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MUPPAC Members

MASTER OF URBAN PLANNING PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Dept of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE STATION

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The current MUPPAC (2011-12)

Mike McAnelly, FAICP is a member of the APA Board of Directors elected by APA Region III, which includes Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Mike is a planning consultant employed by Carter & Burgess, Inc., in Dallas, Texas. Before entering private practice, he worked for regional planning councils in Houston, Texas and Columbia, South Carolina. His APA involvement includes previously serving as TexasAPA Chapter President, Houston Section Director, Board Member and Chair of the TexasAPA Educational Foundation, and Editor of “The Guide to Urban Planning in Texas Communities,” and member of the AICP Exam Committee and Cut Score Committee. His educational background includes a M.S. in Regional Resources Planning from Colorado State University and B.S. in Range Science from Texas A&M University. In 2003, he was inducted into the AICP College of Fellows.

Michael Parks, AICP is the Assistant Executive Director of Brazos Valley Council of Governments. He has been accepted a position of Director for the Bryan College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in January 1997. The MPO is responsible to plan for expenditure of federal transportation dollars in Brazos County. He graduated from New Mexico State University with a master in Public Administration in 1995 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban and Regional Planning in 1989. He accepted a position in the planning department with the City of Las Cruces, NM in 1989 – 1997. Michael has also been appointed to serve as Chairman of the National Association of Regional Council’s (NARC) Committee on Rural Transportation Planning since 2006 until present. He has chaired several committees and commissions and has been participating with lead roles with several organizations including Institute of Transportation Engineers, Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations and South Central NM Rural Planning Organization.

Gary Mitchell, AICP is a Principal of Kendig Keast Collaborative, based in Sugar Land, Texas. He has 18 years of professional planning experience at the city, county and regional levels. He has worked as a community planning consultant since 1999, and his projects have taken him to 12 states. Nine communities he has assisted have received awards from divisions of APA for outstanding examples of urban planning. Gary began his career as a Rockland County planner in New York’s Hudson River Valley, where he dealt with suburban development challenges in the home of the famous Town of Ramapo growth management case. He later progressed to Chief Regional Planner for the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H‑GAC), a metropolitan agency with some 150 local government members in 13 counties. He earned his Master of Urban Planning degree from Texas A&M University in 1988, after completing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Gary has served in leadership positions at the Houston Section and Texas Chapter levels of APA. He is a regular speaker at various conferences and seminars, and he recently lectured on plan implementation topics for a graduate-level course in the Texas A&M Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning.

Sara Jane White, Ph.D., FAICP started her career in the City of San Antonio, where she worked in the Planning Department from 1972 until 1978. During that time, her planning responsibilities included running the City’s Technical Assistance Office for Economic Development, coordination of the interagency River Corridor Committee and providing staff support for central city development. From San Antonio, she moved to the Houston area where for 10 years she was employed as the City Planner for the City of Bellaire. She decided to leave that position in order to become a consultant to Bellaire and other small cities in the region and to pursue a Ph.D. in political science at Rice University, which she received in 1994. She is a charter member of the American Planning Association, and has held leadership positions at the local, state and national levels of this organization, including a term as Texas Chapter president. Ms. White is a fellow in the American Institute of Certified Planners; and is now retired.

Elizabeth Miller Grindstaff, AICP is a Dallas native and a graduate of Texas A&M University, receiving both a Bachelor of Environmental Design in 1986 and a Master of Urban Planning in 1988. She is employed by the City of San Angelo and serves as the Assistant City Manager for Development Services. Her previous employment included preservation, revitalization and planning responsibilities for the City’s of Dallas, Hillsboro, Bryan, and Abilene. Elizabeth was a three-term President for Preservation Texas, Inc. the statewide non-profit for historic preservation and partner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She continues to serve on Preservation Texas’ Executive Committee as its Immediate Past President. Prior service includes positions in Preservation Action, the Texas Downtown Association, and the Central Texas Section of APA. She has been a member of AICP since 2001.

