Project Chief, USGS 2000 World Petroleum Assessment Vice President of Exploration and Chief Geologist PetroHunter Energy Corporation Denver, CO

Dr. Thomas Ahlbrandt, age 58, is Vice President of Exploration and Chief Geologist of PetroHunter Energy Corporation. Dr. Ahlbrandt has 19 years of industry experience in exploration and research with Esso (predecessor to Exxon Mobil), Pan American (predecessor to PB Amoco), Amerada and other independents, including serving as General Partner for PetroStrat Exploration. For more than 20 years, Dr. Ahlbrandt worked for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) where he served as a chief for the World Energy Project, and led the USGS World Petroleum Assessment in 2000. He currently serves as Vice Chairman for the United Nations Committee (UNECE), Ad Hoc Group of Experts on the Supply of Fossil Fuel. Dr. Ahlbrandt also served on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) as Chairman of the House of Delegates from 1995 to 1996. He has received numerous awards including Distinguished Lecturer of the AAPG, the Distinguished Service Award from AAPG, Outstanding Scientist from the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Wyoming and Meritorious Service Award from the Department of the Interior.

Principal, Strategic Economics
Berkeley, CA

Ms. Belzer is an expert on transit oriented development, fostering mixed-use districts, and local-serving retail attraction. She has helped to establish best practices for transit oriented development in multiple communities as well as writing extensively on the topic. Her work on retail revitalization in neighborhood shopping districts has also been recognized as a model for “best practice” by such organizations as Northern California Local Support Corporation.

Ms. Belzer received a Master of City Planning from U.C. Berkeley and a B.A. in Psychology from Pitzer College. She serves on the Boards of the University of California, College of Environmental Design Alumni Association and Community Economics Inc., a non-profit organization specializing in affordable housing finance. Her publications include Visioning the Future: Strategies for Community Change published by HUD, 1994, (contributing author); Transit Oriented Development: From Rhetoric to Reality, published by the Great American Station Foundation and the Brookings Institution Center on Urban & Metropolitan Policy, June, 2002; and Countering Sprawl with Transit Oriented Development, in Issues in Science and Technology, National Academy of Sciences, Fall 2002. Ms. Belzer received a National Business Women’s Week Award from the Business and Professional Women, Berkeley in 1996.

Principal, Calthorpe Associates
Berkeley, CA

Peter Calthorpe was named one of 25 "innovators on the cutting edge" by Newsweek Magazine for his work redefining the models of urban and suburban growth in America. His long and honored career in urban design, planning, and architecture began in 1976, combining his experience in each discipline to develop new approaches to urban revitalization, suburban growth, and regional planning.

Mr. Calthorpe's early published work includes technical papers, articles for popular magazines, and a number of seminal books, including Sustainable Communities with Sim Van der Ryn, and The Pedestrian Pocket Book with Doug Kelbaugh. The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream, published in 1993, introduced the concept of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and provided extensive guidelines and illustrations of their broad application. His latest book with William Fulton, The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl, explains how regional-scale planning and design can integrate urban revitalization and suburban renewal into a coherent vision of metropolitan growth.

Mr. Calthorpe has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. He has taught at U.C. Berkeley, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and the University of North Carolina. Over the years he has received numerous honors and awards, including appointment to the President's Councils for Sustainable Development.

After studying at Yale's Graduate School of Architecture, he joined the Farrallones Institute as Director of Design. Beginning private practice in 1978, with the firm of Van der Ryn, Calthorpe and Partners, his work ranged from large community planning to commercial complexes and public buildings. His architecture, planning, and research from this period established his leadership in passive solar design, producing countless publications and three National HUD awards.
Since forming Calthorpe Associates in 1983, his work has expanded to include major projects in urban, new town, and suburban settings in the United States and abroad. With groundbreaking work in Portland, Salt Lake, Austin, the Twin Cities, and Los Angeles, he has helped established the emerging field of regional design.

