The Citistates Group

Neal Peirce

Chairman, The Citistates Group

Co-author of Citistates, Boundary Crossers, and Century of the City. Wrote a 10-book series on U.S. states and regions culminating in The Book of America: Inside U.S.A. Today. Syndicated columnist, Washington Post Writers Group.

Curtis Johnson

President, The Citistates Group

Co-author of Citistates, Boundary Crossers, Disrupting Class and Century of the City. Former board chair, the Metropolitan Council of Minneapolis-St. Paul, community college president and state government official.

Farley Peters

Manager and Vice President, The Citistates Group

Public policy specialist, networker and speaking agent for the Group.

Gail Christopher

Expert on holistic health issues, currently Vice President for Programs at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

Thomas M. Downs

Transportation expert and commentator. Chairman, North American Board of Veolia Transportation. Former president/CEO of the Eno Transportation Foundation, CEO of Amtrak, and New Jersey Commissioner of Transportation.

Richard C. D. Fleming

An active civic entrepreneur in business and government. Currently President of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association; previously president of the Greater Denver Chamber of Commerce and HUD executive.

Anthony Flint

A veteran journalist long focused on development issues, now with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Author of This Land: The Battle Over Sprawl and the Future of America and Wrestling With Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder.

William Fulton

Journalist, urban planner, commentator and author on urban planning, metropolitan growth, and economic development. Author; editor of California Planning and Development Report; contributor to Governing magazine.

John Stuart Hall

Professor at the School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University; specialist in regional governance and university-community linkages. A co-author of Citistates.

Lenneal Henderson

Professor of Government and Public Administration and chair of the William Donald Schaefer Center at the University of Baltimore. Lecturer on on metropolitan and environmental issues across the U.S. and internationally.

William Hudnut

Former mayor of Indianapolis, leading that city’s renaissance over 16 years. Author of Cities on the Rebound (1998) and Changing Metropolitan America: Planning for A Sustainable Future (2008).

Peter Katz

Author, consultant, developer and community builder; founding Executive Director of the Congress for the New Urbanism. Expert on form-based codes and other urban planning tools.

Alex Marshall

Author, architecture and planning reporter, a commentator on cities and the dynamics of their transportation systems and physical environment. Senior editor, New York Regional Plan association and the Institute of Urban Design.

Mary Newsom

Skilled journalist on issues of urban development and regional futures, associated with the Charlotte Observer.

Scott Polikov

“Recovering” attorney, urban planner, rail activist, policy consultant, and a civic entrepreneur from Fort Worth, Texas.

Camille Cates Barnett

Managing director of City of Philadelphia; former city manager of several cities in Texas and Washington D.C.

MarySue Barrett

Skilled civic connector, president of Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council, former chief of policy for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Eugenie Birch

University of Pennsylvania-based scholar of cities — American and global — and member of key urban commissions.

David Boyd

A professional planner, educator, and writer, currently working with MSA Professional Services.

Rick Cole

City Manager of Ventura, Calif., commentator and advocate for issues of sustainability, smart growth and New Urbanism.

David Crockett

Former IBM executive. Founder of Chattanooga Institute for Sustainability, consulting group focusing on applying principles of sustainable communities, former chair, Chattanooga City Council.

William Dodge

Principal of Regional Excellence Consulting; former Executive Director of National Association of Regional Councils; author of books and articles on regionalism and regional government structures.

Roberta Brandes Gratz

Award-winning journalist and urban critic, New York-based author of The Living City: Thinking Small in a Big Way.

Doug Henton

Founder of Silicon Valley firm, Collaborative Economics; specialist in regional economic development strategies involving civic alliances; founder of the Alliance for Regional Stewardship.

Jon Hockenyos

An Austin, Texas-based economist focused on the dynamics of change in cities and urban regions.

Alan Hoffman

Expert in, exponent of effective regional transit systems. Founding partner of the San Diego-based Mission Group.

Jane Holtz Kay

Boston-based urban writer; author of Asphalt Nation and upcoming Last Chance Landscape, on global warming.

Robert Lang

Professor of sociology at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas as well as director of Brookings Institution Mountain West headquartered there. Author of Edgeless Cities: Explaining the Elusive Metropolis.

Richard Louv

Journalist and visionary. Author on life and community (Last Child in the Woods, America II, Childhood’s Future and others).

Jonathan Miller

Author of Emerging Trends in Real Estate, the leading commercial real estate industry outlook report embracing urban futures.

Mark Muro

Regionalist policy leader for the Brookings Institution, author and journalist.

Sam Newberg

A dedicated writer on cities’ glories and pains with a fitting nickname — “Joe Urban.”

Manuel Pastor

Director of the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at the University of Southern California. A trailblazer in connecting the interests of minority and disadvantaged communities with the economic and social futures of entire citistates.

Samuel Seskin

Portland-based transportation and land use specialist. Expert on transit-oriented development.

Keith Schneider

Journalist – producer -public policy strategist, Keith Schneider is a New York Times special correspondent, founded the Michigan land Use Institute, and directs communications for the Apollo Alliance.

William Shutkin

Educator, environmentalist, social entrepreneur and former foundation president.

Beth Siegel

Founder and President of Mt. Auburn Associates, a New England-based economic development consulting firm promoting economic growth and stability, job generation, and more efficient capital markets.

Ron Sims

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs. Three times elected Executive of King County, Wash., Sims is a leader among U.S. elected officials in calling for early, strong regional action plans to combat global warming.

William Stafford

President, Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle; former deputy mayor of Seattle with a specialty in intergovernmental relations. Premier leader of regional study tours to world citistates.

Kim Walesh

Expert in economic competitiveness and civic leadership, director of San Jose’s economic strategy for Silicon Valley, co-founder of Collaborative Economics.

David Warm

Executive Director of the Mid-America Regional Council, a leading American practitioner of the challenging art of regionalism on a metro scale.

Marc A. Weiss

Founder and leader of the Global Urban Development, a global cities think tank. Focused on regionalism, housing and economic development issues under HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Seth Fearey

Silicon Valley business executive and expert on community applications of new technology, currently taking a career break with the Peace Corps as Administrative Officer in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Robert McNulty

Founder-president of Partners for Livable Communities, advancing agencies of quality of life and inclusive civic structures in communities of all income and demographic groups.

Katherine Perez

Transportation and land use expert; executive director of the Urban land institute’s Los Angeles chapter; former vice president of development for Forest City Development.

Charles Royer

Former 12-year mayor of Seattle and president of the National League of Cities. Presently leads the Institute for Community Change.