Charles Montgomery writes, experiments, and creates transformative conversations about cities, science, and human well-being. His latest book, Happy City, examines the intersection between urban design and the emerging science of happiness. The book shows the striking ways that our cities can influence our thoughts, feelings and actions, and it offers a vision for urban renovations guided by evidence from around the world. The message is as surprising as it is hopeful: evidence in Happy City and Charles’s own projects suggests that using cities to save the world can simultaneously make us happier. Learn more here.

Charles has won numerous awards for his writing on urban planning, psychology, culture and history in magazines and journals. His first book,The Last Heathen (published internationally as The Shark God), won the 2005 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction and the Hubert Evans Prize for Non-fiction, and was short-listed for two Writers’ Trust of Canada awards. Among his numerous awards is a Citation of Merit from the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society for outstanding contribution towards public understanding of climate change science.

Charles has advised planners, students, and policy-makers across Canada, the USA and England. He has also used insights in happiness science to drive high-profile experiments that help citizens transform their relationships with each other and their cities. In 2010, his Home for the Games initiative tested the limits of trust, enabling hundreds of residents to open their homes to strangers during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Working with the BMW Guggenheim Lab, psychologist Colin Ellard, and the citizens of New York City, he used mobile phone applications to map the emotions of public space in the Lower East Side. At the Museum of Vancouver and elsewhere, Montgomery and his collaborators create participatory programs that help citizens treat their cities as hands-on laboratories. Charles spends most of his time in East Vancouver and Mexico City.

Learn more about a few of Charles’s other projects .

Do you have a dream for your community? Maybe it’s bike lanes, or a better transit system, or more outdoor cafes. Arts activist Jason Roberts had a similar vision—and he took it upon himself to make it happen. Enter the Better Block Project, a community-driven temporary takeover of blighted blocks. This one-time phenomenon in Southern Dallas has since grown into an international movement, and Roberts is at the forefront of it all. Roberts is the founder of the Oak Cliff Transit Authority, originator of the Better Block Project, co-founder of the Art Conspiracy and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, and recent candidate for US Congress. In 2006, Jason formed the non-profit organization, Oak Cliff Transit Authority, to revive the Dallas streetcar system, and later spearheaded the city’s effort in garnering a $23 Million dollar TIGER stimulus grant from the FTA to help reintroduce a modern streetcar system to Dallas. In 2010, Jason organized a series of “Better Block” projects, taking depressed blocks with vacant properties in Southern Dallas and converting them into temporary walkable districts with pop-up businesses, bike lanes, cafe seating, and landscaping. The project has now become an international movement and has been featured in the New York Times, Dwell magazine, and on NPR. Roberts has spoken at TEDx Austin and Oklahoma and is the recipient of the Champions of Change award in Washington DC for work in Transportation Innovations.

On January 2, 2011, Vincent C. Gray was sworn in as the sixth elected Mayor of the District of Columbia. He was elected on November 2, 2010. During his campaign, he pledged to help unite the District by focusing on job creation and economic development, a collaborative approach to school reform, safer streets in all neighborhoods and restoring fiscal responsibility to city government.

The Gray Administration is moving forward in accomplishing the Mayor’s four top priorities: ensuring a quality public education for all District children, creating jobs and providing economic development opportunities for District residents, making sure residents are and feel safe no matter what neighborhood in which they live, and ensuring that the city is fiscally sound. Mayor Gray also is focused on achieving autonomy and full democracy for District of Columbia taxpayers, and improving health outcomes.

A native Washingtonian, Mayor Gray has tirelessly advocated for the residents of the District for more than 30 years. His dedication to children and their families has been the hallmark of his service in both city government and the non-profit sector. His lifetime of public service to the District can be best summed up by a singular governing philosophy—that the District of Columbia works best as “One City.”

His disciplined approach to public service was born from humble beginnings. He grew up in a one-bedroom apartment at 6th and L Streets, NE. Although his parents never attended high school, they instilled in their son a solid work ethic and deeply rooted values. Mayor Gray attended Logan Elementary and Langley Junior High Schools, and graduated at the age of 16 from Dunbar High School, where he excelled in academics and sports.

Despite being scouted by two Major League Baseball teams, the Mayor chose to continue his education, studying psychology at The George Washington University at both the undergraduate and graduate school levels. While at George Washington, he became the first African-American admitted in the GW fraternity system, and in his junior and senior years, became the first person to serve consecutive terms as Chancellor of Tau Epsilon Phi.

Vincent C. Gray began his professional career with The Arc of DC (then known as the Association of Retarded Citizens). At The Arc, he successfully advocated for innovative policy initiatives on behalf of people with developmental disabilities, and spearheaded the closure of the District-run Forest Haven mental institution, after it was exposed for poor conditions and abuse of patients.

In 1991, then-Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly appointed Gray to the post of Director of the Department of Human Services. As Director, he oversaw the functions of a 7,000 person department and directed activities related to Public Health, Social Services, Mental Health Services and Health Care Finance. In this role, the Mayor spearheaded the implementation of several initiatives to address the developmental needs of children.

In December 1994, he was named the first Executive Director of Covenant House Washington, an international, faith-based organization dedicated to serving homeless and at-risk youth. During his decade at the helm of Covenant House, Mayor Gray helped make the organization one of the most effective of its kind in the District, and led successful campaigns to purchase and renovate a crisis center for homeless youth and a multi-purpose center and to build a new community service center in the far southeast community of the District of Columbia.

Mayor Gray’s dedication to his community and the residents of Ward 7 inspired a successful campaign for elected office in 2004, when he handily defeated the incumbent in the primary. During his first term as Councilmember from Ward 7, he chaired a Special Committee on the Prevention of Youth Violence, and created the Effi Barry HIV/AIDS initiative. Two years after joining the Council, Gray ran for the citywide office of Chairman of the Council. Running on the theme of “One City,” he continued his focus on uniting the disparate racial and economic groups in his hometown. He won the general election with 98 percent of the vote.

As Chairman, Gray was a leader in efforts to improve the Council’s operations, transparency and oversight capacity, and was a true champion for school reform. He spearheaded the Pre-K Expansion and Enhancement Act, which established a voluntary, high-quality pre-school program to provide 2,000 new classroom slots for three-and four-year-olds over six years. The Mayor’s diligence resulted in that goal being met in September of 2010, well before the 2014 target.

Mayor Gray has lived in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Ward 7 for more than 25 years. His wife, Loretta, an outstanding educator in the DC Public Schools, passed away from cancer in 1998. He has two children, Jonice Gray Tucker and Vincent Carlos Gray, and two grandchildren.

Richard H. Bradley is Executive Director of the DowntownDC BID, a position held since the organization’s inception in 1997. He guides an $11 million annual budget which funds a multi-faceted program of special services and catalytic planning to make remarkable things happen in DC’s first and largest BID. His leadership has transformed the city’s urban core from dull, dirty and dangerous into a bustling, 24/7 environment anchored by new housing, retail, cinemas, theaters, destination restaurants, private and public museums and a thriving commercial district with more than 60 million SF of commercial space.  The BID area was designated as an ecodistrict in 2011.

Rich has engaged in community building for more than 40 years. His work in DC began as president of the International Downtown Association, where he advocated for vital and livable urban centers worldwide. He has served as executive director of the Downtown Hartford Council and was appointed deputy commissioner of Public Transportation for Connecticut by Governor Ella Grasso.

In addition, Rich has served as executive director of the Greater Bridgeport Transportation District and the Westport Transit District in Westport, Connecticut, where he also worked as the Selectmen’s Committee for Youth and Human Resources coordinator and began his career as an English teacher.

He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in education from Cornell University. In December 2009, he and spouse Ellen McCarthy were joint recipients of the Partners for Livable Communities’ Entrepreneurial Leadership Award for their combined role in advancing a “renaissance” in Downtown DC using progressive urban planning techniques.

Mr. Abraham is responsible for the management and development of DataHaven, and for delivery of its multiple services in support of community research, planning, and action. From 2014 to 2017, Mark is serving as a Community Leadership Network Fellow of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan, as part of a national cohort focused on Racial Equity. Mr. Abraham’s professional career has included positions as a planner with the New York City 2012 Summer Olympic Games Bid Committee, as Director of Marketing for the New Haven architecture firm Svigals and Partners, and as Associate at the New Haven consulting firm Holt, Wexler & Farnam, LLP. Mark currently serves on several statewide community-engaged research advisory committees, and as a Board Member of Elm City Cycling. From 2008 to 2013, he served on the New Haven Historic District Commission. Mr. Abraham has received the New Haven Environmental Justice Network’s Annual Award in 2008 for coordinating the New Haven Safe Streets Coalition, and a Business New Haven Rising Stars Award in 2010. Mr. Abraham graduated with honors from Yale University, and was a finalist in the 57th annual Westinghouse/Intel Science Talent Search.