During the Clinton presidency, Mr. Calthorpe provided direction for HUD's Empowerment Zone and Consolidated Planning Programs as well as the Hope VI program to rebuild some of the country's worst public housing projects. In 1992, he became a founder of the Congress for New Urbanism and was its first board president.

Internationally his work in Japan, China, Italy, Tunis, Jordan, Australia, and the Philippines has demonstrated that community design with a focus on environmental sustainability and human scale can be adapted throughout the globe. Mr. Calthorpe was recently selected by the State of Louisiana to lead its long-term growth and redevelopment planning following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Through design, innovation, publications, and realized projects, Peter Calthorpe's 30 year practice has helped solidify a national trend towards the key principals of New Urbanism: that successful places - whether neighborhoods, villages, or urban centers - must be diverse in use and user, walkable and transit-oriented, and environmentally sustainable. In recognition of his work, he was awarded ULI's prestigious "J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development" in 2006.

Former President, United States of America

During the administration of William Jefferson Clinton, the U.S. enjoyed more peace and economic well being than at any time in its history. He was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. He could point to the lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest inflation in 30 years, the highest home ownership in the country's history, dropping crime rates in many places, and reduced welfare rolls. He proposed the first balanced budget in decades and achieved a budget surplus. As part of a plan to celebrate the millennium in 2000, Clinton called for a great national initiative to end racial discrimination.

After the failure in his second year of a huge program of health care reform, Clinton shifted emphasis, declaring "the era of big government is over." He sought legislation to upgrade education, to protect jobs of parents who must care for sick children, to restrict handgun sales, and to strengthen environmental rules.

President Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father died in a traffic accident. When he was four years old, his mother wed Roger Clinton, of Hot Springs, Arkansas. In high school, he took the family name.

He excelled as a student and as a saxophone player and once considered becoming a professional musician. As a delegate to Boys Nation while in high school, he met President John Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden. The encounter led him to enter a life of public service.

Clinton was graduated from Georgetown University and in 1968 won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. He received a law degree from Yale University in 1973, and entered politics in Arkansas.

He was defeated in his campaign for Congress in Arkansas's Third District in 1974. The next year he married Hillary Rodham, a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. In 1980, Chelsea, their only child, was born.

Clinton was elected Arkansas Attorney General in 1976, and won the governorship in 1978. After losing a bid for a second term, he regained the office four years later, and served until he defeated incumbent George Bush and third party candidate Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential race.

Clinton and his running mate, Tennessee's Senator Albert Gore Jr., then 44, represented a new generation in American political leadership. For the first time in 12 years both the White House and Congress were held by the same party. But that political edge was brief; the Republicans won both houses of Congress in 1994.

In 1998, as a result of issues surrounding personal indiscretions with a young woman White House intern, Clinton was the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He was tried in the Senate and found not guilty of the charges brought against him. He apologized to the nation for his actions and continued to have unprecedented popular approval ratings for his job as president.

In the world, he successfully dispatched peace keeping forces to war-torn Bosnia and bombed Iraq when Saddam Hussein stopped United Nations inspections for evidence of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. He became a global proponent for an expanded NATO, more open international trade, and a worldwide campaign against drug trafficking. He drew huge crowds when he traveled through South America, Europe, Russia, Africa, and China, advocating U.S. style freedom.

Principal, Goody Clancey
Boston, MA

David Dixon leads Goody Clancy’s Planning and Urban Design division. His work has won national awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Congress for the New Urbanism, Society for College and University Planning, and American Society of Landscape Architects. The Boston Globe’s architecture critic hailed the “Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights in Boston” as Boston’s “most ambitious planning endeavor since Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace.” In 2007 David was honored with the AIA's Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture for his achievements in support of the public sector.

