Mardie Oakes

Overview

Architecture has inspired Mardie Oakes since she was a child. Believing that innovative design could create stronger communities and healthier lives she attended Rice University School of Architecture. Mardie spent five years as a nonprofit housing developer in the Fifth Ward Houston s lowest income community. There she co created an exhibition and demonstration project 16 Houses Owning a House in the City in partnership with the Rice School of Architecture and Diverse Works Artspace. As a result Mardie recognized the need for creative financing and for building bridges across disciplines to help make cutting edge projects a reality. After earning an MBA from Harvard Business School she moved to San Francisco to serve as Director of Lending for a nonprofit bank where she invested $20 million of private capital into affordable housing projects in the Bay Area.