Bissera Antikarov, AICP, has joined FXFOWLE Architects, PC, as senior planner. As an experienced city planner, urban designer, and architect, she brings to the position more than 15 years of experience on a wide range of large-scale public and private urban planning and mixed-use projects. Based in FXFOWLE's New York office, Antikarov is working directly with the firm's representative office in Dubai on current projects in the United Arab Emirates, India, and Kazakhstan. Previously, Antikarov was the director of planning, design and development for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

Matthew E. Moore has been named administrator of the Idaho Transportation Department's Division of Planning and Programming. He previously served for nearly two years as the transportation department's research manager and the State of Idaho's representative to the Transportation Research Board. Moore also provided financial oversight for Idaho's technology transfer program, and participated on regional and national committees through the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Research Advisory Committee.

Betsy Benac, AICP, WilsonMiller vice president and principal, was recently appointed to the Manatee County (Florida) Chamber of Commerce board of directors and to the executive committee of the chamber's economic development council, serving as vice chair of industry development. Benac, who has more than 25 years of experience as a land use planner, serves as regional manager of development planning & approvals at WilsonMiller, managing projects that require development review, permitting, site plan approval, rezoning, and other management services.

Alan D. Reynolds, AICP, has been named a 2006 Outstanding Laureate by Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida. The designation identifies community leaders who serve as role models for students. Reynolds, the CEO of WilsonMiller, joins Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida's Collier County Business Leadership Hall of Fame.

Lisa K. Dewey has joined WilsonMiller as a planner in the firm's Tampa office. Dewey recently earned a master's degree in urban and regional planning at the University of Florida, where she won the Ulla B. Rydberg Award earlier this year.

Rich Carson, president of the Southwest Section of APA's Washington chapter, has recently published two essays in national publications. "A Failure of Fairness? The Property Rights Movement is Reborn at the Ballot Box" was published in Public Management (October 2006). The second essay, "Land Division in America," appeared in Professional Surveyor (September 2006). Carson is working on an essay for the February 2007 issue of Urban Land about the resurgence of the property rights movement in America. All of Rich Carson's essays are on the web at www.carsonessays.org.

Michael Gunning, AICP, will retire in January 2007 from the City of Corpus Christi, Texas, after almost 35 years. He began his career in El Paso as a planning tech, and worked in Corpus Christi as a city planner, director of planning, and his current position, director of development services.

Paula McMichael has joined WilsonMiller as a planner in the firm's Fort Myers office. McMichael has assisted in the preparation of zoning codes and land development regulations for several Broward County communities. She also has authored redevelopment plans, comprehensive plans, and evaluation and appraisal reports for numerous Florida cities. At WilsonMiller, she is part of the firm's development planning and approvals corporate business, which works with clients to maximize land value and potential.

Margaret C. Perry, AICP, is the new Southwest Florida leader of Development Planning and Approvals, a WilsonMiller corporate business unit that works with clients to maximize land value and potential. She will supervise a team of professionals who customize solutions to establish planning, zoning, and development frameworks that balance the desired land use with environmental concerns and community standards. Perry joined WilsonMiller in 1993.

John J. Loughran, AICP, has been promoted to senior associate by FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS, PC. Loughran has has more than 20 years of experience designing and managing architectural and planning projects. As Planning and Urban Design Studio Manager, he coordinates a team response to a wide variety of project, community, economic, and political considerations with appropriate planning solutions. He is providing master planning services for Queens West, Stages III and IV, Baruch College/CUNY; and Hempstead, Long Island.

Stephen Plunkard recently gave a keynote presentation at an international waterfront planning conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Plunkard spoke about the reconstruction and planning efforts in New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico since Hurricane Katrina, and what lessons this disaster can teach waterfront planners. Plunkard is a waterfront and downtown planner with Stantec in Vermont.

Cornell University planning students Frederick Hawkins, Emily Goldman, David Lessinger, Kerry McLaughlin, and Andrew Rumbach are members of the ACORN Housing Corporation team selected from a field of planning and architecture consulting teams from around the country to assist in the development of the Unified New Orleans Plan. The students competed with some 70 other consulting teams from around the U.S. for the opportunity to work on the citywide plan to guide the recovery, reconstruction, and future growth of New Orleans.

Gary M. DeJidas has been honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2006 by Point Park University in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Each year, the Point Park University Alumni Association board of directors recognizes alumni who have made "significant contributions to their professions and to their communities on a national, state or local level." DeJidas graduated from Point Park College in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. He was was elected president and chief executive officer for GAI Consultants in 2003.

