Wesley O’Brien is General Counsel to the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination, and served as Assistant Counsel to the NYC Department of City Planning from 2006 to 2011. He teaches Land Use Law at New York University Wagner School of Public Service and has lectured on issues relating to development and the environment in Senegal, Armenia and Mexico. He holds a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and a LL.M. in International Legal Studies from New York University School of Law. Prior to his legal career, O'Brien was a carpenter on historic restoration projects in Louisiana.

Howard Slatkin is Director of Sustainability and Deputy Director of Strategic Planning for the NYC Department of City Planning. He directs the department’s green initiatives, including efforts to promote energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, stormwater management, and climate resilience. He has also supervised agency activities on waterfront planning and development, inclusionary zoning, and other policies. He managed the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Land Use and Waterfront Plan, a comprehensive neighborhood rezoning that reopened two miles of waterfront to public access and mixed-use, mixed-income development. He holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in U.S. History from Brown University.

Walter Hook has been at the helm of ITDP since 1993. Under his leadership, Walter has transformed the organization from a small advocacy nonprofit to a leading international organization with over 70 staff members in offices in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He has worked directly in over 15 countries and 25 cities on promoting non-motorized transportation and bus rapid transit systems. He worked to make the transport lending of large international financial institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, and United Nations development agencies like UNDP and UN-HABITAT, more environmentally sustainable and equitable, redirecting hundreds of millions of dollars to sustainable transport projects. Under his guidance, ITDP has initiated bus rapid transit projects in over 15 cities around the world. He co-edited the Bus Rapid Transit Planning Guide. Walter received his doctorate in urban planning from Columbia University in 1996 and formerly taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a bachelor’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University.

Annie Weinstock is the US Country Director at the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP). Annie joined ITDP in May 2009 to oversee its work in Africa. Annie worked with governments in Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa to implement bus rapid transit and pedestrian and bicycle initiatives. Since returning from Africa, Annie helped to launch ITDP’s US program. She has been working in Chicago, the DC-area, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere to bring true, gold-standard BRT to American cities. Since 2002, Annie has worked in public, private, and academic transportation settings in Boston, Seattle, New York City, Stockholm, and Africa. She holds a master’s degree in transportation from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s from the University of Massachusetts.

Luc Nadal, is an architect and urbanist, and ITDP’s Technical Director for Urban Development. He joined ITDP in 2005 to promote urban design methods and policies that prioritize walking, cycling and the use of shared public and semi-public urban transports. He has worked on projects of advocacy and technical assistance in Senegal, Brazil, Mexico, India, China, Argentina, and Hungary. Prior to joining ITDP, Luc contributed to urban planning and design projects including the La Villette Park and the Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris. He has written extensively about the role, functions, and meanings of urban public space. Luc received his professional architect diploma (DPLG) from Ecole d’Architecture de Paris-La Villette, and his doctorate in urban planning from Columbia University. He was a Mombusho Scholar at Kyoto University, and he has taught at Columbia University, the New School University, and the Parsons School of Design in New York.

Aimée Gauthier is the Chief Program Officer at ITDP and has been working at ITDP for 10 years . She has worked on BRT projects from planning through to implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has also worked on planning non-motorized facilities, developing private sector small bicycle businesses and examining the intersection between health care service delivery and transport in Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania. Based in New York City, she now works to ensure that ITDP’s field office and global work is well integrated and strategically aligned. Aimée holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and has dual bachelor’s degrees in anthropology and political & social thought from the University of Virginia.

Douglas Adams is the Director of Active Transportation Planning and Associate at Sam Schwartz Engineering. Douglas specializes in bicycle and pedestrian planning and design, particularly in urban settings. For example, his recent projects include the design of on-street protected bicycle lanes in Chicago; a complete-streets conversion of a major arterial street in Philadelphia, including a median greenway; the first on-street bicycle facilities in Allentown, Pennsylvania; and several numerous New York City projects. Adams' projects have received numerous awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies, most recently (2012) the New York Chapter’s Diamond award for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Enhancement Study (traffic calming and pedestrian safety improvements).

Ted Wright is a Senior Project Manager at the New York City Department of Transportation. He has worked for over 12 years in both the public and private sectors on long-range, open space and strategic planning. Ted applies his unique urban design perspective to NYC’s greenways, integrating community groups into the design process, managing the Agency’s long-range vision of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Waterfront Greenways as well as other bicycle and pedestrian projects throughout the five boroughs.

John is a third-generation New Yorker, just shy of his 12th anniversary at NYC PARKS, John works for the agency’s Planning Division as the Project Manager for all Parks Greenway Projects, citywide. Seeking to build a cohesive Citywide network (215 miles in Parks!), John coordinates with City and State, DOT, DDC, MTA, EDC, “friends” groups, and several pro-Greenway non-profits. In addition to seeing all Greenway projects from inception to bid documents, John manages Parks’ FHWA funding and collaborates with NYMTC and TCC to build the local Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).

Ellen Cavanagh is the Director of Planning for The Trust for Governors Island. She has helped lead the planning, design and construction of 30 new acres of park and public spaces on the Island, which will be completed in 2013. She has more than 15 years of planning and design experience in both public and private sectors, in New York and San Francisco. Ellen has a BA summa cum laude from Hunter College and a Master of City Planning degree from the University of California.

