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CNU New England Board of Directors
The New England Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU NE) is run by a seven-person Executive Committee (and key volunteers!). The Executive Committee is supported by a fifteen-person Advisory Board made up of New Urbanist planners, architects, engineers, attorneys, and developers representing each of the six New England states. The Board has one year-long student representative position.
Executive Committee
Dedication to traditional neighborhood design and a belief in interdisciplinary collaboration led Jon to found Morris Beacon Design, a New Urbanist civil engineering and planning consulting firm. As a New Urbanist civil engineer and designer, Jon believes context-sensitive, pedestrian-oriented planning and design results in diverse, environmentally sustainable communities with a true sense of place. He is a 2006 Knight Fellow in Community Building at the University of Miami’s School of Architecture, and was a 2005 American Council of Engineering Companies “New Faces in Engineering” national selection. He is co-founder and President of the New England Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. Jon lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife Heather, and in his free time he enjoys exploring New England and playing guitar.
Darlene is a community planner at Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. in Watertown, MA where she practices in environmental permitting, zoning, affordable housing, and other planning activities. She played a key role in drafting the new Form-Based Zoning Code and associated regulations for the South Weymouth Naval Air Station. Darlene holds a Master of City Planning degree from MIT and a Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies from Connecticut College. Her academic work concentrated on the reuse and revitalization of underutilized spaces in urban and rural communities. Darlene is a co-founder and the Vice President of CNU NE. Her role with the organization has been varied, including outreach, marketing and event planning. However, her primary focus is on furthering the dialogue and practice of sustainable development and growing the organization throughout New England. Darlene and her husband live in Boston, where she commutes to work via bus or bike.
Heather is a graphic designer with a BA in Studio Art and Art History (with a focus on architectural history) from College of the Holy Cross. Heather has been involved in outreach and event planning for CNU NE and has been working with board member Kathryn Schulte on an inventory of new urbanist educational tools. Although Heather has been a driver for 19 years, she has never owned a car and instead relies on walking and public transportation. In her free time Heather enjoys exploring cities and dining al fresco.
Matthew is a member of Robinson & Cole's Land Law Section, where he focuses his practice on representing landowners, developers, local governments, and advocacy groups in matters involving commercial real estate development and leasing, multifamily residential development, and land use and planning law. He also regularly advises a national real estate organization on initiatives and land use trends across the country. Matthew holds a B.A. in History from Amherst College and a master of regional planning degree from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he concentrated in land use and transportation. He earned his J.D. from Boston College Law School, where he served as a co-managing editor for the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review. Most importantly, Matthew serves as CNU New England's pro bono legal counsel.
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture as well as the University of Miami master’s program in town planning, Russ Preston currently serves as Cornish Associates in-house architectural and urban designer. He is involved in many of the design aspects of the firm’s development projects. His primary focus is on the ongoing planning and design of Mashpee Commons, a New Urbanist town center located on Cape Cod. As well as being a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Russ currently sits on the Board of Directors for the New England Chapter for the New Urbanism. He was a key member of the Executive Host Committee for CNU XIV in Providence, Rhode Island. As a Knight Scholar at the University of Miami he has taught several undergraduate design and drawing studios. Russ has also collaborated on architecture and planning projects with Imai Keller Moore Architects and Duany Plater-Zyberk Town Planners. Outside of his work with Cornish, Russ is an active artist producing work in watercolor, ink and oil.
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Advisory Board
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Dean has been engaged full time as a real estate appraiser and analyst since 1970. As President of AMADON & Associates, Inc. his assignments have included marketability and feasibility studies, a variety of narrative appraisal assignments, highest-and-best-use studies, tax-equalization studies, condemnation and tax-appeal assignments. With more than 30 years of commercial real estate experience in the Greater Hartford area Dean has participated in and/or been a member of numerous civic/service and local professional organizations and has been a lecturer at various realtor groups and lending institutions. Dean received a Bachelor of Science degree in communication from Emerson College and is certified in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Michael is the City Planner in Rochester, NH (known as "The Lilac City"). Coincidentally, he grew up in Rochester, NY, also known as "The Lilac City". Prior to this position he worked in Beaufort, SC, a handsome, historic community in the low country. Michael has spoken at conferences and workshops throughout New England about reviving traditional development patterns. He recently returned from a trip to England and France where he was astonished and heartened by the quality of their built environment. Michael lives in Durham, NH with his wife, Naomi, and daughters Liza and Emily.
Rick has more than thirty years experience in zoning, civil engineering, land surveying, engineering consulting, traffic engineering and development planning throughout the USA and to lesser extents in Canada, the United Kingdom and India. In recent years, he has worked extensively on the engineering and traffic engineering aspects of Traditional Neighborhood Development and New Urbanism particularly in connection with the matters of street design, vehicular and human-powered traffic control and external transportation connections. Rick has authored and co-authored numerous works on topics related to the traffic and transportation aspects of TND/NU design. He is the founder of TND Engineering, a specialty firm addressing engineering consulting and Traditional Neighborhood Development and New Urbanism at all levels and at any location. TND Engineering's primary focus concerns street design and transportation planning, with an associated understanding of urban design. He also has extensive experience in public participatory planning events. Rick was awarded a Knight Fellowship from the University of Miami for 2003.
Beth has been a professional land use planner in Maine for more than 25 year, serving in a variety of positions ranging from municipal planning in South Portland, to consulting for numerous clients in the public and private sector, and coordinating the Maine State Planning Office’s Land Use Team. Currently she is the sole proprietor of Elizabeth A. Della Valle, AICP, which offers planning services to public, private, and nonprofit clients throughout New England and the Maritimes. Beth has prepared numerous comprehensive and other plans for many Maine communities, is a staunch advocate for regional planning, the environment, and smart growth projects in Maine and other New England states. While with the State Planning Office, she was Executive Director of the Maine Smart Growth Institute. She was project manager, editor, and one of the writers for A Guide to Livable Design - The Great American Neighborhood, a publication recognized by both the Maine Association of Planners and the Northern New England Chapter or the American Planning Association with their 2005 Plan of the Year awards.