David served as 2003 President of the Boston Society of Architects (the local AIA Chapter) and chair of the 2003 national conference on “Density: Myth and Reality.” He has been invited to speak about revitalizing America’s downtowns and neighborhoods by the AIA, the Mayor’s Institute for City Design, the Congress for the New Urbanism, and the Society for College and University Planning; served as a juror for the AIA’s Regional and Urban Design Honor Awards; and is one of five national advisors of the AIA’s Regional and Urban Design Committee. He writes frequently about urban issues, including recent chapters on university-sponsored revitalization (published by the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy and Great Cities Institute) and urban design issues related to homeland security (MIT Press). He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University, Master of Architecture from University of Pennsylvania, and Master of Urban Design from Harvard University.

Former Governor Massachusetts, Former Democratic Presidential Candidate (1988)
Distinguished Professor of Political Studies, Northeastern University
Professor of Political Studies, UCLA
Boston, MA

Michael Stanley Dukakis was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on November 3, 1933. His parents, Panos and Euturpe (Boukis) Dukakis both emigrated from Greece to the mill cities of Lowell and Haverhill, Massachusetts before marrying and settling in the town of Brookline, just outside Boston.

Dukakis graduated from Brookline High School (1951), Swarthmore College (1955), and Harvard Law School (1960). He served for two years in the United States Army, sixteen months of which he spent with the Support Group to the UN Delegation to the Military Armistice commission in Munsan, Korea.

Dukakis began his political career as an elected Town Meeting Member in the town of Brookline. He was elected chairman of his town's Democratic organization in 1960 and won a seat in the Massachusetts legislature in 1962. He served four terms as a legislator, winning re-election by an increasing margin each time he ran.

In 1970 he was the Massachusetts Democratic Party's nominee for Lieutenant- Governor and the running mate of Boston Mayor Kevin White in that year's gubernatorial race which they lost to Republicans Frank Sargeant and Donald Dwight. Dukakis won his party's nomination for governor in 1974 and beat Sargeant decisively in November of that year.

He inherited a record deficit and record high unemployment and is generally credited with digging Massachusetts out of one of its worst financial and economic crises in history. But the effort took its toll, and Dukakis was defeated in the Democratic Primary in 1978 by Edward King.
Dukakis came back to defeat King in 1982 and was re-elected to an unprecedented third four-year term in 1986 by one of the largest margins in history. In 1986 his colleagues in the National Governors Association voted him the most effective governor in the Nation.

Dukakis won the Democratic nomination for the Presidency in 1988 but was defeated by George Bush. Soon thereafter, he announced that he would not be a candidate for re-election as governor and served his final two years as governor at a time of increasing financial and economic distress in Massachusetts and the Northeast.

After leaving office in January 1991, Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, spent five weeks in Australia as guests of the city of Melbourne and three months at the University of Hawaii where Dukakis was a visiting professor in the political science department and at the School of Public Health. While at the University of Hawaii, he taught courses in political leadership and health policy and led a series of public forums on the reform of the nation's health care system. Since then, there has been increasing public interest in Hawaii's first-in-the nation universal health insurance system and the lessons that can be learned from it as the nation debates the future of health care in America.
Since June of 1991, Dukakis has been a visiting professor at Northeastern University's political science department and has also taught in the senior executive program for State and Local managers at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has also taught for the past three years at Florida Atlantic University.

His research has focused on national health care policy reform and the lessons that national policy makers can learn from state reform efforts. He has authored articles on the subject for the Journal of American Health Policy (1992); the Yale Law and Policy Review (1992); the New England Journal of Medicine (1992); and Compensation and Benefits Management (1993). In addition, he co-taught with Professor Rochefort a graduate seminar in national health policy reform that included a series of public forums and an all-day conference that culminated in the publication of Insuring American Health for the Year 2000, a Northeastern University publication that has been distributed widely to health policy makers, legislators and others.

Kitty and Mike Dukakis have three children, John, Andrea, and Kara, and are the proud grandparents of Alexandra Jane Dukakis, age 5.

