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James L. Applegate serves as Vice President for Program Development at the Lumina Foundation. In this role, he leads in development of the Foundation’s funding programs supporting achievement of “Goal 2025” to dramatically increase educational attainment in the U.S, especially for low income, first generation, minority, and adult students. That work includes strategic implementation of effective practices and policies supporting increases in the number of prepared students entering higher education, the number of students succeeding in college, and in the productivity and capacity of the system to provide many more people high quality credentials.
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Marice Ashe is the Executive Director of ChangeLab Solutions (formerly Public Health Law & Policy), a nonprofit national technical assistance center offering public health leaders access to high quality legal resources for public health campaigns related to both chronic and communicable disease control. In this position she has launched and directs multiple pioneering efforts to improve public health outcomes through the use of law and policy.
Marice directs the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network (NPLAN) to Prevent Childhood Obesity, which is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of its $500 million commitment to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. She directs Planning for Healthy Places, which integrates built environment and economic development strategies into public health practice. She also directs the Technical Assistance Legal Center (TALC), funded by the California Department of Public Health to provide legal technical assistance to tobacco control advocates statewide. ChangeLab Solutions is a national technical assistance provider to the Center for Disease Control’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work and Community Transformation Grants initiatives.
Marice is a frequent speaker at public health conferences throughout the nation, and she consults with federal and state agencies on how best to incorporate legal and policy tools into public health strategies. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and received her MPH and JD from the University of California at Berkeley.
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James Barnes has been Director of the Community Development Department in the City of Lawrence, Massachusetts since September 2008. Reporting to the Mayor he directs a staff of 15 in administration of Federal and State community development and housing grants.
Prior to joining the City Mr. Barnes was Deputy Regional Administrator in the Boston Office of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In that capacity he served as chief of staff and principal advisor to the Regional Administrator for the New England region. In his 36-year career at HUD Mr. Barnes worked in leadership positions throughout the country, including Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston.
Before HUD, Mr. Barnes was a VISTA volunteer in a non-profit housing corporation in Milwaukee.
He graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont with a B.A. in economics in 1969, and received his MBA from DePaul University in l986. In 2003 Mr. Barnes was a fellow in the Council for Excellence in Government leadership program, Washington, DC.
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Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative
John Barros is a lifelong Dudley Street area resident. He was elected Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI)'s Executive Director in 2000.
Mr. Barros was born in Roxbury. In 1991, at age 17, he was the first young person elected to the DSNI Board of Directors, triggering a more visible, active presence of youth across the organization. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1996, Mr. Barros served as Vice President of the DSNI Board and of Dudley Neighbors, Inc., the community land trust created to assure permanent affordable housing.
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Zach manages the Austin Climate Protection Program in the City of Austin’s Office of Sustainability where he oversees the implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies across the City. He holds an MBA from the Presidio Graduate School and undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from Purdue University.
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Federal Emergency Management Agency
Doug Bellomo, P.E. is a civil engineer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington, DC. He is currently the Director of the Risk Analysis Division within the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration at FEMA. Division responsibilities include flood hazard mapping as part of the National Flood Insurance Program, Natural Hazard Risk Assessment, Mitigation Planning, as well as implementing the National Dam Safety program. Mr. Bellomo is a professional engineer and holds a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering. He has been working in the fields of flood hazard identification, risk management, and mitigation since 1993.
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Jeremy Bersin is the Marketing Coordinator at MassChallenge. In his role, he works with the Marketing team to plan, create and distribute marketing content both internally and externally through multiple distribution channels. Additionally, Jeremy leads various special projects to improve internal operations at MassChallenge.
Prior to MassChallenge, Jeremy has worked with many startups in the web and mobile space. His passion has always been in the healthcare space, specific to mental health and personal tracking systems. Since 2002, Jeremy has worked as a mental health advocate, after co-founding a program dedicated to educating his community about the warning signs of suicide and depression. He has sat on numerous state and national advisory boards dedicated to suicide and substance abuse prevention. Jeremy graduated from the University of Connecticut with a B.A. in political science and sociology and has worked on projects with actress Glenn Close, BringChange2Mind and DailyFeats.
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Barry Bluestone is the Stearns Trustee Professor of Political Economy, the founding director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy (CURP), and the Founding Dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. The Center is a “think and do tank” devoted to research and policy in the areas of housing, workforce development, local economic development, manufacturing, and transportation. The public policy school has been designed to more closely link Northeastern with the broader community, focusing on many of the critical challenges facing the city, the region, and the nation.
Bluestone is author of hundreds of articles and monographs and co-author of eleven books. He received his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Amy Bolten is an integral member of the Energy Resources Group at Sonoma County Water Agency which is focused on realizing the Agency’s goal of delivering Carbon Free Water by 2015. She is responsible for the external coordination of the Agency’s portfolio of renewable energy and sustainability projects. Additionally she is working with a team across the nation to build Applied Solutions, a national coalition of local governments working to develop tools and mechanisms for clean energy and water-efficient public systems. Prior to Sonoma County Water Agency, Amy worked at Christopherson Homes to develop residential green building standards and as a researcher and project manager at Chiron Corporation. Amy has earned a B.S. in Chemistry from California State University at Chico, an M.S. in Chemistry from the University of San Francisco and an M.B.A. from University of San Francisco.
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The City of Hillsboro Oregon hired Peter Brandom as its first Sustainability Manager in 2008. He has worked in sustainability and environmental policy development and implementation since 1997. Peter has helped the City of Hillsboro establish its first comprehensive Sustainability Plan encompassing 13 departments. Key work has included establishment of city-wide sustainability governance, the City’s first inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, long term sustainability goals, and various specific engagements and incentives for city residents and businesses. The city has achieved significant improvements in facility energy and other efficiencies and cost savings, and is leading public/private sustainability efforts for the Hillsboro community.
Peter was born and raised in Colorado where he completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Denver in 1995. He also completed a Master of Science with Distinction at the University of Edinburgh in 2001.
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Mayor Carl Brewer is a native of Wichita, Kansas. Carl has served the community as a member of the Wichita City Council, representing District 1 from 2001 to 2007. Carl now serves as the first African American elected Mayor for the City of Wichita. He is a member of the NLC Board.
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Robert Cantoreggi has been the Director of the Department of Public Works in Franklin, MA since 2005. He is directly accountable to the Town Manager and City Council for all operations of the Department of Public Works in the following areas: Engineering, Highways, Grounds, Solid Waste, Recycling Station, Street Lighting, and Water and Sewer. Prior to joining Franklin, Mr. Cantoreggi was the Director of the Department of Public Works in Millis, MA. Mr. Cantoreggi has also worked for the Town of Norwood MA and the City of Cambridge MA and has been the Chairman of the Town Planning Board in Millis, MA since 2003. He was a 1st Lieutenant in the United States Army from 1989 to 1993 stationed at Fort Ord in Monterey, CA. Mr. Cantoreggi has a Bachelor of Science Degree(s) in Business and in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He is licensed in Water Distribution and Water Treatment. Mr. Cantoreggi was selected to testify on EPA National Stormwater rulemaking in Washington D.C., where he represented communities with populations of less than 100,000. Mr. Cantoreggi has spoken locally, regionally and nationally on stormwater, water conservation and union employee / management operations. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Coalition for Resources Stewardship and Norfolk Bristol Middlesex Highwaymen’s Association. Mr. Cantoreggi resides in Millis, MA where he is also a Farmer.
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Rafael Carbonell has served Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development as Deputy Director for the Office of Business Development since Sept. 2009. He oversees a number of programs and initiatives designed to create jobs, and encourage new and existing businesses that enhance the vitality of Boston’s neighborhoods. Mr. Carbonell also oversees the nationally recognized Boston Main Streets program that Mayor Thomas M. Menino brought to the City in 1995.
Prior to his work with the City of Boston, Mr. Carbonell launched and ran Thrive, a start-up, regional economic development enterprise for the eight-county region of Madison, Wisconsin (pop. 1 million). As Executive Vice President, he oversaw the strategic planning and project implementation for Thrive’s $1.2 million annual budget, assisted with the recruitment and oversight of the organization’s 20-member board and staff, and guided a $4.6 million fundraising campaign.
Prior to Thrive, Mr. Carbonell served as Director of Regional Economic Development for the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. And he also spent three years in Buenos Aires, Argentina as a founding member of the management team and the Director of Business Development & Marketing for Livra, a successful technology start-up that now employs over 60 people with expanded operations in Brazil, Mexico, Portugal and Spain.
Rafael was born in Boston and raised in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he learned to appreciate the realities and excitement of being an entrepreneur thanks to his parents, their small business and several family start-ups. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from Boston College with a focus on Spanish and International Business, and studied abroad at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain. Rafael was also a Fellow for the Ford Foundation’s Regional Sustainable Development Fellowship and is currently a “Connector” with Boston World Partnerships, which promotes Boston globally. His wife Sol is from Buenos Aires and they live in Boston’s beautiful Savin Hill neighborhood in Dorchester with their newborn daughter Sofia and high-energy pooch Sani.
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Katherine Carttar is a Cookingham-Noll Fellow in the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s Office of the City Manager, where she works to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of city services through data-driven performance analysis. In addition to her work in municipal management, Carttar has public sector experience in nonprofit fundraising and program design, and international development through her service in the Peace Corps. She received Bachelor of the Arts degrees in economics and history from Boston College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Kansas.
