Laurance J. Freed - President, Joseph Freed and Associates, LLC, Palatine, Illinois

Kitty P. Friedheim - President, Freidheim Consulting

Ron Manderscheid - President, Northwestern University Settlement House

Karin O'Connor, CFA - Founder, Perimeter Advisors, Chicago, Illinois

Stephen E. Schlickman, JD - Executive Director of the University of Illinois Chicago Urban Transportation Center

Paul Slade - On Sabbatical - Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Old Plank Trail Community Bank, New Lennox, IL

THE NCI COLLABORATIVE: TEAM MEMBERS

[ Please note that with the expansion of the NCI Collaborative, we have likewise expanded the scope of services that we offer. View details >> ]

Judith Anne Aiello has had over 32 years of municipal experience during which time she was the Assistant City Manager for the City of Evanston and responsible for the daily operations of the City’s departments of Community & Economic Development, Public Works, Health & Human Services, Library, Youth Initiative and Public Information. The City’s economic development activities focused upon four major areas: abandoned and/or underutilized industrial facilities; downtown and neighborhood commercial revitalization including the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park; mixed used development and residential developments. Ms. Aiello directed the City’s role in land acquisition, commerical and residential relocation, remediation, site preparation, infrastructure imrovement and property management.

Ms. Aiello initiated and fostered partnerships with the private sector utilizing a wide range of economic development tools. A major effort was unertaken to create a positive developmnet environment with revisions to the City’s development process, zoning ordinance and new development plans for the downtown and neighborhood commercial districts.

Ms. Aiello received a B.S. from the University of Kansas, a Master’s of Urban Policy and Planning from the University of Illinois-Chicago and a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. She attended the Kennedy School of Government Executive Development Program and particpated in a State and Local Government Fellowship with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development in Washington D.C. Ms. Aiello is a member of the Urban Land Institute, Lambda Alpha and the American Planning Association. She has been a speaker at conferences for the Government Finance Officers Association, American Planning Association, Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Martha Frisch, AICP served as Senior Program Officer at the Midwest Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She was the Midwest representative for the Trust’s Community Partners subsidiary, which uses both preservation and real estate development tools to revitalize older residential and commercial areas. She teaches Real Estate Development in the School of the Art Institute's Historic Preservation Program. In addition to teaching at the School of the Art Institute, she has taught in the Public Policy Studies department at DePaul University.

Ms. Frish's skills include market and financial analysis, with a specialty in advocacy, funding sources and the public approvals necessary for historic preservation projects. For example, she has managed a Section 106 Procedure for a former military base in the New York suburbs and on the Master Redevelopment Plan for the Town of Fort Sheridan, a base closure project north of Chicago. For the City of Chicago Departments of Planning and Cultural Affairs she prepared a “kit of parts,” a set of analytical tools to use in the agencies’ approach to ensuring the future of the Fine Arts Building, a major Loop cultural facility

As a consultant in New York, she conducted a market study for entertainment-related uses to be incorporated in the 42nd Street Development Project. Work included a review of economic and demographic data and profiles of potential market segments. The report analyzed potential entertainment uses and possible sources of financing. Scenario projections were prepared for each use including detailed estimates of operating revenues, expenses and rents.

For the City of Yonkers, she evaluated the conversion of an historic building for use as studio, rehearsal and performance space by visual and performing artists, as well as for galleries, classrooms and arts-related retail space. For Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, she served as a consultant on landmarks and zoning issues relating to the revitalization of F.W.I.L. Lundy's Restaurant in Brooklyn.

Her publications include: “Bold Plans, Bigger Dreams,” in Planetizen.com, 12 November 2009 (http://www.planetizen.com/node/41648); Rethinking Historic Preservation, Planetizen.com http://www.planetizen.com/node/82; Book Review of Historic Preservation in the USA, http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=7094

She holds an A.B. from Vassar College; an M.A. in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University; and an M.S. in Non-Profit Management from New York University.

Sandra S. Greene's academic training and more than 25 years of practical experience have provided public and private sector clients with valuable real estate investment, management and development advice. Her problem solving experience is extensive; she has enhanced the performance of real estate assets in typical and unusual circumstances including airports, transit stations, hotels, malls, office buildings and courts. Her clients have included public authorities, pension funds, real estate managers, airport directors and real estate developers.

