Mitchell J. Silver, AICP

President of APA

Mitchell Silver is the Chief Planning and Economic Development Officer in the City of Raleigh, North Carolina. Silver is an award-winning planner with more than 25 years of planning experience. He is nationally recognized for his leadership in the profession and his contributions to contemporary planning issues. Before coming to Raleigh in 2005 as planning director, Silver worked as policy and planning director in New York City, a principal of a New York City-based planning firm, a town manager in New Jersey and deputy planning director in Washington, D.C. He has taught graduate planning courses at Hunter College, Brooklyn College, Pratt Institute, and North Carolina State University. As planning director in Raleigh, he led the comprehensive plan update process. He is now overseeing a rewrite of the city's Development Code.

Bruce Knight, FAICP

Immediate Past President of APA

Bruce Knight is Planning Director of Champaign, Illinois, and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. He also has worked as a city planner in Liberty, Missouri, and Iowa City, Iowa, and as a regional planner with the Mid-Iowa Development Association Council of Governments in Fort Dodge Iowa. Knight joined APA in 1980 and became a certified planner in 1985. He was elected to the AICP College of Fellows in 2003.  Knight served two terms on the APA Board of Directors from 2000-2008.  He served two terms as APA Illinois Chapter President from 1997 to 1999, and served on the Fellows of AICP Task Force and selection committee and the APA Mission Statement Task Force. He also chaired the 2000-2005 National APA Awards Juries. Knight has a B.S. in Urban Planning from Iowa State University and an M.A. in Public Affairs from the University of Iowa.

Anna Breinich, AICP

Director, President of AICP

Anna Breinich has more than 27 years of county, municipal, and private sector planning experience. In addition to her current position, she is an adjunct associate professor and Harrisburg Program Coordinator at Temple University Ambler for the master's degree in Community and Regional Planning Program. She is an active association member and has held numerous national, state, and local positions. Breinich received a bachelor's degree in Sociology and certificate in Social Work from Elizabethtown College, and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Pennsylvania State University. She currently serves on the Middle Paxton Township Planning Commission, Dauphin County.

Angela J. Vincent

Director elected from Region I

Angela Vincent has dedicated her professional career to community and environmental planning. She is currently the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional Director at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). Vincent works with the 200-plus local government members in the region to find local solutions to reducing their carbon footprint by implementing measures to reduce emissions and develop more sustainable communities. She was also a Senior Regional Planner at the Nashua Regional Planning Commission. Vincent focused her work on providing land use, environmental, and energy planning tools and resources issues for the 12-member region. 

Carol A. Rhea, AICP

Director elected from Region II

Carol Rhea lives in Shelby, North Carolina. As president of Rhea Consulting, Inc. she works with the public sector in the areas of planning, group facilitation, ordinances and regulations, board training, permitting, code enforcement, and solid waste. She has 17 years of experience in local government planning and administration and has worked for state, regional, local, and nonprofit agencies in Florida and North Carolina on projects including watershed protection, land use planning and regulation, downtown revitalization, infrastructure financing, and community development. Previously, Rhea served as director of planning and development in Monroe, North Carolina. She is a past president and vice president of NCAPA and currently serves on the board of directors of the Historic Shelby Foundation.

Marie York, FAICP

Director elected from Region III

Marie L. York, FAICP, is president of York Solutions LLC and a senior fellow with the University of Florida's Center for Building Better Communities. She has more than 25 years of planning experience and has led more than 50 projects. As associate director of Florida Atlantic University's Center for Urban & Environmental Solutions, she founded and directed the award-winning Florida Public Officials Design Institute at Abacoa. Within APA, she served as president of the Florida Chapter, Chapter Presidents Council Executive Committee member, and chair of the New Urbanism Division. She currently heads the national Awards Jury and was elected to the AICP College of Fellows in 2008.