Anita Chandra is a senior policy researcher and director of RAND Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment at the RAND Corporation. Her background is in public health, child and adolescent development, and community-based participatory research and evaluation. She currently leads or co-leads studies on community well-being; deployment and military families; community resilience and long-term disaster recovery; and child health and development. Throughout her career, Chandra has engaged government and nongovernmental partners to consider cross-sector solutions for improving child and community well-being and to build systems and evaluation capacity. This work has taken many forms including engaging with the the Department of Health and Human Services and local government agencies on building systems for emergency preparedness and resilience both in the U.S. and globally; partnering with private sector organizations to build the science base around child systems; and collaborating with city governments and foundations to measure well-being, sustainability, and health transformation. She has also partnered with community organizations to conduct broad-scale health needs assessments, to examine the integration of health and human service systems, and to determine how to address the needs of historically vulnerable populations in health and social services. These projects have occurred in partnership with local health systems, foundations, and other community organizations. Chandra earned a Dr.P.H. in population and family health sciences from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Wilson is an evolutionist who studies all aspects of humanity in addition to the biological world. He manages a number of programs designed to expand the influence of evolutionary theory in higher education (EvoS), public policy (The Evolution Institute), community-based research (The Binghamton Neighborhood Project), and religion (Evolutionary Religious Studies). Wilson communicates to the general public through his ScienceBlogs site and trade books, including Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives and The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve my City, One Block at a Time.

Kaid Benfield is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on how to make cities, towns, and neighborhoods work better for both people and the environment. Kaid serves as special counsel for urban solutions at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC, where he works on positive, forward-thinking approaches to environmental challenges in the places where Americans live, work, and play. Kaid also teaches regional planning and sustainable development practices at the George Washington University School of Law. A longtime leader of the smart growth movement, Kaid co-founded LEED for Neighborhood Development, a national process for defining and certifying smart, green land development under the auspices of the US Green Building Council. He is also a founder and board member of Smart Growth America, a nationwide coalition working on revitalizing cities, building better neighborhoods, and stopping the spread of suburban sprawl. Kaid was named one of “the most influential people in sustainable planning and development” by the Partnership for Sustainable Communities and voted one of the “top urban thinkers” on the leading city planning website, Planetizen.com. Kaid is a prolific writer whose portfolio spans several books and frequent articles for The Huffington Post, Atlantic Cities, Sustainable Cities, and NRDC websites. His new book is People Habitat: 25 Ways to Think About Greener, Healthier Cities.

As Managing Director, Ted Trabue is responsible for leading the DCSEU in meeting its economic, environmental, and job creation goals. Mr. Trabue has over 30 years of experience in public affairs, most recently as Executive Director of the Green Builders Council of DC. He also served two terms as the President of the District of Columbia State Board of Education. Mr. Trabue is a fourth generation Washingtonian, and like his mother and grandmother, he attended DC public schools. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Dartmouth College, and a law degree from Howard University School of Law. Mr. Trabue is a member of the DC Bar and has served on the board of directors of the DC Chamber of Commerce, DC Appleseed, and the DC Building Industry Association.

Harriet Tregoning is the director of HUD’s Office of Economic Resilience and has extensive experience on the local, state and national levels helping communities and regions build diverse, prosperous, and resilient economies. As the recent director of the District of Columbia’s Office of Planning, Tregoning worked to make DC a walkable, bikeable, livable, globally competitive and sustainable city –re-writing the city’s zoning code for the first time in 50 years, planning the revitalization of the poorest parts of the District, and collaborating with her transportation colleagues to bring the nation’s largest bike-sharing program to the nation’s capital. Prior to this she was co-founder of the Governors’ Institute on Community Design. She also served as both Maryland’s Secretary of Planning and then as the nation’s first state-level Cabinet Secretary for Smart Growth. Prior to her tenure in Maryland state government, Tregoning was the director of Development, Community and Environment at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Tregoning’s academic training is in engineering and public policy. She was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design for 2003-2004.

George Hawkins is General Manager of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water). Hawkins has launched an ambitious agenda at DC Water that complements a vast 10-year program to improve aging infrastructure and comply with ever more stringent regulatory requirements.Prior to joining DC Water, Hawkins served as director of the District Department of the Environment (DDOE). Hawkins implemented the Anacostia 2032 Plan to transform one of the most polluted rivers in the country into an environmental gem that will drive economic revitalization. Hawkins also led the District’s efforts in reducing childhood exposure to lead hazards, negotiated the nation’s most stringent federal permit to reduce pollutants from stormwater runoff andmanaged the nation’s most successful low-income energyassistance program, including conservation and weatherization. He launched and chaired the Mayor’s Green Team, which coordinated the District Government’s sustainability program across more than 40 agencies. In 2008, Hawkins launched the Mayor’s Green Summer Job Corps, a group of several hundred District youth engaged in environmental cleanups and public education. In 2009, the program grew into the largest green jobs program for youth in the country, serving more than 5,000 young people with a focus on energy and stream ecology and in neighborhood based clean-up programs.Prior to coming to the District, Hawkins was executive director of New Jersey Future, a non-profit organization which, under his leadership, came to be recognized as the state’s foremost advocacy group promoting smart growth. While there, he worked with the governor’s office to focus development on transit stations and urban areas. Hawkins also served as executive director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, where he built an award-winning program to improve local zoning and master plans to both target growth and protect critical ecosystems. Mr. Hawkins held senior positions with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including Senior Assistant Regional Counsel and Special Assistant to the Regional Administrator. He served Vice President Gore on the National Performance Review, playing an integral role in streamlining and strengthening environmental protection programs at EPA and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Mr. Hawkins began his career practicing law for the Boston firm Ropes & Gray, and is a member of the Bar in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Princeton University in 1983 and Cum Laude from Harvard Law School in 1987. Since 1999, Mr. Hawkins has taught Environmental Law and Policy for the Princeton Environment Institute at Princeton University. He lives in the District of Columbia.

Michael Kelly is the Director of the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). DHCD administers over a dozen services and programs geared towards creating and preserving opportunities for affordable housing and economic development and revitalizing underserved communities throughout the city.Director Kelly was previously Executive Director of the Housing Authority (DCHA) from 2000 to 2009. While at DCHA, Kelly led the redevelopment of several properties including Arthur Capper Senior, Carrollsburg Dwellings, Wheeler Creek and Townhomes on Capitol Hill.Kelly has amassed over three decades of experience in the housing industry. He served as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority and General Manager of the New York City Housing Authority. Kelly is also an accomplished professor, serving as the Harvey – Wadsworth Professor of Urban Affairs at Tulane University, and as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Howard Universities and the Wagner School of Public Policy at New York University.

Kelly began his career in the public housing arena as an architect for the San Francisco Housing Authority in 1983. He left San Francisco to serve at the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a Troubled Agency Recovery Specialist, where he provided technical assistance to the Transition Team at the Housing Authority of New Orleans. In 1995, he was promoted to Executive Director of the New Orleans Housing Authority.

He is a proven bi-coastal leader in the housing industry, a licensed architect and member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), a certified urban planner and member of the American Planning Association (AICP) and a LEED Green Associate of the US Green Building Council.

The San Francisco, CA native is married with three children and currently resides in Washington, DC. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from Princeton University; a Masters of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley; and a Master of Arts in Education from San Francisco State University.

Director Kelly has several affiliations, some of which includes; serving as a board member for the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, and Building America Community Development-AFL-CIO Investment Trust. He is also a member of the National Organization of African Americans in Housing, National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials and Institute of Real Estate Management.

President Obama appointed L. Preston Bryant, Jr. as chairman of NCPC in September 2009. The President reappointed Chairman Bryant and his current term extends until January 2019. Mr. Bryant is a senior vice president for economic and infrastructure development in the Richmond office of McGuireWoods Consulting where he advises on a wide range of issues including water and wastewater facilities, conventional and renewable energy, and commercial and industrial development. Mr. Bryant previously served as secretary of natural resources in the cabinet of former Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine, where he oversaw the Commonwealth’s environmental, recreational, wildlife, and historic resources agencies. Prior to his cabinet service, Secretary Bryant served in the Virginia House of Delegates for ten years. He also served as a manager and partner at Hurt & Proffitt, Inc., a Virginia-based civil engineering, surveying, and planning firm. Mr. Bryant received his BA in English from Randolph-Macon College, a Master’s of Humanities from the University of Richmond, and an MA in modern British literature from the University of London.

Antwi Akom, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Environmental Sociology, Public Health, and STEM Education at San Francisco State University and is the Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainable Economic, Educational, and Environmental Design (I-SEEED), which focuses on building sustainable cities and schools. Professor Akom has collaborated with schools, community groups, policy makers and researchers to improve living conditions of poor people of color in the Bay area and around the world. He is internationally recognized for his work on culturally and community responsive STEM pedagogy including research and studies on GIS mapping and technological innovation, food security/justice, community- driven sustainability development, and youth participatory action research. Professor Akom has held academic appointments at UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of California, San Francisco, Health Policy Institute. His forthcoming books are Building Sustainable Cities and Schools and Ameritocracy: The Environmental Determinants of Educational Success.