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As the Assistant City Manager for the City of Maricopa, Ms. Casey manages and oversees the Economic Development, Community Services, and Development Services Departments as well as the Marketing and Communications Division. She previously served as the City’s Economic Development Director. Ms. Casey has managed a number of noteworthy tasks in the establishment of the City’s economic development office, including the creation and implementation of the City’s Business Retention and Expansion Program and a City-wide branding initiative and Economic Development Strategic Plan. The creation of the City’s Redevelopment District Area Plan was also developed under her purview, receiving multiple grant awards in its first year. Prior to joining the City of Maricopa, Ms. Casey attained significant experience in the non-profit sector working in fundraising, marketing, and event and membership management. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Arizona State University and Master’s of Administration from Northern Arizona University, serves as Vice President for the Arizona Association for Economic Development, and is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) as well as a certified Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP).
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Cisneros, Jose
City of San Francisco
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National Association of State Energy Officials
Chuck Clinton serves as Senior Advisor and Lead Regional Coordinator for NASEO, an organization of which he was a founding officer and a long time board member. At NASEO, his responsibilities include assisting states and localities in both spending their State Energy Program (SEP) funds wisely and in searching out other revenue streams to expand their programmatic reach to achieve energy efficiency in the state.
Previously he started and led the DC Energy Office as its director for twenty nine years. While DCEO director, he served as national chair of the NLC Conference of Local Energy Officials, a board member of the Urban Consortium Energy Task Force, and a member for several terms of the State Energy Advisory Board.
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Melodee Colbert Kean is president of Prayerful Portions, LLC, a small business consulting firm. Together with her husband, William, they assist small businesses with income growth strategies and sustainable operations. She is also a MO Licensed Realtor with Charles Burt Realtors.
As an elected official since April 2006, Melodee is committed to community and civic services. She is the Mayor of Joplin on the Joplin Missouri City Council. She has been instrumental in ensuring Joplin is represented on the federal level by being an active board member of the National League of Cities, an organization which advocates and promotes cities agendas to White House Administration and congressional reps.
Melodee serves on the Missouri Municipal Leagues Economic Development & Human Resources Board and is also a Governors Appointee to the Missouri Women’s Council, which assists women interested in starting a business, as well as being a resource for those already running a business.
She also serves the educational sector by being on the Missouri Southern State University Robert Plaster School of Business Advisory Board, helping to develop policy and program initiatives to grow the business school. As VP of Joplin Metro Credit Union Board, a member of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce Board, the N.A.A.C.P Joplin Branch, the Discover Downtown Alliance and VP of the Joplin Emancipation Committee, Melodee remains focused on growing the economic environment and developing the cultural and arts entertainment offering in Joplin.
A graduate of Missouri Southern State University with a Marketing Degree, Melodee’s career experience includes managerial and business development, negotiations, retail management, budgeting, customer service, leadership and motivational speaking.
A lifelong Joplin resident, Melodee and her husband William Kean Jr., have two daughters in college, a son in the Marine Corps, and a daughter in first grade. Melodee is a member of Unity Missionary Baptist Church serving as Assistant Recording Secretary.
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Darden Restaurants, Inc., the world's largest full-service restaurant company, owns and operates more than 1,900 restaurants that generate over $8 billion in annual sales. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida and employing 180,000 people, Darden is recognized for a culture that rewards caring for and responding to people. In 2012, Darden was named to the FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the second year in a row. Our restaurant brands - Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52 and Eddie V's - reflect the rich diversity of those who dine with us. Our brands are built on deep insights into what our guests want.
In her role, Susan leads Darden’s efforts to build crucial relationships with key state and local office holders, administrative agencies and regulators. Additionally, she represents Darden before state legislative organizations and serves as Darden’s primary contact with state and local associations and allies.
Susan brings more than a decade of related experience to her role at Darden. Most recently, she was Government Relations Manager for McDonald’s USA where she directed state and local advocacy for the Eastern United States. Prior to that, she was Director of State Affairs for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, serving as their primary legislative and regulatory advocate in the Northeast. She also has worked for the Office of State Rep. David T. Donnelly, Chairman of the Massachusetts House Committee on the Judiciary. There, she managed a professional staff of 15, advised the Chairman on legislative initiatives, and researched and drafted testimony for committee hearings and floor debates.
Susan earned her M.B.A. in Finance and Organizational Behavior at Suffolk University in Boston and her Bachelor of Arts degree in English at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH.
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San José Councilmember Pete Constant represents Council District 1, the region of West San José bordering Santa Clara, Saratoga, Cupertino and Campbell. Re-elected in June 2010, he first took office in January 2007 and has since focused on public safety, economic development, open government, and regional land planning. Councilmember Constant is currently appointed to the Rules and Open Government, Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support, and Neighborhood Services and Education Committees for the City of San José.
Prior to serving as a San José Councilmember, Constant served for 14 years as a San José Police Officer. After suffering a career-ending injury during an undercover operation, he continued his public service on the San José Appeals Hearing Board and as a neighborhood association leader. He is vice chair of NLC’s PSCP Committee.
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Brian graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Urban and Regional Planning. During college he worked for Michigan Department of Transportation before coming to Houston. In Houston, he has had the opportunity to help revise “one size fits all” type of ordinances and developing rules that recognize the uniqueness of areas without drawing zoning type boundaries. His most recent work efforts include Houston’s parking ordinance revisions and land development code. In his private time, Brian is involved with BikeHouston, a non-profit organization that works to secure equitable access for bicyclists to regional facilities, lands and roads; educates members of the public and policymakers about rights and responsibilities of bicyclists; and promotes public awareness of the personal and community benefits of cycling. In addition, he also has been involved in “Better Block” which is a project that provides a one-day living workshop of how a “Complete Street‟ works, by actively engaging the community, helping them to visualize better outcomes for the future, and empowering them to provide feedback in real time.
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John Hancock Financial Services
Tom Crohan is Assistant Vice President & Counsel for Corporate Responsibility & Government Relations at John Hancock Financial. In this role, he oversees the company’s overall corporate responsibility strategy, directs its philanthropic-giving programs, and provides counsel on federal, state and city government relations.
Prior to joining John Hancock, Tom worked for the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) for eight years, and briefly for interim Sen. Paul Kirk (D-Mass.).
He is a cofounder and Vice President of the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund and serves on the Board of Directors of the Boston Public Library Foundation. Additionally, he serves on the Advisory Boards of the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, the Home Base Program and Camp Harbor View. He is a member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s Future Leaders Class of 2010 and was recently named one of the Chamber’s Ten Outstanding Young Leaders.
Tom earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science & Communication from the University of New Hampshire, and a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School.
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In February 2012, Henrietta Davis was elected Mayor of the City of Cambridge. She previously served eight terms on the Cambridge City Council, and as the City’s Vice Mayor. She has also served four terms on the Cambridge School Committee.
During her time as an elected official, Mayor Davis has focused on children and families, energy and the environment, non-auto transportation, neighborhood preservation, and aging in Cambridge.
Mayor Davis serves as chair of the Cambridge School Committee, chair of the city’s coordinating council on children and families (the Kid’s Council) and for many years has been co-chair of the award winning Healthy Children Task Force, focusing on prevention efforts.
For many years she was the Chair of the Council’s Environment Committee and she led the Council to adopt a Green Building policy for all new city buildings. She counts as significant accomplishments the commitment of Cambridge to purchase 20% renewable energy for its municipal needs.
Mayor Davis is a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Association Energy and Environmental Policy Committee. She is the current chair of the NLC International Council. Mayor Davis has also served as the past Chair of the National League of Cities’ Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
She is proud to say that Cambridge is the 2012 #1 Walking City in the U.S, according to Prevention Magazine.
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National Fund for Workforce Solutions
Fred Dedrick is the first executive director of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (NFWS), which supports local funding collaboratives investing in workforce partnerships that recruit, train, place, retain, and advance new and incumbent workers in key industry sectors.
Mr. Dedrick has more than 30 years of experience in addressing local and regional needs, including improving workforce development through partnerships. Most recently, he served as Pennsylvania’s deputy secretary for workforce development, overseeing roughly $150 million in federal and state workforce funding. He also served on the executive committee of JOIN, Philadelphia’s regional collaborative supported by the National Fund for Workforce Solutions.
Prior to his tenure as deputy secretary, Mr. Dedrick was the executive director of Pennsylvania’s statewide Workforce Investment Board, developing recommendations for Governor Ed Rendell regarding workforce policy and strategy. He also has held various leadership roles statewide and in Philadelphia that involved attracting new businesses, developing industry-specific education programs, and engaging in other workforce-related activities.
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Alex Dews is Policy and Program Manager for the City of Philadelphia Mayor's Office of Sustainability. Alex focuses on project implementation and progress tracking for Greenworks Philadelphia, the city's comprehensive sustainability framework. In addition, he manages green building policy and greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation planning efforts. Alex holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Design from Philadelphia University, where he is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Architecture.
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Grenada Economic Development District
In August of 2009, Pablo Diaz was named Executive Director of the Grenada County Economic Development District.
Pablo holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting from the University of Yucatan, a Masters degree in Economic Development from the University of Southern Mississippi, he is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute by the University of Oklahoma, and he is a Certified Economic Developer by the International Economic Development Council.Pablo has extensive experience working for local and regional economic development organizations. Pablo was formerly employed as Business Retention and Expansion Manager in Martin County, Florida, where he created and implemented a retention and expansion program named among the top 10 programs in the U.S. and Canada in 2006. Before moving to Florida, Pablo worked for the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation in Meridian, Mississippi. Pablo and his wife Amber have one child and reside in Grenada, Mississippi.