Principal, Continuum Partners
Denver, CO

Mark Falcone founded Continuum Partners, LLC in Denver in 1997. Continuum Partners is a real estate development company born from the belief that there is a critical connection between long-term value, high quality urban design and ecological sustainability. Continuum achieves this through an experienced real estate team with a solid base of capital resources to develop projects which demonstrate the principles of Smart Growth.

Since its inception Continuum has successfully completed over 500 million dollars in development. Projects include 16 Market Square, a 350,000 square foot mixed use building in downtown Denver; Bradburn, a 250 million dollar mixed use village in Westminster, Colorado; Belmar, a new 22 city block mixed use precinct in the center of Lakewood Colorado; and Arthouse in downtown Denver which includes 13 luxury townhomes adjacent to 65 units of affordable housing and the new 20,000 square foot Museum of Contemporary Art.

Previously, Mark was a partner in his family’s real estate development group, The Pioneer Companies, which he joined in 1987. Mark served as director of operations for Pioneer from 1990-1996, overseeing five million square feet of development across five different states. Prior to joining Pioneer, Mark worked with The Rouse Company’s division of Office and Community Development in Baltimore, MD. He graduated with a BA from Colgate University in 1985.

Throughout his career Mark has been actively engaged in the dialog to advance more sustainable settlement patterns within his industry and amongst public policy makers. As Chair of the Onondaga County Commission on Economic Development and Tourism Mark organized a conference series called Onondaga County: Home to the Best Small Towns in America. The four all-day conferences eventually lead to a new County Plan by DPZ. Mark also co-chaired a study co-sponsored by the Congress for the New Urbanism and Harvard University focused on developing federal incentives to accelerate the redevelopment of underperforming shopping malls. Over the years Mark has served in several volunteer leadership positions for the Nature Conservancy, a not for profit affordable housing developer and other various organizations focused on the issues and challenges of our built environment.

Currently Mark chairs The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado Chapter Board, is a member of the Colorado Forum, a Founding Director of the Lab - Experiments in Arts and Ideas, a member of the Colgate University Board of Trustees, a member of the NEA’s Mayor’s Institute on City Design Advisory Board.

Principal, Gehl Architects
Coppenhagen, Denmark

Jan is an Architect MAA & FRIBA, Professor Emeritus of Urban Design at the School of Architec­ture, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.

His international teachings includes visiting professorships in Edinburgh, Toronto, Calgary, Melbourne, Perth, Berkeley, San José, Oslo, Dresden, Wroclaw, Hanover, Guadalajara, Vilnius, Cape Town and Costa Rica. Consultancy includes city centres in New York, Sydney, London, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Wellington, Cape Town, Amman, Zürich, Riga, Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Publications include:
- Life Between Buildings - Using Public Space. Published in 15 languages.
- Public Spaces Public Life, Copenhagen. Winner of the Edra/PLACES Research award, USA,   1998.
- New City Spaces, Danish Architectural Press, Copenhagen 2001.
- New City Life, Danish Architectural Press, Copenhagen, 2006.

Jan has been awarded the Sir Patrick Abercrombie prize for exemplary contributions to town planning by the International Union of Architects as well as an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.
In 2006, Jan was awarded an international honorary fellowship to the Royal Institute of British Architects (Int. FRIBA).

Denver City Mayor
Denver, CO

A small businessman who had never previously run for political office, John Hickenlooper was elected Mayor of Denver in 2003 and reelected in 2007. Since taking office, Mayor Hickenlooper passed a citywide charter reform initiative to modernize Denver’s personnel system, overcame a $70 million deficit to balance the City budget while averting major cuts in services and massive layoffs, reached deals with United, Frontier and Southwest Airlines enabling all carriers to grow at Denver International Airport, implemented the most sweeping set of police reforms in Denver’s history, built an unprecedented partnership with Denver Public Schools, launched efforts to create a more business-friendly environment in city government, initiated a citywide campaign to end homelessness, created Denver’s sustainable development initiative, and ushered in a new era of bipartisan regional cooperation culminating in passage of the largest regional transit initiative in the history of the United States.

