Jeff Holzer is a licensed Landscape Architect in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is a Certified Playground Safety Inspector for Kimley-Horn and Associates.
Jeff has 7 years of experience with a practice in active and passive parks, playgrounds, streetscapes, school/universities, and athletic fields. As Kimley-Horn's only CPSI, Jeff has advised on over 70 playgrounds across 19 states. Jeff volunteers on the LARE Prep committee for ASLA, and the REC TALK committee for the National Recreation and Park Association. In 2020, Jeff won the ANOVA sponsored napkin sketch design competition with a sketch and essay entitled Inclusive Playgrounds for All.

Angela Woodward, ASLA, is a seasoned professional with over 30 years practicing landscape architecture in California with an emphasis in construction. Her experience covers a wide range and scope of projects. Her designs create sustainable, resilient landscapes and incorporate green infrastructure into municipal, transportation, affordable housing, master planned communities and corporate campus projects. She has taught multiple LARE Workshop sessions at the ASLA Annual Meetings and serves on the ASLA LARE Prep Committee. In addition, she teaches LARE Review Courses at UCLA.

Allysha is the Community Planning Department Manager with Mead & Hunt, based in Baltimore, Maryland, and working nationwide. She has extensive experience providing planning and public engagement services for diverse projects and in diverse communities. Her focus is in transportation planning, green infrastructure, urban design, and public engagement. After over 20 years of practice in landscape architecture, Allysha ventured back to graduate school to pursue a masters degree in Geodesign from her alma mater, Penn State. When not at work or in class, you can find Allysha out on a run or cheering for her kids’ sports teams.

David Goldberg is an associate clinical professor of landscape architecture and Director of Geodesign at Penn State. His research interests include optimizing the physical and virtual environments where teams interact; enhancing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration between industry, practice, and the academy; and developing virtual learning environments for studio design courses.

Madeline is a former Akronite living in Orlando, Florida. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture degree with a French minor from The Ohio State University in 2010. After the recession, she found her way back to landscape architecture with a position at Nimrod Long & Associates in Birmingham, Alabama. She gained experience in both public and private work then obtained licensure in June 2017. Later that year, Madeline joined Dix.Hite + Partners where her current project focus includes campus, roadway and streetscape design, multi-family developments, residential design, community hardscape and landscape renovations, and exterior building color studies.

Darneka Waters is a Park Planner for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, responsible for capital planning and development coordination, public engagement, and master plan implementation for parks, greenways, nature preserves, and more. As an emerging professional and alumna of NC State University, she is known for her participation in industry and community-based organizations. Currently, she is a Black Landscape Architects Network (BlackLAN) Board member and regularly volunteers within the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Before joining Mecklenburg County, Waters worked on numerous urban design and planning projects as a Landscape Designer at an interdisciplinary firm in Charlotte, NC.

Paul is the co-founder Wolf Josey Landscape Architects and has led a diverse range of city, campus, garden and conservation projects of all sizes throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. He has specific expertise in urban and campus design, planting soils, tree preservation, construction implementation and native plants of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain.

His earlier design experience as a project manager at Nelson Byrd Woltz and at Urban Trees + Soils in Annapolis also focused on urban, academic and institutional projects while overseeing the master planning and implementation of various award winning mixed use, city park, waterfront and campus projects.

Dr. Tom Smiley is a Senior Arboricultural Researcher at the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory in Charlotte, NC and a former adjunct professor of Urban Forestry at Clemson University. Dr. Smiley is active in the arboriculture industry and has co-authored many of the ISA’s Best Management Practices. His research has led to improved methods of increasing sidewalk longevity near trees, protecting trees from lightning damage, improving tree root growth, and reducing tree risk.

As a Soil Scientist, Tim Reviews Landscape Architect design documents for conformance to soil properties required for sustainable plant growth, designs and develops soil physical and chemical properties to provide sustainable plant growth including investigation of sites to determine proper specification, handling, and installation of soils for planting and storm water management. Provides construction administration to oversee the installation and conformance to planting soil specifications.
Tim has a book written with Phillip J. Craul called "Soil Design Protocals for Landscape Architects and Contractors" The second edition is currently underway.

Danielle Pieranunzi has been involved with the SITES program since 2006 where she has been collaborating with a diverse group of practitioners, scientists, educators, and policy-makers to elevate the value of nature in the built environment. Danielle is the Director of the SITES program at Green Business Certification Inc focusing on technical development, client solutions, and market development.

As the founder and president of Biohabitats, Keith has pioneered the practice of nature-based design, green infrastructure, and regenerative design within the landscape architecture community. As a multidisciplinary organization with a mission to Restore the Earth and Inspire Ecological Stewardship, Biohabitats practices at the crossroads between biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation and environmental justice. Keith’s mission is to change the way capitalism is practiced. As a B-Corp and 1% for the Planet organization, Keith has instilled Self Governance, Wholeness, and Evolutionary Purpose as the guiding principles behind Biohabitats success. Keith is an advocate for biodiversity and ecological restoration around the world.

Brandon Hartz is the Landscape Architecture Program Manager for the General Services Administration (GSA), leading policy development and design direction of all capital projects in the nationwide portfolio The GSA owns and leases over 375 million sqft of space in more than 2,200 communities nationwide. Prior to GSA he was Campus Landscape Architect for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), designing and stewarding constructed landscapes on federal land across the United States. Prior to his public service, Brandon was a Senior Associate for HOK, managing and designing high profile and award winning institutional landscapes.

