The Steering Committee meets regularly and guides all policy of the Smart Growth Alliance, ensuring that each member organization's voice and message is represented in our efforts to promote Smart Growth in Massachusetts.
 André Leroux, Executive Director, Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance
André Leroux is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance, a coalition that promotes healthy and diverse communities, protects critical environmental resources and working landscapes, advocates for housing and transportation choices, and supports equitable community development and urban reinvestment. For nearly five years, André was the Director of Planning and Policy at Lawrence CommunityWorks, where he led an award-winning community planning and revitalization effort called the Reviviendo Gateway Initiative (RGI) in Lawrence, MA. Prior to this, he worked for Massachusetts State Senate President Tom Birmingham first as a legislative aide and then as deputy field director during Birmingham's gubernatorial campaign. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he also completed two years of graduate studies at El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City studying urban development and environmental issues. André co-authored a PolicyLink report in 2007 with MIT Professor Lorlene Hoyt called Voices from Forgotten Cities: Innovative Revitalization Coalitions in America's Older Small Cities.
 Ina Anderson, Partnerships Director
Ina Anderson is the Partnerships Director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance and coordinator of Great Neighborhoods, a place-based initiative of the MSGA. She works directly with community members, municipalities and others to implement development projects that incorporate smart growth principles and to create neighborhoods that are active, welcoming, affordable and environmentally friendly. Prior to joining the Alliance, Ina was the Director of Programs for the West Broadway Neighborhood Association where she forged ties between neighbors, local government agencies and community resources to improve the quality of life in the West End/ Armory District of Providence, RI. She also worked as the consultant for Community Engagement for the Prairie Avenue Revitalization Initiative where her work included conducting outreach to inform residents about the opportunities presented a planned $40-million dollar re-development effort anchored by the Providence Community Health Centers. Ina holds a B.A. in History from the University of Rhode Island, and M.A in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University with a concentration in Sustainable Communities and Comprehensive Community Development.
 Nancy Goodman (Chair) ,Vice President for Policy at ELM
Nancy Goodman has worked at ELM since 1998. In her role as VP for Policy, she has primary responsibility for developing, prioritizing and advancing ELM's environmental policy agenda. Much of ELM's policy work is accomplished through Nancy's participation in a number of coalitions including the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance (which she chairs), the Massachusetts Climate Coalition, the Forests and Parks Partnership, the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance, the Taunton River Watershed Campaign and the Massachusetts Food and Farm Policy working group. Nancy also is responsible for ELM's "Green Budget" which advocates for sufficient funding for our environmental agencies and our "State of the Environment" report which examines 20 indicators of environmental health and natural resource protection.
 George Bachrach , President of ELM
George Bachrach is an attorney, former state senator and teacher of journalism at Boston University. He also regularly provides political commentary for Boston area television and radio stations including New England Cable News, WGBH-TV and The Boston Globe, among other media outlets. George served three terms in the Massachusetts state senate in the 1980s and has run for the U.S. Congress with the endorsement of The Boston Globe, organized labor and civic groups. Upon leaving the state senate, Bachrach practiced law for nearly a decade as a partner with the Boston law firm of Brown, Rudnick, Freed and Gesmer. Thereafter, he served as the CEO of a direct marketing firm assisting national nonprofits and later founded Bachrach & Co, a public affairs and public relations consulting firm.
 Don Bianchi, Senior Policy Advocate at MACDC
Don Bianchi is the Senior Policy Advocate at the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. In this role, Don promotes MACDC's public policy agenda, fosters working relationships among the public, private and nonprofit sectors, and assists CDCs in building capacity. Prior to working at MACDC, Don served as Hilltown CDC's Housing Director for over 8 years, where he led the CDC's initial foray into housing development and successfully developed affordable rental and ownership housing for families and seniors. He has over 20 years experience in affordable housing development, lending and policy.
 Tracy Brown , Executive Director of FHCGB
Tracy Brown has twenty plus years of combined experience in the private, government and not-for-profit sector - affirmatively furthering equal opportunity, diversity, civil and human rights. She served as state-wide Fair Housing Investigations Manager for the Washington State Human Rights Commission and was liaison to the U.S Department of Fair Housing & Enforcement Office (Region X). In her capacity as Fair Housing Investigations Manager, Tracy managed the Fair Housing Assistance (FHAP) and Fair Housing Incentive (FHIP) Programs. She also led a staff of journey-level investigators and mediators.
