Members in the News — 2004

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David Haines, AICP, (photo left) has been named GIS project manager by R.A. Smith & Associates, Inc., civil engineering, planning, surveying, and technical services consultants in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Haines has eight years of experience in GIS and was previously employed at the City of New Berlin as planning services manager. He was responsible for land-use planning as well as administering and maintaining the citywide GIS program in New Berlin.

Odalys Delgado, AICP, has been appointed senior program manager for PBS&J's South Florida planning and project development and environmental program. Delgado's areas of expertise include local and regional planning, corridor planning, and environmental documentation. She has relocated to PBS&J's Fort Lauderdale office after spending four years in the firm's Atlanta office.

Sarah Johnson (photo left) has joined consulting firm R.A. Smith & Associates in Brookfield, Wisconsin, as community planner. Johnson will be responsible for comprehensive planning, smart growth planning, site planning and design review, park planning and design, and planning/GIS integration. Johnson has five years of experience in planning and GIS. She was previously employed at the City of Franklin as senior planner. Her background also includes expertise in GIS as a site location analyst for a private company in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Ralph Becker, FAICP, was reelected in November to the Utah House of Representatives where he has served since 1997. A week later, the House Democrats Leadership elected him House Minority Leader. Becker is a planner and lawyer with the consulting firm of Bear West in Salt Lake City. As an adjunct professor at the University of Utah, he teaches courses in environmental planning, policy and law, environmental assessment, consensus building/public involvement, and public lands.

Daniel S. DiMucci (photo left) has been named to a three-year term on the Pennsylvania State Board of Landscape Architects. DiMucci is Vice President of Pennoni Associates Inc., a consulting engineering firm headquartered in Philadelphia. The nomination for the board appointment was made in late August by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, and was confirmed unanimously by the Pennsylvania state senate. The State Board of Landscape Architects is responsible for regulating the licensing and registration of landscape architects.

Three members of APA are among the 13 mid-career professionals awarded 2004-05 fellowships from the Knight Program in Community Building, based at the University of Miami School of Architecture. They are Yon Lambert, Assistant Director of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Verónica Rosales, AICP, Chief Urban Planner, Planning, Research and Development Department, City of El Paso, Texas; and Kendra Wills, Land Use Agent, Michigan State University Extension, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Fellows pursue independent research projects and take part in intensive community-building workshops, seminars, and a charrette.

Chad Crutcher, AICP, (photo left) is the new manager of planning/landscape architecture in the Reno, Nevada, office of Lumos and Associates, Inc. Crutcher, a certified planner and certified landscape architect, joined the firm in April 2003 as a senior landscape architect. He has more than 25 years of professional landscape architecture and planning experience serving private clients and public agencies on a wide array of development projects throughout the U.S., the Middle East, Mexico, and the Pacific Rim.

Ruth Eckdish Knack, AICP, is the author of an article on the American Planning Association in the new Encyclopedia of Chicago, published in October 2004 by the University of Chicago Press. Knack is the executive editor of Planning magazine.

Harry Fix, AICP, (photo left) is the new Director of the Growth Planning Department of the School District of Lake County, Florida. Fix came to Lake County after serving as the joint planner for Osceola County and its school district. While in Osceola County he worked with citizen groups and local officials to identify additional capital funding sources for schools as well as write policies that would tie residential development approvals to school capacity. Prior to working in Osceola County, Fix was part of the planning staff of the School District of Palm Beach County, which developed the state's only school concurrency program.

Alexander Garvin has resigned from the New York City Planning Commission after 10 years of service and has created a new consulting firm: Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc. Garvin continues to teach at Yale University and act as Managing Director of Planning for NYC2012.

Kimi Mikami Yuen (photo left) has been promoted to associate by PBR HAWAII, a planning, environmental studies, and landscape architectural firm. She will be responsible for managing a variety of planning and design projects. Yuen joined the firm in 2000. Previously she worked as an environmental planner for another Honolulu planning firm, a research assistant for the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, and a renewable energy project aide at Hawaiian Electric Company.

Suria Yaffar has been named Associate Principal of Zyscovich, an architecture, urban design, and interior design firm in Miami.

Andrea Brown, AICP, is the new executive director of the Michigan Society of Planning, the state's chapter of APA. Brown has 15 years of experience as a community planner, working in both the public and private sectors. She has been the Michigan Society of Planning's Director of Information for almost four years.

Blair Tremere (photo left) has been named director of community development for the Metropolitan Council, the regional planning organization for the seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. As community development director, Tremere will oversee the council's programs and staff in the areas of planning, research, housing, and regional parks and open space. Previously, Tremere served for 23 years in planning and managerial roles in local government. He is a member of the Golden Valley City Council.