Elizabeth’s architectural and urban design background makes her uniquely skilled at coordinating MVVA’s large urban design projects. In addition to her project leadership, Elizabeth has lectured on MVVA’s multifaceted planning and design work at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, and The City College of New York.
Elizabeth received a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from Yale University. Elizabeth joined MVVA in 2006.

As the NYC Regional Director for New York State Parks, Leslie Wright oversees the 8 NYS parks in the 5 boroughs of New York City including Shirley Chisholm State Park. Prior to joining NYS Parks in 2014, Leslie practiced law in the public and private sectors. From 2007 to 2011, Leslie led land conservation planning and acquisition as the NYS Director at The Trust for Public Land. Leslie holds a JD from Brooklyn Law School, an M.A. in Chinese Literature from the University of Michigan, and has very happily resided in Brooklyn for 30 years — next to a park.

Rose Harvey is the Executive Director of New City Parks. NCP identifies, creates, and revitalizes parks within neighborhoods that are currently underserved in small cities, primarily in the Northeast. Prior to founding New City Parks, Rose served as Commissioner of the Office of New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Appointed by Governor Cuomo in 2011, Rose oversaw the revitalization, creation, programming, and operations of more than 250 parks and historic sites. Before moving to the public sector, Rose held multiple leadership positions with The Trust for Public Land.

Kate Tooke, a principal of Agency Landscape + Planning, has focused her career on the intersection of community and public space. She leverages a diverse background as an educator, an engineer and a landscape architect into a practice unabashedly passionate about connecting people to the urban environment. Kate’s listening-oriented approach to project leadership as well as her strategic thinking, design eye, and technical acumen have been instrumental in the success of diverse projects ranging from master planning to site-scale work and extending coast to coast. She is a prominent national voice in the movement towards contextual urban playscapes.

Cheri is Vice President and Design Discipline Leader at Weston & Sampson in the Boston-based design studio. A Trustee and Past President of the BSLA, she has over 20 years of multi-disciplinary experience including special expertise with socially and politically complex projects and facilitating public participation. Currently, her work focuses on framing parks and play as critical infrastructure by designing for resilience, inclusion, and quality of life. She was previously a Visiting Lecturer/Studio Instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and worked for the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. She is a Registered Landscape Architect in 10 states.

As Deputy Chief of Urban Design, Diana Fernandez Bibeau will elevate the importance of urban design, and champion the transformative power of sustainable and walkable communities for all ages and abilities. Fernandez works to strategically transform existing BPDA urban design processes to promote predictability and quality for both the community members and the development industry. With over a decade of private practice experience, Diana has built a design portfolio that reassesses the policies that have perpetuated race, gender, environmental and socioeconomic inequality, and created design methodologies that can respond to and correct them.

Andrew Wickham is a Project Leader at LPA Design Studios, a national integrated design firm. Andrew leads designs at the intersection of built, cultural, and natural systems and is a champion of metric-driven design to enhance resilience. His interest lies in how the blending of built and natural environments can enhance a user’s experience and reinforce values of equity, ecology, and curiosity. Andrew is a proven thinker and strategist, speaking at numerous conferences about the value of performative landscapes and human experience. He is currently Trustee for California Sierra Chapter of ASLA.

Danielle is a landscape architect with over 17 years of design experience in education, civic, corporate and healthcare projects. She works closely with LPA’s in house research team to provide evidence-based design solutions that help clients plan purposeful outdoor environments for wellness. She brings a research-based approach and a passion for designing nature-based outdoor learning, working and play environments that promote wellness, acknowledging physical or mental variability for an equal chance to thrive. Danielle works closely with clients to understand their needs and provides creative, budget-conscious design solutions that engage each user.

Julia has been working for school districts for the past 20 years to positively impact the learning experiences of the students she serves. She manages the planning of major projects transforming existing school sites and leads the effort to develop, update and align LAUSD’s design standards and educational specifications with its instructional vision. In her professional and personal efforts, Julia advocates for inspiring learning environments that provide all children the opportunity to learn, to grow and to dream.

Jennifer is a landscape architect who defines successful and inspiring designs as those that speak equally to place-making and place-keeping. The consistent theme in her projects is to create a sense of home. Through her practice, stewardship of the environment and culture become an everyday, every project opportunity. Jennifer was raised equally in rural New York and Chinatown, Manhattan. As such, she has a deep appreciation for the lifestyles and landscapes that accompany rural and urban environments. Prior to joining KMDG, she worked with Sasaki, CMG Landscape Architecture, and Hargreaves Associates

Anna has dedicated her career to weaving nature, culture and history into urban landscapes. At every scale, she is committed to engaging communities and strives to create designs that reflect the communities’ needs. Anna leads complex built projects and master plans across the world. Her most notable projects include Bonnet Springs Park in Lakeland, FL, which is transforming an abandoned railyard into Florida’s own Central Park; the implementation of University Lakes in Baton Rouge, LA, an ambitious project to set the six lake system on a more ecologically sustainable and recreationally rich future; and Hellinkon Metropolitan Park in Athens, Greece.

Julie Gawendo is a co-founder of re:public, a feminist-based landscape architecture and urban design cooperative located in San Francisco. This newly founded collective allows Julie to combine two of her greatest passions, women’s advocacy and landscape architecture. With over 14 years of global experience, Julie has designed and managed projects at a variety of scales from Governors Island Park and Public Space in NYC to the California State Capitol Visitor Center in Sacramento, CA. Julie is a graduate of Harvard University Graduate School of Design and previously worked at West 8 in NYC and CMG Landscape Architecture in San Francisco.