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Institute for Sustainable Communities
Michael Crowley joined the ISC in January 2011 as Senior Program Officer with the U.S. Climate & Environment team.
Previously he was the Sustainability Program Manager at Environmental Health & Engineering (EH&E), an environmental consulting firm in Needham, MA. In that role, he helped clients develop robust institutional sustainability programs, and provided technical support ranging from change management to climate action planning and green building programming.
Prior to his position at EH&E, Michael was the Assistant Director of the Harvard University Green Campus Initiative (now the Office for Sustainability), where he established a green building program, managed a $12 million revolving loan fund for energy conservation projects, and led the strategic planning effort to develop a greenhouse gas reduction commitment for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Michael Crowley currently co-teaches the course “Planning for Carbon Neutrality: Practical
Methods for Greenhouse Gas Reduction” at the Harvard University Extension School.
Michael Crowley holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont, and an
MSc. in Environmental Science from Schumacher College/University of Plymouth.
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Center for Priority Based Budgeting
Chris co-founded the Center for Priority Based Budgeting, an incubator project with the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) located in Denver, CO. During his career, Chris has provided consulting and advisory services to numerous local governments across the country. His consulting experience has focused on public entities at all levels, advising top municipal managers, department heads and program directors from over 60 organizations concerning the fundamental business issues of local government. Of most significance, his work has centered on the budget process as a lever to produce results, accountability and change; performance and outcome-based management; purpose, productivity, and efficiency in operations; and rigorous financial analysis and strategy. Pursing the objectives of “Budgeting for Outcomes” (BFO), Chris was a partner of the consulting team that implemented BFO in Ft. Collins, Colorado, one of the leading organizations using this approach and is now assisting with their conversion to the Priority Based Budgeting model he developed in partnership with Jon.
Most recently Chris has served as a budget practitioner with Jefferson County, Colorado, where he incorporated the lessons learned from BFO into the development of the Priority Based Budgeting process. He holds a B.S. in engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.
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Jeff Friedman is the Co-Director of the recently launched Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, an in-house civic idea incubator that prototypes and pilots innovative, entrepreneurial projects in the civic space. Previously, Jeff was the Manager of Civic Innovation & Participation for the City of Philadelphia in the Office of Michael A. Nutter. He has led various initiatives to make City government (and urban governance generally) more open, participatory, transparent, and innovative. Projects include OpenDataPhilly, Code for America, Philly in Focus, and Change by Us Philly, all advanced by the OpenAccessPhilly movement, a government initiated movement of people working at the intersection of civic participation, technology, and innovation. Previously, Friedman was the Chief of Staff to the Chief Technology Officer in the Division of Technology, and Deputy Director of Performance Management/Project Manager for Philly311 implementation for the City of Philadelphia. Friedman earned his undergraduate degree from Temple University, where he also earned a law degree.
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The Forum for Youth Investment
Elizabeth helps executive and legislative policymakers improve youth policy in communities and states around the country. She oversees the Forum’s work on state and local policy issues; manages national partnerships and policy networks, including the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Network; and is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on children’s cabinets and councils.
Her writings include the YouthCount report, the Adding It Up Guide to Mapping Public Resources for Children, Youth and Families, and the Forum series of papers on state children’s cabinets and councils.
By the time she joined the Forum in 2005, Elizabeth had already built a career advocating for youth – a commitment that began when she spent seven years leading after-school and community-based programs for youth at the Atwood Community Center in Madison, Wis. She later served as youth policy analyst for Citizens for Missouri’s Children, a child and youth advocacy organization, where she lobbied state lawmakers, convened a youth development network and led the “Invest in Missouri’s Children” Campaign to secure tobacco settlement dollars for child and youth development activities.
A native of St. Louis, Mo., she attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Engagement Game Lab, Emerson College
Eric Gordon, PhD, Director, studies civic media, location-based media, and urban design. He is an associate professor in the department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College where he focuses on the design and research of digital games and social software that foster local civic engagement. He is the co-author of a new book about location-based media called Net Locality: Why Location Matters in a Networked World (Blackwell Publishing, 2011) and the author of The Urban Spectator: American Concept Cities From Kodak to Google (Dartmouth, 2010).