Before ioby, Erin was an environmental writer with a background in water management. From 2007-2008, she was the environmental editor at Men’s Journal magazine, and was a freelance writer on climate change and other environmental issues. While completing her Master of Environmental Management in water science, economics, and policy at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, she was a U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies scholar in Portuguese. Erin also holds a B.A. in English and American Studies from the University of Virginia. Erin lives in Brooklyn and serves on the Board of EcoDistricts, Resource Media, the Steering Committee for EPIP-NYC, and as an advisor to ArtBridge, Charity Sub, Shared Squared, and the Social Innovators Collective. The Rockefeller Foundation awarded Erin and her co-founders at ioby the 2012 Jane Jacobs Medal for New Technology and Innovation.

As Partner and Director of Green Infrastructure, Steve Benz advances OLIN’s research and implementation of sustainable design strategies. A licensed civil engineer, Steve has contributed to several award winning green infrastructure design commissions including the LEED® Platinum-certified Kroon Hall at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ray and Maria Stata Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. More recently, Steve drove many of the environmental strategies for Washington Canal Park, a pilot project for the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES™). Steve co-led two competitions with other OLIN partners exploring ways to approach implementing scalable green infrastructure strategies within urban environments. OLIN’s winning entries in both the Infill Soak it Up! Design Competition and the Living City Design Competition demonstrated targeted, achievable solutions that show how various stakeholders can come together to realize change–developers, city governments utility companies, designers and residents alike. Steve is an honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a LEED Fellow. He is past Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Sustainable Sites Technical Advisory Group (TAG) where he led the development of sustainability criteria for site development within the LEED program. He was also two-term and founding Chair of the Massachusetts Chapter of the USGBC, and the Sustainable Sites Initiative’s Technical Core Committees.

Hillary Brown, FAIA, is Professor at the City College of New York teaching urban ecology and urban systems in its new interdisciplinary masters program in urban sustainability. Her new book, “Next Generation Infrastructure: principles for post-industrial public works”, published by Island Press in May 2014, addresses innovative solutions for ecologically-balanced urban systems. Since 2001, Brown’s consulting firm, New Civic Works, has engaged public and institutional clients in greening facility and infrastructure capital programs. Clients have included the City of NY, Salt Lake City, NY Power Authority, New Haven public school systems, and the State University of New York. Previously, as former Design Director/Assistant Commissioner at NYC’s Department of Design and Construction, Hillary founded the City’s Office of Sustainable Design in 1996. She was co-author and managing editor of both NYC’s “High Performance Buildings and High Performance Infrastructure  Guidelines.” Brown serves on the Board of Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment under the National Research Council of the National Academies. She is a Fellow with the Post Carbon Institute. She has served on the National and NYC Board of Directors of the U.S. Green Building Council. A 1999 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, she was a 2001 Robert Bosch Public Policy Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.

Mr. Cataffa is a licensed landscape architect and principal at CMG Landscape Architecture, leading the design and management on a range of project types from planning and site design to cultural landscape research and preservation. He comes to landscape architecture with prior professional experience as a public art administrator and open-space advocate.  He brings his experience with community-based design processes and consensus building to his current design and planning work.  He approaches site design and planning with an emphasis on social and ecological connectivity and a passion for understanding place through the lens of its past and present culture. He has managed complex and technically challenging projects, requiring multiple agency reviews and approvals. He received his MLA from U.C. Berkeley in 2002. Since then, he has worked with the LAEP Department, teaching design studios and participating in studio critiques.

Jeff Caudill is a Senior Consultant at Green Building Services (GBS), a full service sustainability consulting firm. Jeff combines his experience at GBS with over three previous years as a land use planner to identify innovative green building strategies at a variety of levels, including the planning, design, and construction phases of projects. Jeff works with project teams to reduce the environmental impact of their projects while also managing the certification efforts associated with the LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC), LEED for Core-and-Shell (LEED-CS), and LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) programs. Jeff frequently facilitates eco-charrettes and other green building strategy sessions. Jeff holds a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).

Candace Damon is the Vice Chairman of HR&A Advisors. She is a leading expert in the implementation of sustainable infrastructure plans at a property, district, and City scale and regularly presents at open space and sustainability events around the world. For over 25 years, Candace has been responsible for successful strategies for the redevelopment of urban downtowns and waterfronts across North America. Candace is a member of the Board of the City Parks Alliance and the Urban Green Council. Candace is also a a member of the New York City YMCA Real Estate Advisory Committee. She serves on the Advisory Board and is the former President of the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation and received the “Women of Influence Award” from the Real Estate Forum in 2008. Candace holds a B.A. from Amherst College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Naomi is one of Chicago’s most celebrated environmentalists. She is an urban theorist, attorney, activist, and proud granddaughter of Mississippi sharecroppers. She is the founder of BIG: Blacks in Green™, an award-winning economic development organization based in Chicago.  Naomi is a Green For All Fellow, and for her work in green community economic development has received Governor Quinn’s 2007 Environmental Hero Award, the 2008 Chicago Magazine Green Award, the 2009 Jewel‐Osco Environmental Stewardship Prize, the 2010 Citizen Newspapers “10 Community Leaders To Watch,”  the 2010 Ebony Magazine Power100, and in 2011 was selected to serve on Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s Transition Team for Energy, Environment, and Public Space and also as 1 of 100 international thought leaders to present at Groupon Founder’s First Annual Chicago Ideas Week. This year she was recognized with the ComEd Power of One Community Heroes Award.

Zach is the EcoDistricts Director for the DC Department of General Services’ Energy & Sustainability Division. He is responsible for identifying and implementing neighborhood-scale solutions that lower energy costs, reduce volatility and risk, decarbonize the city’s energy supply and consumption, and catalyze efforts to address the climate crisis as quickly as possible. Zach plans, designs, and manages projects ranging from energy districts and portfolio management to capital budgeting and policy development. Before joining DGS, Zach owned and managed Carbon Cross Development, a consulting and contracting company focused on building science and clean energy. Prior to that, Zach served as an Urban Sustainability Planner in the DC Office of Planning, managing projects ranging from economic and cultural development to urban design and sustainability. Zach is a LEED accredited professional, BPI Building Analyst, and holds an MPA from American University and a BA from the University of Oklahoma.

Rich is currently the Community Energy Coordinator on the Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy (AIRE) team in Arlington County’s Office of Sustainability and Environmental Management. He holds two Masters Degrees in Public Affairs (MPA) and Environmental Science (MSES) from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He previously worked at the NAHB Research Center as a Green Building and Land Use Specialist and at SAIC as an Environmental Management Systems Specialist. His current duties as a Community Energy Coordinator include: • Ensuring that all stakeholders’ voices are heard when it comes to shaping Arlington County’s energy future; • Ensuring the County’s award-winning Community Energy Plan and companion Community Energy Plan Implementation Framework will help: o Provide reliable and affordable energy o Ensure Arlington’s economic competitiveness, and o Protect the environment. • Coordinating with the Community Energy Plan Implementation Review Committee on implementation progress. Rich lives in Arlington with his wife and two daughters. He appreciates the opportunity to have a job that allows him to bike to the office and work on projects that impact the community in which he lives.

Marshall Duer-Balkind is the Energy Benchmarking Specialist in the Energy Data and Benchmarking Division of the District Department of the Environment, Government of the District of Columbia. Mr. Duer-Balkind serves as program manager for the District’s groundbreaking energy benchmarking and disclosure program for public and private buildings.  He also works on the development of next-generation energy performance policies consistent with the Mayor’s Sustainable DC Plan, and serves on the Department of Energy’s Building Energy Data Exchange Specification working group. Prior to joining the District Department of the Environment, Mr. Duer-Balkind worked for the Institute for Market Transformation, and for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. He earned a Master’s of Environmental Management (M.E.M.) from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a B.A. in Political Science and Computer Science from Oberlin College.

Adriana Gomez, a Professional Engineer and Planner, brings 14 years of experience in Environmental Planning, Green Infrastructure, Community Engagement and Environmental Program Design. As a Project Manager for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s Sustainable Neighbourhood Retrofit Action Plan (SNAP), Adriana has worked in the development of retrofit plans for various neighborhoods. She designed a neighbourhood-wide urban agriculture strategy, a revitalization plan for low-income apartment towers and a residential retrofit program, which is now into its second year of implementation, achieving outstanding results. She has also overseen the design of green infrastructure in Parks and Right-of-Ways. In order to make environmental transformation a reality, Adriana has found innovative financing tools, and has implemented out-of-the-box approaches to effectively achieve behavioral change. Previously, Adriana worked at the City of Toronto, managing projects that ranged from Planning of Parks and Open Spaces, to GHG Reduction and stormwater management strategies.