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Dodd, Daniel
Step Up Savannah
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The Mayor’s Office of Jobs and Community Services (JCS) is an agency within the City’s Economic Development Cabinet, which manages $25+ million in Federal, State and local funds investing in upgrading the skills and education of Boston residents enhancing their ability to access family-sustaining wage jobs, continue their education, and support Boston employers’ needs for high quality workers. Providing workforce development grants management, program development, direct service and community convening, JCS also works closely with the Boston Redevelopment Authority to coordinate workforce with economic development projects. Additionally, JCS manages several city-wide grant programs including: a collaboration with the State for Adult Literacy; the Human Services portion of Boston’s CDBG funding; a regional VITA grant from the IRS for tax preparation for EITC eligible residents; a new USDoL grant designed to training and connect area residents to Lab Technician positions; and oversees Boston’s state youth summer/year-round employment programming. JCS also provides direct service programming through: ReadBoston – a children’s (0 to 3rd grade) literacy program; WriteBoston – a teacher coaching, and direct student support for writing in Boston’s public high schools; and Youth Options Unlimited, a youth re-entry program providing case management, transitional jobs and alternative education for court and gang involved youth.
A graduate of Braintree MA public schools, Ms. Doty is an honors graduate of Boston College, with a major in Social Sciences. Participant in the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program for Management Development, Spring 1994.
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Kevin Dow was appointed by Mayor Michael A. Nutter as the Chief Operating Officer of the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Commerce in June 2009. He also serves as the Deputy Director of Commerce for Neighborhood and Business Services. In this senior management role, Mr. Dow leads a team dedicated to coordinating the work of related agencies to develop business friendly strategies to help attract and retain both small businesses and major corporations in Philadelphia, as well as to spur growth across key industry sectors. As of July 2012, his leadership responsibilities were expanded to include the integration of the Labor Standards Unit into the Commerce Department, which is charged with the monitoring and compliance of “prevailing wages” on all publicly funded real estate projects.
Mr. Dow’s career started in the private sector and encompassed almost 20 years. Prior to his appointment at the Commerce Department, he was Vice President of Community Affairs for Wachovia Bank, where he was responsible for directing the corporate philanthropic and employee engagement strategies for the northern region of the company. This region included over 11,000 employees within seven states between Connecticut and Virginia, as well as Washington D.C. and encompassed over $13 million in annual community investments primarily through the Wachovia Foundation.
Currently, Mr. Dow is the Chairman and President of the Vine Memorial Federal Credit Union, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Philadelphia Academies Inc., and serves on the Board of Directors for the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Philadelphia Advisory Board for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the Philadelphia Multicultural Affairs Congress. Additionally, he serves as a Mayoral appointee in several capacities including, the Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success, the Philadelphia International Airport Advisory Board, the Office of Economic Opportunity Advisory Board, the Mayor’s Commission on Construction Industry Diversity and the Philadelphia Community Development Corporation.
Mr. Dow earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Finance from Morehouse College and a Masters in Business Administration from Saint Joseph’s University. He is certified as a Diversity Practitioner as well.
Mr. Dow is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and is a native Philadelphian, currently residing in the Mount Airy neighborhood with his wife Kim and their two children.
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Kelley Dunne, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Novation Broadband has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and is recognized as an industry pioneer in deploying some of the first 4G broadband wireless capacities across the country. Kelley’s career journey has always been grounded in his deep sense of purpose. His unique combination of telecommunications expertise, business acumen and commitment to service will allow Novation Broadband to expand its impact in underserved communities around the world. Prior to joining Novation Broadband, Kelley was CEO of One Economy Corporation, a 12 year old global non-profit that brings broadband and technology to low income communities in the United States and in 14 countries around the world. Kelley was also founder and CEO of Digital Bridge Communications Corporation, a provider of broadband wireless to small and medium-sized communities. He has also held leadership positions with One Point Communications, AT&T Bell Labs and Verizon, where he launched Verizon’s Rural Broadband Initiative, leading some of the most innovative broadband wireless deployments in rural markets, Native American reservations, low-income housing areas and U.S. military bases. Kelley who grew up in a military family also served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as both an enlisted service member and an officer. Kelley received his BS degree in Communications Systems Management from Ohio University and his MS degree in Information and Communications Sciences from Ball State University.
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Susan S. Fainstein is a Senior Research Fellow in the Harvard Graduate School of Design; she joined the faculty in 2006 as a professor of urban planning and retired from teaching in 2012. Her latest book The Just City was published in 2010 by Cornell University Press.
Her research interests include planning theory, urban theory, urban redevelopment, and comparative urban policy focusing on the United States, Europe, and East Asia. She received the Distinguished Educator Award of the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), which recognizes lifetime career achievement.
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Flacke, Timothy
Doorways to Dreams
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As First Deputy Commissioner, Parks & Facilities, Mr. Focht is responsible for operations, maintenance, planning, capital, property management, urban forestry, ecosystem management and security for Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR). PPR is a 10,100 acre system comprised of 197 passive parks, 55 recreation centers, 97 playgrounds and 71 outdoor swimming pools.
Mr. Focht holds Bachelor of Science and Masters degrees in landscape architecture from Pennsylvania State University and the University of Massachusetts, respectively, and is a PA licensed landscape architect.
Prior appointments include Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park System; Director of the park’s Environment, Stewardship & Education Division and Director of Capital Projects for the Center City District (Philadelphia, PA), a private sector business improvements district. Additionally, Mr. Focht has over ten years experience with two multi-disciplinary design firms and was an adjunct professor in Temple University’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture from1989-2010.
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NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley
Joe Garlick has been the Executive Director of NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley since 1994. Prior to joining NWBRV, Joe worked in the Planning Department for the City of Woonsocket. He has a Masters Degree in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University and a Bachelors Degree in Humanities from Providence College.
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Cristina Gibson is the Director of the Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Branch of the Coastal Health District, which is the umbrella organization over the 8 County Health Departments along the coast of Georgia. She is also Chair of the Healthy Savannah Steering Committee, an adjunct professor for the Health Sciences Department at Armstrong Atlantic State University and a hip-hop dance instructor for Memorial Health University Medical Center’s Fitness One. She received her undergraduate biology/chemistry/pre-med degree from Immaculata College (now University!) and earned her Master in Public Health from Armstrong Atlantic State University.
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Gilmartin, Daniel
Michigan Municipal League
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Goldberg, Heidi
National League of Cities
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Stephen Goldsmith is the Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and the Director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He currently directs the Mayoral Performance Analytics Initiative at Harvard, a project to highlight local government efforts to use new technologies that connect breakthroughs in the use of big data analytics with community input to reshape the relationship between government and citizen and create large-scale governance reforms. He previously served as Deputy Mayor of New York and Mayor of Indianapolis, where he earned a reputation as one of the country's leaders in public-private partnerships, competition, and privatization. Stephen was also the chief domestic policy advisor to the George W. Bush campaign in 2000, the Chair of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the district attorney for Marion County, Indiana from 1979 to 1990. He has written the The Power of Social Innovation; Governing by Network: the New Shape of the Public Sector; Putting Faith in Neighborhoods: Making Cities Work through Grassroots Citizenship and The Twenty-First Century City: Resurrecting Urban America.
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As the Chief of Human Services for the City of Boston, Daphne Griffin is the first Latino-American appointed to serve in this capacity. She oversees six city departments with a combined budget of $34 million. Griffin is responsible for departments including Boston Centers for Youth & Families (BCYF), The Boston Youth Fund, and The Commission on Affairs of the Elderly, Veterans Services, The Office of Civil Rights, Disabilities Commission and The Women’s Commission.
In addition to Daphne’s duties as Chief, she continues to serve as the Executive Director of Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF.) BCYF is Boston’s largest youth and human service agency, overseeing 33 community centers which serve 90,000 residents annually and are located in nearly every neighborhood in Boston. Among the many programs offered by BCYF are the City’s Recreation programming, many after and out-of-school time programs; adult education and the Streetworkers Program, a national model for effective youth prevention and intervention services.
Prior to her appointment by the Mayor, Daphne Griffin was the Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, Blue Hill Club and for over 10 years worked for Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston in various capacities serving youth throughout the City. During this time she served on several national advisory boards for Boys & Girls Clubs of America and consulted with many Boys & Girls Clubs across the country. Ms. Griffin also serves on a variety of local and national boards that focus on youth development, education, and technology.
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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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Lisa Hemmerle, CPA, MPA is the Deputy Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), Boston’s urban planning and economic development agency. Lisa is a highly skilled economic development professional with a strong track record in strategic planning, business development, and project management. She currently supervises and manages a team charged with developing, promoting, and implementing strategies to attract new business to Boston and retain existing Boston businesses. Prior to working for the BRA, Lisa founded a nonprofit in New Hampshire and worked for KPMG LLP as a consultant on trillion dollar international banking clients. Lisa graduated summa cum laude from both Northeastern University in 1996 and Harvard Kennedy School in 2007. Lisa is a 2007 Lucius N. Littauer Fellow, recognizing academic achievement at Harvard Kennedy School, and a 2010 Boston Business Journal “40 Under 40” Honoree, recognizing emerging leaders in Boston.