Mark R. Hess, AICP, has joined WilsonMiller as a senior project manager in planning for the firm's Sarasota, Florida, office. Hess was formerly chief planner for the City of Sarasota, where he chaired the city's Development Review Committee. He serves on the board of directors for the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Florida Planning and Zoning Association and is a member of the Policy Subcommittee of the Sarasota Downtown Partnership.

William C. "Chuck" Schuiteman (photo left) has joined CLC Associates, an engineering, architecture, and planning firm, with offices in Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Spokane. Schuiteman, a registered architect, will serve as a project manager, assisting clients in retail and commercial development. Schuiteman previously worked with the City of Mesa, Arizona's Development Services Department where he was responsible for zoning plan review.

Norman Krumholz, FAICP, has been honored for his 25 years of service to Cleveland State University through the creation of the Professor Norman Krumholz Scholarship at the university's foundation. The scholarship will benefit urban planning students attending the Levin College of Urban Affairs and will be awarded to a graduate urban planning student who demonstrates an interest in equity planning and/or neighborhood planning. Click here to read more.

Chuck Klingenstein, AICP, will manage the new Jones & Stokes office and staff in Salt Lake City, Utah. He will also play a role in the firm's growth in its Southwest/Intermountain Region. Klingenstein has wide planning experience, was a Park City, Utah, councilman, and was an adjunct professor of planning at the University of Utah.

David Sansoucie (photo left) has joined Cole & Associates in Sunset Hills, Missouri, as project manager for the land planning department. Sansoucie will design and manage projects and coordinate each with the firm's engineering, surveying, and land planning departments. His primary focus will be on residential subdivision development. Prior to joining Cole, Sansoucie was senior project manager at MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc.

Jeff Connell, AICP, has been promoted to Southwest/Intermountain Region Business Group Leader for Jones & Stokes, an environmental and natural resources planning consulting firm. Connell will coordinate business development opportunities for offices throughout his region. He has 30 years of planning experience, including management of local, tribal, and federal agency projects.

Mark P. Barnebey has received the Florida Bar's Paul S. Buchman Award. The award, given in the City, County and Local Government Law Section, is presented to an attorney exhibiting outstanding service and dignity in the scope of legal practice. Barnebey is an administrative, land use, and government law attorney for Kirk-Pinkerton.

Matthew G. Flynn, AICP, has been appointed Director of Planning and Housing for the City of Ames, Iowa. For the past 15 years he has been the Principal Planner for the City of Champaign, Illinois. He serves as national coordinator of APA's International Division Exchange Program and on AICP's Global Planning Committee.

Julie Elliott (photo left) has joined CLC Associates, an engineering, architecture, and planning firm, in its Phoenix office. She will serve in the role of Senior Project Manager for the firm as she assists clients with project planning and entitlement issues. Elliott was previously with SunCor Development Company for 17 years. Prior to her work with SunCor, Elliott was associated with Westinghouse-Goodyear Properties, whose assets were later sold to SunCor.

Antonio Fiol-Silva, AICP, has been named a principal in the architecture, planning, and design firm Wallace Roberts & Todd. Among his projects with the firm is a major planning initiative for the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to joining WRT, Fiol-Silva was the manager of urban planning and design for Tren Urbano, the transit system recently completed in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Kevin A. Harper, AICP, is a new associate in the San Francisco office of Wallace Roberts & Todd. He is currently managing the San Diego County General Plan 2020 project and a general plan update for the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area.

Peter A. Buchsbaum, a real estate partner of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith, Ravin, Davis & Himmel LLP, has been ranked number one in the Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use category among the top attorneys in New Jersey as listed in Chambers USA - America's Leading Business Lawyers 2004-2005. Buchsbaum chairs the firm's Land Use Practice Group.

Irena Finkelstein, AICP, (photo left) has been named environmental and resource management section manager for the Pasadena office of HDR, an architecture-engineering-consulting firm. Finkelstein will manage operation of multi-disciplinary teams within the Pasadena environmental and community planning division. Prior to joining HDR, Finkelstein was a Head of Environmental Services with Cotton/Bridges/Associates (CBA).

David Van Horn, AICP, has accepted a one-year assignment with URS Corporation in Iraq. A joint venture of URS and another firm has been awarded several contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Iraq reconstruction effort. The Iraq Program Management Office (PMO) has been commissioned to provide oversight, management, and execution of the infrastructure reconstruction effects in Iraq.

William Chopyk, AICP, (photo left) recently joined HDR, an architecture-engineering-consulting firm, as environmental and resource management section manager for the company's San Diego office. With more than 20 years of experience, Chopyk will serve as an operations manager for the multi-disciplinary team within the environmental section. Prior to joining HDR, Chopyk was the manager of planning services with the Port of San Diego.