Cynthia Bowen, AICP

Director elected from Region IV

Cynthia Bowen is a director at RW Armstrong, a global consulting firm. Prior to her current position, Bowen worked as a Senior Planner at HNTB Corporation. An active APA member, Bowen has held a number of leadership positions including president of the APA Indiana Chapter and vice chair and secretary/treasurer of the Chapter Presidents Council. Bowen is a graduate of Ball State University with degrees in urban and regional planning and environmental science and design. Within her community, Bowen currently serves as a board member and Land Use Committee Chair for the Lafayette Square Area Coalition.

Kelli A. Sertich, AICP

Director elected from Region V

Kelli Sertich has more than 20 years of professional planning experience in the public and private sectors in Arizona. She currently is a Regional Area Planning Manager for the Flood Control District of Maricopa County. She is a certified planner and certified floodplain manager. A dedicated member of APA, Sertich has served the association in a variety of capacities at the local and national level. She was the Arizona APA Chapter President, held various positions on the Arizona Chapter Board, served on the National Planning Awards Jury, and is a current member of Continuing Education Committee of AICP, APA's professional institute. Sertich received an associate's degree in Applied Science from Glendale Community College, bachelor's degree in Design and Urban Planning from Arizona State University, and a master's degree from Western International University.

William Anderson, FAICP

Director elected from Region VI

Bill Anderson is Director of the City Planning and Community Investment Department in the City of San Diego, overseeing planning, urban form, economic development, redevelopment, and facilities financing. He also serves as a Board Member of SanGIS and the Public Facilities Financing Authority and is Chair of SANDAG's Technical Advisory Committee. Previously, he was Senior Vice-President at Economics Research Associates, in Boston, Los Angeles, and San Diego offices as well as the  Economic Planning Practice Group Leader specializing in market research, urban economics analysis, and advisory services to governments and private clients in 20 states and seven foreign countries.

Mitzi Barker, FAICP

Director elected at Large

Mitzi Barker is Director of Rural Housing & Planning for the Rural Alaska Community Action Program. Based in Anchorage, Barker manages the agency's housing rehabilitation and weatherization programs, and rural community planning assistance initiative. She served two terms as President of the Alaska Chapter of APA, vice-chair of the Housing and Community Development Division, and member of the Legislative and Policy Committee. She is the principal author of APA's policy guides on Homelessness and Housing. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Barker completed her undergraduate studies at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She earned her master's degree in geography and area development from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.

Ann C. Bagley, FAICP

Director elected at Large

As a community planner and a consultant, Ann Bagley's work has focused on comprehensive plans, park development, and training planning commissions. As a practicing planner, her experience has included work at Wilbur Smith Associates, the Centurion Consulting Group, and as an independent consultant. She has also worked in the public sector in Sugar Land and Houston, Texas, and at the regional agency, Evangeline Economic and Planning District (EEPD). She was recently appointed to her third term on the Dallas City Plan Commission.

W. Shedrick Coleman

Director elected at Large, Focused

W. Shedrick Coleman is a partner in the Cowart Coleman Group that practices architecture, land planning and interior design. He currently serves as chairman of the Chatham County– Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) in Georgia. The planning commission is the joint city-county planning agency responsible for comprehensive planning and zoning recommendations to the member governments and for historic and natural preservation, community, transportation, and land use planning.

Irayda Ruiz, AICP

Director elected at Large, Focused

Irayda Ruiz is Visiting Professor and Research Fellow at San Carlos University, Guatemala. Prior to her fellowship position, Ruiz worked as the Assistant Director of Operations for the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She also has worked as a senior city planner for the City of Hampton, Virginia, and as an intern in the United Nations Development Program in Guatemala. Within APA, Ruiz served on the Diversity in Planning Task Force and as chair of the Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Committee for the APA Virginia Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's in Architecture from San Carlos University, Guatemala, and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Advisors to the APA Board

Stephen Villavaso

Chapter Presidents Council Advisor to the Board

Terry Holzheimer, FAICP

Divisions Council Advisor to the Board

Andrea Barbour

Student Representatives Council Advisor to the Board