Summer 2002 Forum Biographies

Anthony M. Masiello
Buffalo, New York

Anthony M. Masiello was sworn in as the 57th Mayor of Buffalo on January 1, 1994. He was reelected to a second term in 1997 with the joint endorsement of the Democratic and Republican parties. Educated in Buffalo Catholic schools, he graduated from Canisius College in 1969 after a Hall of Fame career as a basketball standout for the Division I Canisius College Golden Griffins. The Indiana Pacers subsequently drafted him in the National Basketball Association's third round.

In 1971, Masiello was elected as a district representative to the Buffalo Common Council. He was then elected to an at-large council seat and served as Democratic Majority leader in 1976. He entered the New York State Senate as "Buffalo's Senator" in 1980 and served seven two-year terms. In the state senate, Masiello was Minority Whip and served as Chair of the Democratic Conference.

As mayor, he has presided over changes in how the city does business and delivers essential services, including empanelling a City Charter Commission that led in 1999 to the voter-approved new city charter, the first change of Buffalo's governing document in 70 years. The Masiello Administration, while stabilizing the city's fiscal condition, has succeeded in putting Buffalo on the road to financial recovery. In early 1999, Moody's Investor Service and Standard and Poor's upgraded the city's credit rating, thereby affirming the Masiello Administration's commitment to sound fiscal policies and financial prudence. His administration's overriding theme has been the three E's — Education, Economic Development and Environment.

Since becoming mayor, Masiello has overseen the implementation of a Community School program that has grown to include 13 public schools throughout the city. The Community Schools help provide health and social services to schoolchildren, adult education, and positive extracurricular activities for community children. To date, the schoolchildren participating in the program have demonstrated a considerable improvement in academic achievement and school attendance. The city has also embarked on an ambitious new school construction and rehabilitation program that will provide the proper physical learning environment for public school students.

The city's economic future continues to look brighter with the commencement of a multi-million dollar waterfront redevelopment project, the coordinated development agenda of the Downtown Buffalo 2002! initiative, the continuing growth of information technology firms in downtown Buffalo, the successful East Side William Gaiter Business Incubator, the soon-to-be-developed Union Ship Canal commercial park on former steel industry brownfields in South Buffalo, and the evolution of the city's medical corridor, including the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus collaboration between the University at Buffalo, Kaleida Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the Hauptman-Woodward Institute and the Buffalo Medical Group Foundation.

In early December 1999, Mayor Masiello was awarded the New York Water Environment Association's top award, the Frank E. Van Lare Award, which is presented to "a locally elected official who has made a substantial and meaningful contribution to advancing effective environmental programs." In addition, the mayor was appointed in 1999 Vice Chair of the United States Conference of Mayors' Brownfields Task Force.

He holds a bachelor's degree from Canisius College and honorary degrees from Medaille College of Buffalo and Canisius College.

Joseph N. Giambra
Commissioner of Public Works, Parks and Streets

Joseph Giambra graduated from Canisius College with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1974. He started work for the City of Buffalo in 1975 and has worked ontinuously for the city or a city agency since that time. He has held the positions of Superintendent of Construction, Project Manager, Chief Financial Officer of the Buffalo Sewer Authority, and Administrator of the Engineering Division. Mayor Anthony M. Masiello appointed Giambra to the position of Commissioner of Public Works in 1994. In 2000 when Buffalo's new charter took effect, he became the Commissioner of Public Works, Parks and Streets.

Giambra also serves as Chairman of the Buffalo Municipal Water Finance Authority, Chairman of the City of Buffalo Elevator Safety Review Board, and Buffalo's Emergency Services Coordinator. He received the 1998 New York State, and Western New York Public Works Leader of the Year Award from the American Public Works Association.

Deborah Ann Trimble
Executive Director, Buffalo Olmsted Parks

Deborah Ann Trimble established the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit, membership-based environmental organization that works to increase private philanthropy and community involvement and stewardship in Buffalo's historic park and parkway system designed by America's greatest landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted.

Among her accomplishments there, she increased the organizational budget from $140,000 in 1998 to $1.3 million in 2001, and doubled the staff size in three years. She brought national significance to the conservancy through the implementation of a prestigious Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund $700,000 matching grant, and has developed a partnership with the country's premier park conservancy, Central Park Conservancy, to create a 20-year Management and Restoration Plan for Buffalo's park system.