Christina Mitchell Grace is a food systems consultant with over 20 years of management experience including 14 years dedicated to developing regional farm-to-market infrastructure, community food projects, and food policy. She collaborates with not-for-profits, government agencies and businesses to implement food systems strategies that address climate change, loss of farmers and farmland, hunger, obesity, and unemployment. Her areas of expertise include regional food systems planning, food distribution and processing, sustainable food sourcing, urban agriculture, and organic waste management. As New Territories, she provides strategic planning; project design, development and management; system and vendor evaluation; policy development and market research services. Christina has participated in regional food systems projects in New York, Oregon and California and national food policy development and advocacy. Prior to working in food and agriculture, Christina was a marketing executive for First Call, Thomson Reuters Company and AMR Research (now Gartner Group).

Deb Guenther is a partner and a landscape architect at Mithun – an integrated design firm with offices in Seattle and San Francisco.  Deb’s work integrates function and beauty of ecological systems into habitable places, showcasing her innate perception of the relationship between people and their surroundings.  Her work ranges in scale and complexity and includes urban neighborhood redevelopment and green infrastructure systems.  Deb helped establish the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES), a national site rating tool, linking ecosystem serivices with social and economic value and she serves on the board of the Landscape Architecture Foundation.  She is a fellow of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the American Society of Landscape Architects and a former Seattle Arts Commissioner.

Dr. Charles Hostovsky is an Assistant Professor of City & Regional Planning at the Catholic University of America, School of Architecture and Planning. His research areas include Urban Sustainability; Environmental Planning/Impact Assessment; Sustainable Transportation Planning; Transit-Oriented Development; Travel Demand Management; Sustainable Water Resource Management; Land Use Planning and Urban Sprawl; New Urbanism; Sustainable Solid-Waste Management (garbage); Alternative Dispute Resolution; and Public Consultation and Engagement. He received his Baccalaureate degree in Environmental Systems and Biology from the University of Toronto; Masters in Environmental Studies (Planning) from York University; PhD in Planning from the University of Waterloo; and a Certificate of Postdoctoral Study in Traffic Engineering and Transportation Planning from McMaster University.

Ellen Jones is the DowntownDC Business Improvement District’s (BID’s) Director of Infrastructure and Sustainability. The DowntownDC BID incorporates 133 blocks from the White House to Union Station. Her Department’s portfolio includes parks, transportation and the DowntownDC ecoDistrict. Ellen was Executive Director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) to joining the DowntownDC BID. Her career has also included work in the private, nonprofit and public sectors in the fields of transportation and environmental protection at the regional and national levels. Ellen has a Masters of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School, University of Texas.

Gabe Klein has worked in leadership roles in Transportation, Technology, Consumer Services and Consulting. He served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation under Mayor Rahm Emmanuel from 2011 to 2013. Under Gabe’s leadership, the agency became a national model for innovation in public space, transportation and technology. The soon-to-be largest bikeshare program in the United States, Divvy, has already revolutionized how Chicagoans navigate their neighborhoods. Gabe served as Director of the District of Columbia Department of Transportation under then Mayor Adrian M. Fenty from 2008-2010. Gabe and his management team transformed the agency into a customer-focused agency that is being hailed as a national leader in technology, customer interface, and multi-modal innovation, as well as innovative finance; Gabe set the standard for everything from parking technology to the nation’s first, and largest, bikesharing program, Capital Bikeshare. Before moving to the public sector, Gabe was a successful entrepreneur. In 2006 Gabe co-founded On The Fly, an innovative, boutique food-service company. On the Fly was one of the first multi-unit and multi-channel street vending companies in the U.S. with brick and mortar stores and mobile catering operations. At the end of 2002, Gabe became regional Vice President for Zipcar, overseeing the carsharing system in the D.C. region. By the end of his tenure in 2006, Gabe had transformed this unheard of concept and brand; Washington had become the nation’s largest carsharing city by membership and vehicles, had purchased Flexcar, and modelled for international expansion.

Dr. Constantine E. Kontokosta, PE, AICP, LEED AP, FRICS, is Deputy Director of the NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), Director of the Center for the Sustainable Built Environment at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, and Research Associate Professor of Civil and Urban Engineering at the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering. Dr. Kontokosta leads CUSP’s Building Informatics research group, and has worked  with numerous NYC agencies, most recently providing the analysis for the Local Law 84 Building Energy Benchmarking Report. He is the Principal Investigator and Head of the CUSP Quantified Community research facility, which will create a fully instrumented urban neighborhood in New York City. Dr. Kontokosta holds a Ph.D., M.Phil, and M.S. in Urban Planning, specializing in urban economics, from Columbia University, a M.S. in Real Estate Finance from New York University, and a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering Systems from the University of Pennsylvania.

Wade is Vice President and Regional Manager, Portland, OR of American Assets Trust, A REIT, which is owner and developer of Hassalo on Eighth in the Lloyd EcoDistrict and a portfolio of properties in the Lloyd District. He is also the chair of the Lloyd EcoDistrict and serves as a Board Member of Go Lloyd (Transportation Management) and the Enhanced Service District (formerly the Business Improvement District) and is the 2014 President of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Oregon. Prior to going to work for American Assets Trust, Wade worked for Ashforth Pacific, as Vice President of Property Management, and for the State of Oregon as Facilities Manager. Wade is a native Portlander and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Portland State University.

A licensed architect and certified city planner, Ellen Lou leads Urban Design + Planning Group for SOM’s San Francisco office. Lou has directed many world-renowned urban design and planning efforts in the United States and the Pacific Rim countries. Her areas of specialization include urban, brownfield reuse, master plans for new towns and communities, historic revitalization, and campus master plans. Ellen is particularly skilled in developing innovative ideas to address challenging urban planning contexts and in guiding development interests to create public benefit. She is keenly interested in promoting sustainable development. Her tenets of sustainable planning include creating pedestrian-friendly and transit-oriented developments, integrating elements of site features with development needs, and engendering a sense of identity rooted in the culture and aspirations of the place.

Sean Luther manages all aspects of the Pittsburgh 2030 District, including convening the District Partners, serving as the primary spokesman, and collaborating with stakeholders.  Since joining the Green Building Alliance (GBA) in 2012, he has grown both the number and percentage of Pittsburgh 2030 District Property Partners. Previously, Sean served as President of Downtown Roanoke, Inc. in Roanoke, VA. Sean has also worked in various capacities at the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, working chiefly as the administrator of a street activation program, the Market Square reactivation initiative, and office recruitment/retention efforts. Sean earned a BS and a Masters in Real Estate Development from Clemson University.  Sean also holds a certification as an Economic Development Financial Professional from the National Development Council and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Christine Mondor is an eternal optimist who believes that design is essential to shape a sustainable environment. She has been active in shaping places, processes and organizations through her work as an architect, educator, and activist. As Strategic Principal of evolveEA, she has led the development of ecodistrict planning in “quilted” communities and has led design teams on award winning buildings and landscapes and is Chair of the Planning Commission for the City of Pittsburgh. Christine also facilitates strategic planning processes and has done research on the relationship between sustainable design and organizational development. Christine teaches architecture, landscape and sustainability at Carnegie Mellon University and has served in leadership roles in organizations that promote design and the environment. She studied at Carnegie Mellon University and in Scandinavia. Christine is a registered architect and LEED AP.

Wadi Muhammad manages communication and engagement strategies for political, federal and non-profit organizations. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Field Director for a mayoral campaign in Boston, where he led the voter and political outreach in communities of color.  Previously he worked in public relations and stakeholder engagement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He was the principal advisor for the agency’s African-American and Youth engagement and led the New England ENERGY STAR Houses of Worship efforts at EPA, where he managed the outreach efforts for over 11,000 congregations and increased program participation by more than 90%.  Wadi earned his degree in Business Management with a Minor in Marketing from UMass Boston. As an undergraduate at UMass Boston, he founded a University environmental stewardship initiative that sought to empower communities through capacity building and service to support the local green economy. Born and raised in Boston, some of the same community groups that he was involved with as a youth, are the organizations leading the efforts for the Talbot-Norfolk Triangle Eco-Innovation District, now in early stages of revitalization.