David J. Ziegman, AICP, recently rejoined Woolpert LLP as a senior project manager and planner for the firm's Atlanta facilities planning and design group. Ziegman will be responsible for managing a number of Woolpert's military planning projects. He has worked on projects at Department of Defense installations throughout the United States, Europe and Pacific Rim, including assignments for Air Force and Air Force Reserve bases, Air National Guard installations, and Army posts.

Carol Stricklin, AICP, (photo left) has joined the City of Largo, Florida, as the Assistant Director of Community Development, where she will focus on implementation of the city's infill and revitalization plans. Stricklin has an extensive background in local government planning, including working for the City of Orlando and Orange County, Florida.

Gregory Del Rio has been named an associate by the national engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, and planning firm Vollmer Associates LLP. Del Rio is department head of the firm's New York transportation group. He has 17 years experience in civil engineering and transportation planning, including electronic toll collection systems, master plans, corridor analysis, and mass transit terminals.

Jeff Jenkins, AICP, (photo left) has joined URS Corporation as Senior Land Use Planner/Project Manager for the Tampa, Florida, office. His responsibilities will include project management, master planning, land development regulations, fiscal impact assessments, and research and analysis in planning and zoning in both the public and private sectors. Jenkins has 17 years of experience in the areas of planning, development, land use and zoning. San Francisco-based URS Corporation offers a range of planning and design, engineering, management, and operations and maintenance services.

Barbara L. Sporlein is the new Director of Planning with the Department of Community Planning and Economic Development for the City of Minneapolis, effective January 9, 2004. Prior to this position, Sporlein served as the Deputy Executive Director of the Saint Paul Public Housing Agency.

Jim Donovan, AICP, (photo left) has been promoted to the position of Associate-in-Charge of the Burlington, Vermont, office of Wilbur Smith Associates. Donovan has 25 years of bicycle and pedestrian planning, transportation and land use planning, environmental analysis, and site design experience. Prior to his promotion, he was Senior Landscape Architect for WSA's Northeast Region, a position he will continue to fill. He is a licensed landscape architect and certified planner. Donovan is the recent author of Transportation Oriented Design (TOD) Guidelines for Chittenden County, a manual outlining how to increase the use of TOD principles for municipalities, developers, and transportation providers.

Chuck Ballentine is the new Director of Housing, Community Works & Transit for Hennepin County in Minnesota. Previously, he served as Planning Director for the City of Minneapolis.

Michael F. McCarthy, AICP, (photo left) has been named Transportation Director of the Great Lakes Region of Burgess & Niple, Inc., an engineering and architectural firm. McCarthy joined the firm in 2003. As Transportation Director, he will lead and direct all transportation marketing, operations and production efforts in the region's three offices in Akron, Cleveland, and Painesville. He also will oversee the region's 25-person transportation staff. McCarthy is also a registered professional engineer and has served on the adjunct faculty at Cleveland State University.

A special collection of the work of Melville C. Branch, FAICP, concerning his concept of the comprehensive planning process, has been established within the library of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Branch is Distinguished Professor of Planning Emeritus at the University of Southern California and a Life Member of APA.

L. Robert Ulibarri, AICP, (photo left) has joined Winzler & Kelly Consulting Engineers as their Senior Environmental Planner in Winzler & Kelly's Eureka, California, office. Ulibarri has served in both the public and private sectors as a planning director for the past 25 years. Formerly, he was the Senior Environmental Project Manager for RBF Consulting in San Jose. At Winzler & Kelly, he will be responsible for the management and preparation of CEQA/NEPA documents, including environmental assessments prepared for Tribal Governments and permitting.

George G. Mathey, AICP, has been named a principal in the campus and facility planning firm of Dober, Lidsky, Craig and Associates, Inc. of Belmont, Massachusetts. Mathey, responsible for programming and planning, has most recently worked on planning and facility assessment for Cornell University and Lesley University. He joined the firm in 1986 and became a senior associate in 1988.

Craig A. Ward, AICP, (photo left) president of Frederick Ward Associates, Inc., has been selected for the 2004 class of Leadership Maryland, an independent, educational nonprofit organization designed to inform executives about the issues, challenges, and opportunities facing Maryland and its regions. The 52 participants will attend a two-day opening retreat, followed by five two-day and one one-day intense sessions focusing on issues such as economic development, education, health and human services, criminal justice, environment, and multiculturalism.

Alicia Berg, AICP, commissioner of the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development for the past three years, will join Columbia College as vice president of Campus Environment on March 1, 2004. Berg will be responsible for developing and implementing the downtown Chicago institution's campus master plan. She will also be responsible for extending the college’s external partnerships and relationships.

Crescentia Brown, AICP, (photo left) has joined Environmental Science Associates (ESA) as a Project Manager in the Oakland office of ESA's Local Government and Development Group. Brown has more than seven years of experience in a variety of planning and infrastructure projects. Prior to joining ESA, Brown was with the City of Oakland Planning Department. Additionally, she was a consultant with Moore, Iacafano and Goltsman in Berkeley.