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With an extensive background in collaborative, citizen-facing technology projects, Nigel Jacob co-founded the Office of New Urban Mechanics - a civic innovation incubator within Boston’s City Hall. Nigel also serves as Mayor Menino's advisor on emerging technologies. In both of these roles, Nigel works to develop new models of innovation for cities in the 21st century. Prior to joining the City of Boston in 2006, Nigel worked for and launched a series of technology start-ups in the Boston area. Nigel is also a fellow at the Center for the Advancement Public Action at Bennington College. Nigel has received a number of awards for his ground breaking work in Boston, including being named a Public Official of the year in 2011 by Governing Magazine and the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation award for 2012.
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Johnson, Van
City of Savannah
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Allen Joines was elected Mayor in 2001 and re-elected in 2005 and 2009. He was an Economic Development Professional for over 30 years prior to becoming Mayor. He has focused his efforts on rebuilding the local economy and creating jobs within Winston Salem. Governor Beverly Perdue appointed him as Chairman of the North Carolina Economic Development Board in 2009: and to the State Innovation Council and the Logistics Task Force. He received his BS Degree from Appalachian State University and his Masters Degree from the University of Georgia. Wake Forest University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in 2009. He has received numerous awards and honors and has been named as one of the Triad’s Most Influential People each year from 2006 to the present.
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Mike Kasperzak served on the Mountain View City Council for eight years, served as Mayor in 2003 and was re-elected to a new four year term in 2008 and was subsequently re-elected in 2012. He is currently serving his second term as Mayor. During his public service career, Mike has served on the Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency Board, the Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission and various committees of the Valley Transportation Authority and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. He served as President of the League of California Cities in 2012, the first from the Peninsula Division in almost 25 years. He has also served as Chair of the League’s Revenue & Tax Committee and served a term on both the League’s Board of Directors and the Board of the ILG. He was also Chair of the FAIR Steering Committee and Chaired the Health Care Task Force of the National League of Cities.
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Center for State and Local Government Excellence
Elizabeth Kellar is president and chief executive officer of the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and also serves as deputy executive director for ICMA. She leads ICMA’s public policy team and speaks on ethics at state, national, and international meetings. She has served as ICMA’s ethics advisor, launched a monthly ethics column, and developed ethics training programs.
Ms. Kellar is a Fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration and has served as chair for NAPA’s Standing Panel on the Federal System. She serves on the American University School of Public Affairs Advisory Council and the editorial board of Public Administration Review.
Kellar’s publications include Managing with Less; Ethical Insight, Ethical Action; and Ethos. She served two terms on the Montgomery County Maryland Ethics Commission and was chair of the Commission for three years.
Prior to joining ICMA, Ms. Kellar was responsible for community relations for the City of Sunnyvale, California. She has a master’s degree in journalism and political science from Ohio State University.
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The Rockefeller Foundation
Nancy Kete joined the Rockefeller Foundation in January 2012. As Managing Director, Dr. Kete leads the foundation’s global work on resilience including developing strategies and practice for infusing resilience thinking throughout the foundation’s work.
During her 25 year career in government, civil society, and private sector, Dr. Kete brought technical, institutional, and managerial leadership to bear on a number of major environment and societal challenges. She has been a diplomat, a climate change negotiator, a social entrepreneur, and a highly successful fund-raiser.
Before joining the Foundation, Dr. Kete spent 13 years at the World Resources Institute (WRI), first as Director of the Climate, Energy, and Pollution Program and then as founder and Director of EMBARQ, a distinguished program that catalyzed environmentally sustainable transport solutions to improve quality of life in cities in Mexico, Brazil, India, Turkey and the Andean region.
She also served on President Obama’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. In her role as Senior Advisor on Corporate Safety and Risk Management, Dr. Kete provided recommendations on unilateral steps the industry should take to improve safety above and beyond what the regulations would require.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Kete worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency where she led the development of the acid rain control title of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the first and as yet most successful application of market instruments for pollution control.
Ms. Kete holds a PhD in Geography and Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s in Geography from Southern Illinois University.
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Jamie Kidwell is the sustainability associate for the City of Ann Arbor. Jamie has worked for the City of Ann Arbor since 2010. As the sustainability associate, Jamie works within the city’s Systems Planning Unit on Ann Arbor’s sustainability framework project. The aim of this project is to review Ann Arbor’s current city plans and create an overarching framework that integrates city planning efforts. Additionally, Jamie is working to develop a comprehensive strategy to increase energy efficiency within Ann Arbor’s rental housing stock. Jamie also helps coordinate Michigan Green Communities, a network of local government and university staff working to further sustainability initiatives at the local, regional, and state level. She holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning with a focus in transportation planning from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Brown University.
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Mr. Leadbeater currently holds the position of Global Solutions Manager; Government Trade Associations Industry. He is responsible for coordinating all out-reach, marketing and business development, identifying solution needs and serving as liaison to Esri’s clients in these sectors. His focus is on the development of tools and solutions addressing government administrative functions with attention on GIS support of policy issues and government business processes.
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Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government
Tina Lentz is the Executive Administrator for Louisville Metro Community Services and Revitalization and serves as the Mayor’s designee for the city’s financial empowerment efforts including Bank On Louisville, the Family Economic Success Network, and the Living Cities financial empowerment integration project. In addition, Tina represents Mayor Fischer and Louisville on the CFE Coalition.
Before her current position, she led the Louisville Metro Office for Women for nearly three years and was instrumental in establishing new community resources such as the Abused Women’s Active Response Emergency (AWARE) program, the Louisville Women’s Citizens Police Academy, the Louisville Women’s Listserv and the Women and Entrepreneurship Workshop Series. Other experiences include independent research consultant for the Exploited Children’s Help Organization and service as a Domestic Violence Victim’s Advocate for the Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney.
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Greg LeRoy has been dubbed “the leading national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies” and “God’s witness to corporate welfare.” For more than 20 years, mostly from Chicago, he has been writing, consulting, and training for unions, community groups, environmental and smart growth advocates, labor-management committees, professional associations of development officials, elected officials, journalists, and state and local government agencies. His 1994 book, No More Candy Store: States and Cities Making Job Subsidies Accountable, was the first compilation of economic development safeguards such as clawbacks and job quality standards. Upon winning the Stern Family Fund’s 1998 Public Interest Pioneer Award, he founded Good Jobs First (www.goodjobsfirst.org). Based in Washington,DC, Good Jobs First promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development and smart growth for working families. It also includes Good Jobs New York, the Corporate Research Project, and Good Jobs Illinois. Greg holds degrees in journalism and U.S. history.
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Leung, Loh-Sze
The Boston Foundation
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Asheville-Buncombe Economic Development Coalition
Pam Lewis is a relentless champion for entrepreneurs and evangelist for innovative ecosystems in which they are supported and thrive.
Pam’s background in economic development began in 94’ as part of the start-up team at AdvantageWest, a regional marketing organization covering the 23 western counties of NC. Initially cutting her teeth in film development and overseeing the organizations financial operations she moved on to take a leadership role in the travel and tourism industry. Before being recruited back to AdvantageWest, she held the toughest job of her career as caregiver to her mom with Alzheimers.
Pam finally found her passion in working with the scrappy and creative sector of our economy known as entrepreneurs. As Senior Vice President of Entrepreneurial Development - her accomplishments included: The development and implementation of; The Certified Entrepreneurial Community Program, Juicy Ideas National Collegiate Competition, The Advantage Opportunity Loan Fund, Carolina Connect and the recruitment of The Hunger Games to Asheville.
Pam left AdvantageWest in June of 2011 to join the Asheville Buncombe Economic Development Coalition and currently serves as the Director of Entrepreneurship. She is founder of Venture Asheville, the umbrella brand for the entrepreneurship scene in Asheville and worked with local and national partners to launch Asheville’s entrepreneurial community at SXSW in 2011.
Pam serves on several boards and advisory groups in the area including: Chairman of HandMade In America, The WNC Biotech Advisory Board, AB-Tech Entrepreneurial Foundation, ibiliti/MICA Advisory Board, TEDxAsheville, and The Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute
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Susan Liberty joined the McGuireWoods Infrastructure and Economic Development team in 2000. Since joining the firm, she has successfully represented major national and international companies in multiple states with site selection and relocation decisions, economic incentives negotiations and business expansion services.
Before joining McGuireWoods Consulting, Susan was the Director of Policy and Business Development at the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, which is one of the most successful local economic development organizations in the United States. While in that position she successfully marketed Fairfax County to major corporations across the country and advised them on relocation and business expansion opportunities in Fairfax County.
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Jeffrey Lunde is Mayor of the City of Brooklyn Park, the sixth largest city in Minnesota. Brooklyn Park is located in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis, along the Mississippi River, and is home to nearly 78,000 residents. Brooklyn Park is proud of its diversity, as nearly half of the population are considered ethnic minorities. The City is also home to nearly 7000 residents of Liberian ancestry. Brooklyn Park is a sister city with Kakata, Liberia, which Mayor Lunde visited in March 2012. The community is also the home for the Target Corporation’s North Campus, which houses approximately 6500 employees, making Target the largest employer in the city. Mayor Lunde has been in office since May 2011, having been a member of the City Council for four years. He has been a member of various city and community committees, including the Planning Commission, Hi-Density Housing Task Force, Hennepin County Library Board and the Board of Directors for SourceOne Federal Credit Union. In the past Lunde has worked for various technology companies in international sales and marketing, primarily in Japan. More recently he worked at Dell Computers, until he joined Microsoft, where he is currently a member of the account team for Wells Fargo. Lunde has a Masters degree in Russian History from Mankato State University and a Bachelor of Arts degrees in History, Political Science and Russian Language from North Dakota State University. He is married to wife Jodi, and has two sons, Joshua & Jedrik, who still think their dad is cool because he works for the “Xbox company”.