Melanie Nutter is the Principal of Nutter Consulting that provides sustainability and smart cities strategy development and implementation for cities, foundations and companies. In July of 2010, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Melanie Nutter as the Director of the San Francisco Department of Environment. She continued to serve in that capacity for Mayor Edwin Lee through February 2014. Nutter led the Department, which helps all San Francisco residents and businesses take an active role in protecting the urban environment, conducts outreach and education on sustainable practices, and runs many innovative environmental programs including on zero waste, green building, climate and energy, toxics reduction and clean transportation. From 2005-2010, Nutter served as the Deputy District Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, where she managed the Speaker’s district office by supervising staff, addressing constituent concerns, and advising on local policy issues. Nutter founded and is Chair Emeritus for the Energy and Environment Circle for Full Circle Fund. Nutter also served on the Planning Committee for the Urban Sustainability Director’s Network (USDN) and Co-Chaired USDN’s Innovation Fund. She currently serves as an EcoDistricts Board Member. She also currently serves on the Sustainability Subcommittee for the 2016 Superbowl. Nutter was appointed in 2014 to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Smart and Sustainable Cities Network, working on international standards for smart cities. Nutter holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Northwestern University in Communications and Environmental Studies. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son.

Laura, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Streetlight Data, is a leading advocate and researcher in advanced transportation, with particular expertise in transportation systems, sustainability and safety, and vehicle/system modeling and analysis. After completing degrees in engineering and comparative literature at Yale University, she worked at the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), managing their vehicle electrification projects, including the Smart Garage Charrette and Project Get Ready. Next, Laura joined the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to develop planning for regulatory strategy for electric vehicles and energy storage. Laura’s work at StreetLight is an extension of her graduate studies at UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group. She is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in Energy Engineering, and the author of several publications about vehicle electrification and sustainable transportation.

Dan Slone is a partner in the international law firm McGuireWoods, with 900 lawyers and 20 offices around the world. He provides legal counsel for numerous benefit corporations, non-profits, eco-industrial parks and mixed use communities in the design of their governance structures. Dan has been named by several national organizations as one of the best lawyers in the country and is a winner of several awards for his work in connection with urban and sustainable projects and clients. He serves on the Board of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Board of Resilient Design Institute and Board of Tricycle Gardens (urban agriculture). He also serves as national counsel for ecodistricts for the US Green Building Council and World Green Building Council. He is a former Board member of the Form-Based Codes Institute, Eco Industrial Development Council, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, Transect Codes Council and National Charrette Institute. Dan is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on resilient communities, pedestrian-oriented communities and other more sustainable forms of development, as well as co-author of A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development. Dan is an international speaker on subjects ranging from community adaptation to climate change to storytelling as a method for conveying community principles.

Llewellyn is the President and Founder of Living City Block. LCB has had projects in Denver, Brooklyn, and Washington, DC. LCB is launching new projects in 2014. Living City Block has created and implements a replicable, exportable, scalable and financially viable framework for the resource efficient regeneration of existing cities, concentrating on the neighborhood or district scale. LCB has deep experience in community engagement around sustainability issues, and in governance structures that allow district wide aggregation projects to be realized.Llewellyn also founded Urban Energy Systems Corporation, a Community Micro Grid consulting firm based in New York City. UESC works with clients to develop, design and implement Community Micro Grids, using those microgrid projects as launching pads for LCB and Eco District development. UESC partners with a select group of finance, legal, design and engineering firms – as well as with local community based organizations -to deliver a full suite of packaged services. As Community Microgrids further evolve, UESC brings unique experience in the aggregation processes needed to develop community scale energy systems. Prior to founding LCB and UESC, Llewellyn was a Vice President at Rocky Mountain Institute. He spent twenty-four years working in the entertainment industry on independent films such as Bagdad Café, The Grifters, Dogfight and Under Suspicion. Llewellyn won five Emmy awards, a Golden Globe and two Producers Guild awards as one of the original producers of the television series The West Wing.

Michael Yarne is Executive Director of UP, Urban, a non-profit dedicated to civic entrepreneurship and a partner at Build Inc., a San Francisco multifamily & mixed-use infill developer. He has 10 years of applied expertise in entitlements, public-private partnerships, development management and local government policy. Prior to joining Build in 2012, Yarne served four years as Development Advisor in the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, where he negotiated and secured approval of the 152-acre, $7B, 30-year Parkmerced Development Agreement that will add 5,600 new units and fund over $200M in transportation improvements in the SE corner of the City.Yarne is an active San Francisco resident, having served on several non-profit boards, including five years as chairman of City Carshare, North America’s largest non-profit car-sharing company, past president of Urban Ecology, co-founder of the Central Market Business Improvement District and former board member of Friends of City Planning. He is also a member of an Honorable Member of the Lambda Alpha Real Estate Economic Society.Yarne received a J.D. and a Masters in City Planning from UC Berkeley and is a member of the California Bar. He is also a graduate of Williams College and served in the Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa, helping launch rural micro-credit, reforestation and permaculture projects.

Geraldine Gardner serves at the Director of Urban and Regional Policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a non-profit, non-partisan institution dedicated to strengthening transatlantic relations.  In this capacity, Gardner leads several transatlantic initiatives that bring together policy makers and practitioners from US and European cities for peer to peer exchange, leadership development and networking activities.  Prior to joining GMF, she served in various urban planning and economic development capacities under three different Mayors in the District of Columbia.  Most notably she was the Associate Director for Neighborhood Planning in the DC Office of Planning. During her six year tenure at DCOP, Gardner led the successful completion of over 18 neighborhood and revitalization plans, including the master plan to develop the historic Saint Elizabeth East Campus.  She has also worked in a variety or research and planning capacities in Los Angeles, New York, and Berlin. Gardner has a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles and a bachelor’s degree in metropolitan studies from New York University. She was the recipient of a Bundeskanzler/ German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to support a year-long research project to track the development of the creative economy in post-Wall Berlin.

Helen Gurfel is the executive director of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance. Greenprint is an alliance of leading real estate owners, investors, and strategic partners committed to improving the environmental performance of the global real estate industry. As the executive director, she is responsible for the overall management and growth of the center.

Prior to ULI, Helen was a director of GE Capital Real Estate’s global sustainability group, where she spearheaded a number of initiatives, including development of sustainability programs for GE’s portfolios in France, Canada, and the U.K., establishment of a rooftop solar program to deploy solar installations across properties in North America and the U.K., and incorporation of innovative technologies into GE-owned properties. She was also a member of GE Capital Real Estate’s global valuation team and GE Energy Financial Services’ portfolio management team. Prior to GE, she was a principal consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Helen received a B.S. in chemical engineering from Columbia University, an MBA from the Wharton School, and a master’s in international studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

Derek Hyra is an Associate Professor of Public Administration at American University. His research focuses on processes of neighborhood change, with an emphasis on housing, metropolitan politics, and race. Dr. Hyra is the author of The New Urban Renewal: The Economic Transformation of Harlem and Bronzeville (University of Chicago Press 2008). He recently completed his second book, which investigates the redevelopment of Washington, DC’s Shaw/U Street neighborhood. Dr. Hyra has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Social Science Research Council and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and his research has been showcased in both academic journals, such as Housing Policy Debate, Urban Affairs Review and Urban Studies, and popular media outlets, including the British Broadcasting Corporation, Chicago Public Radio, C-SPAN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

Dr. Hyra directs an interdisciplinary metropolitan governance and policy research center at American University. He is also a research affiliate of the National Poverty Center and an affiliated scholar of the Urban Institute. He previously served as chair of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority, as an Obama appointee on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Council on Underserved Communities and was a U.S. Congressional candidate in Northern Virginia in 2014. He received his B.A. from Colgate University and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Stephanie Carnes has served as the Managing Director of the Chesapeake Crescent Initiative (CCI), a regional (MD-VA-DC-DE) initiative to advance innovation in energy, life sciences, and security, since the fall of 2008. In this role, Stephanie oversees all aspects of this regional collaborative, including gathering leadership from the public (Federal, state and local government), academic, and private sectors for events and convenings; leading multi-stakeholder teams to implement special projects; and building partnerships with regional stakeholders.

Prior to joining CCI, she was an Attorney at the DC law firm of Scheuermann & Menist, where her practice centered on real property and employment civil litigation matters. Before attending law school, Ms. Carnes was a public policy consultant at ICF International. At ICF, she focused on projects involving collaborations between government and industry, such as the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH). For PATH, she prepared the program’s business plan and overall strategic plan as well as oversaw marketing and communications. Ms. Carnes also developed Federal regulations as well as agency handbooks, conducted program evaluations as well as provided other research and writing services for various agencies in the Federal government.

Ms. Carnes earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Smith College and her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. She is a licensed attorney in the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Heather Deutsch has worked on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects for the past ten years for Washington, D.C.’s Department of Transportation and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.  In addition to providing design assistance on hundreds of private and public transportation and public space plans she managed the design and construction of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, the Rhode Island Avenue Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge and Conceptual Plans for 6-miles of additional trails in DC.  At the Rails-to-Trails Conversancy she led a team that provided legal, acquisition, economic and design assistance to municipalities throughout the U.S.  Previous urban planning work focused on under-served communities in redeveloping historic neighborhoods. Prior to planning, Ms. Deutsch worked for an NGO where she worked primarily in Kenya and Latin America.  She holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a BA in the History of Math, Science and Philosophy.  She has traveled to 35 countries and bicycled across the country at the age of thirteen.