Trimble has also linked the parks to the prominent cultural institutions within or near them through a marketing collaborative called The Olmsted Crescent: Arts, Parks and Sciences in the Heart of Buffalo. The Conservancy is now seen as a leader in the city's cultural tourism initiatives. Prior to starting at the Conservancy, Trimble was the Director of Development and Marketing for Pick of the Crop Dance, a not-for-profit modern dance company. Before that, she was President of Silent Partners/Festival Destinations, a for-profit group tour company that specialized in festival and entertainment tours for senior citizens and served as a destination management company for Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

Trimble has received the Business First Community Leader 40 Under Forty Award, and is a part of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, and Who's Who Among Executives and Professionals. She has a B.A. in Journalism from Buffalo State College, and a M.A. in Arts Administration from the University of Buffalo.

Patrick McCrory
Charlotte, North Carolina

In December 2001, Mayor Patrick McCrory joined Stan Brookshire and John Belk, Sr. to become the third Mayor in the history of the City of Charlotte to serve a fourth term. Mayor McCrory began his political career in Charlotte in 1989 when he was elected as an At-Large City Council representative in his first run for an elected office. He was reelected in 1991 and 1993, serving as Mayor Pro Tem in 1993 until he became mayor in 1995.

He has distinguished himself as a leader in public safety, transportation, and land-use policies by incorporating long-term planning principles in city policy. He has been recognized nationally for his leadership in developing Charlotte's 25-year transportation plan and initiating "pedestrian friendly" land-use policies. McCrory has also been a leader in Homeland Security through his meetings with President Bush and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to identify security partnerships between local and federal government.

McCrory serves as President of the Republican Mayors and Local Officials (RMLO) organization and is a board member for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and chairman of its Environmental Committee. He is also involved in several North Carolina initiatives as Chair of the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition. The mayor has testified before Congress on environmental issues and has been a guest on several national media broadcasts, including National Public Radio, Lehrer News Hour, CBS This Morning, MSNBC News, and CNN's Jeff Greenfield at Large.

McCrory founded the Mayor's Mentoring Alliance in 1995 and was presented the 2001 Governor's Outstanding Local Official Award for his mentoring work. He is also involved with many local charity boards and serves as the honorary chair for the Charlotte chapters of the Alzheimer Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and Arthritis Foundation. Mayor McCrory graduated from Catawba College in 1978 with a B.A. in Political Science/Education. He also received an Honorary Doctorate from Catawba College in 2001. Since graduation, McCrory has held several management positions with Duke Energy Corporation. He was born in Columbus, Ohio.

R. Wayne Weston
Director, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Dept.

R. Wayne Weston has been the director of the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department since 1985. Prior to that he was director of the recreation and parks departments of Orange County and Burke County, North Carolina. In 1992 he headed the effort to consolidate the functions of the city of Charlotte's Parks and Recreation system into that of Mecklenburg County.

As director he has overseen the development of $500 million in capital improvements and land acquisitions, the development of a self-sustaining revenue program for a 46,000-foot natatorium, and is responsible for the planning, administration, and management of a $1 billion capital needs assessment. Weston also successfully planned for the reclamation of deactivated landfills by designating and developing acceptable, revenue-producing "final-use" facilities, including an 18-hole golf course, an aeromodeling park, a major farm theme park, and a high-adventure theme park. He has also acquired 2,000 acres of waterfront property to be developed as a chain of self-sufficient riverfront parks. Since the 1980s the park system has grown from 1,037 acres to over 16,000 acres.

Weston is a member of the National Recreation and Park Association and the North Carolina Recreation and Park Society. He has received numerous awards, including the Fellow Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions from the North Carolina Recreation and Park Society; the Harold D. Meyer Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and the Presidential Citation from the North Carolina Recreation and Park Society. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1966 to 1968, and was a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves from 1980 to 2001. He holds a B.A. in PE/Health from Elon College and an M.S. in Recreation Administration from UNC–Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

P. Anthony Zeiss, Ed.D.
President, Central Piedmont Community College

P. Anthony Zeiss holds a doctorate in community college administration, a master's degree in speech (radio and television), and a bachelor's degree in speech education. In 1992, Zeiss became the third president of Central Piedmont Community College, the largest college in North Carolina, serving approximately 70,000 students per year. He has authored or co-authored several books on economic development, adult literacy, and national workforce development. His most recent publications include three books on creating high performance employees and a novel based on the war between the states. Zeiss has published more than 50 professional articles, papers, research documents, and more than 400 newspaper columns.

