Company

Leadership

Michael Maas - Chairman of the Board

Dr. Maas is the founding principal in the firm and is recognized as one of the premier planning consultants working in both the public and private sectors in California. He is considered an expert in educational master planning, facility planning, site acquisition and entitlement processing.

He has first-hand knowledge of not only educational programming requirements, but also the ability to develop financial plans to ensure successful implementation of the plans developed. His understanding of agency approval requirements and how to incorporate elements of reason into the planning process has earned him special recognition by both educational institutions and local/state agencies.

Prior to forming his own company in 1987, Dr. Maas served in a number of administrative positions, including Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Vice-President for Student Services, and Vice-President for Planning and Development in large community college districts in California.

Mac McGinnis - Vice President of Development

Mac McGinnis has over 25 years of experience working in the design and construction industry. As Vice President of Development Services, his responsibilities include Program, Project and Construction Management services wherein he provides oversight for all construction projects in several major Community College District Bond Funded Capital Programs. He has personally planned, overseen and executed designer and contractor procurement, master scheduling, estimating, cost control, and project reporting.

Additionally, Mr. McGinnis has overseen the establishment of program standards and procedures, District design standards, and specialty design standards. He has managed and overseen all aspects of the program, project and construction management elements of major capital programs.

Lori O'Keefe - Vice President of Planning and Administration

Lori O'Keefe (formerly Maas) has sixteen years of experience in California Education and holds a Master�s Degree in Education. She has worked in all levels within the system ranging from elementary education to post-secondary institutions and is recognized by the University of California as a mentor in the fields of curriculum and teaching strategies.

Over the past two years, Ms. O'Keefe, in cooperation with faculty, staff and administrators has successfully written eight Educational Master Plans for community colleges in California. She places great importance on coordinating all planning activities with trustees, administrators, faculty, staff and students to ensure that the approved master plan is the result of a truly collaborative and integrated process. She has presented seminars on master planning as well as how to integrate the institution's master planning activities with accreditation standards and strategic planning.

Ms. O'Keefe is also a certified administrator of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and STRONG Interest Inventory. She utilizes both of these instruments to assist students, recent graduates and employees in identifying areas of education and employment that best align with their interests, skill sets and goals.

Lori O'Keefe's responsibilities include active involvement in master planning activities for clients and the coordination of Administrative Services.

Georges Merx - Vice President of Educational Technology

Dr. Merx brings to MAAS a decades-long passionate involvement with both commercial information technology and adult teaching. As a full- and part-professor at various colleges and universities in Southern California, Dr. Merx, who holds a PhD in Education from Claremont Graduate University, as well as a Master's in Business Administration from San Diego State University, experienced first-hand the strengths, as well as the risks and weaknesses of the adult education system in the United States.

And as a software engineer, project, program, and product manager, and in various executive positions with companies in the U.S. and Europe, including NCR, AT&T, Fujitsu/ICL, AO Foundation and QUALCOMM, Dr. Merx learned that customers come first, and that they expect their accurate solutions on time, on budget, and according to their requirements.