In November 2005, Mayor Hickenlooper was the only mayor named by Governing Magazine as one of the top Public Officials of the Year, and in April 2005 - less than two years into his first term - TIME Magazine named Mayor Hickenlooper one of the top five “big-city” mayors in America.

Hickenlooper’s passion for Denver began in 1981 when his career as an exploration geologist brought him to Buckhorn Petroleum, where he worked for five years.  After the collapse of the oil industry, he found himself with a healthy severance check, no immediate job prospects, and time on his hands.  Inspired by a visit to a northern California brewpub, he spent two years developing the Wynkoop Brewing Company, the first brewpub in the Rocky Mountains.  The Wynkoop group grew to eventually include seven Denver restaurants and a brewpub in Colorado Springs.

A respected entrepreneur, Hickenlooper was also involved with numerous downtown Denver renovation and development projects and is credited as one of the pioneers that helped revitalize Denver’s Lower Downtown historic district.  In recognition of his efforts supporting preservation in Denver and downtowns across the country, Hickenlooper received a National Preservation Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1997.

Long before he had ever considered public office, Hickenlooper was active in community affairs, serving on numerous civic boards including Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Denver Civic Ventures, Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, the Denver Art Museum, the Association of Brewers, and the Institute for Brewing Studies.   In 1987, he co-founded the Chinook Fund, a local foundation that provides seed grants to community organizations that emphasize social change.  He also co-founded CultureHaus, the Denver Art Museum's 600-member young adult organization.

Leading a grassroots campaign to preserve the “Mile High Stadium” name in 2000 planted the seeds for his 2003 mayoral bid.  An unlikely candidate facing a half-dozen seasoned political veterans, Hickenlooper made Denver history with his nearly two-to-one margin of victory.  Mayor Hickenlooper began his term by assembling the most diverse team of city leadership Denver has ever known.  Maintaining a commitment to diversity and excellence, Hickenlooper recruited corporate executives, local nonprofit leaders and government innovators from around the country, resulting in a team that is more than half women and more than half Latino/African-American/Asian.

Since his election, Mayor Hickenlooper has worked to increase civic engagement and participation throughout the city and Denver metro area, helping to bring all 32 metro mayors together to work on initiatives that benefit the entire region.  His collaborative approach has built strong bonds and partnerships that transcend partisan and geographic lines.  His integrity, honesty and sense of humor have renewed public faith and trust in City Hall, and his boundless energy and enthusiasm have generated tremendous optimism and confidence in Denver’s future.

Mayor Hickenlooper graduated from Wesleyan University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1974 and a master’s degree in geology in 1980.  His wife, Helen Thorpe, is a writer whose work has been published in the New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, George, and Texas Monthly.  They live in northeast Denver with their five-year-old son, Teddy.

CEO/President, Costa Pacific Communities
Wilsonville, OR

Rudy A. Kadlub, chief executive of Costa Pacific Communities headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon, is committed to excellence. He has been recognized nationally for his ability to create trend setting communities and homes of enduring value. Led by Rudy, Costa Pacific has earned more design and marketing awards than any other developer/homebuilder in the Pacific Northwest. The company most recently co-developed Orenco Station, an 1834 home transit-oriented mixed-use community in Hillsboro that was named Master Planned Community of the year by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in 1999. Costa Pacific is currently master planning and developing Villebois, a European-inspired complete community located in Wilsonville, which will accommodate nearly 2700 homes, restaurants, shops, schools and services.

Rudy has participated in the real estate industry in a sales and management capacity for the past 27 years. He has been named Builder of the Year twice by the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland (HBAMP), Developer of the Year by the non-profit organization 1000 Friends of Oregon, and received the prestigious Bill Molster Marketing Award from NAHB.