Zeiss is a professional speaker and a member of the National Speaker's Association. He is a frequent keynoter for companies and colleges on recruiting, developing, and retaining peak performers at the workplace. He is past chair of the board of the American Association of Community Colleges and was a member of the U.S. Vice-President's 21st Century Workforce Development Leadership Task Force in 1999-2000. In 1998, he represented America's community colleges at the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education in Paris.

James D. Torrey
Eugene, Oregon

James Torrey is currently serving his second term as mayor of Eugene. In 2001 he received the Chamber of Commerce "First Citizen Award," and received Honorable Mention in the Oregon Mayors Association's 2001 Mayor's Leadership Award (nominated by his City Hall staff). Torrey's priorities as mayor have primarily been child-centered, such as reading readiness, after-school alternatives, and school funding.

From 1994 to 1997 he was a member of the city council, and prior to that he served on the Cal Young Neighborhood Board. In addition, he was a member of Eugene's budget committee from 1992 to 1997. From 1990 to 1991 he was president of the Eugene Chamber of Commerce. He currently is a member of the following committees and boards: Eugene Chamber of Commerce Board, Eugene Springfield Metropolitan Partnership Board, Juvenile Crime Prevention Advisory Committee (State of Oregon), Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, Lane Workforce Partnership Board, Lane Council of Governments Board, League of Oregon Cities Committees, Metro Policy Committee, Public Safety Coordinating Council, United Front Coalition, Oregon Department of Transportation Road Advisory Committee, and various U.S. Conference of Mayors committees. He is a past and present honorary member of a number of local social service boards including Success By Six and SMART Reading Program.

Torrey has had a long career coaching children's sports. For 36 years he was a coach with Kidsports, a program operated by a private nonprofit agency with the motto "All kids play." In 1994 he received the 30-year Kidsports Coaching Award. His professional career has involved being the company owner/operator in the fields of media advertising, consulting, outdoor advertising operations, real property, sales, and development. He is currently the president of Total Communications. His special interests as mayor include families, children, and community. Torrey is a graduate of Waldport High School and attended the University of Oregon.

Andrea G. Riner, ASLA
Parks & Open Space Planning Manager

Andrea Riner leads a six-member team responsible for long-range planning, acquisition, park and recreation facility development, and public involvement and information relating to the City of Eugene's 2,300-acre parks and open space system. Since starting her position with the city in 1999, a significant component of her responsibilities have included implementation of the $25.3 million Parks and Open Space bond measure. The bond measure funded development of 18 neighborhood parks, three Youth Sports Parks, a new community park, and significant redevelopment projects within four of Eugene's community and regional parks. The funding also is fueling an extensive park and open space acquisition program, including the purchase of 12 sites for future neighborhood parks, one new community park site, and more than 200 acres of trail corridor and open space in Eugene's South Hills. This work was recently recognized with an Honorable Mention in the U. S. Conference of Mayors City Livability Awards.

Riner has also implemented the Parks & Open Space Division's 1 Percent for Art Program and is leading an interdepartmental team of staff and consultants in the first Parks, Recreation & Open Space Comprehensive Plan for the City of Eugene. She is also Eugene's representative for the Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Study being conducted by the Cities of Eugene and Springfield, Willamalane Park & Recreation District, Lane County, and the Lane Council of Governments.

Riner is a licensed landscape architect with 18 years of planning and design experience, including both private and public sector work and academic experience. She is a member of the National Recreation and Park Association, NRPA's Oregon Chapter, and the American Society of Landscape Architects. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduate coursework at the University of Oregon.

Cynthia Girling
Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Oregon

Cynthia Girling is a landscape architect, Associate Professor, and Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon where she teaches site design, open space planning, and neighborhood design. With Associate Professor of Architecture Ronald Kellett, she is co-principal of the neighborhoodsLAB at the UO Center for Housing Innovation, a research group that helps communities to plan and design future neighborhoods that will be more energy conserving and affordable, with less environmental impact and better design quality.

She is co-author with Ronald Kellett of Green Neighborhoods: Planning and Design Guidelines for Air Water and Urban Forest Quality and co-author with Kenneth Helphand of Yard Street Park: The Design of Suburban Open Space (1994). Her current research and creative practice focuses on neighborhood scale planning, open space systems and site design for stormwater management. Girling is a member of the City of Eugene Department Advisory Committee on the Parks and Open Spaces Comprehensive Plan.