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Jan Marcason is the fourth district city councilmember for Kansas City.
Prior to her election, Jan served as the Executive Director of Mid America Assistance Coalition (MAAC) for 16 years. At MAAC she managed an annual budget of more than a million dollars and helped direct millions more to local social service organizations. She was the president of the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus and was appointed by Governor Mel Carnahan to the Missouri Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline of Judges.
As a councilmember, Jan chairs the Finance, Governance & Ethics Committee. She serves on the National League of Cities’ Finance, Administration and Intergovernmental Relations Policy & Advocacy Steering Committee and is Vice Chair of the NLC Large Cities Council. She was recently elected Vice-President of the Missouri Municipal League.
Jan received an MBA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1999. She has a degree in education from Kansas University.
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Elisabeth Mason is the CEO and one of the founders of Single Stop USA, a major national poverty-fighting organization, which recently received funding through The White House Social Innovation Fund. Elisabeth is an expert on venture philanthropy, children’s rights, start-up organizations and poverty-fighting programs. She has over 15 years of experience, including her work at Atlantic Philanthropies developing a $1 billion, 10-year spend-down plan to help disadvantaged children. Elisabeth was also a Managing Director at the Robin Hood Foundation, Senior Advisor at Innovative Philanthropy, and practiced Law at Cleary, Gottlieb, and Steen & Hamilton in New York City. She worked with the artist Shakira to set up her Barefoot Foundation, an international education foundation. In her early career, Elisabeth was the founder and Executive Director of Fundacion Kukula, an agency serving street and working youth and their families. During her tenure with Fundacion Kukula, she was one of the founding members of the Central American branch of the Latin American Street Kids Movement. Elisabeth has also served as an advisor to the United Nations and to local and international agencies on various human and children’s rights, legislative reform, juvenile justice, and community and youth development programs throughout the Latin American region. Additionally, she has participated in projects in India and Africa and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, where she lived for six years. As CEO of Single Stop, she attended the first ever White House Summit on Community Colleges and the White House meeting on “Opportunity and Security for Vulnerable Communities: Building Partnerships to Fight Poverty” in 2010. She was also a co-presenter at the annual meeting of the Association of Community College Trustees and named a Huffington Post’s “Greatest Person of the Day” in 2010. A lifelong resident of East Harlem, Elisabeth holds a J.D. from Columbia University and an A.B. and a M.A. from Harvard.
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Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Wanda McClain is Vice President of Community Health and Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. She is the senior administrative leader overseeing the Brigham’s two licensed community health centers and its relationships with the nine affiliated health centers in Boston, helping to ensure the Brigham fulfills its strategic commitment to seamless, high-quality patient- and family-centered care. Since 2007, Ms. McClain has led the Center for Community Health and Health Equity in building solid partnerships with organizations and individuals in every neighborhood of the city, successfully implementing programs to reduce violence, improve birth outcomes, increase rates of colorectal cancer screening and develop educational opportunities for young people. She collaborates with organizations in the community and departments at BWH to further advance care, research and community programs that elevate the health status and health outcomes of the diverse populations in Boston.
Ms. McClain joined Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2002 as the Administrative Director of the President’s Office, supporting various BWH strategic initiatives in addition to supporting efforts focused on disparities in health outcomes and workforce development priorities. Prior to joining Brigham and Women’s Hospital she was the Director of Community Partnerships at Partners Health Care. In addition to her tenure in health care, she has experience in community development and the financial services industry.
Ms. McClain has a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She serves as the treasurer for the boards of the Management Assistance Group in Washington, DC and the Commonwealth Corporation in Boston, vice chair of the board for Boston After School and Beyond and the clerk to the board of the Boston Private Industry Council.
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As Chief of Sustainability, Jenita McGowan is responsible for advising the City on policies related to sustainability and the oversight of the Office of Sustainability; leading the coordination of Sustainable Cleveland 2019 to develop new strategies that allow Cleveland to use sustainability as an innovation engine for economic growth, and reducing the City’s ecological footprint with solutions that also save the City money.
Prior to her promotion to Mayor Jackson’s staff, Jenita served as Sustainability Manager in the Office of Sustainability. In this role she managed the development of City-wide policies and procedures related to implementing sustainability principles throughout City Departments; successfully applied for and managed grants; assisted various Departments and Divisions in implementing sustainability projects, coordinated Sustainable Cleveland 2019 initiatives; interfaced with non-profit communities; and researched strategies to develop best management practices on addressing sustainability issues in the community.
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Heather McMann is Executive Director of Groundwork Lawrence (GWL), a non-profit that has been “changing places and changing lives” in Massachusetts since 2001. Through environmental and open space improvements, fresh food access, education, employment initiatives, and community events, GWL creates the building blocks of a healthy community and empowers residents to improve their quality of life. Heather holds a breadth of experience in nonprofit management, with a focus on preparing organizations for growth. Prior to GWL, much of Heather’s experience was with youth organizations focused on creating our communities’ next generation of social justice leaders. Heather received her MBA from The Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and her BA from Smith College. Beyond GWL, she serves as a board member of Groundwork USA and the Massachusetts Public Health Association, an Essex National Heritage Area commissioner, and a Haverhill Brownfields Steering Commission member.
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Josh McManus is Lead Inventor at Little Things Labs, a problem-solving laboratory working in post-industrial cities. His current projects include the D:hive, a place-based talent retention and attraction storefront in Detroit, Michigan, Haile’s Kitchen, a foundation innovation model in Cincinnati, Ohio, and PlaceMarket, an open-source platform for city idea exchange. Josh co-founded CreateHere, a watershed place-based talent retention and cultural change project in Chattanooga, Tennessee that sparked over 300 creative enterprises, stimulated over $4 million in real estate purchases, retained and attracted thousands of individuals to the city along with championing the world’s largest community visioning process with 26,263 surveys collected.
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Neil Montgomery has been a practicing urban planner for more than thirty years. After undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma, he has worked for three communities in Oklahoma and Texas.
Neil currently serves as a Senior Managing Director for the City of Garland, Texas, a first-tier suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. In this role he has administrative responsibility for the departments of Planning and Community Development, Housing and Community Services and Building Inspection. In addition to these responsibilities, he is also one of the six members of the City Manager’s Executive Team.
Neil is a member of the American Planning Association, the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Urban Land Institute.
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Tanya Moore, PhD a native of Berkeley, CA, received her doctorate training in the field of Biostatistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Currently, Dr. Moore works as the Youth Services Coordinator for the City of Berkeley. In this role she works with City departments, Berkeley Unified School District, UC Berkeley, Berkeley City College and community organizations on joint initiatives to close the academic achievement gap that persists in Berkeley's public schools and to strengthen college and career pathways for all students. Tanya is also a board member for the not-for-profit organization, Building Diversity in Science which supports students interested in STEM educational and career pathways.
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Wes Moore is a youth advocate, Army combat veteran, social entrepreneur, and host of Beyond Belief on the Oprah Winfrey Network. His first book The Other Wes Moore became an instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Born in 1978, Wes and his sisters were raised by their widowed mother. Despite early academic and behavioral struggles, he graduated Phi Theta Kappa in 1998 as a commissioned officer from Valley Forge Military College, and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University in 2001, where he also played football and earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations. He then became a Rhodes Scholar, studying International Relations at Oxford University. After his studies, Wes, a paratrooper and Captain in the United States Army, served a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan with the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. Wes then served as a White House fellow to Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice. He serves on the board of the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), The Johns Hopkins University, and founded an organization called STAND! that works with Baltimore youth involved in the criminal justice system. Wes is committed to helping the parents, teachers, mentors, and advocates who serve our nations youth. A portion of all book proceeds for “The Other Wes Moore” are being donated to City Year and the US Dream Academy.
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Murnane, Edith
City of Boston
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Tracey Nichols joined the City of Cleveland in February, 2008 after serving for four years as Cuyahoga County’s Assistant Director for Economic Development. Working with her team at the county, she created several new programs including the M.A.D.E. in Cuyahoga County Loan program for manufacturers, New Product Development/Entrepreneurship Program partnering with MAGNET, the Commercial Redevelopment Fund, Destination Cleveland and the Arts and Culture as Economic Development (ACE) Grant Program.
Nichols has also been active in the area of Brownfield Redevelopment and under her leadership Cuyahoga County has been viewed as a national leader in Brownfield redevelopment. From 2004 to 2007, the County team’s programs have won the National Association of Counties (NACO) Arts and Culture Award, three NACO Achievement Awards, the National Association of County Community and Economic Development (NACCED) Award of Excellence in Economic Development, Inside Business’ Economic Development Award for Sustainable Projects, the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Award of Excellence, and the USEPA Region V Award for Exceptional Leadership in Brownfield Redevelopment.
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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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Ms. O’Brien serves as Director of Outreach and Network Development for Groundwork USA, a dynamic and growing network of 19 trusts transforming environmental liabilities into quality neighborhood assets in some of the nation’s most distressed communities. She has been part of the Groundwork family for nearly a decade, starting with her role as Environmental Outreach Coordinator for Groundwork Lawrence in Massachusetts before transitioning to Deputy Director in 2004, and then Executive Director in 2007. Under Kate’s leadership, Groundwork Lawrence leveraged $1.5 million in funds for brownfield transformation projects, and completed an award-winning $1.1 million five-acre riverfront brownfield-to-park project. During her tenure the organization also developed and launched a community food security program in response to low-income resident need. Kate regularly advises elected officials and government agency administrators on urban redevelopment policy issues. She has also served as Senior Planner for the Department of Planning and Community Development in Salem, Massachusetts, holds an M.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University, and a B.A. in Human Development and Social Relations from Kalamazoo College. Until moving to Portland, Maine in 2010, Ms. O’Brien had for ten years been a resident of Boston, Massachusetts, where she served as a member of Mayor Thomas Menino’s Bicycle Advisory Committee.
