Paolo Riani is an Italian born architect and urban planner of award-winning projects worldwide spanning a professional career of over 30 years.
He began the formative years of his practice in the office of Kenzo Tange in Tokyo.
With a libera docenza (Italian Ph. D.) in architecture from the University of Florence he moved to New York City in 1971 where he became associate professor of architecture at Columbia University and worked as an architect and consultant to real-estate development firms on large-scale projects.
He has published several books and was a founder of the Italian architectural magazine L’Arca.
In 1994 he turned his attention to the political scene in Italy, where he was elected Senator of the Republic in his native constituency of Lucca in Tuscany.
Since September 2000, when the Foreign Minister of Italy appointed Mr. Riani as Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in New York City, his challenge has been to represent Italy’s enormous cultural heritage and its contemporary accomplishments to a discerning American audience.
His most recent work on urban planning projects addresses the complexities of sustainable growth.

Ira K. Glasser has twenty years of national experience in investment real estate marketing, development, asset management and financing.
An independent consultant since 1990, his current real estate clients include major insurance companies and banks. In addition to commercial real estate consulting, Mr. Glasser has for the last ten years also worked with human service and cultural non-profit entities in many capacities, particularly including board development and strategic planning.
A native New Yorker and twenty-seven year resident of San Francisco, he has an M.A. in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School and an M.S.W. in Social Development from San Francisco State University.
Mr. Glasser brings passion, attention to detail and creativity to all his work.

Frank P. Liantonio serves as an Executive Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., a global provider of real estate services. The firm represents corporations and institutions of all sizes, in the United States and in more than 40 countries around the world. Mr. Liantonio joined Cushman & Wakefield in 1981 to develop and grow the firm’s valuation practice in the Northeast. Mr. Liantonio is a member of the Board of Directors and a shareholder of the firm and also serves on the firm’s Compensation Committee.
Mr. Liantonio received his BA in Economics from Marist College, and professional designations include the MAI (Member of the Appraisal Institute) and the CRE (Member of the Counselors of Real Estate). Mr. Liantonio is a licensed broker in New York State and also a member of the Urban Land Institute, sitting on its Retail and Commercial Development Council.
Mr. Liantonio has been an active member of the American Cancer Society for over 25 years and currently serves as a member of its Long Island Advisory Council; in 2001, he was named Humanitarian of the Year. Mr. Liantonio is also active in his local community of Garden City and has served on two Mayor’s committees

Elizabeth Riani is a native of Atlanta, Georgia who relocated to Florence, Italy in 1980 to further her studies of Italian history of art and architecture. With a BFA summa cum laude in Interior Design from the University of Georgia she specialized in historic preservation, and has 20 years of experience working extensively on restoration and renovation projects of several historic landmark buildings in Italy, while continuing an on-going collaboration for various contemporary commercial and residential buildings with her architect-husband.
Mrs. Riani is the pragmatic, enthusiastic and detail-oriented partner of her husband Paolo in many of his institutional and creative endeavors, not least of which mothering their two sons Pietro and Fosco, born and raised in Italy. Her passion in conveying all the best Italy has to offer to her fellow Americans is what inspired her to serve as a founding director of the Italian Cultural Foundation.