA in 2022 as a Senior Landscape Architect. With nearly twenty years of experience, Tim designs with an eye toward practicality and constructability. He previously managed complex projects at Studio2112 Landscape Architecture, Deborah Myers Landscape Architecture, Verdant Landscape Architecture, and at a design/build firm. Tim earned a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. He is a licensed landscape architect in Massachusetts.

Tim’s focus on community improvement extends beyond his professional work. He served his hometown of Nashua, NH on the Board of Education and Board of Aldermen, where he served on the building committee for Nashua High North and Nashua High South. He was also the chair and founder of the Nashua International Design Competition. Tim is a past President of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects and the Friends of Fairsted, the non-profit partner of the Frederick Law Olmsted Historic Site. He also served as the Chair of the Chapter Presidents Council for the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Outside the office, Tim can be found motorcycling around the northeast, spending time with family and friends, or exploring a new dog park with his French Bulldog Frida.

marco sÁnchez, PLA

Landscape Architect

Marco Sánchez holds a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley. His work concentrates on the design and construction of places that are inclusive and environmentally well-suited for their location.

Marco has worked on improving the public realm by implementing projects that have included public parks, trails, streetscapes, and schools. He also has experience with several affordable housing projects using green infrastructures such as bioswales, permeable paving, green roofs, and rain-water harvesting systems to ameliorate housing conditions. With experience ranging from academic campus planning to the analysis and design of urban parks, Marco aims to create spaces that are memorable and worthy of distinction.

Sakina DonG

Designer

Sakina Dong joined RDLA in 2019 and holds a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Boston Architectural College. Previously, she completed a Bachelor of Engineering degree at Wuhan Institute of Design and Sciences in Hubei Province, China. In the summer of 2019, she traveled to Medellin, Colombia, as part of a BAC studio on Social Urbanism. That intensive study exposed her to a range of complex planning issues in a new geographical region and in less familiar landscapes.

Sakina is interested in many areas of design, from large-scale urban planning to small landscape architecture projects; from housing development to plant palettes; from designing spaces outdoors to beautifying bathrooms indoors. She brings to all her work the hope that her creations will shape the way humans and wildlife live, and will help guide growth in the coming decades. She has  strong cognitive empathy with children and is concerned about environmental pollution and the waste of natural resources. Her goal is to bring passion, responsibility and strategic design solutions to all projects.

 

 

Pian zhang

Designer

Pian Zhang joined RDLA in 2023 after graduating from Rhode Island School of Design with a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture. Originally from Chongqing, she was intrigued by her hometown’s hilly landscape and was curious about the relationship between people and the land. She then received a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Beijing Forestry University, where she gained a solid foundation for graduate study. Through study and practice, Pian has developed a profound interest in the interaction between nature and culture at various scales, from individuals to communities. She greatly values reading and listening to the land and the local community with humanistic care. She seeks to establish a dialogue with the environment, as well as to consider others and amplify their voices. Pian believes that as a landscape architect, it is her responsibility to influence others’ perceptions of and relationship with the land, ultimately contributing to a better living environment. During her leisure time, Pian likes growing houseplants and enjoys watercolor painting, running, and film photography.

Veronica Sosa-Dunetz

Marketing Lead & Senior Graphic Designer

Veronica brings over 25 years of design experience to the table and a keen eye for fonts, color, and user experience. Considered a full-stack designer, she can help with all parts of the design cycle including brand development, print, visual, and UX design. Veronica has had the pleasure of working with well-known Museums and Press seeing their challenges in a new light and working to solve those issues gracefully.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the Universidad Complutense, Spain. Her postgraduate studies were in Psychology at UNED, Spain. In 2013 she studied Pattern Design at the Círculo Textil in Madrid.  In addition, she completed a User Experience Design and Code Crash course at General Assembly in Boston in 2018.
She joined RDLA in 2017 where she is in charge of the marketing promotional materials, print, and visual design, e-mailing, presentations, environmental graphics, and managing the website.
She loves to spend the summers on the seaside, she enjoys her free time gardening, doing yoga, and hiking with her dog in nature.

 

Jessy Qiu

Designer

Designer Jingyi “Jessy” Qiu holds a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her professional experience is diverse and international, encompassing roles as a Landscape Designer at OJB Landscape Architecture in Boston, MA, and SWA in Shanghai. In these positions, Jessy engaged in projects within the public and commercial planning realms, addressing various scales and cultural contexts. Among the notable projects Jessy has contributed to are the Downtown Cary Park in North Carolina, the roof terrace design at South Station, the residential landscape design at 1515 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and the riverfront park design in Guangzhou.

Jessy is particularly passionate about commemorative landscapes and the integration of human connections within them. She believes human connection is essential to all phases of project design, modeling, and rendering. Outside of her professional pursuits, Jessy enjoys traveling and immersing herself in the landscapes and cultures she encounters.

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carissa daniels

Accounting & Billing

Carissa Daniels is RDLA’s Bookkeeper, ensuring efficiency and timeliness throughout all financial processes.

Carissa received her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Boston College and brings a strong analytical background to her role.  Outside of invoicing & bill pay, Carissa has a passion for dogs and might be found training her pups to pivot on a perch or dog sledding through the woods of Maine.