MSU Rural Impact Studio

Matt is Managing Director at MASS Design Group where he co-leads the Santa Fe Office and Global Operations. Leveraging organizational design, he has supported MASS’s growth ten-fold in staff size and revenue while ensuring the organization remains mission focused.

Raised in Montana, Matt is committed to rural community development and is interested in ways design can strengthen community capital, enable civics, and convene dialogue around critical issues of economic disinvestment, climate change, and community identity. He now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is an active member of Atalaya Search & Rescue, an avid trail runner, climber, hunter, and fly fisherman.

Matt holds a Masters in Development Practice from Columbia University where he was the recipient of the U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship. Matt was also the recipient of a David L. Boren Fellowship, studying Kiswahili and entrepreneurial development programs in East Africa after graduating from Montana State University where he studied Business Management and Ethics.

Sarah Mohland joined MASS Design Group in 2011 as a founding member of the Kigali Office. Sarah has since contributed to nearly all of MASS’s built work in Rwanda. She now manages MASS projects in the Northern Rockies and is a faculty member of the School of Architecture at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana – bringing home the lessons she learned while leading the Kigali office for nine years.

Sarah has led the design and implementation of projects that span the typologies of higher education, primary education, housing, and healthcare. Most notably Sarah contributed to the design and construction of Butaro Doctors’ Housing, the Butaro Cancer Centre of Excellence, the Butaro Cancer Support Centre, and the University of Global Health Equity Student Housing. In all of her projects, she cultivates a deep engagement with local builders, material suppliers, and local agencies, as she seeks to challenge the building industry to improve construction standards and maximize impact during the construction process. With a deep investment in creating equitable opportunities within the design profession, Sarah has led several training initiatives at MASS, including forming the curriculum for the African Design Centre and leading the Design Build of Ruhehe Primary School. She has taught at the University of Rwanda, formerly known as the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology.

Sarah is from Great Falls, Montana, and earned a Master of Architecture from Montana State University and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Montana State University.