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Councilmember Pam O’Connor focuses her efforts on creating policies and partnerships that create and enhance community livability, transportation and environmental sustainability.
Ms. O'Connor's special interests are transportation and environmental sustainability. Ms. O’Connor is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles County Metro (Metropolitan Transportation Authority). Metro is the transportation agency that plans, coordinates, designs, builds and operates transit in one of the country's largest, most populous counties. She has served on the Board since 2001 representing the Westside and South Bay cities whose combined population approaches one million. Metro provides a bus fleet of 2000 coaches and operates 60 miles of rail service. Ms. O’Connor also represents the City of Santa Monica on the Exposition Light Rail Construction Authority Board, which is dedicated to construction of Light Rail to Santa Monica.
Ms. O’Connor works on policy issues with the League of California Cities, the National League of Cities, and the American Public Transportation Association. She serves as a member of the Regional Council of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the area's metropolitan planning organization, representing the Westside Cities, and is Chair of their Regional Comprehensive Plan Task Force. She is a member of the Local Government Commission Board of Directors and works with cities throughout the world on environmental sustainability and climate protection as an active member of ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability.
Ms. O’Connor has been honored by the American Planning Association’s Los Angeles Chapter with the 2005 Distinguished Leadership Award—Elected Official and the California Preservation Foundation named her the Milton Marks Legislator of the Year in 1999.
As a professional planning consultant, Ms. O'Connor specializes in historic preservation and has worked on significant historic building projects throughout Southern California including: the Los Angeles City Hall Seismic Rehabilitation; UCLA's Powell Library, Royce and Kerckhoff Halls; USC's Doheny Library, Mudd Hall of Philosophy, and Bovard Hall; and California State University's Channel Islands Campus. She served as Director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Northridge Earthquake recovery partnership program, as a planner for the City of Pasadena, and as a research associate for the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
Ms.O'Connor holds Masters degrees in Planning and in Technology Management from Eastern Michigan University and a B.S. in Communications from Southern Illinois University.
As an enthusiastic urban explorer, she is a regular user of Santa Monica’s award-winning Big Blue Bus and a strong advocate for public transit. Ms. O’Connor has served on the Santa Monica City Council since 1994.
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Jennifer Pahlka is the founder and executive director of Code for America, which works with talented web professionals and cities around the country to promote public service and reboot government.
Government Technology named her one of 2011’s Doers, Dreamers and Drivers in Public Sector Innovation and the Huffington Post named her the top Game Changer in Business and Technology the same year. She is known for her TED talk, Coding a Better Government, and is a frequent speaker at a wide range of events. She spent eight years at CMP Media where she ran the Game Developers Conference, Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra.com and the Independent Games Festival. Previously, she ran the Web 2.0 and Gov 2.0 events for TechWeb, in conjunction with O’Reilly Media, and co-chaired the successful Web 2.0 Expo. Jennifer’s early career was spent in the non-profit sector. She is a graduate of Yale University and lives in Oakland, Calif. with her daughter and eight chickens.
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Renaissance Downtowns LLC
Brandon A. Palanker is currently Vice President of Marketing and Public Affairs for Plainview Based Renaissance Downtowns LLC, the branded leader in the comprehensive and holistic redevelopment of suburban downtowns. Renaissance is currently Master Developer in multiple northeast municipalities with an aggregate development value in excess of $7 Billion. Four of the Company’s projects are slated to begin construction in 2013. His role extends to leading the efforts for Crowdsourced Placemakers, LLC, which Renaissance spun off as a company that specializes in Grass Roots, Social Media campaigns to spur large scale, comprehensive development within suburban locales.
Having grown up in suburban Long Island Mr. Palanker is all too aware of the pains of suburban sprawl. He is acutely conscious of the social, environmental and economic strains of a 60 year development model that has run its course. Sprawl as a system is not just broken, it is shattered. Mr. Palanker is part of the solution to correcting unsustainable sprawl, by working to re-envision, re-energize and redevelop our nation’s smaller city and suburban downtowns (“Boutique Cities”), primarily along transit lines.
A key contributor to the development of Renaissance’s Unified Development Approach™ and Crowdsourced Placemaking programs, Mr. Palanker believes the only way to provide positive, transformative change within our nation’s downtowns is through a comprehensive, holistic approach to downtown redevelopment that includes significant public engagement.
Mr. Palanker’s keen understanding of market trends and the use of social media to engage the public throughout the development process has positioned him as a “go to” expert in the real estate field. He has spoken at numerous conferences and has been interviewed by leading industry publications that include the Urban Land Institute, The National Main Streets Conference, Vision Long Island, the American Planning Association, Multi Housing News and Multi Family Executive amongst others.
A Graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, CA, Mr. Palanker has always attempted to combine social responsibility with business success as demonstrated by his designation as Business Person of the Year by the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce during his time as President of Networked Now, LLC. Renaissance Downtowns is another example of Mr. Palanker’s approach to business, as the Renaissance philosophy aligns the needs of economic sustainability with environmental sensitivity and public inclusion. His passion for the arts is exhibited by his participation on the Council of Overseers for the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts as well as his work within the Glen Cove community.
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Brad Power serves as the Director of the Department of Economic Development for the City of Longmont, Colorado a community of 87,000 people, 40 miles north of Denver. The twenty- five employee department was created in 2009 to guide the city’s development services, planning, redevelopment, business assistance and municipal airport functions. He also serves on the City of Longmont’s nine member Executive Directors Team which manages the 800-employee municipal corporation under the direction of the City Manager. Prior to his role in Longmont, Brad was employed by the City of Boulder, Colorado for eighteen years, during which time he led the city’s redevelopment projects and programs as Redevelopment Director and Executive Director of the Boulder Urban Renewal Authority.Brad earned two degrees from the University of Colorado, a Bachelors degree in Political Science and a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning. He was awarded the Fannie Mae Foundation Fellowship and completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University. Brad is active in several professional organizations, including the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and was Chairman of ULI’s national Public/Private Partnership Council from 2008-2011, becoming the first person employed by a local government to chair one of ULI’s councils. He is currently serving as the Council Counselor to four ULI councils.
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Gayle Prest is the Sustainability Director for the City of Minneapolis. Situated in the City Coordinator’s Office she works with city departments, other agencies and the public on a variety of sustainability issues including climate change, renewable energy, local food production, outreach and coordinating the City’s sustainability indicators. She previously worked for the City managing its environmental regulatory section and in the Public Works Department where she focused much of her time on environmental policy and communication issues. Prior to this, Gayle spent 13 years at Dakota County, Minnesota managing solid waste, recycling, solid waste policy and household hazardous waste programs.
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Randolph, Kathleen
WorkOne Northeast
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Satya Rhodes-Conway is a senior associate at COWS and the managing director of the Mayors’ Innovation Project. She works at the state and local level to implement innovative policy that promotes environmental and economic sustainability and builds strong, democratically accountable communities. She has researched and written extensively about energy efficiency and renewable energy at the state and local level, focusing on implementation and equity issues. Before coming to COWS, she analyzed state endangered species programs for Defenders of Wildlife, researched and wrote about progressive environmental policy at the State Environmental Resource Center, and taught undergraduate biology and ecology. She has degrees from Smith College and the University of California – Irvine. Satya is serving her third term on Madison’s City Council.
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Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE
Dr. Kurt Roth is Director of the Building Energy Efficiency Group at the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE). His group collaborates with industry on applied research to develop, analyze, test, evaluate, and demonstrate energy-saving building technologies. Prior to joining Fraunhofer CSE, he was a Principal in the Mechanical Systems group of TIAX LLC, formerly Arthur D. Little’s Technology & Innovation business. Dr. Roth has led several studies funded by the Department of Energy to assess the energy savings and commercialization potentials of HVAC, building controls and diagnostics, toplighting, and information (IT) technologies. In addition, he leads analyses to characterize building energy consumption, including the energy consumed by consumer electronics, IT, medical equipment, and miscellaneous electric devices. Dr. Roth has presented at numerous conferences and meetings, and authored more than sixty "Emerging Technology" articles for the ASHRAE Journal. Dr. Roth received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), all in mechanical engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), American Solar Energy Society, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, and Sigma Xi.
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Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership
John strategically leads the Partnership's mission to generate business investment in Northeast Indiana through supporting collaborative relations with stakeholders, facilitating regional communications and expanding all channels of business development.
Prior to joining the Partnership, John served as the Vice President for External Affairs for Indiana Michigan Power and AEP President-Indiana. He has also previously served as site vice president and plant manager of the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, in Bridgman, Michigan and as maintenance production manager at the Washington Nuclear Project No. 2. John holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy.
He is married to Pam and has two children and a grandson, all calling Indiana “home”.
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San Soucie, Marc
City of Beaverton
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David is educated and trained as a scientist, has put down deep roots as a civic leader
in Rancho Cordova and Sacramento, and is a proud husband and father.
From 1991 – 1996 he was a Graduate Fellow for the Louisiana Board of Regents at
Tulane University School of Medicine where he received the McLeskey award for
excellence in doctoral research, and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology. His research focused on
the potential role of viruses like HIV in human autoimmune disease.
