Emerging Professionals Institute

Bio: One of the most well-known executive search consultants in the niche planning, housing and construction, environmental, and engineering industries, Frank De Safey is the founding principal and President of Sequence Staffing (www.sequencestaffing.com). With more than 17 years of recruiting experience in these fields, he is especially known and highly respected for the success of the firm and has personally undertaken and managed thousands of high profile search assignments over the years. In fact, he has earned accolades for his ability to find and fill the most challenging positions with exceptional candidates that have not only made immediate contributions to their new employer, but have helped redefine the organization’s corporate culture that has achieved greater productivity and efficiencies. Frank has also been a pioneer in the development and use of new electronic medium recruiting strategies and efforts. With specific relation to planning, he has placed hundreds of planners (Land, Environmental, Urban and Facility) in high profile consulting, private, public and government entities here in North America and Internationally.

Bio: With extensive senior executive management experience in the public and private sectors, Craig Travis provides an exceptional level of expertise in the identification, recruitment and marketing of candidates for the core enterprises responsible for building and maintaining our nation's infrastructure, natural resources and environment. He is particularly noted for successfully marketing candidates with a commanding communication style that has been referred to “as bold as it is innovative.” Keen insight, perception and adept at understanding key issues, public opinion and market forces, Craig is especially proficient defining the candidate's brand and successfully marketing his clients to win the finest positions throughout the U.S. and abroad. He currently serves as Vice President of Recruiting & Employment Services for Sequence, the premier executive search firm committed to providing employment solutions to the planning, environmental, engineering, and construction industries throughout the United States and around the world.

Education: San Jose State University B.A. Public Relations

Bio: Mary Kay Peck is prinicipal of MKPeck Associates, a firm that specializes in planning and management services. Mary Kay brings 30 years of local government experience at the city, county and regional level to her practice. Mary Kay has 25 years experience as a planner and has served as a city manager and assistant city manager. She supervised one of the top rated development services center in the country and led an organization wide-sustainability effort that resulted in $1.6 million annual savings. From 1996 to 2005, she served as Henderson (NV) Director of Community Development. She joined the city in February 1995 as Zoning Administrator. During her tenure with Henderson, its population increased from 116,482 in 1995 to over 265,000. Mary Kay previously served as Planning Director for Gallatin County (Bozeman), Montana for 12 years. Prior to that, she was employed as Executive Director of the Dundee (Ill.) Area Intermunicipal Planning Committee in the Chicago suburbs. While President of the American Planning Association, Peck laid the foundation for the organization's first communication plan and led its first membership growth strategy, resulting in a 23% increase. She previously served as an APA Board Member and Chair of the Chapter Presidents Council.

Education: Mary Kay has a master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a bachelor’s degree in Urban Affairs from the University of Evansville, Indiana.

Past Assignments: Coordinator of and participant in Planning Directors training for APA TX chapter. Sessions included Innovative Sustainablity Efforts, Leadership Skills, The Role of the Planning Director, The Politics of Planning, How to Stretch Your Budget, Developing Big Picture Strategies, and A Culture of Continuous Improvement. Galveston, TX. Working Together--An International Perspective on Building a Development Services Center, Planning Summer School, Exeter, England. Chindia - Planning for the Next 500 Million--Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, Denver, CO. Trends - Entitlement Round-Up: Buzz Words, Hot Topics and Today's Trendiest Trends--ULI Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. Shaping the Future of Southern Nevada: Economic, Environmental and Social Sustainability--UNLV, Las Vegas, NV Sprawl: A Compact History--Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, Denver, CO