Jeremy Harris
Honolulu, Hawaii

The 11th mayor of the 11th largest municipality in our nation, Jeremy Harris is characterized as one of the nation's most dynamic urban leaders. He earned two undergraduate degrees in biology at the University of Hawaii and a Master's Degree in Population and Environmental Biology, specializing in urban ecosystems, at the University of California at Irvine. He began his professional career as an instructor at Kauai Community College, teaching oceanography and conducting reef walks and classes for keiki and kupuna.

Harris first ventured into politics as a delegate to the 1978 Hawaii Constitutional Convention. At the age of 29, he was elected to a seat on the Kauai County Council, and served as Council Chairman. In 1984, he joined the Honolulu City and County government, and was soon promoted to Deputy Managing Director and then Managing Director. Harris holds the distinction of being the city's longest serving Managing Director, having held that post from 1986 until 1994.

Harris was elected mayor in a September 1994 Special Election and was reelected in November 1996 and September 2000. In 1998, Harris executed the first city government reorganization in the history of Honolulu, streamlining operations and improving services. His administration has balanced the city's budget through seven consecutive years of declining revenues and implemented major changes to land-use planning — curtailing urban sprawl to preserve open spaces and prime agricultural lands. A current program, "21st Century Oahu: A Shared Vision for the Future," has involved thousands of citizens in every community around the island. Through this community-based visioning process, the people of Oahu determine the quality of life they build for their neighborhoods in the new century; public safety, environment, transportation, cultural and recreation projects are underway in each community.

Harris is the only person to be named Public Administrator of the Year two years running by the American Society of Public Administration, and during his tenure Honolulu has garnered numerous awards and honors. These include: Governing magazine's Top 10 list of best-administered cities; two-time selection of The Bus and The Handivan as North America's best large transportation system; and Zero Population Growth's top award as a "Kid Friendly City."

In recognition of his contributions, the American Institute of Architects honored the mayor by making him an Honorary Affiliate Member in 2001. The American Planning Association presented him with its Distinguished Leadership Award for an elected official at the APA National Planning Conference in Chicago in April 2002.

Harris is the founder and chair of the Mayors' Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit, and founder of the Pacific Islands Environmental Symposium and the historic China–U.S. Conference of Mayors and Business Leaders. He also established the Asia Pacific Urban Technology Institute and has served as the American National Chairman for the Japan-American Conference of Mayors and Chamber of Commerce Presidents since 1996. Through these initiatives, he has moved to position Honolulu as an Asia-Pacific center for technology and infrastructure development. The late A.A. Smyser, contributing editor and former editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin described Harris as "the best mayor we have had since World War II."

Malcolm J. Tom
Deputy Managing Director, City and County of Honolulu

Since 1999 Malcolm Tom has been Deputy Managing Director for the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii. In this position he assists the managing director in the coordination and management of the city operations, consisting of 17 departments, 8,700 employees, and a $1 billion operating budget.

From 1995 to 1999 he was the jurisdiction's chief budget officer, where he was responsible for the preparation and execution of the city's annual operating and capital program and of each executive agency. Before joining the public sector, Tom was a partner with KPMG Peat Marwick LP Management consultants for 14 years, where he was responsible for strategic financial management consulting in Hawaii and the Pacific Rim. He has held leadership positions and membership in the Waikiki Improvement Association, the Hawaii Chapter of the Cornell Society of Hotelmen, Hawaii Chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, the Hawaii Society of Corporate Planners, the Hawaii Hotel Association, PATA Development Authority, and the Urban Land Institute.

He has made many public presentations on financing and economic and tourism development. He is a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York Society of Certified Public Accountants. Tom holds a B.B.A. in hotel administration from Cornell University, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Ron Romano
Executive Director, U. S. Tennis Association, Hawaii Pacific Section

Ron Romano is executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) Hawaii Pacific Section. He played collegiate tennis and was a tennis professional for 12 years at some of the world's top tennis resorts, including Caneel Bay Plantation in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Mauna Lani Bay and the Mauna Kea Beach Resorts in Hawaii.

Prior to joining the USTA, Romano was the general manager of several Hawaii resorts, such as the Kauai Lagoons Resort, the Sheraton Makaha Resort, and the Kauai Coconut Beach Resort. In the 1990s, Romano led the team that brought several major sporting events to Hawaii, including the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Moravian College and an M.B.A. from Touro University International. He is an active member of the U.S. Professional Tennis Association.