Michael R. Callahan, AICP, an aviation planning expert with more than 25 years of military and commercial aviation project experience, has joined Fairfax, Virginia-based Dewberry as Air Force client manager. Callahan will provide executive-level oversight to the consulting firm's services for the Air Force and will develop new U.S. Department of Defense and military program opportunities for its federal division. Callahan was previously a project manager and senior planner with the aviation division of Parsons, Inc. and served at the Pentagon as an information technology policy analyst.

Timothy Rood, AICP, has joined Community Design + Architecture in Oakland, California, as a partner. Rood was previously a principal at Calthorpe Associates. Following Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, he led the coordiation effort with FEMA, local and national partners, and state agencies for Louisiana Speaks, a long-term recovery plan being prepared by the state of Lousiana.

Drew J. Taylor, AICP, has been promoted to the position of manager with LandDesign in Washington, D.C. Taylor has eight years of experience as a landscape architect. He currently manages and is the lead landscape architect on a variety of projects ranging from urban infill to master planned communities in both Virginia and North Carolina.

Mark Tomich, AICP, has joined The Planning Center in Costa Mesa, California, as a planner on the Community Planning & Design Team. He was formerly a redevelopment program manager at the City of Tustin, California's redevelopment agency. In his new role, Tomich will help public clients develop planning policy, move projects through the regulatory processes, and create public forums. He also anticipates helping governments design public-private partnerships to move land use planning and redevelopment efforts forward.

Joan M. Douglas, AICP, has joined Environmental Science Associates (ESA) as senior project manager in the firm's San Francisco Bay Area Community Development group, headquartered in San Francisco. She has more than 10 years of experience in environmental analysis, regulatory compliance, urban planning, and project management. Prior to joining ESA, Douglas was a senior planner and project manager for Parsons in Walnut Creek, California, and a planning commissioner for the City of Brentwood, California.

A team of experts co-led by Thomas W. Sanchez will evaluate evacuation plans and develop tools and policies for training professionals across the nation to better prepare cities for evacuating residents, especially those without cars, in the event of natural and terrorist disasters. The team will work under a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration. Sanchez is associate professor of urban affairs and planning and research fellow in the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech in Alexandria.

Alan P. Meyers, AICP, has been promoted to principal by Cambridge Systematics, Inc. Meyers has more than 20 years of experience in the areas of planning, designing, and implementing intermodal improvements for seaports, railroads, highways, and airports. His project experience includes commodity flow analyses, facility and system modeling, concept-level layout and design, stakeholder and public outreach, and capital programming.

Trupti Kalbag, AICP, has joined the land planning and landscape architecture studio of BSC Group in Boston. Kalbag will contribute to the firm's urban planning practice, applying her skills to projects involving urban revitalization, community planning, and corridor studies. She was formerly a project manager for Urban Collage, Inc., in Atlanta. Her experience includes contributing to the planning and implementation of a $20 million public improvements program in metro-Atlanta, as well as numerous neighborhood planning studies, corridor studies, and economic development studies.

Sean M. Parks, AICP, has been named operations manager of the new Orlando, Florida, office of Environmental Services, Inc., an ecological services consulting firm with offices throughout the Southeast. Parks has more than 11 years of expertise related to ecology, planning, and landscape architecture. His areas of expertise include water resources, permitting, landscape architecture, ecologial studies, and watershed management. Prior to joining ESI, he was natural systems planning group director at Tt-HAI in Orlando.

Daniel D. Bird, FAICP, has been appointed principal planner for current planning for the Town of Jupiter, Florida. He will oversee plan review and current development for the town. Bird previously served as director of land use and long range planning for the City of Dublin, Ohio; planning manager for the Miamisburg Mound Community Improvement Corporation; and director of planning for the City of Kettering, Ohio.

Jennifer Ingels, AICP, has been appointed Long Range Planning Manager of the the City of Palm Coast, Florida's Community Development Department. Ingels has served Palm Coast as a senior planner for five years. In her new position, she will monitor and oversee the comprehensive plan and growth management, development of the Urban Service Boundary, and other long-range activities and special projects.

Timothy Rood, AICP, has joined Community Design + Architecture in Oakland as a partner. He was previously a principal at Calthorpe Associates. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Rood led the coordination effort with FEMA, local and national partners, and state agencies for Louisiana Speaks, the regional long-term recovery plan being prepared by the State of Louisiana.

Lee D. Einsweiler, AICP, and Colin P. Scarff have left Duncan Associates to form their own firm, Code Studio, in Austin, Texas. The new firm specializes in place-making codes emphasizing urban form that help communities move their plans from imagination to implementation.