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National Development Council
Kevin Gremse is an economic development entrepreneur with two decades of experience in community economic development finance. Mr. Gremse has a full working knowledge of financial underwriting for business credit, commercial real estate, and residential development with a broad range of federal, local and state programs. He has assisted with the financial structuring of completed transactions exceeding $500 million.
As Director at National Development Council (NDC), Mr. Gremse has coordinated and delivered a multi-disciplined set of economic and housing development services, including technical assistance, training, and financial services to public and private sector clients, consisting of municipal economic development offices, community development corporations, and national financial institutions. Mr. Gremse is also a seasoned instructor for many of NDC’s economic and housing development finance courses and professional development program.
Mr. Gremse is a graduate of the University of Scranton and earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government. He serves on the board of directors for Catholic Charities of Fairfield County and the Community Capital Fund, a community development financial institution (CDFI). He lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children.
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Growing Local Economies, Inc.
An accomplished speaker and trainer, Christine has a background in both economic development and business research services. Her workshop topics include Supporting Local Entrepreneurs as an Economic Development Strategy, Starting an Economic Gardening Project, Meeting the Research Needs of Small and Growing Businesses, and The Role of Public Libraries in Economic Development. Over the past five years, she has made dozens of presentations to local, state, national, and international groups.
Christine has also provided consulting services to large and small communities to assist them in implementing an entrepreneurship support program. Recent clients have included the Association of Regional Economic Development Partners in Portland, Oregon; the Economic Development department of Douglas County, Colorado; and the Economic Develoment department of Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.
Previously, she served as the Economic Intelligence Specialist for the Business/Industry Affairs department of the City of Littleton, Colorado. In this position she provided strategic consulting, competitive intelligence, marketing support, and customized research to businesses within the
city as part of their Economic Gardening project. Prior to joining the City of Littleton, she owned an independent research company for five years and directed the professional Resource Center at the Colorado Department of Education for eleven years.
Since Christine's expertise encompasses both economic development and business research services, she is uniquely qualified to assist communities in implementing a local economic development project. Her particular passion and expertise is Economic Gardening, an entrepreneurial approach to economic development that seeks to support local entrepreneurs by focusing on the three pillars of information, infrastructure, and connections. She is also very
interested in linking local and regional community economic development efforts with public, community college, and university libraries.
Christine holds a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from UCLA and a master’s degree in religion and ethics from The Iliff School of Theology. She also holds a graduate certificate in Developing Web-Based Learning Environments from the University of Colorado, Denver, and has created and facilitated several online courses on marketing and developing internal locus of control, as well as an online tutorial on scholarly publishing.
Her article, “CI for Small Businesses: The City of Littleton’s Economic Gardening Program,” was published in the December 2004 issue of Competitive Intelligence magazine. She was profiled by the Special Libraries Association in the article, “Growing Businesses in a Colorado Garden,” Information Outlook, April, 2007. Christine's articles have also appeared in magazines and journals such as FreePint, the Rural Research Report, Library Journal, and CyberSkeptic.
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Mark is a writer, speaker and thought leader on communication technologies and open government. Self taught in programming, he has been developing telephone, mobile and speech recognition applications for almost 10 years, and is a certified developer with the VoiceXML forum. In August 2012, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter selected Mark as the City's first ever Chief Data Officer to oversee open data and transparency initiatives. He served for three years as the chief policy and budget advisor for the State of Delaware’s Department of Technology and Information. He has also served as Director of the Delaware Government Information Center, as Technology Adviser to former Delaware Governor Thomas R. Carper, and in the New York
State Senate as a budget and finance analyst. Mark has built open government software applications for the District of Columbia, the Sunlight Foundation, the New York State Senate, and the cities of New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Baltimore and Philadelphia. He is an organizer and participant in civic hacking events across the country. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and is a former adjunct instructor at the University of Delaware teaching a course in electronic government.
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Before moving to the U.S. in 2009 Claudia worked for 10 years on public policy design and implementation in Colombia for both government and non-government agencies (National Planning Department, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy). Her experience involves research, Policy planning and enforcement in fields such as environmental sustainability, urban planning and technologies of information and communication. She has also taught and coordinated academic programs at different universities in Bogotá and Seattle.
