Resource People

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Resource People Bios

Geoff Anderson is President and CEO of Smart Growth America. He worked for 13 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where he was instrumental in creating the Agency's Smart Growth program. He also helped found the Smart Growth Network, the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, and the popular web site smartgrowth.org. In addition, Anderson provided seed funding for and helped to catalyze the creation of the National Vacant Properties Campaign, the LEED for Neighborhood Development Certification program, and the Governors' Institute for Community Design.

Phineas Baxandall oversees policy and strategy development for the state PIRG's tax and budget campaigns. He worked at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where he assisted in directing the Taubman Center for State and Local Government as well as the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. Before coming to the Kennedy School, Baxandall worked for the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, editing their flagship publication, Regional Review. He also taught political economy for several years at Harvard’s undergraduate honors program in Social Studies, where he won six teaching awards. In 1990-91, he taught economics and organizational behavior at the University of Budapest. In Hungary, Baxandall also worked with a campaign consulting firm to observe focus groups, formulate survey questions, and prepare national strategy for a major political party in Parliament.

Scott Bernstein is President of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, which develops resources and systems to promote healthy, sustainable communities. In the past, he taught at the UCLA Graduate School of Public Policy, was on the board of the Policy Program at the Humphrey School of University of Minnesota, and was an Advisory Board member at the Brookings Institution. During the Clinton Administration, he also served on the President’s Council for Sustainable Development and a number of other White House and federal advisory panels. He also co-founded the Surface Transportation Policy Project and the Center for Transit Oriented Development.

Xavier de Souza Briggs serves as the Associate Director for General Government Programs at the White House Office of Management and Budget. He was an Associate Professor of Sociology and Urban Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a former faculty member of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. A senior policy official in the Clinton Administration from 1998 to 1999, Briggs was Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has been an adviser to The World Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation and other groups and has worked closer to the streets—as a community planner in the South Bronx, Chicago and other cities.

Steve Burrington is a principal at Serrafix, where he helps develop and implement energy, transportation and growth policy strategies for state and local leaders. Burrington previously served as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and as undersecretary in the Massachusetts Office for Commonwealth Development. Previously, he was a vice president and general counsel for the Conservation Law Foundation, New England's leading environmental protection organization.

David Burwell is a founding partner of the BBG Group, a consulting firm specializing in sustainable transportation solutions. He was also a Senior Transportation Consultant with the Funders Network and authored several papers on transportation finance, sustainability and land use. He has served as Chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Transportation and Sustainability, and on the TRB Executive Committee.He is a former President of the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) and was the founding President and CEO of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC). A lawyer by training, Burwell resides in Bethesda Maryland.

Aimée Christensen is the Founder and Executive Director of Christensen Global Strategies and she is a member of the Clean Economy Network. Previously, Aimée worked with Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, working on global warming and its broader relationship to poverty, development, and public health. She worked closely with Google's Green team to develop the corporate climate strategy including a commitment to carbon neutrality. In 2005, Aimée served as a full time consultant to the World Bank's Legal Department, advising the Bank's Carbon Finance Business. In 2003 and 2004, she was Executive Director of Environment2004.  Immediately prior, Aimée practiced law with Baker & McKenzie, advising clients on energy and environmental transactions.

Judy Conti is a Federal Advocacy Coordinator at the National Employment Law Project. Previously, she was a Co-Founder and Executive Director of the D.C. Employment Justice Center, a legal service provider devoted to workplace justice in the D.C. metropolitan area. Judy has developed NELP’s presence in D.C., working to bring the expertise and experience of NELP and its allies to the halls of Congress and relevant agencies. She has lobbied on issues of income security, job training for workers who have lost jobs due to globalization, and the needs of workers who have criminal records serving as a barrier to full employment. Conti’s work has been widely recognized with awards from the American Bar Association, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C., and the Echoing Green Foundation.

