Ronald Altoon

Biography: Master of Architecture (Louis Kahn Studio), University of Pennsylvania, 1969 Bachelor of Architecture (Honors), University of Southern California, 1968 Tau Sigma Delta National Honorary Academic Fraternity Doctor of Architecture (Hon.), National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia, 2016 ALTOON | Strategic President & CEO Ronald Altoon’s goal is to provide advisory services to development and investment entities in creating their vision statement, optimizing strategic planning choices, orchestrating the consultant selection process, overseeing design efforts, and monitoring implementation of their vision to efficiently exceed investment goals. Prior to founding ALTOON | Strategic, for 30 years he was Founding Design Partner of Altoon Partners, the award-winning Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and Shanghai based planning, urban design, and architectural firm. He strategized the firm’s growth into global markets on all continents. His experience includes commercial mixed-use, retail repositioning, transit-oriented, higher education, residential, and historic preservation projects in 46 countries. Altoon lectures globally for the real estate industry and university programs, and is the author of seven books, including Retail Rescue: Visions + Strategies for Repositioning Distressed Retail Properties, and Urban Transformation: Transit Oriented Development and the Sustainable City which highlights many TOD Public Private Partnerships. He has three additional books in pre-publication draft, including one on ancient monasteries and churches. Ronald Altoon was 2011-13 Chair of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Los Angeles District Council, where he created ULI’s first Women’s Leadership Initiative. For ULI LA he participated on six TAPs, including ULI’s very first TAP studying the South Broadway Theater District, two ULI LA Los Angeles Airport Century Gateway TAPs, Jordan Downs, Huntington (Memorial Hospital) Healthy Community, and Los Angeles Convention Center “Plan B” TAPs. He served on organizing committees for the past two ULI Fall Meetings in Los Angeles. At the national/global level, Altoon was a member of the ULI New York/New Jersey World Trade Center Blue Ribbon Task Force, served ULI on its Awards of Excellence Jury, JC Nichols Prize Jury, Policy and Practice Committee, Programs Committee, and on several Plan Reviews. Altoon was the first practicing architect elected a Trustee of the International Council of Shopping Centers in its 63-year history. He has served on ICSC US and Global Design & Development Awards Juries. He has written two books for ICSC, and has taught at the ICSC University of Shopping Centers/Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and the ICSC West USC/Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California. A former National President of The American Institute of Architects (AIA), Ronald Altoon, FAIA previously organized and chaired the 1989 AIA Armenian Earthquake Urban Design Assistance Task Force in response to the devastating 1988 Spitak 6.8 Richter event where 50,000 people died. It was at that time where his three decades long interest in ancient monasteries and churches of Armenia began. In these past three decades he has provided parallel pro bono advice to several 501(c) 3 organizations, directing design efforts to achieve highly energy efficient buildings, including one, which in 2019 was awarded the USGBC LEED Earth designation, denoting the achievement of being the very first building in Armenia to earn LEED Certification.