SMART GROWTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Faculty and Presenters

Ralph Bennett is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Maryland, teaches studio design, drawing and theory. He has researched and written on the form of settlements, especially their housing components. His firm, Bennett, Frank, McCarthy Architects, Inc., specializes in affordable, institutional and custom housing.

Judy Brown is an independent educator, consultant, poet and writer, whose work in organizations revolves around themes of leadership, change, learning, dialogue, diversity and renewal. Her clients include Ford, Visteon, Canon, The United Way, The Girl Scouts of America, The World Bank, Chrysler, MCI, Sprint, AT&T, Herman Miller, and Arthur Andersen.

Marita Brown is a Senior Fellow at the School of Public Affairs. She has served as Budget Director for Anne Arundel and Prince George’s County, Maryland and as the Secretary of Budget and Fiscal Planning for the State of Maryland. In addition, she has been a Visiting Scholar at the U.S. Congressional Budget Office and currently serves as a Commissioner of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.

James Cohen is a lecturer and Director of Graduate Studies for the Urban Studies and Planning Program. His lectures focus on land use planning, urban economic development, environmental policy, and planning history and theory. He is the Co-Principal Investigator for the Maryland University-Community Partnership Program, which provides technical assistance to several community-based housing organizations in Maryland. He is also the Associate Editor of Housing Policy Debate.

John Colvin was appointed by Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening to represent business on the Rural Legacy Advisory Board and the state Housing Finance Review Committee. He was the Build-PAC Trustee for the State of Maryland, a member of the Steering Committee for 1,000 Friends of Maryland, and has been named “Builder of the Year” by the Home Builders Association of Maryland.

Tom Downs, Director of the National Smart Growth Center at the University of Maryland, has served as the CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, Chairman and CEO of Amtrak, Commissioner of Transportation for New Jersey, President of the Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority in New York, as well as the City Administrator of Washington, DC. He has been the Executive Director of the Federal Transit Administration and a White House Fellow.

Charles Field is a Senior Fellow at the School of Public Affairs and a former Vice President of the National Association of Home Builders. At Harvard University, Dr. Field served as a Fellow at the Joint Center for Urban Studies and and on the teaching staff of the Program on Negotiation.

John Frece is Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening’s Special Assistant for Smart Growth, a position he has held since early July 1997. His responsibilities include public outreach and coordination of media issues related to the Governor’s Smart Growth and Neighborhood Conservation initiatives.

Phil Metzger is a Visiting Professor at the School of Public Affairs. He served as the EPA’s Chief Policy Counsel in the Office of Water, and was the sole EPA political official in congressional negotiations on the Safe Drinking Water Act reauthorization. He also served as senior legislative counsel in New York’s State Office of Federal Affairs managing Governor Cuomo’s national policy issues portfolio.

Jacqueline Rogers is a Senior Fellow at the School of Public Affairs and was Secretary of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development for eight years. Previously she managed Montgomery County, Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development and Budget Management.

Jeffrey Soule is the Policy Director for the American Planning Association. Aside from working at all levels of government and in the private and non-profit sector, he serves as the primary contact for foreign officials relating to American planning policies. Also, he has been the Director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.