Mark A. Beede
Executive Director, Hawaii Pacific Tennis Foundation

Mark A. Beede serves as executive director for the Hawaii Pacific Tennis Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization devoted to promoting and developing the growth of tennis. An attorney, Breede switched careers from mainland law to tennis development in Hawaii. He has served in various prestigious national USTA volunteer positions for more than 10 years and has conducted national workshops to train grassroots staff and volunteers.

Currently he serves as the national chair for Men's Rankings on the USTA's national Adult and Senior Competition Committee. He is also president of the Hawaii chapter of the American Society of Association Executives. Certified P-1 by the USPTA and Pro by the USPTR, Mark is also a nationally and sectionally ranked player. Mark moved to the Foundation in 2000 after having served as executive director for the USTA/Hawaii Pacific Section.

Meyera Oberndorf
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Meyera Oberndorf was sworn in on July 1, 1988, as the first directly elected mayor and the first woman mayor in Virginia Beach's history. Oberndorf's initial election to council in 1976 began a series of firsts for the city, as she became the first woman elected to public office. For nine years, she chaired the Public Library Board. From 1986 to 1988, she served as vice mayor.

Presently, Oberndorf serves as a trustee with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and is chair of the Standing Committee on International Affairs. She is a member of the National League of Cities' Advisory Board. She is past chair of the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Steering Committee for the National League of Cities' and past president of the Virginia Municipal League.

Oberndorf is a board member of the Hampton Roads Partnership and the Economic Development Alliance. She serves on the Advisory Committee of the Virginia Institute of Government, and was recognized by Newsweek as one of the 25 most dynamic mayors in the United States.

J. Barry Frankenfield, ASLA
Design & Development Administrator, Department of Parks and Recreation

Since January 1992, J. Barry Frankenfield has been the Design and Development Administrator for Virginia Beach's Department of Parks and Recreation. His division manages the design, renovation, and construction of more than 200 city parks, trails, greenways, boating facilities, golf courses, and indoor recreation facilities. He manages a $30 million Capital Improvement Program and a $50 million Open Space Acquisition Program.

His key projects include Virginia Beach Soccer Complex; Red Wing Lakes, Herons Ridge and Bow Creek Golf Courses; City View and Princess Anne District Parks; Bow Creek Motel Acquisition; 31st Street Park; Lynnhaven Boat and Beach Facility; U.S. Field Hockey Association Facility; and Stumpy Lake–Back Bay Greenway. Frankenfield is the author and team leader of the Virginia Beach Outdoors Plan, Update 2000 Open Space Acquisition Initiative.

From 1991-92, Frankenfield was a landscape architect in the city's public works engineering department, where he was project manager for all of the Resort Area Improvements, the Virginia Marine Science Museum Expansion, and the Beach Borough Services Center. From 1985 to 1992, he was a resort planner with the city's resort programs office.

Before entering the public sector, Mr. Frankenfield was a landscape architect with MMM Design Group in Norfolk, Virginia, and with Meade Palmer FASLA and Associates in Warrenton, Virginia. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, a Certificate in Landscape Design from George Washington University, Washington D.C., and a Master of Arts in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design in Conway, Massachusetts.

Donald V. Jellig
President, Sentara Enterprises, and Vice President, Sentara Healthcare

Donald V. Jellig is President of Sentara Enterprises and Vice President of Sentara Healthcare. He has served in both positions since November 1985. Sentara Enterprises is the ambulatory division of Sentara Healthcare, providing home care services, home medical equipment, ambulance and diagnostic services. It also leads new market development for Sentara. Jellig also serves as President of MPB, Inc., a Sentara real estate and development subsidiary.

For seven years prior to arriving at Sentara, he served as President of CHART Information Services in Albany, New York. He is active in several professional organizations including American College of Healthcare Executives, American Hospital Association, and Virginia Hospital Association. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, the Virginia Beach Development Authority, Hospital for Extended Recovery, Commonwealth Clinical Systems, and BeyondNow Technologies, Inc.

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Andrew L. Dannenberg

Andrew L. Dannenberg, M.D., M.P.H., is the Associate Director for Science in the Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services in the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), which is part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. He is a member of CDC's livability workgroup that is examining the health aspects of urban sprawl including land use, transportation, planning, and other issues related to the built environment.