Rudy is a Life Director of the NAHB and a full member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). In addition, he is past chairman of the National Sales and Marketing Council of the NAHB and past president of HBAMP. Rudy is the founder and chairman of the Portland Home Builders' Foundation and the Portland Chapter of HomeAid America. He is also a member of the prestigious Institute of Residential Marketing (MIRM), and has held leadership positions in many business and civic organizations.

Prior to his career in real estate, Rudy was a college football coach with several championship seasons to his credit. He earned a B.A. from the University of California at Davis, a M.A. from the University of Northern Colorado and has completed course work and comprehensive exams for Ed.D. in Psychological Kinesiology.

Author, The Long Emergency, The Geography of Nowhere
Home From Nowhere

James Howard Kunstler says he wrote The Geography of Nowhere, "Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work."

Home From Nowhere was a continuation of that discussion with an emphasis on the remedies. A portion of it appeared as the cover story in the September 1996 Atlantic Monthly.

His next book in the series, The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, published by Simon & Schuster / Free Press, is a look a wide-ranging look at cities here and abroad, an inquiry into what makes them great (or miserable), and in particular what America is going to do with it's mutilated cities.

His latest book, The Long Emergency, published by the Atlantic Monthly Press in 2005, is about the challenges posed by the coming permanent global oil crisis, climate change, and other "converging catastrophes of the 21st Century."

The Atlantic Monthly Press also published his novel, Maggie Darling, in 2004.

Mr. Kunstler is also the author of eight other novels including The Halloween Ball, An Embarrassment of Riches. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times Sunday Magazine and Op-Ed page, where he has written on environmental and economic issues.

Mr. Kunstler was born in New York City in 1948. He moved to the Long Island suburbs in 1954 and returned to the city in 1957 where he spent most of his childhood. He graduated from the State Univerity of New York, Brockport campus, worked as a reporter and feature writer for a number of newspapers, and finally as a staff writer for Rolling Stone Magazine. In 1975, he dropped out to write books on a full-time basis. He has no formal training in architecture or the related design fields.

He has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, MIT, RPI, the University of Virginia and many other colleges, and he has appeared before many professional organizations such as the AIA , the APA., and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado, Boulder, President, K&A, LLC
Boulder, CO

Jan F. Kreider, PE, PhD is the President of Kreider and Associates, LLC, a renewable energy and energy efficiency consulting firm and the Founding Director of the University of Colorado's Joint Center for Energy Management and Professor of Engineering. He has written eight textbooks on renewable energy, four books on building systems and other energy related topics and nearly 200 technical papers. He designed and oversaw construction of the largest solar system in Mexico, a water heating system for a large resort hotel in Baja California. He has also assisted governments and universities worldwide in establishing renewable energy and energy efficiency programs and projects since the 1970's. In 2001 he wrote the Energy Blueprint for the Galapagos which will transform the very polluting electricity, transportation and fishing energy sectors in the Archipelago into clean energy systems based on renewables.

Charlotte City Mayor
Charlotte, NC

Mayor McCrory graduated from Catawba College in 1978 with a B.A. degree in Political Science/Education.  He currently sits on the Board of Trustees for Catawba College and received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the school in 2001.

In December 2005, Mayor McCrory became the first six-term Mayor in the history of the City of Charlotte, continuing his record as the City's longest-serving Mayor.

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 both 1991 and 1993, serving as Mayor Pro Tem in 1993 until first elected Mayor in 1995.

Mayor McCrory has distinguished himself as a leader in public safety, economic development, housing and transportation.  He has been recognized nationally for his leadership in developing Charlotte's 25-year transportation and land use plan, including his efforts to secure $200 million in federal funds for light rail in Charlotte. Also, $2 billion in local and state road improvements have been made throughout the City over the past decade.

Mayor McCrory is involved in many national organizations. He serves as President of the Republican Mayors and Local Officials (RRMLO) organization, is the Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (ISCM) Environment committee.

Mayor McCrory was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Homeland Security Advisory Committee in October 2003. He also served as the Founding Chair for the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition, a group of the state's 25 large-city Mayors.

