Mayor Betsy Price, a Fort Worth native, was elected as the 44th Mayor of the City of Fort Worth June 18, 2011. Mayor Price has been a leader in the Fort Worth community serving on numerous boards, commissions and professional associations. Her roles a businesswoman and community activist has garnered her the reputation as an innovator with strong leadership in solving some of the most pressing issues in one of Texas’s fastest-growing cities. Throughout her early tenure, Mayor Price has been focused on fiscal responsibility, creating a stronger economy through public/private partnerships, and strengthening our neighborhoods through her faith-based and citywide health engagement initiative. Since taking office, Mayor Price has been a tireless advocate for smart urban design in order to slow urban sprawl, slow the growing demand on public infrastructure, improve mobility, protect the environment and preserve natural resources. She believes growing large cities requires a particular focus on “growing up,” rather than “growing out” with a particular emphasis on championing alternative modes of transportation. In little more than a year, Mayor Price has turned the city’s attention toward adding miles of bike lanes and developing a pedestrian plan to improve safety. She is also a significant advocate for cleaner, more efficient commuter rail as an alternative to cars and trucks. All of these activities and more are encompassed by an over-arching philosophy of putting citizens in the driver seat by giving them a strong voice in the development of their city through innovative public engagement strategies.

Robin Abrams, Ph.D., AIA, ASLA, is professor and Head of NC State University’s School of Architecture. She is a registered architect and landscape architect specializing in inner city revitalization, housing, and city design. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects. She earned a degree in Urban Studies from Northwestern University, a Masters in Community & Regional Planning and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Doctorate in Landscape Studies from the University of Sheffield, England. Dr. Abrams has worked in the field of urban design since 1979. During that time, she has produced over thirty master plans, and assisted several cities in development of their Main Street Urban Design Plans. She has served as a resource for the AAF Sustainable Cities Design Academy. Dr. Abrams has been Head of the School of Architecture at NC State since 2008, and is currently instigating the College of Design’s Healthy and Sustainable Cities Initiative.

Dan Douglas, AICP, has twenty years of experience in urban planning, strategic planning and economic development. He is currently the Director of Urban Planning at KlingStubbins Architects, a Jacobs Company. His public sector experience includes seven years as the founder and Director of the Raleigh Urban Design Center – charged with revitalizing downtown Raleigh. He led the city’s strategic planning effort that leveraged over $2.5 billion dollars of downtown investment. In 2008, Douglas was honored to receive the first ever Downtown Advocate Award from the Downtown Raleigh Alliance. In 2007, Douglas was awarded a prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship. He used his fellowship to study the influence of the introduction of high-speed rail in Spain, the emergence of new urban eco-districts in Germany and European models of economic development in support of innovation, sustainability and the creative class. Dan is a sought after speaker on the topic of urban revitalization. He has been a guest on NPR’s The State of Things. He has spoken at more than twenty conferences–locally, nationally and internationally. In addition, he has testified before the Joint Committee on Redevelopment and the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee of the North Carolina General Assembly on downtown revitalization issues.

Tim Davey, PE, is a Principal at Timmons Group; a 260 person regional consulting firm located in Richmond. Tim focuses on Urban Re-development and Economic Development projects as well as leading the Business Development and Marketing efforts for the firm. Tim has worked extensively with local and regional developers on urban infill, community revitalization, and historic tax credit projects throughout Virginia. Previous economic development projects include the Main Street Station Renovation in downtown Richmond and the Broad Street Community Development Authority. Tim also co-founded the Richmond Ballpark Initiative (RBI) which continues to explore how to best leverage Minor League Baseball as an urban economic driver within the Richmond Region. Tim is a graduate of Michigan Technological University. He has been an active member of the Greater Richmond Chamber and is currently serving as a Chairman Circle Member. He is also on the Board and Executive Committee of Venture Richmond and is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Urban Land Institute – Richmond.

