Georgia Petropoulos Muir has been the Executive Director of the Oakland Business Improvement District since 2004.  She provides the leadership required to advance the organization’s vision to be recognized as a vibrant and dynamic business district that sets the national standard for other commercial districts’ growth and innovation.  Prior to joining OBID, Georgia served as the interim Executive Director and the Director of Economic Development at the Northside Leadership Conference.  Trained in architecture, Georgia has also worked at various architecture firms where she was involved in both commercial and residential design projects.  Drawing on her experience in design and in community and economic development, Georgia is currently spearheading a digital based infrastructure project called Innovation Oakland: fueled by state of the art technologies, Innovation Oakland will combine art, design, place making and way finding solutions to create new interactive public destinations.  Georgia is a member of the City of Pittsburgh DESIGNPGH Management Committee, the UPMC Environmental Initiatives Program Steering Committee and the University of Pittsburgh Community Partners Program Advisory Board.  She is a past member of the Environmental Design Research Association and the American Institute of Architects.  Georgia was the past president of the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh board of directors and the past President of the Oakland Rotary Club of Pittsburgh.  She currently serves on the boards of the Oakland Transportation and Management Association and Peoples Oakland and she previously served on the board of the North Side Community Loan Fund.

Georgia enjoys traveling and she has visited various countries throughout Europe and Africa.  Most notable are her travels to West Africa where, in 2007, she participated in the Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange program to Nigeria and in 2010, she led a team of professionals to Ghana for the First International Cross –Diseases Conference on Disability Prevention in the Developing World.  Georgia also enjoys to teach, she has taught architectural design courses at the University of Pittsburgh and she has also instructed courses in Pittsburgh planning and development for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit Continuing Education Program of Pennsylvania.

Georgia is a Leadership Pittsburgh graduate and in 2004 she was featured in the Pittsburgh Business Times People to Watch section.  Georgia earned a Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies and in French Language and Literature from the University of Pittsburgh and she earned a Masters of Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.