Caitlin is an urban and regional planner with a special interest in environmental planning in rapidly urbanizing and emerging regions. Caitlin’s core competencies include project management, green building, neighborhood and infrastructure certification and rating systems, sustainability frameworks, urban policy research and formulation, technical writing, community needs and site assessments. In Washington DC, Caitlin leads international development and government affairs pursuits for the CH2M HILL Urban Environments market sector. Caitlin has been a Sustainability Consultant and Project Manager on a number of major projects, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup QatarTM, and the Msheireb Downtown Doha urban regeneration project.  At Green Building Services, Caitlin worked closely with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) on LEED project reviews, program development initiatives such as the LEED 2009 References Guides, LEED-AP Study Guides and practice exams, and developing Alternative Compliance Paths for LEED projects outside the US.

Mike Goodno is a bicycle program specialist at the District Department of Transportation. He has a masters of community planning degree from the University of Maryland. During his 11 years at DDOT he has had the pleasure of installing over 1,000 bicycle parking racks; managing the city’s bicycle count program; reviewing roadway reconstruction plans; analyzing bicycle crash data; producing the city’s bicycle map; staffing the city’s bicycle advisory council; and has managed the planning, design, and implementation of over 45 miles of bicycle lanes, 5 miles of protected bike lanes, and 45 miles of signed bicycle routes.

Ryan Gravel is an urban designer at Perkins+Will where he engages site planning, concept development, and public policy. His master’s thesis in 1999 was the original vision for the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile transit greenway that transforms a loop of old railroads with transit, parks, and trails to generate economic growth and protect quality-of-life in 45 neighborhoods throughout the central city. Six years of his subsequent work as a volunteer and later in the nonprofit and government sectors was critical to the project’s success, which is now a $3 billion public-private initiative in the early stages of implementation. Even today, the project’s health and economic benefits have already become obvious, with record-breaking use of its first 2-mile phase of trail and over $1 billion of new, compact, mixed-use redevelopment along the same corridor since 2005. At Perkins+Will, Ryan has helped lead early design work on the Atlanta Beltline itself, taking his long-term commitment to sustainable city building full circle: from vision, to advocacy, to planning, design, and implementation. He speaks internationally and has received numerous awards for his work on the project. Ryan is also finishing a book that investigates the cultural side of infrastructure, describing how its intimate relationship with our way of life can illuminate a brighter path forward for cities.

Ms. Kristine Kingery serves as the Director, Army Sustainability Policy, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy and Sustainability, with overall responsibility for Army-wide sustainability initiatives. She provides program oversight, strategic planning, policy recommendations, and establishes goals, objectives, and metrics for sustainability initiatives. She is responsible for the vertical and horizontal coordination of programs from installations to Headquarters, Department of the Army with full authority for management decisions related to program initiatives. She develops programs spanning several years, involving sensitive issues, and subject to Congressional and/or media scrutiny. She serves as subject matter expert on the Army’s Net Zero Installations Initiative to develop the strategy, identify installations, and monitor progress towards achieving Net Zero Energy, Net Zero Water, and Net Zero Waste.

Ms. Kingery has over 29 years of combined military and federal civil servant experience specializing in managing environmental cleanup from the installations level to overseeing military environmental cleanup efforts in support of national strategy.

Ms. Kingery completed her undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry. She was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Chemical Corps in May 1981 and served on active duty in the Seventh Infantry Division, Fort Ord, CA, and at the U.S. Army Chemical Center and School, Ft. McClellan, AL. She received a Master of Applied Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Delaware, and Master of Science Degree in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University.

Kim Lucas is a Bicycle Program Specialist for the District’s Department of Transportation where she manages the Capital Bikeshare and Bike Parking programs for Washington, D.C. In the over ten years since Kim began her work in transportation as a student bus driver at the University of Virginia, she has held positions in the public and private sectors, and as a researcher working on a variety of modes.  Kim recently returned to the D.C. metro area after completing her Master’s in City Planning at the University of California, Berkeley.

Rachel MacCleery leads ULI’s Building Healthy Places and Infrastructure Initiatives. Under Building Healthy Places, Rachel spearheads ULI’s efforts to leverage the power of its global networks to shape projects and places in ways that improve the health of people and communities, and works to advance action connecting the built environment and health. Rachel’s infrastructure work examines cutting-edge infrastructure trends and issues, engagement in federal, state, and local discussions about infrastructure, and related topics.

Rachel is a frequent writer and speaker on real estate, health, and infrastructure. She previously worked for consulting firm AECOM on projects in China, and served as transportation planner for the city of Washington, DC. She holds a masters in public affairs and urban and regional planning.

Matt Raimi, the founder of Raimi + Associates, has nearly 20 years of experience in planning. He has directed numerous comprehensive plans, open space plans, and site planning projects. Recent and ongoing projects include the Fremont City Center Precise Plan, the Health Framework Chapter of the General Plan for the City of Los Angeles, General Plans for Hermosa Beach and East Palo Alto, and a Health Element for Santa Clara County’s General Plan.  He has also assisted with development of the LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System and Reference Guide as a sub-consultant to the U.S. Green Building Council, has overseen the LEED-ND certifications of multiple projects, and is LEED-ND Faculty with USGBC. He focuses on creating more livable and sustainable cities, and has spoken extensively on applying the principles of new urbanism to comprehensive plans, incorporating public health concerns into the planning process, and promoting sustainable development at the local level. Mr. Raimi is the co-author of a seminal book on smart growth and the impact of sprawl titled Once There Were Greenfields: How Urban Sprawl is Undermining America’s Environment, Economy and Social Fabric.

Tammy Shoham is the Vice President of Economic Development with the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (BID). Prior to joining the BID, Tammy served as a Vice President with RCLCO and a Senior Associate with ERA|AECOM. She is driven to create mixed-use neighborhoods that are as interesting as they are functional. At the BID, Tammy leads a variety of initiatives that improve the competitiveness of the Capitol Riverfront, including transportation advocacy, market research, and public realm improvement. Tammy received her Masters in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin. She is an active member of the Urban Land Institute.

Megan Kanagy, AICP joined the DowntownDC Business Improvement District in Washington, DC as the Capital Projects Manager in 2011. She oversees improvements to the area’s parks, public realm, and bicycle infrastructure. Prior to joining the DowntownDC BID she worked for DDOT’s bicycle program during the launch of Capital Bikeshare and oversaw the installation of the 15th Street cycle track. She graduated with a dual master’s degree in Transportation Engineering and City Planning from UC Berkeley and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Rice University.  Megan also currently serves as a representative on the DC Bicycle Advisory Committee.

Collin Tateishi joined LTSC’s Community Economic Development team in 2012 as an Assistant Project Manager and Planner. Working across the Real Estate Development and Community Planning & Organizing programs, he has worked on a LEED certified affordable housing development project as well as various city planning initiatives impacting Little Tokyo. As he transitions into a new position as Sustainability Associate, he will focus on energy efficiency opportunities and district sustainability programs.

Collin graduated from the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo with a degree in City and Regional Planning. He is pursuing a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree and Certificate in Global Sustainability from the University of California at Los Angeles. His personal hobbies include record collecting, reading, and watching baseball.

Matt Tomasulo is the Founder and Chief Instigator behind Walk [Your City], a civic technology platform enabling communities to create smart, quick, light, and inexpensive pedestrian wayfinding campaigns.  In 2012, Matt installed WalkRaleigh, the catalytic guerrilla wayfinding signs that spread across the globe, and ultimately evolved into Walk [Your City].  Matt holds a dual masters degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State in City & Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture. Matt has won multiple awards and competitions, including the Robert Stipe Fellowship, three Student ASLA awards, and the 2010 Urban Land Institute – Hines Urban Design Competition. While in grad school, Matt successfully Kickstarted two projects, raising $50k from 1500 backers that helped him found CityFabric, Inc. Matt’s work has been featured by BBC News, TED.com, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, NPR, and Wired.  His work was also included in the 13th Venice Biennale, and he is part of NextCity.org’s “Vanguard”, a “40 Under 40” class of new urban leaders.

John Zeanah, AICP, is the Administrator for the Memphis and Shelby County Office of Sustainability and is charged with the implementation of the Sustainable Shelby Plan, a strategic framework for action on sustainability initiatives in Memphis and Shelby County. Mr Zeanah’s office coordinates various regional initiatives and serves as an advocate on sustainable practices such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable economic development, sustainable food systems, and green building practices.

Prior to this role, Mr. Zeanah served as the Program Manager of the Mid-South Regional Greenprint and Sustainability Plan for the Office of Sustainability, managing a $2.6 million HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant to develop a unified vision for a regional network of green space connecting across the Greater Memphis area. The plan includes a comprehensive set of recommended actions toward regional sustainability through improving green space, transportation, health, environment, neighborhoods, and the regional economy.