Michael Ettlinger is the Vice President for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress. Prior to that, he directed the Economic Analysis and Research Network at the Economic Policy Institute. He was tax policy director for Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for 11 years. He has also worked as staff for the New York State Assembly. At the ITEP, Ettlinger was the principal developer of the ITEP Microsimulation Tax Model. Ettlinger has authored many reports on tax and economic issues, frequently testified before Congress, is widely published, and is often called upon by the media. Ettlinger has served on several nonprofit boards, advisory commissions, and study groups.

Cheryl Fish-Parcham is a Deputy Director of Health Policy at Families USA. Her current areas of focus are private insurance and state initiatives to cover the uninsured. Previously, she helped to form a national support center for consumer health assistance programs and provided technical assistance on Medicaid issues. She is the author of numerous reports on designing consumer health assistance programs, the plight of the uninsured, and on Medicaid and private insurance. Prior to joining Families USA, she worked in several local advocacy and community service organizations in the District of Columbia.
 

Radhika Fox, Associate Director, leads PolicyLink’s efforts to bring greater attention, resources, and equitable policy change to older core cities in America. She provides technical assistance, training, and policy development support to local and state coalitions across the country, to build the capacity of local change agents who are advocating for economic and social equity in their communities. Her work also focuses on inclusionary zoning and other strategies to promote the equitable distribution of affordable housing across regions.

Doug Foy is the President of Serrafix. Prior to founding Serrafix, he served as the Secretary of Commonwealth Development in Governor Mitt Romney's cabinet, overseeing the agencies of transportation, housing, environment, and energy. Prior to that, Doug was, for 25 years, the President of the Conservation Law Foundation, New England’s premier environmental advocacy organization. Doug has received numerous awards, including the President’s Environmental and Conservation Challenge Award, the country’s highest conservation award, and the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. He was also a member of the 1968 USA Olympic team (rowing).

Michael Freedberg is the Director of the Affordable Housing Research and Technology Division in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Research, Evaluation and Monitoring. He recently served as senior policy advisor for energy and urban policy in HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research. Trained as an architect and urban planner, Freedberg has been involved in a wide range of residential energy activities. In New York City, he developed the nation’s first urban applications of solar and wind energy, as part of the first sweat equity conversions of abandoned tenement buildings to cooperative ownership. His projects created an important precedent for small-scale wind and renewable energy production in the United States. He was also Energy Policy Coordinator for the National Center for Policy Alternatives, focusing on alternative energy policies for state and local officials.

Gov. Parris Glendening is President of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute. He completed his second and final term as the Governor of Maryland in 2003. As governor, one of his primary agenda items was smart growth. Before becoming Governor, Parris N. Glendening was a local elected official for more than 20 years. He began public service in 1973 as a city councilman in Hyattsville and was later elected to the Prince George's County Council in 1974. In 1982 he was elected County Executive of Prince George's County, a post he held for three consecutive terms.

Jacquelyne D. Grimshaw is the Vice President for Policy, Transportation, and Community Development at the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago. There she directs the center's transportation and air quality program and is responsible for the center's research efforts, computer modeling programs, and community development activities. She has extensive experience developing consensus in support of less-polluting transportation options and initiating programs that assist the revitalization of inner-city neighborhoods. Grimshaw previously served as the Deputy Director for Economic Development for the City of Chicago and worked for the Chicago Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. She is a member of the President's Council for Sustainable Development and the Advisory Board of the Surface Transportation Policy Project.
 

Robert Gordon is Associate Director for Education, Income Maintenance and Labor at the Office of Management and Budget. Prior to that, Gordon was a Senior Fellow at American Progress, where he focused on education and domestic policy. While on leave from the Center in 2006 and 2007, Gordon served as a senior advisor to the chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, leading an overhaul of the city's multi-billion dollar school budgeting system and developing new human capital initiatives. Prior to joining American Progress in 2005, he was domestic policy director for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. He previously worked for Senator John Edwards (D-NC) as Judiciary Committee counsel, legislative director, and policy director on his first presidential campaign. Earlier in his career, Gordon was a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a Skadden Fellow at the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society in New York City, where he represented children in abuse and neglect proceedings. Gordon also served in the Clinton White House as an aide to the National Economic Council and the Office of National Service, helping craft the legislation creating AmeriCorps.