Following graduate school, David was awarded a Congressional Science Fellowship, to advise Congress on
scientific issues. He worked with Congressman John Edward Porter, and developed and promoted
legislation, monitored several issues areas including health, science, labor, intellectual property, welfare,
and Medicare/Medicaid, and Social Security as a Legislative Assistant and Fellow.
After moving to Rancho Cordova and opening a scientific consulting
practice (Sander & Associates), David was elected as a City Councilman
in the City of Rancho Cordova, where he served on the first City
Council of the new city, and where he has served as a Mayor and
Councilman.
From 2004-2012 he served on the Regional Transit Board (RT) of
Directors, being named vice-Chair and acting Chair in 2004, and
Chairman of the RT Board for 2005-2006. As Chair of RT, David was the
first Rancho Cordovan to serve in a regional leadership capacity. David
currently serves on SACOG, (Sacramento Area Council of
Governments), and two regional JPAs, one of which he chairs.
Since making Rancho Cordova his home, David has been an active civic
volunteer and leader, in Rancho Cordova and the region.
In particular, David has been the key leader of the Cordova Community
Council – a unique local organization that functions as a sort of Chamber of Commerce for the non-profit
community in Rancho Cordova. The Council under his leadership has grew from a small monthly lunch
group back into its intended purpose of promoting and coordinating the civic and community life of
Rancho Cordova. With a budget now surpassing $500k/year, the organization has a professional staff, has
created numerous new large community events, is a fulltime community engagement partner of the City
of Rancho Cordova, supports local organizations in a variety of new ways, and was the key aspect of
Rancho Cordova’s recognition in 2010 as an All America City by the National Civic League.
David is married to Dr. Maggie Parsons, a local dermatologist and third-generation area resident. They have a son Charles, who is seven years old.
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Dr. Douglas Scarboro is the Chief Learning Officer for the City of Memphis and Executive Director of the Office of Talent and Human Capital. In Dr. Scarboro's role as Chief Learning Officer he heads the Office of Talent Development which is responsible for the learning and development of all city City employees. In Dr. Scarboro's role as the Executive Director for the Office of Talent and Human Capital, he serves as a liaison on education issues for Mayor A C Wharton, Jr. The Office of Talent and Human Capital was created by Mayor A C Wharton, Jr. in 2010 after he was elected City of Memphis Mayor with a 61 percent mandate for his gospel of "One Memphis" and his bold vision for his city's future. The Office of Talent and Human Capital addresses Memphis’ key human capital needs by developing collaborative action around strategic problems with Memphis' workforce. Specifically, the office provides strategic action and direction for partnerships that develop, attract, and retain knowledge workers for the City of Memphis through programs like the Mayor's Urban Fellows program. Additionally, collaborative planning takes place through events that have convened national mayors focusing on post-secondary success, which was sponsored by the Lumina Foundation, and the Opportunity Challenge cohosted in connection with CEOs For Cities. Dr. Scarboro has presented the work of the Office of Talent and Human Capital for CEOs For Cities, the Federal Reserve, the National League of Cities, and other regional and national institutions.
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Professor Schilling leads the Institute’s Sustainable Communities and Urban Regeneration Initiatives that explores the intersection of design, planning and collaboration in the development of sustainable regions, communities and neighborhoods. His field work serves as a living laboratory for research, service learning, and policy change by extracting and disseminating model programs and practices through case studies, policy roundtables and planning studios. Schilling is an accomplished public policy facilitator having organized dozens of research, policy, and community forums.
Schilling’s work illustrates his philosophy of linking policy and practice. From 2007-2009 as part of the Eco City Studio student teams helped the City of Alexandria devise a sustainability charter and environmental action plan. He also led study tours of Cleveland and Baltimore as part of the Shrinking Cities Studio which examined the plight of distressed cities and the promise of a more sustainable future. Through the Sustainability Planning Lab students and Professor Schilling are classifying local city/county sustainability plans—over 150 to date. He presented this emerging typology of sustainability plans at several research conferences and used it to compare local sustainability planning frameworks from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Based on this research Schilling is designing a sustainability policy “index” to measure the sustainability potential of older industrial cities.
Professor Schilling teaches courses in Negotiations and Community Involvement, Land Use Law, Public Health, and Environmental Policy and Sustainability Planning at Virginia Tech and Sustainable Regional Growth for George Washington University Law School. He holds a Masters of Environmental Law (LL.M.) from George Washington University and a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
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Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District
Kevin Shafer is the Executive Director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and is responsible for the overall management, administration, leadership and direction for MMSD in meeting short- and long-term goals and objectives; coordinates the establishment of strategic goals and objectives and their approval by the Commission; oversees the development of policies and operating plans; and represents MMSD to its customers, bond rating agencies, and the public. Prior to joining the District, Shafer spent 10 years in private industry with an international engineering firm in Chicago and Milwaukee, and six years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fort Worth, Texas. He holds a bachelor’s degree in science and civil engineering with a specialty in water resources from the University of Illinois and a master’s in science and civil engineering from the University of Texas. He is a past president of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and the Chair of the Clean Water America Alliance’s Urban Water Sustainability Leadership Council.
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Dr. Reshma Shetty is a co-founder of synthetic biology company Ginkgo BioWorks, Inc. whose mission is to make biology easier to engineer. In 2008, Forbes magazine named Reshma one of Eight People Inventing the Future and in 2011, Fast Company named her one of 100 Most Creative People in Business. Reshma graduated from MIT with a PhD in Biological Engineering in 2008 during which she worked on building digital logic in cells. She has been active in synthetic biology for several years and co-organized SB1.0, the first international conference in
synthetic biology in 2004. Her coolest genetically engineered machine to date was engineering E. coli to smell like mint and bananas.
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Llewellyn Smith is President of Vital Pictures, Inc. founded in 2005. He has contributed to many of PBS’ premiere television series since 1978, including Eyes on the Prize, From Jump Street, and Africans in America. Llew was Series Editor for American Experience at WGBH/Boston from 1988-1995. Credits as director/producer include Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory; Reconstruction: The Second Civil War and Forgotten Genius: Percy Julian for NOVA.
Llew co-executive produced (with California Newsreel) the first production from Vital Pictures, the award-winning, four-part Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? for PBS. Unnatural Causes won the 2009 DuPont Columbia award, the National Academy of Sciences Best Television Program of the Year Award and many other awards.
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Stephanie Smith is the Sustainability Specialist for the City of Flagstaff, Arizona. Her work focuses on the development, implementation and evaluation of municipal and community sustainability policies and programming related to energy and climate and includes resiliency planning, energy efficiency and fleet management. Stephanie has Bachelor’s degrees in political science and geography and a Master’s degree in public administration from Northern Arizona University. She enjoys many adventures while living on the Colorado Plateau with her husband, Rico, and their crazy dog Daisy. Stephanie has worked for the City of Flagstaff since 2006.
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Rebekah Splaine Salwasser is responsible for the overall management of the Boston Scholar Athletes program (BSA), a multi-million dollar program whose mission is to support academic achievement through athletics. Founded by Suffolk Construction's CEO, John Fish, the BSA is a nonprofit, 501 (c) (3) organization designed to provide a connection between the public and private sectors of the Boston community, linking the athletic capital from professional sports teams, and academic capital from colleges and universities, directly to the scholar-athletes of Boston.
Mrs. Salwasser drives a wide range of program initiatives, including the vision and strategy for the BSA, and the implementation of the marketing and public relations initiatives. This includes oversight of the programs website, newsletter and social media outlets. She is also responsible for maintaining and building the BSA brand as a clear leader in Boston’s nonprofit landscape, and for conducting ongoing analysis and reporting of the program’s Key Performance Indicators. Mrs. Salwasser oversees the program’s budget, including the review and approval of all expenditures and purchases to ensure a sound fiscal model. Additionally, she spearheads the fundraising initiatives, including oversight of all grant writing and donor relationships. Another responsibility for Mrs. Salwasser includes the strengthening of relationships with key community partners, such as Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the Presidents of local universities and colleges and professional sports teams, and the Superintendent of Boston Public Schools.
Prior to running the Boston Scholar Athletes program, Mrs. Salwasser was the Community Relations Director for the Boston Celtics for 5 years, overseeing charitable giving and events specifically for the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation. Before the Celtics, she was the Executive Director of the Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center, a small non profit in Boston that provided academic & athletic assistance to local youth. In 2003, Mrs. Salwasser was also a member of the Boston Breakers women’s professional soccer team.
Although Mrs. Salwasser recently ended her term on the Board of Trustees for Buckingham Browne & Nichols, she has served on their Alumni Council for the past 7 years to strengthen the relationship between the school and its Alumnus. She is also a Founding Co-Chair of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston’s Friend’s Council, where she now sits as a Leadership Committee Member. Lastly, she is an Advisory Member for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, ‘Together Against Abuse’ fundraising Gala; a member of the Soccer Advisory Board for America SCORES Boston, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Boston Center for Youth & Families Recreation Center at Madison Park.
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Boston Private Industry Council
Neil Sullivan is the executive director of the Boston Private Industry Council (PIC). The PIC serves as Boston’s Workforce Investment Board – overseeing the distribution of federal funding for workforce training and chartering the city’s three one stop career centers.
The PIC also leads Boston’s school-to-career initiative, organizing employers to provide jobs and internships for public high school students and launching initiatives to reduce the high school dropout rate and to increase the college graduation rate. The PIC collaborates with the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University to follow Boston students over time and analyze the impact of their high school experiences on college and labor market outcomes.