Linda Tatum, AICP, has been elected to serve as a member of the California Planning Roundtable. Tatum is a senior planner with consulting firm EIP, a division of PBS&J. The roundtable is an organization of experienced planning professionals who are members of APA. Its mission is to promote creativity and excellence in planning by providing leadership in addressing important planning issues in California.

Susan L. Trevarthen, AICP, has been named equity shareholder and chair of the municipal land use law practice at the firm of Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske, P.A., in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her practice continues to include all aspects of municipal land use, planning, and zoning law. She is board certified in city, county, and local government law by the Florida Bar.

Jack Swenson, AICP, has joined Camiros, Ltd. in Chicago as a principal of the firm. Swenson has 20 years of experience in public sector senior management, including service as deputy commissioner for zoning and land use for the city of Chicago.

Andrea Shephard has joined EDAW's Sacramento office as a senior water resources project manager. Shephard has 16 years of experience, including eight years as a project manager. Prior to joining EDAW, she acted as project coordinator for the National Decentralized Water Resources Capacity Development Project at Washington University in St. Louis, an EPA-funded research effort that addressed onsite/decentralized wastewater needs on a national level.

Christopher Keller, AICP, was promoted to Director of Landscape Architecture at Miller Legg, a Florida-based consulting and design firm. In his new role, Keller will be responsible for establishing the strategic goals and overseeing the day-to-day operations for the firm's landscape architecture department. He has more than 24 years of experience in the areas of landscape architecture, land use planning, master planning, and site planning.

Marilyn P. Hett, AICP, manager with the Hillsborough County (Florida) Economic Development Department, recently earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer, a national recognition that denotes a mastery of principal skills in economic development, professional attainment, and a commitment to personal and professional growth.

Lee E. Koppelman has left his position as executive director of the Long Island Regional Planning Board after nearly 40 years. He will continue as the director of the Center for Regional Policy at Stony Brook University.

Richard L. Gorman, AICP, has joined Greenhorne & O'Mara as Senior Project Director for its Federal Programs Team. Working from the national headquarters office in Laurel, Maryland, Gorman will be responsible for coordinating the marketing and project management efforts for a variety of multi-discipline A/E and civil engineering projects throughout the Mid Atlantic and Southeast.

James A. Sellen has been appointed to the board of directors of the Council for Sustainable Florida. Sellen, who is executive vice-president of MSCW Inc., will serve on the 21-member council board for a term of three years. Established in 1990 by the Florida legislature, the council promotes sustainable best management practices through collaborative educational efforts throughout Florida, including convening and working with regional grassroots sustainability organizations and Florida colleges and universities.

Alfred Vidaurri Jr., AICP, has been elected vice chairman of the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners (TBAE). He has served on the board since 2004, when he was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry. The nine-member TBAE is a multi-profession regulatory agency that oversees the examination, registration, and professional regulation of architects, interior designers, and landscape architects. Vidaurri is a principal and group manager at Freese and Nichols, Inc., where he leads the planning, architecture, and interior design practice.

Shaunna K. Burbidge was awarded the 2006 Dwight David Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship for her accomplishments and potential demonstrated in the field of transportation. Three such awards are granted nationwide each academic year. Burbidge is a Ph.D. student in the Geography Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is a project manager at Envision Utah in Salt Lake City.

The Glatting Jackson Library at the Georgia Institute of Technology has been dedicated in the memory of the firm's founder, the late Jack Glatting. The library is located in the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD) on the Georgia Tech campus. Jack Glatting received his master's in city planning from the university in 1965.

Grant Murakami, AICP, has been promoted from senior associate to principal at the design and planning firm PBR HAWAII. As principal, Murakami will continue to serve as the lead planner/urban designer for a wide variety of planning and urban design projects in Hawaii, with increased emphasis on client coordination, project management and marketing. Murakami will also be responsible for assisting PBR HAWAII in growing its customer base. Murakami served as president of the Hawaii Chapter of the American Planning Association from 2001 to 2003. The chapter recognized his contributions with a Distinguished Service Award.

Michael West, AICP, has been elected to the status of senior associate/stockholder with Albert Kahn Associates, Inc., a planning, design, and management firm. West is a principal in the Detroit office of AKA, where he has been responsible for planning and design services for numerous corporate, institutional, and public sector clients on projects throughout the U.S. and Europe. Current projects include the University of Detroit Mercy's campus improvement plan and strategic planning for General Motors Corporation's global real estate and facilities portfolio.