Tate Gould is a Research Scientist at the National Center for Education Statistics(NCES), the statistical branch of the U.S. Department of Education. He presently is the Program Manager for the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) grant program, which provides grants to states to help develop, design, and implement statewide education data systems intended to enhance the management, analysis, and use of education data in order to improve student learning. He serves on the National Forum for Education Statistics and has professional experience in local, state, and national education policy.

Aimee Guidera is Director of the Data Quality Campaign. She manages a growing partnership among national organizations collaborating to improve the quality, accessibility and use of education data. Guidera joined the National Center for Educational Accountability as Director of the Washington, DC office in 2003. During her eight previous years in various roles at the National Alliance of Business, Guidera supported the corporate community's efforts to increase achievement at all levels of learning. During her tenure with the Alliance as vice president of programs, she managed the Business Coalition Network, comprised of over 1,000 business led coalitions focused on improving education in communities across the country. Prior to joining the Alliance, Guidera worked at the National Governor's Association. Early in her career, Guidera taught for the Japanese Ministry of Education in five Hiroshima high schools where she interviewed educators and studied the Japanese education system.
 

Sonia Hamel is Emissions Trading Advisor to the British Embassy in Washington DC, focusing on the design of regional trading programs. She also consults to foundations, non-profits and governments in the areas of climate, energy and transportation. Most recently, she served the Massachusetts Office for Commonwealth Development, coordinating air quality and climate protection programs across many agencies. There, she wrote the Massachusetts Climate Protection Plan and led the state’s efforts in creating the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional cap and trade program for the electric sector. Previously, Sonia was Director of Air Policy and Planning, helping to guide one of the country’s most aggressive air quality programs focusing on vehicle emission standards, power plant and industrial clean-up. She also developed and led the New England Governors' and Eastern Canadian Premiers Climate Action Plan in 2001, the first international climate agreement in the U.S.  She has been working on climate change since 1994 when she was appointed to the White House Advisory Committee on Transportation and GHG Emissions.

John Irons currently serves as Research and Policy Director at the Economic Policy Institute. His research focuses on the U.S. economy and economic policy, with an emphasis on federal tax and budget policy. He previously worked as the Director of Tax and Budget Policy at the Center for American Progress and taught Economics at Amherst College. He has also worked for the Brookings Institution and at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He currently serves on the Committee on Electronic Publishing for the American Economic Association, and on the Board of Governors of the National Economists Club.

Craig Jennings joined OMB Watch in 2006 as an intern, and later fellow, researching and writing about federal fiscal policy issues while earning his Masters of Public Policy degree from American University. Upon completion of his degree, Jennings became a federal fiscal policy analyst at OMB Watch and continues to work on budget and tax, income inequality, and government oversight issues. Prior to joining OMB Watch, Jennings lived in Texas and worked as an information technology consultant for Sungard Consulting and KPMG Consulting.

Bruce Katz is a Vice President at the Brookings Institution and founding Director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The program seeks to redefine the challenges facing cities and metropolitan areas by publishing cutting-edge research on major demographic, market, development, and governance trends. Katz regularly advises national, state, regional, and municipal leaders on policy reforms that advance the competitiveness of metropolitan areas.  He focuses particularly on reforms that promote the revitalization of central cities and older suburbs and enhance the ability of these places to attract, retain, and grow the middle class.  In 2006, he received the prestigious Heinz Award in Public Policy for his contributions to urban and metropolitan America. Before joining Brookings, Katz served as Chief of Staff to Henry G. Cisneros, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Katz has also served as the staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs.  He is also a Visiting Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics.
 

