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.

Don Chen, Campaign Chair
dchen[at]smartgrowthamerica.org

Don Chen is the Executive Director of Smart Growth America and leads its coalition building, policy development, communications and research efforts. He is an internationally-recognized expert on land use, transportation, and environmental policy, and has published numerous articles and reports, including Measuring Sprawl and Its Impact (with Reid Ewing and Rolf Pendall), which is the nation’s most advanced analysis of how urban form affects quality of life, Greetings from Smart Growth America, which makes the case for smart growth policies, and “The Science of Smart Growth,” which appeared in the December 2000 issue of Scientific American. He has delivered numerous speeches and keynotes in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, has testified before the United States Senate on smart growth issues, and has appeared on CNN’s Inside Politics and Headline News, National Public Radio’s Marketplace, and in print media outlets such as the The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and the Christian Science Monitor.

Don serves on the Board of Directors for the Environmental Leadership Program, the Institute for Location Efficiency, West Harlem Environmental Action, and the Growth Management Leadership Alliance. Prior to SGA, he was a researcher for the Surface Transportation Policy Project, World Resources Institute, and the Rocky Mountain Institute, and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Yale University and a Master’s Degree from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

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.

Lisa Mueller Levy, Director of Technical Assistance
llevy[at]lisc.org

Lisa Mueller Levyis the Knowledge Sharing Director for the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC), overseeing LISC’s Knowledge Sharing Initiative. In this position, she manages the publication and dissemination of industry tools, model practices, lessons learned documents, the maintenance and growth of the LISC Online Resource Library, and the creation of practitioner networks.

Prior to taking this position in 2000, Lisa worked for three years as regional LISC Program Officer in Washington, D.C., where she provided support and technical assistance to six field offices in the areas of fund raising, real estate development, training, and staff development. Lisa’s experience prior to LISC includes international development work in Central America, youth development and a position with a United States Congressman. Lisa has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Georgetown University and a Masters degree in Public Administration from Rutgers University.

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.