Sean Caron , Director of Public Policy at CHAPA
Sean Caron is the Director of Public Policy at CHAPA and began working for CHAPA in 2007. He is responsible for directing CHAPA's state policy advocacy agenda. He previously worked as Counsel to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Metro Mayors Coalition. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the George Washington University and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. Sean is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
 Amy Cotter , Director of Regional Plan Implementation at MAPC
Amy A. Cotter manages implementation of greater Boston's regional plan, "MetroFuture: Making a Greater Boston Region," and integrated smart growth activities at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. In her role as Director of Regional Plan Implementation for the regional planning agency that represents the people who live and work in the 101 communities of metropolitan Boston, her work uses public engagement, research, analysis, and advocacy to explore policy and planning options and inform decision making from local to national levels. Amy brings to the effort 15 years of leadership in planning and policy making for smart growth and sustainable development, and has held positions at Tellus Institute and ICF Consulting.
Rebecca Davis, Legislative and Policy Manager at MAPC
Marc Draisen , Executive Director of MAPC
A lifelong resident of the Boston region, Marc Draisen brings public policy, housing, and economic development experience to the position of Executive Director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). Mr. Draisen served two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he represented neighborhoods in Boston and Brookline. He also worked for eight years as President and CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC), the trade association for 70 non-profit community-based developers. Mr. Draisen's housing expertise also stems from his years as Executive Director of the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) and Director of Private Housing at the Executive Office of Communities and Development.
 Aaron Gornstein, Executive Director of CHAPA
Aaron Gornstein began working at CHAPA in 1988 and became its Executive Director in 1990. He is responsible for managing and overseeing all aspects of the agency's work. He previously worked at Tri-City Community Action Program and the City of Cambridge Community Development Department.
Joe Kriesberg, President of MACDC
Joe Kriesberg first joined MACDC in 1993 as Vice President and served in that capacity until July 2002, when the Board appointed him President. As President, he has launched several innovative new programs at MACDC, including the GOALs Initiative, the biennial conventions which MACDC now sponsors and most recently the Community Development Innovation Forum – a collaborative process to identify and implement strategies to help the field adapt to the changing context for its work.
 Rafael Mares, Staff Attorney, CLF
Rafael Mares is a Staff Attorney working on transportation and environmental justice issues. He joined CLF in 2009. For ten years, prior to joining CLF, Rafael served as a clinical instructor and lecturer on law at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, where he founded the Healthy Homes and Environmental Justice Project. Before and during law school, Rafael worked on environmental justice issues in Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and Boston. He is admitted to the bar in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
 Aviva Rothman-Shore, Community Involvement Specialist, CLF
Aviva Rothman-Shore is a Community Involvement Specialist for CLF and CLF Ventures. She is an experienced outreach coordinator specializing in project implementation and relationship building. She provides leadership in building collaborative programs and has extensive consulting experience including, fundraising, designing and implementing outreach programs, trainings and organizing community partnerships.
Peter Shelley, Vice President and Director of the Massachusetts Advocacy Center and CLF
Peter Shelley is Vice President and Director of CLF's Massachusetts Advocacy Center. He was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Conservation and the Environment in 1996 and the David B Stone Medal by the New England Aquarium in 2003. Before CLF, Peter served for five years as an Assistant Attorney General for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources. He is admitted to the bar in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of Maine, State of Pennsylvania and U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
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Allison Statton, Director of Advocacy at MACDC
Allison M. Staton is the Director of Advocacy at the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. Ms. Staton joined MACDC in April 2007 and is responsible for leading MACDC's legislative work in the State House, enhancing our external communications and serves on our management team. Prior to joining MACDC, she was the Director of Advocacy at The Women's Union (now Crittenton Women's Union).
 Jay Wickersham, Partner, Noble & Wickersham LLP
Jay Wickersham specializes in design, construction, environmental and land use law. He has worked in all aspects of design and development as a private lawyer, a government regulator, an architect, and an urban planner. Jay is a registered architect with ten years of professional experience, and has been elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. As director of the Massachusetts environmental impact review program, he oversaw the review of all major public and private development projects statewide. Jay is on the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he teaches courses in international design practice and environmental and land use law. He is a contributing author to Rathkopf's The Law of Zoning and Planning, Urban Sprawl: A Comprehensive Reference Guide, and Public Construction Law of the 50 States.
 Karen Wiener , Deputy Director of CHAPA
Karen Wiener began working for CHAPA in 1990 and became Deputy Director in 2007. She works in several issue areas, including smart growth, planning and land use, and affordable housing awareness and education.
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