Ms. Greene has used her training in economics, urban planning, public administration and finance to create and implement practical investment plans that meet diverse real estate goals. She is proficient at translating financial and policy conclusions to audiences of varied experience, technical knowledge and viewpoints and implementing complex plans into development realities.

Clients as diverse as the Smithsonian Institute, the Chicago Transit Authority, the US Army at West Point, the Chicago Transit Authority, Teachers insurance and Annuity Association, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority have used Ms. Greene’s expertise to position, plan, develop and manage their real estate assets.

Ms. Greene has led numerous interdisciplinary teams to create practical and financially feasible implementation plans for real estate. Her real estate practice has included management planning, market and financial analysis, tenant and developer, outreach, solicitation and negotiation, as well as public presentations to communities, public officials and senior management.

Ms. Greene has broad based experience in advising private and public clients in creating public-private real estate deals. Over a six-year period, Ms. Greene evaluated and advised the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in its negotiations for approximately $100 million of public/private real estate projects in more than 30 cities nationwide. Most recently, Ms Smith advised the US Army at West Point, New York on the privatization of on-base military family housing.

Ms. Greene has created and implemented numerous strategies to realize complex real estate goals. She led the planning team in devising the first retail privatization of a major US airport at Pittsburgh International Airport. She is also responsible for directing the planning, concept, management and implementation plan for the redevelopment of all food and retail facilities at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport in preparation for the summer Olympic Games. Ms. Greene’s recent work has been to define, solicit and negotiate with banking, vending and retail tenants for the transit stations of the Chicago Transit Authority. She defined the strategic plan for retail, restaurant and entertainment development at Navy Pier and was a key advisor to the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority in planning, soliciting and negotiating with its key tenants

Technical assistance in real estate finance and urban revitalization, planning and development has been provided by Ms. Greene to numerous public entities including:

Ms. Greene holds a Masters in Public Administration from George Washington University where she graduated with honors in public finance and urban development. She earned a BA with distinction in economics and was selected Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Maryland. Previous employment experience includes Jones Lang LaSalle, Ernst & Young LLP, Halcyon LTD, Laventhol and Horwath, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Ms Greene enjoys lecturing at industry events and university seminars including Pension Real Estate Association, DePaul University, the Art Institute, MIT, and George Washington University. She served as the economics director to a ULI study on suburban development patterns.

Rhonda Hardy is a seasoned professional with more than 30 years experience working and volunteering in communities, the business industry and educational institutions. As a Community and Economic Development specialist, Rhonda provides training and technical assistance in capacity building, economic empowerment, strategic planning, leadership and small business development. Rhonda has a proven ability to lead the implementation of major initiatives that address the diverse opportunities and challenges in urban communities.

Rhonda is a consummate believer in the power of partnerships as demonstrated by her ongoing work with public, private and non-profit organizations. Most recently she spearheaded a community-driven business assessment survey for the 87th and Cottage Grove Business TIF District. Rhonda has partnered with Education-to-Careers Program through the Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Housing Authority, Small Business Development Centers, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), and the Business & Economic Revitalization Association. Rhonda currently serves on the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area Advisory Commission, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Workforce Education Committee, 17th Senatorial District Economic Development Consortium and the Christian Woman’s Outreach Ministries Board. Rhonda has served on the Special Allocations Committee for United Way, and the City of Chicago Special Task Force for Organic Living.

Rhonda has developed several innovative curricula on leadership, facilitation skills, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, strategic planning and career development. She is highly skilled in program development and has won several awards for projects, such as the Chicago Housing Authority Senior Technology Initiative; Chicago Fresh: Entrepreneurship for Urban Agriculture; and All My Money: Financial Literacy for Limited Resource Audiences.

Rhonda is president of Hardy, Inc. Community Development Consultants, an educator with University of Illinois Extension and is co-owner of Urban Comforts, Inc., a family-owned internet retail business. Her prior experience is as an instructor at The Academy of Technology and Design, a Product Research Specialist for Sears, Family Financial Counselor for Metropolitan Family Services and a Community Outreach Representative for Central Illinois Utilities. Rhonda earned her M.S. and B.S. Degrees from Southern Illinois University (School of Environmental Design); is certified in Volunteer Management and NXLevel Business Management; and is pursuing certification as an Economic Developer through the International Economic Development Council.