Before joining the PIC in 1992, Sullivan served as chief policy advisor to Boston Mayor Ray Flynn for ten years, as a community organizer and policy strategist for Massachusetts Fair Share in Worcester and Boston for six years, and as a high school teacher in the Chicago area for three years. He lives in Dorchester, and his four adult children all graduated from the Boston Public Schools.
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Reverend Cheng Imm Tan was appointed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino as the Director of the Mayor's Office of New Bostonians in 1998. Under her leadership, the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians has become a national model and was awarded the “ 2000 City Livability Outstanding Achievement Award” from the United States Conference of Mayors and the “2001 Cultural Diversity Award” from the National Black Caucus of local elected officials. She is the founder of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, "Rice Sticks and Tea," the only Asian food pantry program and “Arise” a refugee-immigrant women’s empowerment program. She also founded and leads Gund Kwok, the only Asian Women’s Lion Dance Troupe in New England. In addition, Reverend Tan served on the Governor's Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants, the Governor's Commission on Domestic Violence and the Governor’s Asian American Commission.
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Tang, Yvonne
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
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Washington Speakers Bureau
Bill Taylor is an agenda-setting writer, speaker and entrepreneur who has shaped the global conversation about the best ways to compete, innovate and succeed. His latest project, Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself, is based on in-depth access to 25 organizations that are making deep-seated changes under the most trying circumstances imaginable. These organizations (from hard-charging technology companies to long established nonprofits, from hospitals to automakers to banks) are mastering a set of strategies and practices that define the work of leadership in turbulent times-ideas from which every leader can learn.
The book was published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperColllins, in January 2011. It became an immediate Wall Street Journal best seller and the #1 best seller on the Inc./800CEORead Hardcover Business list. Daniel H. Pink, best-selling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind, calls the book “the most powerful and instructive change manual you’ll ever read.” Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, calls it “a must-read for organizations that want to stay energized and relevant.” The New Your Journal of Books called Practically Radical “a successor to Jim Collins’s seminal book, Good to Great.” The Washington Times called it “an eye-opening joy.” CNN, in an in-depth report on the book, declared that Bill “has a cult following in workplace and management circles.”
Practically Radical is a sequel of sorts to Taylor's most recent book, Mavericks at Work: Why the
Most Original Minds in Business Win, which was published in October 2006. "I didn't just 'read' this book, I devoured it!" declared Tom Peters when Mavericks appeared. James J. Cramer, co-founder of TheStreet.com and host of CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer, had this to say: "If Mavericks at Work had come out before I started TheStreet.com, I could have saved my investors (and myself) $100 million—because I would have been able to take the lessons in the book and apply them every day to my business." Added talent guru Marcus Buckingham: "You must find the time to read this book."
Just weeks after its release, Mavericks became a New York Times best seller, a Wall Street Journal business best seller and a BusinessWeek best seller. It was the subject of articles, reviews and columns in many top publications, including U.S. News & World Report, The Boston Globe and The Economist, which called the book "a pivotal work in the tradition of In Search of Excellence and Good to Great." The Economist also named Mavericks one of its "Books of the Year, 2006." Other accolades include: "Top Ten Business Book of The Year" (amazon.com), "Top Ten Book on Innovation and Design" (BusinessWeek) and "2006 Picks of the Year in Business Books" (The Financial Times).
The book also generated big attention on the small screen. ABC's Good Morning America devoted two segments (called Maverick Monday) to the book, and NBC's Weekend Today devoted a lengthy segment to its vision of the new workplace. CNBC aired a five-part series, hosted by Maria Bartiromo, called The Business of Innovation, which spotlighted a number of companies and executives drawn from the pages\ of Mavericks at Work, and for which Taylor was an on-air commentator.
Practically Radical and Mavericks at Work may be Taylor's most recent projects, but they are just the latest chapter in a career devoted to challenging conventional wisdom and showcasing the power of William C. Taylor Exclusively Represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau latest chapter in a career devoted to challenging conventional wisdom and showcasing the power of business at its best. As cofounder and founding editor of Fast Company, he launched a magazine that won countless awards, earned a passionate following among executives and entrepreneurs around the world—and became a legendary business success. In less than six years, an enterprise that took shape in some borrowed office space in Harvard Square sold for $340 million. Fast Company has won just about every award there is to win in the magazine world, from "Startup of the Year" to "Magazine of the Year" to two National Magazine Awards. In recognition of Fast Company's impact on business, Taylor was named "Champion of Workplace Learning and Performance" by the American Society of Training and Development. Past winners include Jack Welch of GE and Fred Smith of FedEx.
Taylor is also an adjunct lecturer at Babson College, America's top-rated school for entrepreneurship, where he created the "Maverick Seminar at Babson College"—a unique academic program in which MBA students interact with the ideas and innovators creating the future of business. He is the co-author of three other books on strategy, leadership and innovation: The Big Boys: Power and Position in American Business; No-Excuses Management and Going Global. Taylor has published numerous essays and CEO interviews in The Harvard Business Review, and his column, "Under New Management," ran in the Sunday Business section of The New York Times.
Another column, "Bill Taylor on Big Ideas," ran in The Guardian newspaper of London. Today, Taylor chronicles his research, insights and lessons in a popular blog Harvard Business Online, the digital arm of The Harvard Business Review.
A graduate of Princeton University and the MIT Sloan School of Management, he lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with his wife and two daughters.
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Teague, Benjamin
Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce
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Kelly Thomson is co-producer for the Vital Pictures’ productions of American Dilemma, An Awakened Heart and Gaining Ground. She is also co-director/producer of a feature documentary on the life and work of controversial anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski.
Prior to working with Vital Pictures, she was head of production for 50 Lessons, where she produced a series of over 30 portraits of leading business professionals. Kelly has contributed to independent films and shorts, including Untamed, Hotels 4, All Falls Down, Milk, A Vote for Choice and Funeral of the Last Gypsy King.
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Wharton, A.C.
City of Memphis
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As Transportation Administrator for the city of Pasadena Department of Transportation, Mark serves as the lead staff representative on all regional transportation planning activities. He is currently leading the department’s efforts to update the Mobility Element of the General Plan including the development of new metrics to analyze the mobility benefits of proposed land uses and transportation improvements. He led the development the City’s transportation impact fee which included extensive outreach and coordination with the local business and development community. Mark is an expert in the area of transportation demand management and has over twenty years of transportation planning experience. Mr. Yamarone has also worked for the California cities of Santa Clarita and Burbank. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California Irvine and a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of California Los Angeles.
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Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government
Theresa Zawacki has been with the Louisville Metro Department of Economic Growth and Innovation since September 2011. Ms. Zawacki is the city’s Food Policy Advisor, and coordinates Louisville’s Brownfields Program. Previously, Ms. Zawacki was an Assistant County Attorney with the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office where she represented the Louisville Metro Planning Commission, the Louisville Metro Board of Zoning Adjustment, the Louisville Metro Landmarks Commission, and the Louisville/Jefferson County Environmental Trust, as well as all Louisville Metro staff involved with land use, planning and zoning. She also advised and represented the Louisville Metro Council in planning and zoning matters. Ms. Zawacki began her legal career as an associate at the law firm of Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald (now Greenebaum Bingham Doll), where she practiced in both the land use and environmental practice groups.
Ms. Zawacki serves as the Chair of the Green Convene of Louisville and the Vice-Chair of the Environmental Law Section of the Louisville Bar Association. She is a frequent speaker and writer on issues involving local food and brownfields.
Ms. Zawacki received her BA from Transylvania University in 1998, and both her JD and Masters of Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati in 2003. She lives in Louisville and has both children and chickens.
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Councilman Matt Zone grew up in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood on Cleveland's near west side and was elected to office in November of 2001. On council, Matt chairs the Sustainability Committee and Employment, Affirmative Action & Training committees. He is also a member of the City Planning, Community & Economic Development, Finance, Personnel & Operations, Public Safety and Public Art Committees.
Matt is recognized nationally, regionally and locally as a leader on environmental and arts & cultural issues. Nationally, he serves on the Board of Directors for the National League of Cities and is the past chair of the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources committee. Regionally, Matt serves on the steering committee of the Regional Prosperity Initiative (RPI) that is working to create a "Smart Growth" and "Resource Sharing" plan for NE Ohio. He is one of the founding members of the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, which is working to create offshore wind generation in Lake Erie. Matt is also the past-president of the Northeast Ohio City Council Association.
Locally, Matt continues to be a tireless advocate for alternative energy and green building, by evidence of the fact that in his ward, it is home to the first EcoVillage in our state and one of a few in the country. The EcoVillage is complete with a LEED built school, theatre and certified rapid station. He has championed the building of highly energy efficient homes that heat & cool for less then $500 annually and has a model storm water demonstration project on 23 acre city recreational facility.
As a devoted supporter of the arts, Matt believes the arts and culture community can serve as an economic engine. He has been the driving force behind the development of the Gordon Square Arts District which is comprised of new businesses, retail development, housing and the construction and renovation of three theaters. Matt also sponsored the City of Cleveland's "Percent for Arts" legislation, which requires all applicable capital improvement projects over $300,000 to set aside 1.5% of the total budget to include artists in their design.
Matt is a graduate of Cleveland State University's College of Urban Affairs and graduate of St. Edward High School. He is married to his wife Michelle for 22 years and they have a son who is senior at Kent State University.