Noreen Doyle has been Hudson River Park Trust’s Executive Vice President since 2004. From 1994 through 2001, she also worked for the Trust and its predecessor organization, the Hudson River Park Conservancy, in several capacities, including as Vice President for Environmental Planning & Communications. Between these two periods she worked as a Vice President at AKRF, Inc., an environmental and planning consultant in Manhattan. Ms. Doyle has also held other positions in the public, private and non-profit sectors. She has a BA from Smith College and completed coursework towards a doctoral degree at New York University.

Regina Myer is President of Brooklyn Bridge Park, the corporation responsible for the creation and construction of Brooklyn Bridge Park. As president, Ms. Myer oversees all aspects of the Park, including design, construction, maintenance and operation. Most recently, Ms. Myer has been senior vice president for planning and design at the Hudson Yards Development Corporation. Previously, she served as the Brooklyn Borough Director for the New York City Planning Department.

Warrie Price: In her capacity as president of The Battery Conservancy, an organization she founded in 1994, Warrie has built partnerships with city, state, federal agencies. Along with these partners and other board members, $104 million has been raised to rebuild the Battery’s 25 waterfront acres and revitalize its treasured landmark, the Castle Clinton National Monument. Today, the Castle and park annually host over 5 million visitors and 12 million commuters. She is also Director of New York State’s Harbor Park Heritage Area and the New York City Parks Department Administrator of the Battery. Warrie began her career in government, working for the U.S. Foreign Service as Assistant Cultural Attaché in Santiago, Chile. She was awarded a fellowship from the Kennedy School at Harvard University where she received a Master of Public Administration in 1972. From there, she was recruited to her first job in New York City government, with the Bureau of Budget.

Sorell E. Negro is a lawyer in Robinson & Cole’s Hartford, CT office, where she practices land use, real estate, and environmental law. Ms. Negro is a fellow of the American Bar Association’s real property law section. She recently wrote an article on fracking for the Zoning and Planning Law Report: Fracking Wars: Federal, State, and Local Conflicts over the Regulation of Natural Gas Activities. She is organizing and moderating a webinar for the American Planning Association on Oct. 26, 2012 entitled, “Planning for Shale Development: Booms, Busts, and Beyond.” Ms. Negro is also writing a chapter addressing community and economic impacts from natural gas activities for an ABA book. Prior to joining Robinson & Cole, she clerked for the Hon. Fernando M. Olguin, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She received her B.S. from Georgetown University (cum laude) and her J.D. from Cornell Law School (magna cum laude), where she was an editor of the Cornell Law Review and a Teaching Assistant for the Land Use Clinic and the Water Law Clinic.

Erica Levine Powers is a land use and environmental lawyer with a strong interest in transitional and alternative energy. She is an adjunct faculty member in the Masters in Regional Planning (MRP) program in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University at Albany (SUNY). Her courses include a core course in Planning Law, a seminar in Planning Ethics, an interdisciplinary course in Environmental Assessment and Permitting, and an environmental planning seminar on Hydrofracking the Marcellus Shale. A cum laude graduate of Harvard College in Modern European History and Literature (1965), she holds J.D. (1971) and LL.M. in Taxation (1976) degrees from Boston University School of Law. Ms. Powers is active in the State and Local Government Law Section of the American Bar Association, where she serves on the Publications Oversight Board and the Land Use Committee and was moderator of an ABA Continuing Legal Education panel, “When Fracking Comes to a Community Near You: An Ounce of Planning is Worth a Pound of Cure,” in New Orleans (February 2, 2012) and webinar (March 7, 2012). Her recent publications include Home Rule Meets State Regulation: Reflections on High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas, published in ABA State and Local Government Law Section, State & Local Law News, vol. 35, no. 2 (Winter 2012). She is currently co-editing an ABA book on shale development for lawyers, elected officials, planners, and citizens.

Pamela M. Bush is the Secretary and Assistant General Counsel of the Delaware River Basin Commission, an interstate and federal compact agency, where she assists in developing policy and regulations for all aspects of water resource management by the Commission. Ms. Bush earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia, where she was a Hardy Cross Dillard Scholar, and is a member of the Pennsylvania bar. She earned her Master of Regional Planning degree from Cornell University, where she was awarded a Sage Graduate Fellowship, the Departmental Thesis Prize, and an American Planning Association Student Project Award. She received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She is also on the Board of Trustees, and is the former President, of the Delaware River Greenway Partnership, the nonprofit corporation that partners with the National Park Service and municipalities to implement the Wild & Scenic River Management Plan for the portion of the non-tidal Delaware River known as the Lower Delaware.

George Frantz has taught planning field workshop courses in communities ranging from the 9th Ward of New Orleans to Catskill Mountain resort towns. He has an active private practice in land use planning and design. His primary areas of expertise are in comprehensive land use planning and zoning, with particular emphasis on addressing the needs of agriculture and the protection of environmentally sensitive lands. His current research interests include American cities and their potential to evolve into more environmentally and socially sustainable communities.