He recently organized a workshop of external experts to help develop for CDC a scientific research agenda on the impact of community design and land-use choices on public health. Dannenberg is also an adjunct professor of epidemiology at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. Prior to joining NCEH in 2001, he served as the Director of CDC's Division of Applied Public Health Training with oversight responsibility for the Epidemic Intelligence Service ("the disease detectives") and other training programs. Previously, he served as Preventive Medicine Residency director and as an injury prevention epidemiologist while on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and as a cardiovascular epidemiologist while working at the National Institutes of Health.

Dannenberg received a medical degree from Stanford University and a master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University, and completed a family medicine residency at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Tom Fox

Tom Fox, President of The Fox Group, has designed and implemented scores of successful projects and programs in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors over the past 25 years. In 2000, he directed the Park Renaissance for Mayor Willie Brown, which "jump started" the restoration of the San Francisco Recreation and Park system and resulted in $300 million in new public funding. He has played a major role in the redevelopment of New York City's waterfront and recently started New York Water Taxi, a new small scale transportation service connecting neighborhoods, parks and cultural attractions on the West Side Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn waterfronts.

After proposing a major waterfront park as an alternative to the Westway project in 1984, Fox was appointed by the governor and mayor to two separate commissions to plan the future of the Manhattan's West Side. In 1992 Fox became first president of the Hudson River Park Conservancy, where he established a unique city/state authority, engaged the adjacent communities in completing the Concept and Financial Plan for a new 4.5-mile waterfront park, relocated municipal facilities and initiated the $100 million Chelsea Piers Entertainment and Recreation Center.

As Executive Director of the Neighborhood Open Space Coalition (1980-1991), he created a citywide partnership of 110 park, recreation, civic, environmental, and community organizations. Fox spearheaded the effort to establish New York City's first comprehensive open space policy and played a lead role in the passage of New York State's 1986 Environmental Quality Bond Act. He directed the design of the award-winning 40-mile Brooklyn/Queens Greenway, which was featured in National Geographic and was a founder of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition.

In the 1970s, Fox served as Director of Urban Agriculture at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. There he assisted in the creation of a new four-acre park in Washington, D.C., and developed a demonstration community gardening program, for the White House and U.S. Department of Interior, in the South Bronx. He was Vice President of the Green Guerrillas and the American Community Gardening Association and a National Park Service ranger.

Fox has received numerous appointments and awards and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the State Council on Waterways, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, Brooklyn Sports Foundation, and Vietnam Veterans of America, Manhattan Chapter 126. He also serves on the selection committee for the Brower Youth Awards at the Earth Island Institute. Fox received his B.S. in Biology from Brooklyn College, in 1975, and was a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Design at Harvard University in 1988.

Grover Mouton

Grover E. Mouton, III, architect, urban designer, artist, is the Director of the Tulane Regional Urban Design Center and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Tulane School of Architecture (1984-present). He has developed urban design programs for Ft. Meyers, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Augusta and Savannah, Georgia; and Monroe and New Orleans, Louisiana.

His master plan for Birmingham, Alabama's Civil Rights District for Mayor Richard Arrington include an interpretive museum and park for the 1961 Civil Rights Movement, which received the National Trust Honor Award. Other projects include the New Orleans Regional Medical Center Master Plan; the Downtown Riverfront Master Plan for Monroe, Louisiana; the Public Art Master Plan for Phoenix; the Master Plan and expansion for the New Orleans Country Day School; the expansion of the New Orleans Museum of Art; the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas and Riverfront Park; the expansion of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens; the Master Plan for the Skowhegan School of Painting, Maine; a Master Plan for Oberlin College, Ohio; and the Interpretive Master Plan for the National Parks Service, Women's Rights Park, Seneca Falls, New York.

His drawings, formatted in environmental installations, have been exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; the Drawing Center, New York City; the New Orleans Museum of Art; the University Museum, Houston; Tulane University, New Orleans; Venice Biennale; Documenta, Kassel, Germany; and Marlborough Gallery, New York City. He is a member of the Board of New Orleans Botanical Gardens; Shadows-on-the-Teche, an historic property of the National Trust; the Preservation Resource Center and the new Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Mouton received his Master's Degree in Architecture from the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, and his Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from Tulane University. He also holds a diploma for the Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome. In addition, Mouton has received a fellowship in Architecture from the National Endowment for the Arts; a fellowship from the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT; and the Student Scholarship Program, the Architectural Association, London and the Skowhegan School of Painting.