Irene Dumas Tyson, AICP, Associate AIA, is the Director of Planning for The Boudreaux Group. She brings broad experience and knowledge in urban and town planning and design, campus master planning, community visioning and development, and historic preservation. Before moving to South Carolina, Irene served as the Director of Education Programs for The American Institute of Architects and as the Executive Director of the American Institute of Architecture Students in Washington, DC. Since moving to South Carolina in 1995, Irene has been a leader in community development and design through her work with the South Carolina Downtown Development Association, the South Carolina Design Arts Partnership and as the creator and founding director of the South Carolina Mayors’ Institute for Community Design. Prior to joining The Boudreaux Group, Irene was a Senior Planner with Carter Goble Lee, working on master planning projects in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Hawaii, and Florida. Irene is a 2011 graduate of the Urban Land Institute Sustainable Leadership Institute and serves on the ULI Midlands Council Executive Committee. She is a former trustee of Leadership South Carolina and former board member of the Saluda Shoals Foundation. A native of Prentiss, Mississippi, she received her Bachelor of Architecture from Mississippi State University, where she serves on the School of Architecture Advisory Council and has been recognized as an Alumni Fellow.

Mary Newsom is Associate Director of Urban and Regional Affairs at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Mary is a lifelong newspaper journalist who spent several decades at The Charlotte Observer as an editorial board member and columnist, concentrating on Charlotte regional urban and suburban growth, planning, urban design, transportation and land preservation. She left the Observer and joined the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute in June 2011, where she works on strategic community and university partnerships and oversees the institute’s online communications. She had a year-long Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and was a Knight Fellow in Community Building at the University of Miami. She holds an A.B. in Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Danny Pleasant is the Director of the City of Charlotte’s Transportation Department. He is responsible for road and transportation planning and operations, including policy development and neighborhood traffic projects (street lights, street and sidewalk construction and maintenance, traffic signal operations, pedestrian and bicycle programs, and right-of-way management). He also oversees capital project prioritization. The Department is responsible for 2,100 miles of streets and traffic signals at more than 630 intersections. The Department also provides planning services for the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization and recently developed a Transportation Action Plan (TAP) to deal with expected growth in the next 25 years. Pleasant joined the City of Charlotte in 2002, following a 14-year career as Transportation Planning Bureau Chief for the City of Orlando, Florida. He also worked as a transportation planner for the cities of Atlanta, Georgia, and Chapel Hill and Fayetteville, North Carolina. He received his master’s degree in Urban Planning from Texas A&M University and his bachelor’s degree in Parks and Recreation Administration from NC State University. Pleasant is a Fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the Urban Land Institute, and the Congress for the New Urbanism. He is affiliated with Walkable Communities and has served on several of its expert advisory teams focusing on finding solutions to urban design problems.

Mark Johnson has been a presenter and moderator at national events annually for 25 years. He is well known as at thought leader among landscape architects, with an emphasis on the role that landscapes, landscape systems and nature can play in urban development and redevelopment. Over these years his work, and speaking engagements, have gone deeper and deeper into the relationships between the form and function of cities, with the outcomes that result such as social engagement and public health. Mark is a regular speaker and or moderator at national conferences of ULI, ASLA and the International Academy for Design and Health. He was a founding member of the Harvard Working Group for Sustainable Cities, member of advisory boards and frequent speaker at Universities. Mark has a Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard, 1982, with Distinction and dozens of subsequent awards from national organizations. Professionally Mark has worked on major urban regeneration and public space projects on both coasts and in many cities in between. Recent works include the San Diego North Embarcadero, the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, Redevelopment of Stapleton International Airport, Museum Park on the Miami Waterfront, the St. Louis Northside Regeneration project, the Sherman Creek Waterfront Master Plan, Manhattan, and dozens more. He is currently a member of the ULI Awards Jury and was Faculty for the Rose Fellowship of ULI in Detroit in 2011.

Irene Dumas Tyson, AICP, Associate AIA, is the Director of Planning for The Boudreaux Group. She brings broad experience and knowledge in urban and town planning and design, campus master planning, community visioning and development, and historic preservation. Before moving to South Carolina, Irene served as the Director of Education Programs for The American Institute of Architects and as the Executive Director of the American Institute of Architecture Students in Washington, DC. Since moving to South Carolina in 1995, Irene has been a leader in community development and design through her work with the South Carolina Downtown Development Association, the South Carolina Design Arts Partnership and as the creator and founding director of the South Carolina Mayors’ Institute for Community Design. Prior to joining The Boudreaux Group, Irene was a Senior Planner with Carter Goble Lee, working on master planning projects in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Hawaii, and Florida. Irene is a 2011 graduate of the Urban Land Institute Sustainable Leadership Institute and serves on the ULI Midlands Council Executive Committee. She is a former trustee of Leadership South Carolina and former board member of the Saluda Shoals Foundation. A native of Prentiss, Mississippi, she received her Bachelor of Architecture from Mississippi State University, where she serves on the School of Architecture Advisory Council and has been recognized as an Alumni Fellow.

