Joe Berridge, Partner, Urban Strategies

Shirley Blumberg, Founding Partner, Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects

Peter Clewes, Partner, Architects Alliance

Jason Dennison, Executive Director, LoDo District, Denver, CO

Robert G. Doumani, Partner, Aird & Berlis LLP

Peter Englander, Director, Portland Development Commission, City of Portland, OR

Robert Freedman, Director of Urban Design, Planning Division, City of Toronto

Jan Gehl, Partner , Gehl Architects

Antonio Gomez-Palacio, Partner, Office for Urbanism

Robert Gregory, President, Campus Martius Park

Jonathan Hack, Associate, IBI Group

Reid Henry, Director of Consulting, Toronto Artscape

Jennifer Keesmaat, Partner, Office for Urbanism

Les Klein, Principal, Quadrangle Architects

Marcus Letourneau, Heritage Planner, City of Kingston, ON

Annukka Lindroos, Deputy Director, City Planning Department, Helsinki, Finland

Mike Major, Manager, BIA Office, City of Toronto

Gil Penalosa, Executive Director, Walk and Bike for Life

Don Poole, Manager, Planning and Development, City of Charlottetown, PE

Maggie Schofield, Executive Director, Downtown Calgary

Kim Storey, Partner, Brown and Storey Architects

Brent Toderian, Director of Planning, City of Vancouver

Peter Englander,
Director, Portland Development Commission,
City of Portland, OR

Peter has been a central city development manager for four years, leading a team of project managers implementing public improvements, commercial and residential development and job creation.  Prior to his current role, he was a loan officer in PDC’s Economic Development Department, where he also focused on downtown Portland but worked with businesses city-wide.  
 
Peter has lead PDC’s involvement in a number of projects in Portland, including the University of Oregon’s Portland Center (LEED Gold) and Mercy Corps World Headquarters (LEED Platinum) and a new home for the United States’ oldest continuous outdoor craft market Portland Saturday Market, all of which are part of a seven-block redevelopment effort on Portland’s Waterfront.  He also co-managed the nationally recognized RiverEast Center (LEED Gold), a project that matched a public boathouse with two corporations and retail in one building, and also resulted in Portland’s first treatment of public stormwater on private property.

Peter came to PDC after six years as the chief financial officer of The Nantahala Outdoor Center, a $15 million in sales, 600 employee, employee-owned outdoor recreation company in western North Carolina that ran raft trips, taught whitewater canoeing, kayaking and other outdoor sports, retail, food service and lodging operations.  He also volunteered as a community mediator there and served on the board of the regional mediation center. Previously, Peter  was a vice president at The Balcor Company in Chicago, IL, where he closed over $300 million in mortgage loans refinancing of over 60 large multi-family properties and managed $2 billion in short term fixed income and interest rate swap portfolios.  Peter grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio and has an MBA from DePaul University and a BS in Finance and Economics from Indiana University.

Reid Henry,
Director of Consulting,
Toronto Artscape

Reid Henry, Director of Consulting at Artscape, has over 12 years of experience working at the intersection of urban, cultural and economic development in various roles throughout Ontario, Alberta and the United Kingdom. For the last four years, Reid has led Artscape’s research and consulting practice, collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams through a range of community engagement processes, feasibility studies, policy initiatives and district planning efforts. His recent projects include the City of Vancouver’s Cultural Facilities Priorities Plan; a regeneration strategy for the historic core of Salford, England; an arts and culture cluster development framework for the City of Kitchener; and an adaptive re-use strategy for a former distillery complex on Kingston’s waterfront. Currently, Reid is leading a comprehensive research project on Toronto’s cultural and creative sector and has been instrumental in Artscape’s national capacity building program for communities undertaking creative space development.

Les Klein, M.ARCH., OAA, AIBC, FRAIC, ASSOCIATE AIA
Principal,
Quadrangle Architects

“I believe that buildings change and grow and adapt over time.”
A founder and principal of Quadrangle, Les is committed to the notion that urban design, city building and architectural excellence all play important roles in maintaining and enhancing the quality of life for the entire community.

Les has two Bachelor of Science degrees (one in Arts & Design, the other in Mathematics) and a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As a result of his MIT education, Les takes a problem-solving approach to architecture that pays great heed to each individual client’s needs and aspirations. He is able to envision a range of solutions to every architectural challenge.

Previously the founding partner of Klein Taylor Goldsmith Limited, Les merged his firm with Curtner Brown Architects to create Quadrangle in 1986. His work in innovative residential development for diverse populations, the adaptive reuse of existing structures and the creation of dynamic environments for ideas-based private sector entrepreneurs has greatly influenced the growth and success of the firm. Much of this work is focused on urban housing, broadcast and media facilities, corporate offices and hotels.

