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Rick ColeExecutive DirectorRick Cole was selected by CNU’s Board of Directors to be CNU’s fifth executive director since the organization’s founding three decades ago. He brings unique experience as an elected local official, city manager and urban policy expert to his role leading the staff of CNU. “This is a critical juncture, not just for CNU, but for cities and towns across America,” Cole told attendees at CNU’s 29th annual Congress. “We’re in the midst of an overdue reckoning with institutional racism in American life. We face the existential threat of global climate change. We’re confronted by growing inequality as our cities and towns are marked by both unparalleled prosperity and unrelenting poverty. And we’re still emerging from the convulsions of a worldwide pandemic. This is a time of new danger for the people who’ve sustained our cities. This is also a time of new opportunity for those who believe in the promise of urban life. This is a time for new urbanism! CNU needs to be back at the center of the national conversation!” “The Charter for the new urbanism has been an inspiration and a guide for me in striving to foster communities that work for everyone, Cole has said. As Mayor of Pasadena, California, Cole was among the first elected officials in the nation to embrace New Urbanism, leading an effort to rewrite the city’s General Plan to embrace timeless ways of building and target new, human-scale development around the coming of light rail transit. Later, as City Manager of Azusa, he spearheaded the first citywide form-based code in California, a new urbanist tool for producing high quality design. Cole also championed civic engagement, affordable housing, complete streets, green building, and community wellbeing as the City Manager of Ventura and then Santa Monica. During his service as Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation for the City of Los Angeles, where he oversaw a $5 billion budget, he secured a $3.2 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to set up an “I-Team” to seek ways to maximize community reinvestment to benefit existing residents. In addition to his leadership role at CNU, Cole teaches Urban Policy at Occidental College. He has been an active leader in the International City Managers Association and the City Managers Department of the League of California Cities. Cole has been recognized as one of “America's Public Officials of the Year” by Governing Magazine and one of the "Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers" by Government Technology Magazine and won awards for municipal management excellence from the American Society of Public Administrators and the Municipal Management Association of Southern California. Cole served on the 2006 CNU Charter Awards jury and was twice honored by CNU for his public service leadership, including the highest honor from CNU’s California Chapter, the Paul Crawford Memorial Award an “outstanding member who has made considerable contributions to the advancement of the principles of the New Urbanism.” Cole is a graduate of Occidental College and earned a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia University. He has taught at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena City College and is a Senior Fellow at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. Email: rcole@cnu.org |
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Margaret O'NealDeputy DirectorMargaret O'Neal is the Deputy Director at the Congress for the New Urbanism where she manages the strategic direction of the organization's programmatic work, oversees the execution of the Annual Congress, and supports all CNU staff to build places people love. Prior to joining CNU, Margaret spent over a decade advocating for the preservation and reuse of older buildings in various positions at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, most recently managing on-the-ground projects, strategic partnerships, and communications for the National Trust's Preservation Green Lab. Margaret holds a BS in political science from Clemson University and a Masters in Community Planning from the University of Maryland. When not working to build places people love, you can find Margaret in the woods and rivers of the DC Metro region or drinking local beer on a porch. Email: moneal@cnu.org |
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Robert SteutevilleSenior Communications AdvisorRobert Steuteville is founder and executive director of Better Cities & Towns, a 501c3 nonprofit that seeks to educate and raise awareness for more sustainable and livable communities. Steuteville has been writing, editing, and publishing in the field of New Urbanism since 1996, when he founded New Urban News, a trade publication that covered the trend until 2012, when the name was changed to Better Cities & Towns. He authored or co-authored four editions of New Urbanism: Best Practices Guide, which is used for CNU accreditation. He published the Smart Code Version 9 and Manual. He is leading a team that is writing a form-based code, using the Smart Code as a basis, for the city and town of Ithaca, New York. Steuteville is a signer of the Charter of the New Urbanism, which was unveiled in Charleston, South Carolina, when New Urban News was launched. He participated in the Mississippi Renewal Forum, when new urbanists made plans for 11 communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. He lives in Ithaca, New York, with his family. Email: rsteuteville@cnu.org |
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Mallory BachesDirector of Strategic DevelopmentMallory Baches is an urban designer with twenty years experience working at the intersection of urbanism and community development. Mallory is currently the Director of Strategic Development at CNU. Mallory began her career with Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company and was a founder of the firm’s first affiliate, DPZpacific. She is skilled in master-planning, building schematics, code development, urban revitalization, sustainable visioning, and project management. She holds a B-Arch professional degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MSc in Sustainable Urban Development from the University of Oxford, U.K. She is accredited with the American Planning Association (AICP), the U.S. Green Building Council (LEED-AP), and the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU-A). She was named a member of the 2013 Next Urban Vanguard class by Next City, and is a member of the Placemaking Leadership Council of the Project for Public Spaces. She lives in the historic planned city of Savannah, GA. Email: mbaches@cnu.org |
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Ben CrowtherProgram ManagerBen Crowther is the program manager for the Congress for the New Urbanism’s Highways to Boulevards and Freeways Without Futures initiatives. In this role, he works with communities across the country seeking to remove aging highways and replace them with city streets that support socially and economically valuable places. He also leads CNU’s national advocacy for a federal Highways to Boulevards program. He first encountered New Urbanism while conducting research for his doctoral dissertation on architecture, community, and street design in the Roman empire. Ben holds an MA in Humanities from the University of Chicago and BA in Classics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He completed his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. Email: bcrowther@cnu.org |
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Scott ShieldsMembership Engagement ManagerEmail: sshields@cnu.org |
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Avery KellyProgram CoordinatorAvery joined CNU in January of 2019 as an intern and is thrilled to step into the role of Program Fellow during the summer of 2019. Avery’s interest in urban design and sustainability led her to CNU and she is eager to become more involved with CNU projects, specifically the Project for Code Reform. Avery holds a BA in Communication with minors in English and Spanish from Wake Forest University. Outside of CNU, Avery enjoys exploring all that D.C. has to offer and visiting family and friends back in Massachusetts. Email: akelly@cnu.org |
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Lauren MayerCommunications CoordinatorLauren Mayer is the Communications Coordinator at the Congress for the New Urbanism where she contributes to the strategic direction of CNU’s communications and outreach, executes general communications, and supports programmatic work. Prior to joining CNU, Lauren was an ORISE fellow with U.S. EPA doing communications work in the Office of Water. Lauren holds a BA in environmental studies and media & cultural studies from Macalester College. Lauren enjoys walking and biking around DC with friends, skiing, and camping. Email: lmayer@cnu.org |