The Mayor has testified before Congress and has been a guest on several national media broadcasts, including National Public Radio, ABC World News, Lehrer New Hour, CBS This Morning, MSBNC News, CNN, CNBC and Fox News.

During Pat McCrory's term as Mayor, Charlotte's population has grown by 20%, homicides decreased by 32%, 155,000 jobs have been created, and he led the effort to recruit such companies as TIAA-CREF, General Dynamics Armament, The Westin Hotel, and Johnson & Wales Culinary School. He was also instrumental in Charlotte being selected as the home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. In 2005, Money Magazine listed Charlotte in its Top 3 Best Places to Live and Reader's Digest named it one of the 20 Cleanest Cities in America.

Charlotte's Overall quality of life has been positively impacted through the Mayor's efforts to establish a Residential Tree Ordinance, which requires developers to save 10% of the trees in every residential development, the establishment of a Sidewalk Policy that requires sidewalks in every new subdivision and provides funding for sidewalks in neighborhoods without the, and he worked to integrate Bike lanes in the City's transportation policy; established 36 miles of bike lanes throughout the City. The Mayor founded the Mayor's Mentoring Alliance in 1995 and has personally served as a Mentor to two youth. The  2005, Charlotte was named in the 100 Best Communities for Youth by America's Promise.

President, American Public Transportation Association
Washington, DC

William Millar is the president of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Since coming to APTA in 1996 Bill has sought to expand APTA’s reach and effectiveness, guiding it to legislative victories and dramatically increasing federal investment in public transportation.

Prior to APTA, Bill served 19 years at the Port Authority of Allegheny County, the principal transit operator serving Pittsburgh, PA.  As its executive director from 1983-1996, he oversaw the development and operation of bus, busway, light rail, paratransit and inclined plane service.  In 1987 he received APTA’s Jesse Haugh Award for Transit Manager of the Year. He is the founder of Pittsburgh’s award-winning ACCESS paratransit service.

From 1973-77, Bill worked for the Pennsylvania DOT where he developed and managed Pennsylvania’s Free Transit Program for Senior Citizens and led the Penn DOT’s rural public and community transit efforts. He began his career as the county transportation planner in Lancaster, PA.

Mr. Millar is a strong supporter of transportation research and is the recipient of the Founding Father Award for his leadership in establishing the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP).  He has been a member of the executive committee of the Transportation Research Board for many years and served as its chair in 1992.  He also serves on advisory committees of several university transportation research institutes.

A well-known expert in the field of public transportation and transportation policy, he is a frequent speaker and lecturer at conferences and seminars. He has published numerous articles and has testified frequently before the U.S. Congress and in other public forums.

Mr. Millar is the recipient of many awards, including the Transportation Research Board’s W. N. Carey, Jr. Distinguished Service Award (1999); Pattison Partnership Award from the Intermodal Passenger Institute (2001); and Railway Age’s Graham Claytor Award (2006).

Bill has a BA from Northwestern University and an MA from the University of Iowa majoring in urban transportation planning and policy analysis.  He lives in Falls Church, VA with his wife and two children and commutes to work on Washington’s Metrorail.

Denver City Planning Director
Denver, CO

Peter J. Park was appointed Denver’s Manager of Community Planning and Development on January 14, 2004.  The Community Planning and Development Department is comprised of more than 200 employees that provide Denver’s planning, zoning, construction permit and inspection services.  He was formerly the City Planning Director in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he was instrumental in establishing a disciplined approach to comprehensive planning, raising awareness of design, creating the Milwaukee Development Center (consolidating planning, zoning and construction permit functions), streamlining development review procedures and completing a comprehensive update of the city’s zoning code.