William B. Renner, AICP, has been promoted to principal by EDSA, a planning, landscape architectural, and graphic design firm. Renner has worked with multiple studios on creative designs for urban revitalization, new communities, tourism development, and waterfront regeneration projects. In addition to speaking at conferences and contributing academic instruction as a visiting lecturer, Renner has co-authored numerous articles for professional journals.

Nohad A. Toulan, FAICP, (photo left) founding dean of Portland State University's College of Urban and Public Affairs, has announced his retirement. His successor, Lawrence Wallack, becomes dean on July 1, 2004. The college comprises three schools: the School of Community Health, the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, and the School of Urban Studies and Planning. It also includes eleven public service and research centers and institutes.

Mark P. Howard has joined Cambridge Systematics as a Senior Associate with experience in the areas of urban and regional transportation planning, professional capacity building, and planning for operations. Howard also has an extensive background in transportation planning, strategic management, and public involvement.

Melani Smith (photo left) has joined Los Angeles–based landscape architecture and urban planning firm Meléndrez Design Partners as Senior Associate and Director of the firm's planning practice. Smith has 16 years of experience in the design industry. Prior to joining Meléndrez, she was the Director of Community Design and Planning for the Planning Center in Costa Mesa. Meléndrez is a Southern California-based landscape architecture and urban planning firm. The firm is currently working on the Griffith Park Master Plan and the North Hollywood Arts District Streetscape Plan.

Jerold S. Kayden, a faculty member of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, has been appointed the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design. An internationally recognized expert in land use law, who holds degrees in both law and urban planning, Kayden has written books and articles on zoning, historic preservation, and property rights. He is working on a new book, The Tyranny of Context: Law's Obsession with Design Conformity, in which he argues that laws creating local design review and other regulatory bodies have often had a stifling effect on the evolution of design.

Gary Sorge, AICP, is now a senior associate of Vollmer Associates LLP, a national engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, and planning firm. Sorge is branch manager of the firm's Hamden, Connecticut, office. In his 17 years of practice, he has been involved in a wide variety of recreational and site development projects, including park master plans and municipal recreation master plans.

Larry E. Lund has been elected the 43rd president of Lambda Alpha International, an honorary society that provides a forum for the advancement of land economics. The society was formed in 1930 and has about 2,000 members 22 cities worldwide. Lund is Principal of Real Estate Planning Group in Chicago.

R. Mark Dempf has been named a senior associate by Vollmer Associates LLP, a national engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, and planning firm. Dempf, who is director of engineering and planning for the firm's Albany, New York, office, has 17 years experience in highway and bridge design. He also has expertise in site development and utility, infrastructure, and drainage projects.

David Stamm, AICP, has joined New England Builders, Inc., a development and construction firm located in Skokie, Illinois. He will identify new opportunities and manage development projects, drawing on his previous experience as a planning and development consultant. New England Builders specializes in public-private ventures to develop residential, commercial, and mixed-use properties in urban and suburban infill locations.

John L. Kinley (photo left) has been named President of TCB Inc., an AECOM engineering firm. He has served in executive roles for several AECOM companies, including as President and CEO of P&D Consultants. TCB was established in 1946 and provides professional planning, engineering, surveying, and other services in six states.

George G. Sarmiento, AICP, has been appointed Director of the City of El Paso Planning, Research & Development Department. He will oversee downtown and neighborhood development activities, strategy area planning, demographic research, GIS coordination, subdivision processing, design review, historic preservation, and zoning. For the past two years, Sarmiento worked as a private consultant based in São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to that, he was a principal planner for the County of Rockland, New York.

Randall Arendt (photo left) has been named a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute in the United Kingdom. The planning group said in its announcement that Arendt is "a planner whose career has increasingly focussed on the development and dissemination of natural conservation-led approaches to development. ... Two elements of his work are of particular distinction: its creative response to the limitations presented by the planning and landowner rights frameworks of the New England states; and its extensive commitment to promotion and dissemination in an environment dominated by relatively small communities, many with limited access to professional planning support." Arendt is the author of numerous books, including Rural by Design, published by APA Planners Press.

Peter Park, AICP, has been named the Director of Planning and Community Development of Denver, Colorado, beginning in January 2004. Park was actively recruited by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who made a visit to Milwaukee to encourage him to take the position. Park has been the city planning director in Milwaukee since 1995. In Denver, he also will become an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado at Denver's College of Architecture and Planning. Park told the Rocky Mountain News that one of his major tasks will be to create a "predictable" environment for developers launching major projects and homeowners putting on additions.

Previous Years of Members in the News

2003 Members in the News

2002 Members in the News

1999-2001 Members in the News