As Senior Program Officer Claudia has managed the progress of STAR Technical Advisory Committees addressing economic prosperity and equity and empowerment priorities by facilitating committee deliberations, conducting research, present findings and recommendations, and finalizing documents to meet program milestones.
Claudia was born and raised in Bogotá. She moved in 2009 to Seattle, WA and lived and worked there until recently, when she moved to Amherst, MA with her husband and newborn. She holds masters degrees in Environmental and Natural Resources Economics from Universidad de Los Andes and in Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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Daniella Hirschfeld, the technical manager at STAR Communities, has helped to build the national framework and rating system for sustainable communities. Previously, Daniella specialized in climate change adaptation building tools and creating trainings for local governments throughout the country as a program officer at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and as a NOAA Coastal Zone Management fellow. Daniella holds a Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and a BA from Dartmouth College.
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Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania
Lauren Hirshon is a digital native and was the 5,934th user to join Facebook. Currently, she directs the Research & Consulting practice affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate program in public policy and public administration - the Fels Institute of Government. In this capacity, she works with governments, public institutions, civic groups and nonprofits to enhance their effectiveness and impact. Prior to joining Fels, Ms. Hirshon spent close to six years at the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board, where she led a nationally-recognized campaign to advance adult workforce literacy levels and directed the organization’s communications strategies. Ms. Hirshon received her B.A. from Harvard College in Psychology, with a minor in French, and has taken over a half-dozen courses at the University of Pennsylvania on Organizational Dynamics. In 2008, she was identified as one of Philadelphia’s Emerging Connectors by Leadership Philadelphia and in April of 2010 she was selected to represent the Philadelphia Rotary Club in a Group Study Exchange to Greece. Outside of the office, Ms. Hirshon plays on four different touch football teams, and a basketball team.
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Center for Priority Based Budgeting
Jon is co-founder of the Center for Priority Based Budgeting, a non-profit Denver-based organization whose mission is to help local governments achieve Fiscal Health and Wellness during these challenging economic times. Jon has more than 25 years of experience as a practitioner in financial administration for municipalities, counties, school districts and public universities. Throughout his career as a finance/budget director, he has been responsible for the management of all aspects of local government finance operations for both small and large organizations. Jon brings with him not only the “hands-on” technical skills associated with the day-to-day financial operations of local governments, but also the ability to apply a diagnostic approach to the analysis needed to assess the fiscal health of an organization and the management experience to implement the resulting solutions from that diagnostic analysis.
Most recently, Jon served as the Director of Budget and Management Analysis for Jefferson County, Colorado. Previous to that position, he was Assistant Director of Finance for Douglas County, Colorado. Prior to moving to Colorado in 2002, Jon served as the Director of Finance for several municipalities in Missouri, including the City of Blue Springs, the City of Joplin, and the City of Kansas City (MO) Aviation Department. He has also been associated with ICMA as a Senior Management Advisor and with GFOA as a regional trainer and workshop presenter. Jon holds a B.A. in political science and a B.S. in accounting from Missouri Southern State University, as well as a master’s degree in College Administration from Pittsburg (KS) State University.
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Deliberative Democracy Consortium
Matt Leighninger is the Executive Director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (DDC), an alliance of the major organizations and leading scholars working in the field of deliberation and public engagement. The DDC represents more than 50 foundations, nonprofit organizations, and universities, collaborating to support research activities and advance democratic practice, in North America and around the world. Over the last eighteen years, Leighninger has worked with public engagement efforts in over 100 communities, in 40 states and four Canadian provinces. Leighninger’s first book, The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule is Giving Way to Shared Governance – and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same, traces the recent shifts in the relationship between citizens and government, and examines how these trends are reshaping our democracy. Two of his recent publications, Planning for Stronger Local Democracy (National League of Cities, 2011) and Using Online Tools to Engage – and be Engaged by – the Public (IBM Center for the Business of Government, 2011) provide practical suggestions for aspiring democracy-builders.
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National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy
Jeffrey Lubell became executive director of the Center for Housing Policy in 2006 and is a recognized expert in housing and community development policy. Prior to becoming head of the Center, Lubell worked as an independent consultant specializing in analyzing and developing recommendations for strengthening national, state and local housing and community development policy. From 2000 to 2003, he served as director of the policy development division of the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also worked from 1998 to
2000 as a housing policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit organization
that is one of the leading independent authorities on programs affecting low-income families. Lubell is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College.