Former four-term Mayor of Indianapolis and Congressman, author, public speaker, TV commentator, think tank fellow, elected official, and clergyman, Bill Hudnut is a Senior Fellow Emeritus at The Urban Land Institute (ULI) in Washington, DC, managing partner of his own consulting firm, Bill Hudnut Consultants, LLC, and an associate with SGBlocks LLC.

Hudnut is probably best known for his sixteen-year tenure as Mayor of Indianapolis, 1976-1991. He managed a work force of some 4500 persons, with a budget over $450 million. A past president of the National League of Cities and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, Hudnut helped Indianapolis record spectacular growth during his sixteen years in office and sustain its Aaa bond rating throughout his tenure. His stated goal was to build a "cooperative, compassionate and competitive" city. He established "a national reputation for revitalizing his Midwestern city," (The Washington Post) and came to be regarded as "an entrepreneurial leader willing to take prudent risks" (The Toledo Blade). He spearheaded the formation of a public-private sector partnership that led to Indianapolis's emergence during the 1980s as a major American city. He was actively involved in private sector developments such as the $300 million Circle Centre downtown retail/entertainment complex, the negotiations to bring the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis, the construction of the 36-story American United Life building in the center of the city, and $157 million worth of sports venues.

During his time at ULI, Hudnut chaired or participated in 15 Advisory Services Panels (charettes) from Sacramento to Ft. Lauderdale, from Dubai to Waukeegan, chaired one charette for the Mayor’s Institute of City Design, and organized and chaired 27 Mayors forums that brought together public officials, architects, developers, academics and other experts, to discuss the revitalization of cities, ranging from the impact arts and culture and parks and open space have on property values and a city’s quality of life, to affordable housing and urban design.

SGBlocks LLC is a company that converts empty shipping containers into building blocks for construction. The blocks are sturdy, energy efficient, affordable, green, quick to assemble, sustainable and customizable. The Company does business in many places, supplying hurricane- and earthquake-resistant building blocks for single- and multi-family housing, campus dormitories, military installations, six to eight story condos, senior residences, commercial buildings, and housing for electrical apparatus.

Hudnut sponsored seventeen bills that became public law as a Congressman. He has recently stepped down as Mayor of Chevy Chase, MD and as a twenty year member of the Board of the National League of Cities. He was a member of the Millennial Housing Commission appointed by Congress during 2001-2002. Prior to his entry into public life, as a clergyman he served churches in Buffalo, NY, Annapolis, MD, and Indianapolis, IN. After leaving the Mayor’s office, Hudnut held posts at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the Hudson Institute in Indianapolis, and the Civic Federation in Chicago, before assuming his position with ULI in 1996.

A much sought-after speaker, "spirited...with high energy eloquence," (The Toledo Blade) Hudnut "gives life to the word charismatic" (The Cincinnati Enquirer). He is the author of Minister Mayor (1987), a book reflecting on his experience in politics and religion; The Hudnut Years in Indianapolis, 1976-1991 (1995), a case study in urban management and leadership; Cities on the Rebound (1998), an analysis of clues to the successful city of the future; Halfway to Everywhere (2003), a portrait of America’s first tier suburbs; and Changing Metropolitan America: Planning for a More Sustainable Future (2008), an analysis of such issues as decaying infrastructure, affordable housing, sustainable development, regional planning, urban retail, transportation and land use, and climate change. [Available through the ULI Bookstore: www.uli.org/Books.aspx] Through his writings and the programs he has organized, his work at ULI has concentrated on promoting responsible leadership in the use of the land and in building vital, sustainable metropolitan areas. Under his leadership, public sector membership in ULI doubled from approximately 2400 to 4700.

Hudnut is the recipient of many awards, including Princeton University's highest alumni honor, the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service (1986); City and State magazine's "Nation's Most Valuable Public Official"(1988); the Rosa Parks Award from the American Association for Affirmative Action (1992); and the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (1985).

Hudnut graduated from Princeton University with high honors and election into Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated summa cum laude from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He has received honorary degrees from thirteen colleges and universities.

Learn about William H. Hudnut's upcoming book, Changing Metropolitan America: Planning for a Sustainable Future (.pdf) >>

John G. Iberle is an investor with experience in real estate development and finance.