Bill Kelly is currently President of the Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future, a consortium of social enterprise nonprofits committed to affordable rental housing.  He was a partner in the Washington DC office of the law firm of Latham & Watkins and before that served as Executive Assistant to the HUD Secretary and law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. Bill is also a director of Ashoka, the International Senior Lawyers Project, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and was Mullen Visiting Professor at Georgetown University.

Amy Liu is Deputy Director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. Her policy studies include economic competitiveness, metropolitan growth and development, governance reforms, urban reinvestment, and social equity.

Nooshin Mahalia joined the Economic Policy Institute in 2007. Prior to joining the Economic Analysis and Research Network at EPI, she worked at the Economic Development Institute and previously for news organizations in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Her areas of interest include regional economic development and technology policy.  She holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Georgia and an M.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Sarah McLaughlin Emmans conducts research and state outreach with the Government Performance Project, a Center initiative that strives to improve service to the public by strengthening state management practices at the Pew Center on the States. Prior to joining Pew, Emmans worked as a research consultant to the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. Previously she worked in the Illinois Governor’s Office of Policy Development and as the Deputy Director of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Southeast Regional Office.

Michael Miller is Policy Director for Community Catalyst and focuses on providing policy and strategy support to state-based consumer health advocacy groups. He has expertise in the areas of Medicaid, SCHIP, Medicare, expanding coverage to the uninsured, small group and non-group insurance reform, long term care financing and delivery, managed care reform, and hospital community benefits and uncompensated care. Miller has been the policy director for Health Care for All, and Director of the Alzheimer’s Association of eastern Massachusetts Community Partnership Project.  

Mark Muro, a fellow and the director of policy for the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, manages the program's public policy analysis and leads key policy research projects. Prior to joining Brookings, Muro was a senior policy analyst at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University. He was also a staff writer for The Boston Globe and an editorial writer for The Arizona Daily Star.  Muro is also a member of the Citistates Group, a network of journalists, speakers and civic leaders focused on building competitive, equitable and sustainable 21st century metropolitan regions.

Robert Puentes is a fellow with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program where he also directs the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative. The Initiative was established to address transportation and infrastructure challenges facing cities and suburbs. Robert's work focuses on issues related to metropolitan growth and development. He is an expert on transportation and infrastructure, urban planning, growth management, suburban issues and housing. Prior to joining Brookings, he was the director of infrastructure programs at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.

Michael Replogle is Transportation Director for the Environmental Defense Fund, a non-profit group with over 500,000 members that links science, economics and law to find ways to cut pollution. He is also President and founder of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, a non-profit group that since 1985 has helped plan and implement bus rapid transit, non-motorized transportation, and urban revitalization initiatives world-wide. As a member of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Advisory Committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems, he has been a frequent witness before Congress. He writes frequently for such publications as Planning Magazine, Forbes, and the National Journal. He has advised the World Bank, Federal Highway Administration, EPA, and many governments and businesses around the world on transportation planning, management, and finance over the past 30 years.

Lynn Richards is currently the acting Division Director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Smart Growth Program. She focuses on all aspects of smart growth, including the nexus between water quality and land use, public participation, green infrastructure, and transportation issues. Prior to EPA, Richards worked for ICF Consulting and addressed sustainable development, environmental justice, and long-term stewardship.  In addition, she also worked with the Government of the Bahamas to establish a Ministry of Environmental Protection.  During this time, Richards served on the President’s Council for Sustainable Development Environmental Management Task Force.

Joel Rogers is Director of the Center for State Innovation(CSI) and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has written widely on American politics and public policy, advised federal, state, and local government; and helped launch several public interest organizations before CSI. A MacArthur "genius" prize winner, Newsweek identified him as one of the 100 living Americans most likely to shape American politics and culture in the 21st century.

Martha Ross is the deputy director of Greater Washington Research at the Brookings Institute. She focuses on a range of issues, primarily those affecting low-income residents and families in Washington, DC and the metropolitan region, including access to health care and workforce development. As part of the Medical Homes DC project, she works closely with the DC Primary Care Association and provides research support for the project’s efforts to improve the medical safety net in Washington, DC. She has completed extensive research on policy and program options to improve education and training opportunities for low-income, less-skilled District residents. Prior to joining Brookings, Ms. Ross was a Presidential Management Fellow in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she focused on welfare policy. She has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College.

