Paul Beyer is the State Director of Smart Growth Planning at the NYS Department of State. In this position, Paul promotes the principles of Smart Growth on the state, regional and local level in New York. Paul's experience in land use and Smart Growth began when he worked in the New York State Legislature, where he focused on land use, environmental and public health policy. Paul served on the Planning Board in the Town of Amherst, NY for five years, where he helped develop the town’s Comprehensive Plan. Paul also served on the Board of Directors of Partners for a Livable Western New York, the premier Smart Growth advocacy group in the Buffalo-Niagara region. Paul has a law degree from the University at Buffalo.

Mr. Madden was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Community Development and Conservation for the Town of Greenburgh, NY in February 2008, after serving four years as the Deputy Commissioner. Prior, he has worked for the Westchester County Planning Department, Maricopa County Department of Transportation and several private consulting firms. As Commissioner, he has been instrumental in the development of new environment standards for the town, including the adoption of Green Building code for new site development, revisions to the Energy Star code and a Smart Growth Development Study, focusing on mixed use development, as part of the Town’s comprehensive plan update. Mr. Madden is a steering committee member for Westchester County’s Central Park Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Study, Greenburgh Comprehensive Plan update and a member of the two Stakeholders’ Advisory Working Groups for the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Environmental Review. Thomas is currently co-chairing, a seven county planning consortium to develop a Regional Sustainability Plan that will tie into the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council’s 2012 Strategic Plan. Thomas is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), American Planning Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners. Mr. Madden graduated from the University of Victoria with a BA in geography (Urban Studies) and attended Dalhousie University’s Masters of Urban and Rural Planning Program, where he was awarded the Harry Kitz Park Development Scholarship for Park Design and the Mobil Oil Canada Scholarship for Impact and Design Studies for his graduate thesis on the potential for eco-industrial development in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In his spare time, he enjoys coaching youth hockey in White Plains. Mr. Madden is also a Director for the Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research in NYC, raising more than 2 million dollars for cancer research.

Ms. Robbins works in NYSERDA’s New York City office where she manages Phase I of NYSERDA’s Cleaner Greener Communities Program, which provides funding for regional sustainability planning; and works on the development and implementation of green building and energy efficiency programs for multifamily residential buildings. Before coming to NYSERDA, Ms. Robbins worked at New York University’s Office of Strategic Assessment, Planning & Design where she worked on the development of NYU’s Design Standards & Guidelines and NYU’s 25-year real estate expansion plan.

Aimee Vargas is the Mid-Hudson Regional Director of Empire State Development and the Executive Director of the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council. As such, she leads Governor Cuomo's economic development efforts in a seven county region. Ms. Vargas also serves as the Governor's Regional Director for the Mid-Hudson and was named recently to the Governor's Tappan Zee Bridge Community Action team. Ms. Vargas was formerly Associate Counsel at DEC, and Director of Finance for the Town of Clarkstown. She is a graduate of the prestigious Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and earned her Juris Doctor degree at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She currently lives in New City with her husband and two children.

Nina Peek, AICP, Senior Technical Director is the newest member of AKRF’s team in the firm's White Plains office. Nina brings nearly 20 years of experience as a leader among planning professionals to AKRF’s capabilities and regional reach in the Hudson Valley Region. With her long-standing practice in managing land planning, zoning code review, permitting, master and comprehensive planning projects for both the public and private sectors, Ms. Peek has led rehabilitation and reuse assignments, as well as the environmental review process for large multi-year, multi-million dollar development projects. Ms. Peek is a resident of the Town of Amenia in northern Dutchess County where she serves as Planning Board Chairperson, and she is the Low/Mid-Hudson Regional Director for the New York Planning Federation.

Professor Nolon is the James D. Hopkins Professor of Law at Pace University School of Law and teaches in the fields of property, land use, real estate, and environmental law. He is the Founder of and Faculty Liaison to the Land Use Law Center and is also Director of the law school's Kheel Center on the Resolution of Environmental Interest Disputes. Professor Nolon received his JD degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a member of the Barrister's Academic Honor Society. He received a Fulbright Scholarship to develop a frameworklaw for sustainable development in Argentina, and has served as a consultant to both President Carter's Council on Development Choices in the 1980s and President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development. He has held a visiting appointment at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies since 2001. Most recently, Professor Nolon received the American Planning Association’s (APA) 2009 National Planning Leadership Award for a Planning Advocate, and was appointed to the APA’s Amicus Curiae Committee and to the Editorial Board of the Metro New York Transit-Friendly Development Newsletter. Professor Nolon’s writings include over a dozen law review articles and a number of books published by the West Group, the Environmental Law Institute, Cambridge University Press, and McGraw Hill. He is a frequent guest speaker at national, state, and local conferences.

Victoria L. Polidoro is an associate in the firm and practices primarily in environmental, land use and municipal law. Ms. Polidoro represents private developers, municipalities, not-for-profit entities and public agencies. She currently serves as planning board attorney for the Town of Dover and Village of Fishkill and as assistant planning board attorney for the Town of Hyde Park. She has experience representing public and private clients in connection with a wide variety of matters including planning and zoning matters, contracts and grant agreements, environmental compliance, drafting and preparation of local laws, special district proceedings, inter-municipal agreements, easement and real estate matters, and historic preservation issues. Ms. Polidoro studied at the Pace Land Use Law Center throughout law school and was a senior associate on the Pace Environmental Law Review. She now participates in the Land Use Law Center's Land Use Leadership Alliance Training Program as a facilitator and lecturer during its training programs for local officials. Ms. Polidoro has also lectured on the topic of land use law at a Continuing Legal Education course for attorneys. Her publications on the topic of land use and municipal law include: "Hydrofracking: Disturbances Both Geological and Political: Who Decides?," John R. Nolon and Victoria L. Polidoro, 44 Urb. Law. 507 (forthcoming 2012) "Examining TDR in New York: Why Isn't It Working? What are the Obstacles? Can They be Overcome?," John R. Nolon and Victoria L. Polidoro, N.Y. Zoning Law and Practice Report (2006) "The Planning and Zoning Clerk Municipal Planning Primer," Edward Buroughs & Victoria Polidoro, editors, Westchester County Department of Planning (2006) Ms. Polidoro is a member of the Dutchess County Bar Association, Mid-Hudson Women's Bar Association, and the New York Bar Association (Environmental and Municipal Law Sections). She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Pace University School of Law in 2007 and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arizona in 2003.