Formerly a Principal with The John Buck Company in Chicago, where he served as the Chair of the Development Committee, Mr. Iberle was the Project Development Manager for several high-rise commercial properties totaling almost 5 million square feet with project budgets in excess of US$850 million. Responsibilities included project conceptualization and design direction, project finance, leasing and marketing oversight (including lease structuring and negotiation), leading the zoning/public approval process, managing project budgets and payment processes including bank relationships, and monitoring tenant build-outs and lease commencements. Property types primarily included office, mixed-use, and multi-family.

After leaving JBC, Mr. Iberle served as the founding treasurer of a non-profit developer of affordable single family homes on Chicago’s west side with 95 homes built and sold through the New Homes for Chicago program.

Mr. Iberle serves on the Board of Directors of Nuestro Pequenos Hermanos International as well as the Midwest Region Board of Friends of the Orphans, its U.S. fund-raising arm; NPHI operates a network of homes for orphaned and abandoned children in nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A member of the Investment Subcommittee of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Mr. Iberle also sits on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Loyola University Chicago School of Business, where he occasionally teaches a class on Real Estate Economics.

In north suburban Winnetka, Mr. Iberle currently serves on the Plan Commission as well as the Business Community Development Commission.

Mr. Iberle holds a Bachelor in Business Administration degree concentrating in Economics from Loyola University Chicago magna cum laude, as well as a Masters in Business Administration degree concentrating in Finance from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute.

Peter Kindel Peter J. Kindel AIA ASLA is an architect and city planner specializing in the design of cities and communities and their complementary relationship to environmental and transportation systems. In his twenty-year career, his projects have included mixed-use master plans, municipal plans, new communities, corridor plans, resort design, environmental planning, and the design of greenways and park systems. Currently the Director of Urban Design for Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture LLP (AS+GG), Mr. Kindel was formerly president of Topografis PC and an Associate Partner with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP in Chicago.

AS+GG has developed a significant record of providing clients with the most innovative architectural and sustainable concepts in the world. In addition to the design of Masdar Headquarters in Abu Dhabi, AS+GG was commissioned to complete a sustainable retrofit of Chicago’s Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. Recently, the firm developed the groundbreaking and comprehensive Chicago Decarbonization Plan to increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and improve the quality of life in the Chicago Loop.

Mr. Kindel specializes in large-scale, mixed-use development projects for public-sector, private-sector, institutional and professional-services clients. Mr. Kindel has addressed urban design and site planning issues in a variety of scales, from a National Plan for the Kingdom of Bahrain to design guidelines for American communities.

Mr. Kindel’s work is best represented by the concept of sustainable urbanism, and his projects seek to blend natural systems, infrastructure and architecture into compelling development solutions. Projects on which Mr. Kindel has worked have been honored with eight national design awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Urban Land Institute, and the Congress for New Urbanism among others. He has consulted on a variety of international projects with clients that include the American Planning Association, The Openlands Project and Chicago’s Field Museum.

With a degree in landscape architecture, Mr. Kindel strongly emphasizes environmental systems in his projects. He approaches all efforts with an appreciation for landscape forms and processes, and is dedicated to incorporating sustainable concepts in practice. His sustainable work was recently recognized with a first-place entry in the James River Green Building Council’s national competition for a brownfield redevelopment in Richmond, Virginia.

Mr. Kindel is active in Chicago’s civic affairs, serving on the boards of the Congress for New Urbanism, Illinois Chapter; Chicago’s Friends of Downtown; and IIT’s Center for Sustainable New Cities. He serves on the Mayor’s Landscape and Open Space Committee and the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association’s 21st Century Planning Committee. He has devoted significant hours to civic planning initiatives, most recently the Friends of the Park’s Last Four Miles project to complete Chicago’s public lakefront. Mr. Kindel also promotes sensible and sustainable land use decisions through writing and speaking, most recently with position papers in Crain’s Chicago Business and AIA Chicago Architect.

SPECIAL ADVISORS AND MENTORS

Doug Guthrie - General Manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department, Los Angeles, CA

Nancy Boruch - Bonsall, Braund & Boruch

Lisa Thomas has gained experience as an architect and urban designer in many diverse contexts. Her professional work has included healthcare facilities, commercial offices and retail stores, to urban parks and neighborhood plans. She has sought out work at a wide range of scales, from building signage to entire neighborhoods and cities. Her academic experience has included design studios in Canada, the U.S., Thailand, Italy, Venezuela and Japan.

