EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The Executive Committee oversees the Campaign’s activities. Institutionally, Smart Growth America provides the “home” for the Campaign; LISC oversees the technical assistance efforts, and the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech and Genesee Institute provide policy and research direction.

Geoff Anderson, Smart Growth America
ganderson[at]smartgrowthamerica.org

Geoff Anderson is the President and CEO of Smart Growth America. Geoff came to his current position in January 2008 after 13 years at the US EPA where he headed the Agency's Smart Growth Program. During his tenure at EPA, he was instrumental in creating the Agency's Smart Growth program, he helped to found the Smart Growth Network, the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, and the popular web site smartgrowth.org. In addition, he provided seed funding for and helped to catalyze the creation of the National Vacant Properties Campaign, The LEED for Neighborhood Development Certification program, and the Governors' Institute for Community Design.

He has co-authored numerous publications including: This Is Smart Growth, Getting to Smart Growth Volumes 1 and 2, Protecting Water Resources with Higher Density Development, The Transportation and Environmental Impacts of Infill vs. Greenfield Development and many others. His work also included direct technical assistance, helping with smart growth implementation in communities nationwide including Cheyenne, WY, Prince George's County, MD, and the flagship smart growth project Atlantic Station in Atlanta, Ga. Geoff received a Masters Degree from Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment with a concentration in Resource Economics and Policy.

Daniel T. Kildee, Genesee Institute

dkildee[at]sbcglobal.net

Daniel T. Kildee was elected Genesee County Treasurer in November 1996, and took office on January 1, 1997. Mr. Kildee currently serves as Chairman of the Fifth Congressional District Democratic Party. Before his election as Treasurer, Mr. Kildee served for 12 years as a Genesee County Commissioner, including 5 years as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners. Mr. Kildee is an honors graduate of Flint Northern High School, and attended Mott Community College and the University of Michigan-Flint. He and his wife Jennifer have three children. Mr. Kildee initiated an effort to use Michigan’s new tax foreclosure law as a tool for community development and neighborhood stabilization. He founded the Genesee Land Bank - Michigan’s first land bank - and serves as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kildee is President of the Genesee Institute, a research and training institute focusing on Smart Growth, urban land reform, and land banking. In 2003 Governor Granholm appointed Kildee as one of the initial directors of the Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority, the nation’s first statewide Land Bank. Mr. Kildee is a member of the Michigan Economic and Environmental Roundtable, is Co-chair of the Michigan Redevelopment Readiness Advisory Council, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Land Information Access Association and the Board of Directors of Automation Alley, southeastern Michigan’s regional technology cluster designed to attract technology based industry to the region. He is also on the Advisory Board for the National Vacant Properties Campaign. Kildee recently accepted a month-long Fellowship at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Jennifer Leonard, Campaign Director
jleonard[at]smartgrowthamerica.org

Jennifer Leonard is the National Vacant Properties Campaign Director at Smart Growth America. In this position she coordinates the Campaign’s activities including technical assistance, publication and dissemination of model practices and strategies for reclamation, expanding a nationwide network of practitioners and experts, and communications efforts through e-newsletters and the Campaign web site. Prior to joining the Campaign, Jennifer spent four years as the project manager for a community development corporation in Baltimore, where she became an expert at building private and public partnerships for using the property reclamation tools and revitalizing her East Baltimore neighborhood. She also managed the corporation’s grant and loan efforts, raising several million dollars for the CDC’s programs. With her leadership the Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation designated a new historic district within this neighborhood; after decades of disinvestment, the private market is starting to return. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona and a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Joseph Schilling, Director of Research and Policy
jms33[at]vt.edu

Joseph Schilling is a Professor in Practice at the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. He leads the Institute’s Green Regions Initiative that explores the policy dimension of creating environmentally sustainable regions through better building and community design.

Joe served for over seven years as Director of Community and Economic Development for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and founded ICMA’s Vacant Properties Network where he conducted trainings, cyber brown bags, and annual conference sessions. Before coming to Washington, D.C., he served as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Diego in charge of its land-use enforcement unit where he drafted municipal zoning ordinances and building codes, guided the city’s vacant properties task force, and created the Drug Abatement Response Team (DART.)

Mr. Schilling earned a Masters of Environmental Law from George Washington and a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

Julia Seward, Local Initiatives Support Corporation

JSeward[at]lisc.org

Julia Seward is Director of State Policy for Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) where she is responsible for both development and implementation of state community development policy and coordination of LISC's smart growth work. She is located in LISC's national policy office in Washington, D.C.

Julia has enjoyed a diverse career in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Before coming to LISC, she managed the corporate community reinvestment and philanthropic programs for Signet Banking Corporation and was active in state, regional, and national community development affairs. Her activities included chairmanship of The Consumer Advisory Council for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and work as founding chair of the Community Reinvestment Committee of the Consumer Bankers Association.

In addition, she has been a private CRA consultant to both financial institutions and nonprofit organizations, served as a special policy assistant to the Governor of Virginia, on the staff of the Richmond Urban Institute, and taught American government and economics at the high school level. She is a frequent speaker and panelist and serves on the Boards of the Virginia Literacy Foundation, the Virginia Housing Coalition, and the Virginia Housing and the Environment Network. She is also the mother of a daughter.