Linda LaSut is a second generation transportation planner. Her father served as civil engineer/planner on numerous roadway projects in Philadelphia, PA; most notably for the Mid-County Expressway ("Blue Route") project, during the 1960's. Linda is the Director of the Bryan/College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization, in Bryan, Texas. She has over 15 years of professional planning experience working for MPOs ranging in population from 60,000 to over 6.5 million. For many years, she has been active with AMPO Policy Committee, which helps to identify and target solutions for emerging issues in the field of metropolitan transportation. She has also served on the NARC Technical Committee and was appointed to serve as Chairman of NARC's Finance Committee from 2006-2007. Linda serves on numerous local committees ranging from comprehensive planning to economic development. She is a dedicated advocate of sustainable transportation and works to provide modal choices for the community, as well as a safe transportation system. She studied geoenvironmental studies for her master's work at Shippensburg University; she graduated with a B.A. degree in Geography from Sam Houston State University.

Lee Battle, AICP is the Assistant Director of Planning and Development for the City of Allen, Texas. He has over 14 years of professional experience in the public sector. Lee currently serves on the Texas APA Executive Board as Treasurer. Previous APA service includes national Chair of the Student Representatives Council, Section Director for the Central Section and North Central Section and Chair of the Texas APA Conference Planning Committee. Lee received an Associate of Arts from Lon Morris College, a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Conservation from Texas A&MUniversity, and a Master of Urban Planning from Texas A&M University.

Joseph A. Pobiner, AICP, CNU is Vice President and Director of Planning for HKS Inc. – the Fifth largest Architecture and Planning firm in the world. He leads the firm’s Planning and Urban Design practice for healthcare, office and corporate campus planning, sports, entertainment, hospitality/resort planning, and public/institutional developments. Mr. Pobiner has 31 years experience in the design and management of award-winning projects for private and public-sector clients encompassing over 14 million acres (21,875 square miles) worldwide, $40 billion in improvements and $5 billion in fees. Recent projects include the Puebla Master Plan (Puebla, Mexico), the Tripoli Gateway Plan (Tripoli, Libya), Mixed-use development plans in North Carolina and Mississippi, campus plans for hospitals in Indiana and Louisiana, and city comprehensive plans for communities throughout the US and internationally.

Russell Bradley, Jr. Has served as Chair of the Bryan Business Council since 2007. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Zoology (1971), and received his D.D.S. from Baylor College of Dentistry in 1975. Furthermore, in 2003 he also received a Bush School Certificate in International Affairs. Beginning in 1982, he served as Chair with the Bryan Landmark Commission for ten years and then went on to work with the Bryan Zoning Board of Adjustment from 1993-94. From 1994-1999, he worked with the Bryan Planning and Zoning Commission and was Chair for the Comprehensive Plan in 1998. He was then elected to the Bryan City Council from 1999-2006.

Jim Carillo, AICP, ASLA is a Vice President and Director of Planning for Halff Associates Inc. Jim is originally from the Caribbean, where he grew up on the beaches of Belize, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico before coming to live in Texas. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Jim is a registered Landscape Architect and a certified planner. He has been involved in many city and regional efforts over his 23 year career including an extensive background in long-range Master Planning, Urban Design, and Site Development. Jim has focused on citywide and large scale park and recreation and urban design planning projects throughout the Southwest United States, and has been a long time advocate of the benefits of parks to our cities.
Mr. Carillo currently resides in San Marcos Texas, and has been with Halff for over 21 years. He works out of the Austin and San Antonio offices of Halff Associates.Mr. Carillo is a highly experienced park planner. His work in the Southwest has included system-wide park plans and trail plans for over 35 communities. His work has received multiple awards from the Texas Recreation and Parks Society, the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Texas Downtown association. Most recently, his plan for El Paso, “Towards a Bright Future”, received the 2007 Traps Excellence in Planning Award and the National Association of Recreation Resource Planners 2007 Excellence in Planning Award.
Mr. Carillo currently resides in San Marcos Texas, and has been with Halff for over 21 years. He works out of the Austin and San Antonio offices of Halff Associates.

Mark Linenschmidt, AICP, CFM is a Dallas native and graduate of Texas A&M University, receiving both a Bachelor of Environmental Design and Bachelor of Science in Construction Science in 2000. His past experience includes work in the residential and commercial construction industries. Mark received his Masters in Urban Planning from Texas A&M University in 2004 with an emphasis in transportation. He has spent the last five years working with the City of League City as a Planner, and he currently holds the position of Senior Planner working on current and comprehensive planning, becoming a certified planner in 2007. His interest in land development led Mark to also obtain a floodplain manager certification from the Texas Floodplain Management Association (TFMA) in 2009.