Most recently, Lisa worked in the urban design studio of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Chicago office. While at SOM, her key projects were the masterplan for Chicago State University, the Chicago Central Area Plan, and the Waukegan Lakefront and Downtown Masterplan Design Guidelines. Lisa played a key role in editing and preparing the final draft of the Chicago Central Area Plan, which was adopted by Chicago City Council in 2003 and won an American Institute of Architects Urban Design award in 2004. She was instrumental in drafting the Design Guidelines for the Waukegan Lakefront and Downtown Masterplan. The Guidelines and Masterplan won a Charter Award from the Congress for New Urbanism in 2005.

While Lisa has over ten years of experience in the professional fields of architecture and urban design, she is also actively involved in the academic side of the profession. She has taught in a diverse number of programs, from high school mentorship, to docent at Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, to a studio class for Harvard's incoming Master of Urban Planning Students. She has also been a studio guest critic for numerous architecture school reviews.

She earned a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Prior to this, she received a Bachelor of Architecture from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where she graduated with distinction.

She is a licensed architect and a member of the American Institute of Architects.

Ron Thomas, AICP, has had a career record of place-based planning and public policy leadership aimed at system change and program innovation from the neighborhood to regional scales that distinguishes itself for its effective public engagement and communications. For two decades, while located in Washington, DC, he had a major role in national program development that led to some of today’s models for local planning, such as sustainable development, public/private development partnerships, urban design strategies, context sensitive transportation solutions, Main Street programs and neo-traditional community design.

Examples of these national innovations include award-winning programs such as the 1979 White House Urban Policy Report, the NLC Urban Environmental Design Program, the NEA Arts Edge Program, the USDOT Design for Transportation Program, HUD’s CBDG innovations recognition program, ULI’s cluster development strategy, National Heritage Areas program, Conservation Foundation’s Growth Management program, and The Main Street Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

This work and a number of local applications contributed to establishing strategic planning as a new approach in the planning field as documented in his 1987 ICMA co-authored publication Taking Charge: How Communities Are Planning Their Futures. This publication was a first to identify the emergence of vision-driven strategic planning as a new planning approach where planning and development practices shifted to action approaches that engaged stakeholders, public and private sector leadership in collaborations for change-oriented results. Examples of this strategic approach are seen in his projects: Roanoke Neighborhood partnership, Savannah Vision 2020, Imagine Houston, Albuquerque Vision 2020, Lexington-Paris Pike Context Sensitive Redesign, and Washington DC Mayor’s Citizens’ Summits.

In 2000 he came to the Chicago Region as the Executive Director of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC). Here he reinvented the agency, doubled its budget and focused NIPC’s efforts to develop a comprehensive Smart Growth oriented framework plan in partnership with the region’s six counties, 270 municipalities, and countless civic and business leadership organizations. This initiative, Common Ground, produced the Regional 2040 Framework Plan as a national model of community-based regional planning utilizing leading edge computer and communication technology to guide smarter, more sustainable growth and development for this region of 8 million people.

During his tenure at NIPC, the agency has received more than 25 awards, including the 2006 American Planning Association’s Plan of the Year Award for the 2040 Regional Framework Plan and the 2002 APA Plan of the Year Award for the Chicago Wilderness Biodiversity Recovery Plan.

Currently working as a senior advisor and consultant, his projects include Creating Tomorrow Today for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission; Our Region Our Plan for the Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester Council of Governments, SC; Great Expectations for Shreveport, Caddo Parish, LA; the Sustainability Plan for Long Island Regional Planning Commission, NY; and organizing a new regional agency, Flint Hill Regional Council, for Geary, Riley and Potowatomie Counties, KS.

He has written and lectured extensively on these topics, including publications for the America Planning Association on using electronic town meetings in planning. Other publications include a chapter contribution to “Urban Sprawl: A Comprehensive Reference” (2005), co-authoring Sustainable Development report on land use and development for the Great Lakes Collaboration, Cities by Design for the National Endowment for the Arts, and Design for Low Income Neighborhoods for the National League of Cities.

Mr. Thomas also serves as an adjunct planning faculty member at the University of Illinois-Chicago and visiting lecturer at the University of Chicago, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota and Cornell University. He writes, lectures, workshops and teaches widely on the subject area of large-scale sustainable planning, community development and public engagement.
Design for Low Income Neighborhoods, Co-author. National League of Cities. 1980