Mr. Park also holds an appointment at the University of Colorado at Denver as an Associate Professor of Urban Design and Director of the Master of Urban Design Program. He was formerly an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning where he coordinated the Joint Master of Architecture/Master of Urban Planning Degree Program and taught urban design lectures and studios.  The work explored in his design studios influenced significant development activities in Milwaukee including the removal of an elevated downtown freeway that makes way for more than 25 acres of new development.

Mr. Park has specialized in urban design and planning work requiring innovative design solutions that balance development needs with unique site and design quality concerns.  He has worked with a variety of organizations dealing with regional planning, neighborhood planning, urban design, design guidelines and building renovation.

Mr. Park has lectured at various institutions including the University of Chicago, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Marquette University, University of Montreal, and the University of Tokyo.  He has also spoken to numerous local and national organizations including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), American Planning Association (APA), American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Congress for New Urbanism (CNU), Council for Urban Economic Development (CUED) and Urban Land Institute (ULI).

Mr. Park co-authored The Wisconsin State Building Program Research Project: A Comparative Analysis and edited Growth Management and Environmental Quality. He holds a master's degree of architecture and master's degree of urban planning from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a bachelor's degree in architectural studies from the University of Arizona.

Vice President of Development, Forest City
Los Angeles, CA

Katherine Aguilar Perez is the Vice President of Development for Forest City Development.  Her focus is on transit oriented development and development in emerging communities.  She is a professional transportation planner with experience in national transportation policy, regional planning and local government.  She was recently recognized as an “Outstanding Leader” in Business Life Magazine.

Before coming to Forest City, Ms. Perez was the co-founder and Executive Director of the Transportation and Land Use Collaborative (TLUC) of Southern California.  A nationally recognized non-profit that promotes greater civic involvement in planning and development.   While at TLUC, Ms. Perez created the Latino New Urbanism project which has promoted more culturally sensitive development and planning practices.  Previously, she worked for Pasadena Mayor William Bogaard as the Deputy to the Mayor where she worked on transportation, planning and Latino constituent’s issues.  With a professional background in transportation, she was able to work with community on many developments including the Gold Line Light Rail Extension, a 13 mile project from Los Angeles to Pasadena.

Ms. Perez currently serves on the Board of Directors of CORO, a national leadership training organization.  She also serves on the Executive Council of the ULI Los Angeles District Council, and is a member of the national ULI Community Development Council.  She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, a national non-profit committed to improved regionalism “as a means for advancing economic, social and environmental progress, while maintaining a sense of place, in America’s metropolitan regions.”

Ms. Perez is a frequent speaker at national, state and local conferences on the issues pertaining to land use, development, transportation, community planning, and civic engagement.   She received her Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Transportation from UCLA and her Bachelors Degree in Political Science from CalState Northridge.  Ms. Perez is married to Rick Cole, City Manager of Ventura, and is mother of Diego, Lucia, and Antonia.

President/CEO, Reconnecting America Center for Transit Oriented Development
Oakland, CA

Shelley Poticha is president and CEO of Reconnecting America and oversees all activities of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. Previously Shelley was executive director of the Congress for New Urbanism, where she guided CNU’s growth into a nationwide coalition with a prominent voice in national debates on urban revitalization, growth policy and sprawl. She also launched a number of key initiatives addressing inner-city revitalization, mixed-income housing, infill development techniques, environmental preservation, alternative transportation policies, and real estate finance reform. She has co-authored The New Transit Town: Best Practices in Transit-Oriented Development, Hidden in Plain Sight: Capturing the Demand for Housing Near Transit, the Charter of the New Urbanism, and The Next American Metropolis with Peter Calthorpe.

TOD Planning Manager
Office for Commonwealth Development
Boston, MA

Founding Member, Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas
Author, When Will the Joy Ride End
Aspen, CO

Director of the non-profit Community Office of Resource Efficiency since 1994, lives in Carbondale, Colorado.  Since the mid-1990s, Randy has presented an estimated 50 sessions about peak oil at national conferences, plus authored “When Will the Joyride End” (1998) and “Methane Madness” (2000).