Mr. Zeanah has presented on the Mid-South Regional Greenprint at national and state conferences of American Planning Association, American Society of Landscape Architects, and American Public Transportation Association and participated as a pilot community partner for APA’s Comprehensive Planning Standards for Sustaining Places initiative. Mr. Zeanah holds a BA in Political Science from Rhodes College and a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of Memphis.

Scott Hall is the General Manager for the greater Washington, DC area for Zipcar, the world’s largest car sharing organization.   He oversees all sales and operations activities for one of Zipcar’s largest market in North America.  Scott works with local businesses, universities and government agencies to provide innovative transportation solutions to help reduce costs and support sustainability initiatives.  Most recently, Scott partnered with the District Department of Transportation to provide parking at no cost in any legal curbside space within the District of Columbia for Zipcars in the Washington market and helped revamp the city’s on-street car sharing program.  Scott is a frequent lecturer and speaker on transportation and sustainability at local universities and business events.  Prior to Zipcar, Scott spent almost 20 years in various senior leadership roles for Target, T-Mobile and CompUSA.  He holds a Bachelor’s in Finance from the College of William and Mary.

Jim McCabe serves as senior director, standards facilitation, at the American National Standards Institute, where he manages domestic and international standards coordination activities related to smart and sustainable cities and electric vehicles. Recent projects have included: organizing a workshop and network to examine the role of standardization in achieving the promise of smart and sustainable cities; developing and maintaining a standardization roadmap to facilitate the safe, mass deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in the United States; and organizing workshops with partners in the U.S., Europe and China to facilitate cooperation on electric vehicle standardization.

Mr. McCabe joined ANSI in 1995. Other standards coordination areas of focus have included identity theft prevention, protection of personal data and privacy, occupational safety and health management, consumer affairs, government relations and public policy, and corporate member services. Projects have included developing reports on: the financial impact of breached protected health information to enable businesses to build a case for enhanced PHI security; preventing the theft and misuse of personal financial information; the need for a national identity verification standard; and how research companies measure identity crime. Mr. McCabe also served as convenor of an international working group on consumer participation in standards-setting.

In August 2013, Mr. McCabe was recognized by SES – the Society of Standards Professionals with its Honorary Life Member award.

Prior to joining ANSI, Mr. McCabe served as director of arbitration for the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of The Catholic University of America.

Eliot Allen is an urban planner who has devoted his career to creating vibrant, prosperous, and resilient places.  He founded Criterion Planners of Portland Oregon in 1979 to focus on the nexus of urban planning and sustainability, and has since become a nationally-recognized leader in using information technology and collaborative decision-making to help designers and citizens create outcomes that are measurably more livable and environmentally responsible. Eliot is a specialist in urban sustainability rating tools, having served on the original LEED-ND core committee, and since 2007 serving as a technical advisor to the Sustainable SITES Initiative, EcoDistricts, and USGBC; as well as supervising over two hundred LEED-ND certification reviews worldwide for the Green Building Certification Institute. Eliot is a co-recipient of EPA’s Climate Protection Award for the Chula Vista California Climate Protection Plan; the Congress for the New Urbanism’s Charter Award for the Smart Code; and the APA Sustainable Communities Division Award for the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan. He is a former chair of Portland’s Energy Commission, and currently serves on the Urban Planning Task Group of the American Society for Testing & Materials, and the USGBC Board of Directors Nominating Work Group.

Don Edwards is considered one of the most deft mediators and process designers working today in the field of land use and development by international, federal, regional, state and local planning, transportation, parks and economic development agencies, corporations, universities, foundations and community-based organizations. A 25 year resident of DC, Don designed and facilitated many of its most complex development projects, including the Strategic Washington Neighborhood Planning Initiative, the Anacostia Waterfront Transportation studies, DC’s Transit Alternatives Analysis, the National’s Baseball Park, the District of Columbia’s Comprehensive Plan and the assessment of the DC Zoning Code’s technical and legal infrastructure.

Karl-Josef Jansen is Head of Department 3, Planning and Building Regulations of the City of Ostfildern and Executive Director of the German Academy of Urban and Regional Spatial Planning, National Committee Baden-Wuerttemberg, a non-profit association to support urban and regional spatial planning on paper and in the field.

As project manager of the development Scharnhauser Park Karl-Josef is a highly desired speaker on the topics “Conversion of Industrial Wasteland” and “Sustainable Planning”. He also acts as advisory committee member for a number of respective research projects like IKONA and “Trading Building Areas among Communities”. In addition Karl-Josef has been a regular member of the Advisory Board of Structuring for Scharnhauser Park since 1998. He has also been a permanent member of the council city planning with the German Association of Cities, National Committee Baden-Wuerttemberg since 1993.

Among others Karl-Josef was delivering well-responded lectures during the 2006 International Conference Seoul, South Korea on “Density of Quality” and the 2009 ParkCity conference of CABE London, UK on “Greener Communities – More Homes, Better Places”. In 2007 Karl-Josef hosted a delegation of the House of Commons and presented a lecture on “Sustainable Settlement Development”.

Since 2005 Karl-Josef has been teaching and examining students in “Town Planning” and “Building Law” at the Nuertingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences, Germany.

Some of Karl-Josef’s German publications are “Behinderte Menschen im Blickpunkt der oef-fentlichen Planung“ (2013), “Die Zukunft der Innenstadt” (2011), „Stadt & Energie, große Pläne, kleine Schritte“ (2011).

Anthony Kane is Vice President for Research & Development at the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure in Washington, DC where he oversees and directs the research and further development of the Envision rating system for sustainable infrastructure. He is a contributing author of Infrastructure Sustainability and Design. Kane holds a Bachelor of Architecture summa cum laude from Virginia Tech and a Master in Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Robin Mellon has combined his love of the environment, his passion for gardening, his qualifications in real estate and his experience with heritage buildings to become one of Australia’s experts on sustainability in the built environment. Robin joined the Green Building Council of Australia in 2007 to drive the adoption of the Green Star rating system for buildings and communities. He has since spearheaded the GBCA’s advocacy and international work and mentored a number of countries, including Israel and Hong Kong, through the process of establishing their own green building councils. Robin sits on the World Green Building Council’s Policy Task Force, has chaired its Asia Pacific Network, and collaborates with Austrade to showcase Australian green building capabilities around the world. An accomplished presenter, educator and media commentator, Robin is the author of numerous articles on how Australia can capture the benefits of efficient, healthy, liveable, productive and resilient buildings. He is also a regular judge of green building and urban design awards.

Jessica Cogan Millman is an expert in urban planning, environmentally sustainable development, and the principles of smart growth. As a founding member of the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) Core Committee, Jessica drafted many of the credits. Jessica is experimenting with applying the LEED-ND rating system in non-traditional ways, including using the rating system as an audit tool to measure how well a community to achieving sustainability goals.

Jessica now directs the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Green Neighborhood Program. The Green Neighborhood program works with communities around the country to design, plan, and catalyze the building of model, neighborhood-scale development projects that combine smart growth, environmental justice, green stormwater infrastructure, efficient transportation options, green building, and public health practices.

Prior to working at NRDC, Jessica served as the Planning Director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. At the Coalition, Jessica advocated for the adoption of good planning policies around the Washington region. Jessica has held many other positions including: the Deputy Director of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute and Smart Growth America; and Chief of Staff for the Governor’s Office of Smart Growth in Maryland and as the Director of Program and Policy Coordination at the Maryland Department of Planning.

Danielle Pieranunzi is the Program Director of the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™). For the past seven years, she has worked closely with over 50 technical experts from across the country researching and developing comprehensive, science-based guidelines and criteria for sustainable land design and development. She has also been overseeing review of pilot projects from around the world that are seeking to be certified as sustainable sites. She has spoken nationally and internationally on the SITES program and high performance landscapes since 2008. With a diverse background in both the public and private sector, Danielle is drawn to projects that translate urgent environmental and social issues into compelling stories and accessible tools that produce measurable sustainability outcomes and foster positive change. Danielle is based at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Danielle is a LEED Accredited Professional, has an M.S. in Sustainable Design from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in Business from Arizona State University.

Scott Pomeroy is the Sustainability Manager for the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID). Since 2008, he has managed a wide range of sustainability initiatives including the DowntownDC ecoDistrict, a comprehensive framework of programs formally established on Earth Day 2011. Included in this work, he insured the ecoDistrict’s participation in the DOE Better Buildings Challenge, piloted the DC Smarter Business Challenge, as well as facilitating the production of the annual Building Energy Summits. Prior to joining the DowntownDC BID, Scott was the Executive Director of the 14th & U Main Street Initiative, the then largest urban main street district encompassing a twenty six linear block area. His leadership and coordination of revitalization efforts in that position laid the foundation for the growth and sustainability of the neighborhood and its recognition in 2011 by American Planning Association, as one of their Great Places in America: Streets. Scott Pomeroy’s commitment to the strength and vitality of his city includes serving on numerous boards and volunteering with a variety of community groups, including Keep Washington DC Beautiful, Career Path DC, and the U Street Neighborhood Association.