Elizabeth Schilling is currently serving as Interim Program Manager at the Smart Growth Leadership Institute in Washington, DC. Formerly the Executive Director of the Growth Management Leadership Alliance, a national network of three dozen smart growth advocacy organizations in thirty states and British Columbia, Canada, Schilling focused on translating the diversity and strength of local smart growth efforts for a rapidly growing national movement, bringing specific strategies and projects to the attention of federal policy makers, national non-profits and professional organizations, as well as national and regional foundations. She served as the Public Information Officer to Maryland’s Secretary of Planning under Governor Parris N. Glendening, and as a Legislative Aide to Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D, OR-3).

Will Schroeer is the State Policy Director for Smart Growth America. He has experience designing and directing transportation and land use policy evaluations for government, nonprofit, and private clients; examining costs and benefits, feasibility, economic, social, and distributional impacts. Will has been an Economist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he received a 1996 National Planning Award from the American Planning Association, and two EPA Service Awards. He also spent nine years managing the smart growth practice at ICF Consulting.

Tamar Shapiro is the Executive Director of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute and the executive director of the Governors' Institute on Community Design. Tamar is a Harvard-trained attorney with extensive background in affordable housing and community development. Tamar was instrumental in launching the Governors' Institute in 2005. Before joining the Smart Growth Leadership Institute in 2005, Tamar worked as an attorney at Klein Hornig, LLP, a law firm specialized in affordable housing development, where she represented public housing authorities as well as developers in complex, mixed-finance development deals. Previously, she worked as an attorney at Hogan and Hartson in Washington, D.C., served as law clerk to the Honorable Mary A. McLaughlin, and was a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow in Berlin, where she worked at the Berlin Administration on Urban Planning and Environment as well as the German Institute for Urban Affairs.

Phillip Singerman is Senior Vice President of B&D Consulting. Singerman’s expertise includes program development and implementation of technology transfer and commercialization programs. Singerman has been U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, CEO of Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Partner’s Program and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, and has also served as Managing Director of Toucan Capital Fund II, LP a $120 million private venture capital firm focusing on early stage life science companies.

Brian Wagner is the Director of Government Relations for the eHealth Initiative. His role includes serving as the staff lead for eHI's Policy Steering Committee, Policy Working Group, and Privacy Work Group. He previously served as Manager of Government Relations and Public Policy.Prior to working for eHI, Brian served as Executive Assistant, Legislative Aide, and Policy Advisor for Congressman Brian Baird (WA-03). While working in the House of Representatives, Brian gained extensive experience advising Mr. Baird on health care policy, as well as a variety of other issue areas including foreign policy, immigration, and defense. Brian also works on a volunteer basis as Federal Advisor for Focus the Nation, a clean energy non-profit based in Oregon.

Neil Weinstein is the Executive Director and one of the founders of the Low Impact Development Center. Neil is a registered engineer and landscape architect and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the ASCE Urban Water Resources Research Council. He has a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a M.L.A. from the University of Georgia. For the last 10 years Neil has primarily been focused on the planning, research, and design of innovative stormwater management practices, including LID. Prior to that he worked as a development engineer and planner on municipal, institutional, and private sector projects.

Stockton Williams is the Director of Green Economy Initiatives at Living Cities. Prior to joining Living Cities, Stockton was Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Enterprise Community Partners. Stockton led Enterprise’s public policy, fundraising and communication efforts and had executive responsibility over the award-winning Enterprise Green Communities initiative. Previously, Stockton was a senior staff member at the National Council of State Housing Agencies and worked for community-based development organizations in several cities. Stockton’s recent board affiliations include the National Housing Conference, the Trust for Public Land’s Real Estate Council and the Urban Land Institute’s Affordable/Workforce Housing Council.