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National Development Council
Daniel Marsh’s work in the field of economic and community development has spanned 35 years in the public, private and non-profit sectors and includes all aspects of community development. At the National Development Council (NDC), where he has served since 1986, Marsh is the head of NDC’s East Team, supervising and managing the work of six development professionals and providing services to public and non-profit community partners in the eastern United States and Puerto Rico. This work includes the creation and implementation of housing and community development strategies and economic development systems, real estate negotiations, financial analyses and creative deal structuring, and identification and procurement of financing. Familiarity with public resources and understanding public processes (HUD, SBA, EDA, etc.) is a key part of this practice. Marsh is also the President of the NDC Housing and Economic Development Corporation, NDC’s development and financing arm, and created its nationally recognized program using tax-exempt financing for public facility development.
Before joining NDC, Marsh served in a number positions for the City of Newburgh, New York, beginning as a project administrator and later administering the City’s CDBG program and then a variety of its economic development activities, including the creation of Newburgh’s first marketing and outreach strategies and programs. He then served as Executive Director of Newburgh’s Office of Economic Development, carrying out a revitalization program that brought over $100 million in investment to what had been one of the nation’s most economically distressed cities. During that same time, he was the founding director of the Newburgh Local Development Corporation and Executive Director of the City’s Industrial Development Agency, overseeing both the financing and development of key commercial and industrial real estate projects and created New York State’s first Small Issue Industrial Revenue Bond Pool.
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Meyerson, Bruce
American Bar Association
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Garret L. Nancolas is a native Idahoan who cherishes the beauty, quality of life, and outdoor opportunities afforded by this great state. He was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, October
9, 1956 and moving to Caldwell in 1961 where he has spent all but 13 months of the last 50 years.
In July of 1997 he ran for Mayor on a platform of teamwork, cooperation, community pride and vision to move this great City forward.
Since taking office in 1998, he has lived by the statement: “Teamwork – Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world”.
Garret has served as the First Vice President and President of the Association of Idaho Cites; two years as president of Sage Community Resources; First Chairman of Treasure Valley Regional Transportation Authority; First Vice President and President, Chairman of COMPASS.
Mayor Nancolas has a heart of compassion for the community of Caldwell and particularly its youth. As an example of his connecting with the youth is his successful effort to formulate a Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council for the purpose of bridging the gap between the community’s youth and civic leadership. This group has not only flourished under his guidance but they have gained nation-wide recognition as a success story and are frequently asked to share their accomplishments with other youth around the county.
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Institute for Sustainable Communities
Steve joined ISC as Vice President of Climate & Environment Programs in October 2008. Prior to that, he was Director of the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability & Environment for eight years, where he led several urban sustainability initiatives, including the development and implementation of the Seattle Climate Protection Initiative, winner of the 2007 Innovations in American Government Award. He co-authored Seattle’s first-ever climate action plan, as well as the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which sparked a national movement of more than 940 mayors taking local action on global warming and demanding stronger federal action. He also staffed the Mayor’s Green Ribbon Commission on Climate Protection, led the creation
of the Seattle Climate Partnership, a voluntary pact among more than 50 public and private institutions to reduce their global warming pollution, and established the Directors’ Climate Network, a coalition of environment directors and senior climate protection staff from about 20
U.S. cities.
From 1995-1998, Nicholas directed ISC's program in Macedonia. Known as the Democracy Network Project, it strengthened Macedonia’s fledgling democracy by building the capacity of nonprofit organizations through technical and financial assistance. Steve holds a Master of Public Policy from Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BA in Public Policy from Colby College.
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Center for Priority Based Budgeting
Kathie has 19 years of elected public service, eleven as a member of the Northglenn City Council, and an additional 8 years as Mayor. She was term-limited in 2010. During her time in public office, she served as President of the National League of Cities in 2009, and held numerous other leadership positions. She consults in the areas of leadership development, management training, team building, and facilitation. She has worked as an international consultant, specializing in program development, curriculum development, and training. Kathie has been a presenter and speaker at numerous national and international conferences.
She earned her Master of Science in Management from the University of Colorado at Denver, and has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and has been teaching management at the graduate and undergraduate level since 1991. She is currently a lecturer in the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, and a Senior Advisor with the Center for Priority Based Budgeting.