Rob Thornton is President and CEO of the International District Energy Association (IDEA), a 105-year old industry association founded in 1909 with headquarters near Boston, MA. In this role since 2000, Mr. Thornton represents the interests of 1800 IDEA members from 25 countries.

In his primary role as advocate for the district energy/CHP industry, he has briefed the President of the United States and members of his Cabinet, Senate and House leadership, senior leadership at US DOE, Commerce and EPA, as well as ministries in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and countless state and local government agencies. .

During his 28 years in the district energy industry, Mr. Thornton led the startup and growth of new downtown district energy systems in three different cities, with primary P&L responsbility for business development, site selection, permitting and development, franchise and customer agreements.

Mr. Thornton is Publisher of District Energy magazine, organizes 3-5 global conferences annually, and serves on the executive committee of the International Energy Agency (IEA) District Heating and Cooling Committee, working with European and Asian NGO’s to advance global district energy policy and research. He has participated in the IEA CHP Collaborative since inception and is a Founding Member of the Microgrid Resources Coalition.

Recognized with the Norm Taylor Award by IDEA and a CHP Champion by USCHPA, he is a frequent speaker and contributor via conferences, white papers and commentary to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, Boston Globe and other outlets.

Sarah Heinicke is the Founding Executive Director of the Lloyd EcoDistrict, a role she has had since 2011. While at the Lloyd EcoDistrict she has established its 501c6 nonprofit status, conducted a baseline of performance conditions from which to measure future successes, conducted a planning process for identifying actionable projects to pursue, in the areas of transportation, waste, energy efficiency and water, established a brand and identify for the district, developed a series of energy efficiencies programs and a very innovative waste reduction material exchange.
Sarah is the Principal of Verditas, a sustainability consulting firm specializing in sustainability action planning, project management for urban planning, development and infrastructure projects. She holds a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and an undergraduate degree from University of Chicago.

Todd leads business development efforts in support of Textizen’s growth. He is a frequent liaison with government agencies, consulting firms, and not-for-profit clients. Todd graduated from the University of Vermont and received a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. He previously worked for an elected official in Philadelphia City Council, for the nationally-renowned Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and in the private sector as an urban planner and urban designer.

Jacob Corvidae wants to help you realize your vision for a better future. He uses sustainability as a tool for tackling economic development, community building, and improved quality of life. Jacob is the Interim Executive Director at EcoWorks, a 33 year old Detroit-based nonprofit that creates opportunities to learn and practice the sustainable use of energy and resources. We work at the intersection between community development and sustainability, with a strong history of serving low-income populations, but also serving all variety of residents, busiensses and governments in our region. We have an amazing youth program and launched Reclaim Detroit to build the local deconstruction industry, and create jobs.

Jacob is also the President and Co-Founder of the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office which provides energy services to local governments. He focuses on finding innovative solutions and has pioneered many new programs of various scales, including co-leading the effort to design, launch and manage the $180 million BetterBuildings for Michigan program. He designed an launched a green behavior-change app called Actioniirs. From affordable housing to the water-energy nexus for governments, from behavior-change to technical know-how, he moves easily through a variety of worlds. Known for his work as a public speaker, facilitator and experienced program designer, Jacob focuses on real, practical solutions that can transform our lives and communities.

Of note for ecodistrict fans: Jacob has also lived off the grid in an ecovillage which reduced his environmental impact to only 10% of the american norm.

At the BRA Mr. Dalzell leads Green Building and Sustainable Development initiatives and policy including:
 Green Building Zoning, enacted in 2007, first major city to require private developers to build green to LEED standards.
 E+ Green Building Program, launched in 2011, proving the feasibility for urban Environmental, Energy, and Equity Positive (E+) residential development. The program is redeveloping urban infill sites with new high performance deep green residential homes that generate more energy than they use; two sites have been completed. In 2012, the Program was expanded to E+ Green Communities with a focus on two large redevelopment sites and broader goals now including neighborhood sustainability and community health. Visit http://www.epositiveboston.org
 EcoDistricts Program, launched in 2013, to pilot practice in the Seaport / Innovation District and in the Talbot Norfolk Eco-Innovation District in Codman Square. The program is employing the EcoDistrict framework to advance district energy and sustainable community strategies and actions. In 2014, Boston joined the EcoDistrict’s Target Cities Initiative to focus resources in the Talbot Norfolk Eco-Innovation District.

Mr. Dalzell is a member of the US Green Building Council national Board of Directors where he provides perspectives on urban design, city and community development and is Chair of the Location and Planning Technical Advisory Group. In 2013, Mr. Dalzell was awarded Fellow, the US GBC’s most prestigious recognition for outstanding leadership and practice.

Matthew is a creative urban place maker, real estate development strategist, and designer. As an associate at Gehl Studio, he focuses on the intersection of real estate strategy and the design and activation of great public spaces. Often working at multiple scales with both private and public clients, he works to develop aspirational, yet economically sustainable and implementable solutions. Matthew also brings an expertise in collaborative engagement with diverse communities in the urban change and development process. Matthew is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute in New York City.

New Buildings Institute Executive Director, Ralph DiNola, has dedicated his professional life to bringing green building innovation to scale. DiNola served as a technical advisor for the Living Building Challenge™ standard and has consulted on over 130 LEED® projects, including ten precedent-setting LEED Platinum certifications. As principal investigator of a landmark study of historic buildings, DiNola helped establish and validate the true value and benefits of building reuse, bridging the divide between sustainability and historic preservation. DiNola is a LEED Fellow, founding Board Chair of the International Living Future Institute, founder and former principal at Green Building Services and 2012 BetterBricks award winner.

Alexis Goggans is a Community Planner with the District of Columbia Office of Planning and project manager for the St. Elizabeths-Congress Heights EcoDistrict. She received a B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a M.S. in Sustainability from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Born and raised near Colorado Springs, Colorado, Ms. Goggans discovered her passion for sustainability while working as Diversity Outreach Coordinator for the Environmental Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. While serving as Diversity Outreach Coordinator, Alexis spearheaded the campus’ first ever environmental justice roundtable, chaired the Environmental Justice Steering Committee and coordinated campus events such as the National Climate Change Teach-In. Upon graduation, Alexis interned with the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies as a naturalist, tour guide and caretaker at the Hallam Lake Nature Preserve.

Ms. Goggans spent the next five years working as an account executive and partner business manager for Hewlett-Packard, where she specialized in critical facility, business development and asset management services. During this time, Alexis founded the Arkansas Diversity & Inclusion Employee Resource Group and organized several corporate social responsibility events. She later moved to Washington, D.C., where she managed the National River Cleanup Campaign for American Rivers, worked as Civic Engagement Manager for Justice & Sustainability Associates and founded Anacostia Trash Talk, a community group dedicated to reducing litter and illegal dumping through education and community cleanups. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., with her sister, niece and dog.

Mr. Don Grant is Executive Director of the Ottawa Centre EcoDistrict which is the first official EcoDistrict in Canada. Don has worked for two years with a dedicated group of volunteers to secure core funding from the public and private sectors and has brought over 50 businesses and organizations on board as EcoDistrict supporters. Don has over 20 years of experience in consulting on sustainability and the environment, working predominantly in the areas of sustainable community planning, sustainable development, energy, water, waste and green procurement.
Don has extensive experience in the area of sustainable community planning including work on plans for the City of Winnipeg, City of Iqaluit, the Town of Halton Hills, the City of Kingston and the Town of Ajax amongst others. Don has a Master’s Degree from Royal Roads University in Interdisciplinary Studies and a BA from Carleton University. Don lives in Ottawa with his wife, two kids and a dog named Rufus.

Brad Bradford is an urbanist with a belief and understanding that investment in cities will be the solution to some of 21st century’s most pressing problems including changing economic geographies, class mobility and education, energy security and climate change, and affordable housing. Trained as an urban planner, Brad has extensive research experience developing district energy implementation strategies, economic development and downtown revitalization policies, and municipal government metrics and evaluators.

As the Community Energy Planner at the International District Energy Association, Brad’s project portfolio includes working with provincial, state, and local governments to advocate for the equitable treatment of thermal energy in policy and funding programs. Supporting activities include written advocacy pieces, presentations to government officials, curation of best practice materials, the development of policy frameworks and toolkits, capacity building with community members and municipalities, and the delivery of community energy planning workshops. In 2013, Brad co-authored ‘Community Energy: Planning, Development & Delivery – Strategies for Thermal Networks’.