Irene Dumas Tyson, AICP, Associate AIA, is the Director of Planning for The Boudreaux Group. She brings broad experience and knowledge in urban and town planning and design, campus master planning, community visioning and development, and historic preservation. Before moving to South Carolina, Irene served as the Director of Education Programs for The American Institute of Architects and as the Executive Director of the American Institute of Architecture Students in Washington, DC. Since moving to South Carolina in 1995, Irene has been a leader in community development and design through her work with the South Carolina Downtown Development Association, the South Carolina Design Arts Partnership and as the creator and founding director of the South Carolina Mayors’ Institute for Community Design. Prior to joining The Boudreaux Group, Irene was a Senior Planner with Carter Goble Lee, working on master planning projects in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Hawaii, and Florida. Irene is a 2011 graduate of the Urban Land Institute Sustainable Leadership Institute and serves on the ULI Midlands Council Executive Committee. She is a former trustee of Leadership South Carolina and former board member of the Saluda Shoals Foundation. A native of Prentiss, Mississippi, she received her Bachelor of Architecture from Mississippi State University, where she serves on the School of Architecture Advisory Council and has been recognized as an Alumni Fellow.

Mary Newsom is Associate Director of Urban and Regional Affairs at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Mary is a lifelong newspaper journalist who spent several decades at The Charlotte Observer as an editorial board member and columnist, concentrating on Charlotte regional urban and suburban growth, planning, urban design, transportation and land preservation. She left the Observer and joined the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute in June 2011, where she works on strategic community and university partnerships and oversees the institute’s online communications. She had a year-long Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and was a Knight Fellow in Community Building at the University of Miami. She holds an A.B. in Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Mary Newsom is Associate Director of Urban and Regional Affairs at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Mary is a lifelong newspaper journalist who spent several decades at The Charlotte Observer as an editorial board member and columnist, concentrating on Charlotte regional urban and suburban growth, planning, urban design, transportation and land preservation. She left the Observer and joined the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute in June 2011, where she works on strategic community and university partnerships and oversees the institute’s online communications. She had a year-long Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and was a Knight Fellow in Community Building at the University of Miami. She holds an A.B. in Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Kurt A. Hartman is Senior Managing Director at Hines. Since joining Hines in 1990, Mr. Hartman has been involved with the development, acquisition and asset management of over 12 million square feet of office and mixed-use projects. Currently Mr. Hartman is the officer responsible for the oversight of the Hines’ activities in Atlanta, Georgia and other parts of the Southeast, including a portfolio of 11 office properties containing over 6.7 million square feet and mixed-use land developments containing over 670 acres. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Case Western University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

Tim Davey, PE, is a Principal at Timmons Group; a 260 person regional consulting firm located in Richmond. Tim focuses on Urban Re-development and Economic Development projects as well as leading the Business Development and Marketing efforts for the firm. Tim has worked extensively with local and regional developers on urban infill, community revitalization, and historic tax credit projects throughout Virginia. Previous economic development projects include the Main Street Station Renovation in downtown Richmond and the Broad Street Community Development Authority. Tim also co-founded the Richmond Ballpark Initiative (RBI) which continues to explore how to best leverage Minor League Baseball as an urban economic driver within the Richmond Region. Tim is a graduate of Michigan Technological University. He has been an active member of the Greater Richmond Chamber and is currently serving as a Chairman Circle Member. He is also on the Board and Executive Committee of Venture Richmond and is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Urban Land Institute – Richmond.

Tim Davey, PE, is a Principal at Timmons Group; a 260 person regional consulting firm located in Richmond. Tim focuses on Urban Re-development and Economic Development projects as well as leading the Business Development and Marketing efforts for the firm. Tim has worked extensively with local and regional developers on urban infill, community revitalization, and historic tax credit projects throughout Virginia. Previous economic development projects include the Main Street Station Renovation in downtown Richmond and the Broad Street Community Development Authority. Tim also co-founded the Richmond Ballpark Initiative (RBI) which continues to explore how to best leverage Minor League Baseball as an urban economic driver within the Richmond Region. Tim is a graduate of Michigan Technological University. He has been an active member of the Greater Richmond Chamber and is currently serving as a Chairman Circle Member. He is also on the Board and Executive Committee of Venture Richmond and is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Urban Land Institute – Richmond.