"Bill Dennis believes that the design of a Town or Community can enrich all of the patterns that encompass our lives. The places of work, shopping, civic participation, recreation, and home life can all be found in the model of the Traditional Neighborhood Development. Annapolis, Maryland, Brattleboro, Vermont, Hudson, Ohio, Taos, New Mexico, and Santa Barbara, California, are all examples of Traditional Neighborhood Developments that have retained their vibrancy and desirability as places to live, work and shop. In my work with Elizabeth Moule & Stefanos Polyzoides, Andres Duany & Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and on my own, I have tried to recreate this sense of neighborhood, present in the best Traditional Neighborhoods, along with integrating the needs of today, such as modern plumbing and sufficient parking." from Bill's biography
David is an urban designer who writes and speaks frequently about density and community building and is directing projects that explore these issues in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus (Ohio), Miami, and Savannah. His work has been honored by the AIA, the American Society of Landscape Architects, CNU, The Society for College and University Planners, and other organizations. David will be the 2006 chair of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) national Regional and Urban Design Committee and is moderating a series of national roundtables on sustainability for the AIA. As 2003 president of the Boston Society of Architects, he chaired the 2003 National Conference on Density: Myth and Reality and in 2005 served as one of the organizers for Reinventing the Urban Village, a conference sponsored by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston and the Boston Society of Architects that explored density and other issues shaping 21st century urban neighborhoods.
B.S. Environmental Engineering, University of Vermont and M.S. Engineering Sciences, Dartmouth College. Ms. Gibson previously worked at Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission as a Regional Transportation Planner, as well as at Resource Systems Group as a transportation analyst/engineer. She has gained a great deal of experience assisting municipalities and regions to articulate their future transportation goals and plans, re-shaping proposed transportation projects, and bringing constructive citizen input into the transportation project design process.
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Patrick is an architect and planner with offices in East Haddam, Connecticut. Urban-scale projects include several for the planning of Hartford's downtown and region; co-leading the urban design team for the Save Fenway Park effort in Boston; planning for a new town on the former Longview estate, outside Kansas City, Mo., and work with Duany / Plater-Zyberk of Miami on developments across the country. He headed Yale's program in Environmental Design and taught in the School of Architecture from 1981 until 1998. He has lectured at many American architectural schools and organizations and in Europe and Japan. His completed buildings include an award-winning social housing block in the Netherlands. Publications include early articles on Seaside, Florida and Kentlands, Maryland, and on issues in the history and theory of architecture and urbanism. He is a columnist for New Urban News, and writes on development and architecture for the Hartford Courant. A book on the architecture and planning of the Yale campus was published in 1999.
Donald has over 14 years of experience in all aspects of architectural practice. His completed work includes historic restoration of landmark buildings, single-family residences, institutional building, and urban and town planning. In recent years his work has concentrated on integrated, mixed use planning and architectural design. A 5 year association with the Congress for the New Urbanism and frequent collaboration with some of the best firms in the country doing traditional urban design (including the noted firm of Duany Plater Zyberk) has brought an expertise in the technique and art of creating livable communities and cherished places. Donald received his B.S. in Architecture from University of Virginia in 1988 where he was awarded their annual Design Prize and his Masters in Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 1992. He holds professional licenses in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New York. He is an active member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and was on the Executive Committee of the CNU XIV Congress held in Providence in 2006. His work has received awards from Builder Magazine, Residential Architect, and Rhode Island Monthly and will be featured in an upcoming issue of Fine Homebuilding and a new book by Jeremiah Eck to be published by Taunton Press.
See Marion's biography
Since 2004, George has been Chief Planner for the City of Lowell Massachusetts, where he has participated in creating a new Master Plan and new zoning ordinance, focusing on protecting the character of Lowell's neighborhoods while supporting residential loft conversions in Lowell's historic downtown. Between 2002 and 2004, George served as Lowell's Associate Planner. In 1998, George founded Fenmore Consulting Services, through which he participated in economic development consulting projects in upstate New York. He previously served as a volunteer member of the Fenway Planning Task Force, representing the Boston neighborhood where he lived for 10 years. George has a Master in City Planning degree from MIT, a Master of Public Administration degree from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, and a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University. George and his wife Lisa live in delightful, charming, walkable Melrose, Massachusetts, near the town center and a commuter rail station.
See David's biography
Kate is originally from a small town in New Hampshire which was founded in 1623. Passionate about great old places and creating good new spaces, she knew from an early age she wanted to be an architect. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1999 with a degree in Art and Elementary Education, and she received her Masters in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. She was first exposed to New Urbanism at UPenn, but she became actively involved with CNU during her 3.5 years working on Mashpee Commons as an Architect and Urban Planner. Kate has always loved teaching and was given the opportunity to be a studio critic at the Boston Architectural College starting in Jan 2006. She has been co-chairing the Education Initiative of CNU NE, working to develop a curriculum to introduce NU to students of all ages. Kate was actively involved with CNU XIV in Providence serving on the Executive Board as the co-chair of the Tour Committee, planning 14 architectural tours throughout New England. She was elected to the Board of Directors at the CNU NE annual meeting at CNU XIV in June 2006 and served as Membership/Outreach chair for one year.
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See http://departments.risd.edu/depts/archfac/web/atate.html
See John's biography