A firm believer in sharing knowledge, Les lectures extensively at professional conferences and seminars. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, as well as a visiting critic at the University of Waterloo and York University. In 1994, Les was honoured by his peers with induction into the College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC). Among his numerous professional volunteer activities, he has served as Chair of the Ontario Fire Code Commission and the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) Complaints Committee and currently sits on the OAA Discipline Committee.

Marcus Letourneau,
Heritage Planner,
City of Kingston, ON

Marcus Letourneau, MA, Dipl (PACS), CAHP is currently the senior Heritage Planner for the City of Kingston. As part of his current duties, he is the project lead on the City of Kingston’s Archaeology Master Plan and the Sydenham Ward Heritage Conservation District Study. He is also co-lead for the development of the City’s Aboriginal Protocol.
 
Prior to joining the City as staff in 2004, he was a volunteer with the City’s Heritage Properties Research Group and until 2007 was a teaching fellow in the Department of Geography at Queen’s University at Kingston. He is currently a PhD Candidate in Historical Geography at Queen’s University studying New Lebanon Shaker Village (a World Monuments Fund heritage site).
Marcus is a graduate of Queen’s University (BA (Hons) in Geography with a History Minor), University of Waterloo (Diploma in Peace and Conflict Studies), and the University of Western Ontario (MA - Geography [Cultural Geopolitics]). His MA research focused on the role of place, including historic sites, in ethnic conflict. He has also received training from St. Lawrence College, Parks Canada, the Ministry of Culture (Ontario), the Ontario Museums Association, and is a certified open water diver with a NAS Level 1 Certification in Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology.

He is a Professional Member of the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals and is a Provisional Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners/Ontario Professional Planners Institute. As part of his community work, he sits on the Board of Directors for Community Heritage Ontario and on the interim Board of Directors for Ontario Association of Heritage Professionals.

Mike Major,
Manager,
BIA Office, City of Toronto

Mike Major is a professional planner with 20 years of experience in the redevelopment and revitalization of many of Toronto’s neighbourhoods.  He currently manages the City’s BIA Office, which is a world leader in terms of the services and programs offered to Toronto’s 68 BIAs.  Mike will be discussing the variety of services and programs offered by the City to assist BIAs in making their commercial areas attractive places to invest including,  the Façade Improvement Program, Capital Cost-share Program, Mural Program, and others.

Don Poole,
Manager of Planning and Development,
City of Charlottetown, PE

Don has worked in the planning field in various capacities since 1972.  He worked in Nova Scotia for 15 years in regional planning offices, Provincial Government and in private sector.  He moved to PEI in 1988 to work with the City of Charlottetown in the Planning Office.  The City was amalgamated in 1995 and the planning department now consists of two Planning positions and two Building Inspectors, a Heritage Officer, GIS/admin, administrative assistant and Manager.  The City has a Heritage Board and a Planning Board.

Brent Toderian, MCIP
Director of City Planning,
City of Vancouver, BC

In 2006, Brent Toderian was appointed the City of Vancouver’s Director of City Planning, succeeding celebrated Co-Directors Larry Beasley and Dr. Ann McAfee. His broad mandate involves current planning, including many projects related to the 2010 Winter Olympics, and visioning/community planning, including Vancouver’s recently-approved “EcoDensity” city-wide initiative. Since arriving, Brent has been encouraging candid dialogue around an evolving urbanism, with new opportunities around sustainability, creativity, and architectural risk -taking.

Brent came to Vancouver from the City of Calgary, where as Manager of Centre City Planning + Design, he oversaw visioning, development and design in Calgary’s Downtown, Midtown and Beltline communities. Brent also created and was leading Calgary’s award-winning Centre City Plan, which took a creative and unusually holistic approach to the future success of Centre City. 

Brent previously spent 4 years championing a new tone for innovative inner-city and suburban neighbourhood design and integrated communities in Calgary as its Chief Subdivision Planner. For 9 years before that, Brent was an award-winning planning and design consultant based in Ontario, working for and with many municipalities, community groups and developers from Toronto to Yellowknife. Brent had a particular emphasis on downtown and inner city planning and revitalization.

A passionate advocate for creative city building, urban design and architecture, Brent speaks and writes globally on the subjects, has taught and lectured at numerous universities, and is a co-founder of the Council for Canadian Urbanism while sitting on numerous other boards and groups related to cities. Called a “sophisticated urbanist” by the Vancouver Sun, and an “urban firecracker” by the Globe and Mail, Brent practices what he calls holistic urbanism in all aspects of his work.

In real life he’s an avid skier and loves anything in the outdoors (urban and natural), is passionate about all aspects of the arts, and is an avid traveler and student of cultures.