Her awards include the 2012 John V. Christensen Award for exemplifying the tradition of John V. Christensen in promoting and working for good, strong, representative local government and regionalism in solving mutual problems; “9NEWS Leader of the Year” for 2003, “Businesswoman of the Year,” awarded by the MetroNorth Chamber of Commerce, “Excellence in Teaching Award”, from Regis University, and was awarded an American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, for travel in Summer 2002.
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City of Nashville-Davidson
Ronnie Steine, a lifelong resident of Nashville, was re-elected to his fourth term as Metro Councilman at-Large in August of 2011. He previously served as Councilman-at-Large from 1991 to 1999 and returned in 2007. He was elected Nashville's fifth Vice Mayor in 1999 and served until his resignation in
2002. He is the former Co-Owner of Sailair Travel, Inc.
On the Council,Steine serves as Chair of the Rules and Confirmations Committee and is a member of the Budget and Finance and Parks,Library and Recreation Committees. He was Chair of Budget for 1996-97 and 2009-10, and elected Pro Tern, 1997-98. He is also on the Metro Greenways Commission and the Leadership Council of the Nashville Afterschool Zone Alliance. Steine recently served as Co-Chair of the Mayor's Blue-Ribbon Task Force to create a Child and Youth Master Plan. He is a member of the CYMP Advisory Team.
Steine has been an acknowledged leader during his time on the Council,as evidenced by the readers of the Nashville Scene naming him Best Metro Council Member for four consecutive years from 1994-97. He played a principal role in issues such as the General Hospitai-Meharry merger, the Titans' relocation to Nashville, the building of the Public Library system and the Music City Center; creation of the Tree Ordinance and the defeat of the English Only Amendment. Steine has been a strong supporter of increased education and public safety funding. Steine's leadership on youth issues led to the creation of the Mayor's Office of Children and Youth and the Mayor's Youth Council. He is a well-known advocate for quality-of-life issues such as the arts,sports, and greenways.
From 1995 until 2000,Steine served as Executive Director of the Oasis Center, a non-profit that focuses on teens and families. The job provided Steine with a strong understanding of the pressures, problems, and strengths of our youth. In 2008,he was appointed to the National League of Cities Youth,Education and Families Council and will be Co-Chair for 2011-12. He also serves as Chair of the Ready By 21
National Leadership Council.
In the course of his service, Steine has received several honors including: The National Alliance on Afterschool's National Champions Award; the 2011Greenways For Nashville Public Leadership Award; the Women's Political Caucus Good Guy Award; and was a 1999 finalist for the Arts Nonprofit CEO of the Year.
Locally, Steine serves on the boards of the Adventure Science Center, the Martha O'Bryan Promise Neighborhood Committee, the Oasis Center, and the United Neighborhood Health Services Board. Governor Phil Bredesen appointed him to the Tennessee Commission on Holocaust Education. He is a past President of his Synagogue, Congregation Micah and he is a graduate of Leadership Nashville, Leadership Music and Leadership Donelson-Hermitage.
Steine is a graduate of Vanderbilt and its Law School. He is married to Beverly Keel and he has one son, David,20. In his spare time,Steine, an avid fan of the Titans and the Predators,collects art and political memorabilia and loves tennis.
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As the Program Director for the STAR Community Index, Hilari manages the development and implementation of a national, voluntary, consensus-based framework for improving the livability and sustainability of U.S. communities. STAR is a collaborative initiative between ICLEI, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Center for American Progress.
Prior to joining ICLEI, Hilari was the Sustainability Director for Frederick County, Maryland. Hilari was responsible for advancing sustainability within government operations and decision- making processes as well as designing and implementing innovative community initiatives. She developed an internal Sustainable Action Team and planning process, established an appointed Sustainability Commission, and raised more than $2 million to support and sustain the office.
Hilari has been an active member of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network and a volunteer on the Planning & Design Technical Advisory Committee within the STAR Community Index program. She is an advisory board member to the Maryland Clean Energy Center and a strong advocate for developing local government networks around sustainability in both MD and the DC Metro area. Hilari ran a MD nonprofit focused on sustainability and Chesapeake Bay protection during the 2000s. Her academic background is in community resiliency, planning and environmental policy.