Rochelle Owen, AICP, a community development planner for Indiana Rural Community Assistance Program in Indianapolis, joined a team of volunteers to spend three weeks working on teaching and construction projects in the rural village of Ng'uruhe in the east African nation of Tanzania. The service program was coordinated by Global Volunteers, a nonprofit, nonsectarian international development organization. Volunteers pay a service program fee to participate.

Allen E. Parsons, AICP, has joined WilsonMiller as Senior Planner in the firm's Sarasota office. He has more than 10 years of experience in urban planning and environmental management throughout Florida. Parsons's credentials include project management and facilitation of Sarasota's current and long-range planning, as well as chairing the city’s Development Review Committee.

Melani Smith is a new co-owner of Meléndrez, a Los Angeles-based landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm. She is one of three principals who joins president and founder Lauren Meléndrez in ownership of the firm. Smith continues as the firm's principal and director of planning practice. She has managed and developed specific plans, public outreach plans, design guidelines, and general plans for public and private sector clients.

Nancy E. Stroud, AICP, has co-founded the law firm of Lewis, Stroud & Deutsch, P.L., in Boca Raton, Florida. She will continue to practice in the field of land use law, including new urbanist codes, community redevelopment, historic preservation, development exactions, and land use litigation. Stroud will continue as a member of APA's Amicus Curiae Committee.

Peter H. Green, AICP, has published Dad's War with the United States Marines, a World War II memoir about his father, Ben Green, a low-ranking but resourceful nonconformist whose professional talents were lost in the military bureaucracy. Click here for more about the book, including the foreword. Peter Green has been practicing planning and architecture in St. Louis since 1964, most of that time as a firm principal.

Doug Bisson, AICP, has been named one of Ten Outstanding Omahans of 2005 by the Omaha Jaycees, an honor given annually to individuals who have a strong commitment to service in the community as well as personal and professional development. Bisson is a community planning manager in the Omaha office of HDR. In the community, he is involved with Omaha Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission, Habitat for Humanity of Omaha, Neighborhood Center for Greater Omaha, Bellevue Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Council, and others.

Stephen Haase, AICP, has joined Sudberry Properties, Inc., a San Diego-based real estate development and asset management firm, as a vice president of development. In his new position, Haase will assist with the entitlement process for the company's retail and mixed-use projects, including the proposed Quarry Falls project in the Mission Valley area of San Diego. Hasase recently served more than three years as director of the City of San Jose Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement Department.

Laura A. Boyce, AICP, has joined the long range planning staff as a senior planner with Sarasota County, Florida. Boyce has many years of planning experience including working in the private sector. She began her planning career, after graduate school, as a GIS Technician in Eagle, Colorado. She is the outgoing president of the Gulfcoast Chapter of the Florida Planning and Zoning Association.

Diana Painter, AICP, principal of Painter Preservation & Planning, has been awarded the 2005 Peterson Prize for historic research by the Sonoma County Historical Records Commission for "M. Vonsen Company & the First Street Warehouses," a historic context statement written as a mitigation for the demolition of the warehouses. Painter is author of the forthcoming book, The Modern House in the Pacific Northwest.

Matt Savoie was named to the 2006 U.S. Olympic team after taking the bronze medal in the men's singles competition at the U.S. figure skating championships in January. In May 2005, Savoie received his master's degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Bradley University.

Bill Cashman, AICP, has been named branch manager of the Richmond, Virginia, office of URS Corporation. Cashman oversees a staff of 30, primarily serving the local environmental, transportation, and utility markets. He previously served as a principal transportation planner in URS's Virginia Beach office for five years. Formerly, he was a transportation planner with the Federal Highway Administration and the City of Virginia Beach.

Harriett Dietz has been promoted to the position of associate with the urban design, planning, civil engineering, and landscape architecture firm LandDesign. Dietz is planning manager for LandDesign, Washington D.C., and has worked to build planning as a practice area in the D.C. office. Her 20-year career has included work in both the private and public sectors. She volunteers with ULI's Washington District Council on Technical Assistance Panels (TAPs) and the D.C. Building Industry Association's Program Committee.

Jackie R. Barton heads the new regional office of Mary Means & Associates in Columbus, Ohio. Barton, a senior associate with the firm, has been involved in many MMA projects, including statewide heritage tourism planning, downtown revitalization, and historic preservation planning.

Jinni Benson, a senior associate with Mary Means & Associates, heads the firm's new office in Charlotte, North Carolina. Benson's recent assignments include strategic planning and project implementation coaching for a major university and comprehensive planning for towns and counties.