Pat O'Toole

Pat O'Toole has worked as director and assistant director in parks and recreation agencies in four states since 1978. He has been a principal in a highly sought-after national consulting form of Leon Younger & PROS since 1995. His areas of expertise are in community input facilitation, strategic planning, training, staff development, program development, operational efficiencies, and revenue production.

O'Toole has maximized his creative skills in working with public agencies, diverse populations, and community groups through his innovative training programs. He regularly addresses sessions at national and state conferences and training institutes. One of O'Toole's strengths is assisting other in recognizing their own potential for success through challenging to be the best. His background includes hospitality training, customer service training, team development, change management, partnership development, creative thinking, problem solving, and leadership training.

Susan Rademacher

Susan Rademacher is the Assistant Director of the Louisville and Jefferson County Parks Department, and President of the Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Inc. In 1991, she was hired as Conservancy Executive Director, which is a joint position with Metro Parks.

As assistant director, Rademacher established and oversees the Planning and Design Division, a nine-person interdisciplinary team that provides professional land planning and design services for all parks properties to benefit public recreation and resource conservation in Louisville and Jefferson County. Division responsibilities include 75 capital projects, with $5.8 million in current fiscal year appropriations.

As President of the Conservancy, Rademacher leads efforts to renew Louisville's historic parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and his firm. The not-for-profit Conservancy was created as a public-private partnership to provide master planning advice and the private funds needed to help implement renewal projects and programs. Rademacher was promoted to President in 1999, and reports to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. She oversees a staff of eight, including fund development, planning and capital improvements, marketing and community relations, volunteer and public programs, and financial operations.

Accomplishments in fund development include: more than $10 million raised in public and private funds; an endowment fund currently valued at $2 million; and a $1 million grant from the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds. The Conservancy's 1994 Master Plan has been nationally recognized as innovative for its community-based process and ecological approach, and recommends $55 million in improvements over several decades.

From 1984 to 1987, Rademacher was Editor in Chief of Landscape Architecture, and she is the founding editor of Garden Design (1983), both publications of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). She is the author of Outdoor Living Spaces (Rodale Press, 1992); Bold Romantic Gardens (Acropolis Books, 1990); and Garden Design: History, Principles, Elements, Practice (Simon & Schuster, 1984). She has written articles for Process Architecture, Progressive Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Places, Landscape Journal, Garden Design, Southern Accents, and Louisville Magazine.

Rademacher has served as a consultant to the Civic Center Plan for Greenbelt, Maryland; Conservation Fund; Greenways for America; the Louisville Community Design Center; Original Highlands Neighborhood Association's "Highland Island" landmark design; Phoenix Arts Commission; Walkways Center; and the World Directory of Landscape Architects.

She has been an educator and lecturer for the ASLA, Association of Architectural Educators, Barnes Foundation, California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, Elderhostel, Field Museum of Natural History, Harvard University, International Design Conference in Aspen, National Association of Olmsted Parks, Ohio State University, Smithsonian Institution, the Universities of California at Berkeley and at Davis, and the Urban Parks Institute.

Rademacher has been a design awards juror for the ASLA (national and state-level); Garden Writers of America; Governor's Design Awards, Massachusetts; and the Perryville Battlefield Memorial, Kentucky. She holds a B.A. from Miami University and was a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard University in 1987.

Robert M. Searns, AICP

Robert Searns is a founding owner of Urban Edges, Inc., a design and planning group based in Denver. The firm specializes in trails, greenways, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and open space projects. He was project director of Denver's Platte River Greenway, a $10 million, 10-mile greenway, and developed the Mary Carter Greenway in Littleton, Colorado, a $4 million, 8-mile greenway that won the APA national topic award. Searns has a 30-year proven track record in project planning and development and has worked with communities to implement and manage their projects.

He has been an instructor and advisor for the National Park Service, the National Recreation and Park Association, American Rivers, and the National Rails to Trails Conservancy. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of American Trails, Inc., the nation's leading recreational traisl advocacy organization. He is also on the editorial board of the International Urban Water Journal.

Searns has written articles and editorials for Landscape Architecture, Planning, the Kansas City Star, and other publications and has conducted workshops in the U.S. and abroad. He co-authored Greenways: A Guide to Planning, Design, and Development, and Trails for the 21st Century (both published by Island Press) and contributed to Greenways (Elsevier Press). Greenways: A Guide to Planning, Design, and Development won a National Merit Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. He is also a manuscript reviewer for Island Press.