South Florida Symposium
A Place Under the Sun for Everyone
Housing Affordability and Economic Development Identifying a Research Agenda
Thursday, November 8th, 8:00 a.m.- 3:30 p.m.
Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, FL 33401

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Lenore Alpert, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Research
Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions
Florida Atlantic University

Dr. Alpert directs the Ocean and Coastal Program for Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions (CUES), in addition to her work managing the past two Regional Indicators Project for CUES. Her current research includes projects on regionalism, regional networks, local government redistricting and other governance, marine management plans, beach economics.

Dr. Alpert has a doctorate in public policy from Northwestern University and twenty years of public policy and research experience in the public and private sector. She has taught at Florida Atlantic University as an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science. She has also taught at Northwestern University, the University of Georgia, and the University of San Francisco.

Dr. Alpert previously worked as a lobbyist and legislative analyst in California.

Rachel A. Bach, AICP
Southeast Florida Project Director
J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing
Urban Land Institute (ULI)

Ms. Bach comes to ULI with 10 years experience in urban planning and redevelopment throughout the Southeast Florida metropolitan area. Prior to coming to ULI, Ms. Bach was the Executive Director of the Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency and was responsible for the construction of over $6 million dollars in infrastructure and beautification projects, clean and safe neighborhood initiatives, downtown redevelopment, and facilitated dozens of redevelopment projects that resulted in over $4 million dollars in private investment. Prior to her position with Lake Worth, Ms. Bach served as Redevelopment Manager and Economic Development Coordinator where she served as ombudsman for the development community and worked for an engineering and land planning firm where she wrote several plans and land development regulations for public sector clients and represented private sector development projects through the land development and entitlement process.

Ms. Bach has a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida Atlantic University and resides in Deerfield Beach with her husband and two young children.

James Carras
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Florida Atlantic University

For the past twenty five years, Mr. Carras has concentrated on designing and implementing responses and solutions for community/economic development opportunities. He has helped create over 50 community investment partnerships and financial institutions around the country with recent special emphasis on the New Markets Tax Credit program and creation of double bottom-line investment funds.

He has taught as an Adjunct Professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, M.I.T.’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and most recently as a Visiting Assistant Professor at FAU’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, focusing on housing, community and economic development, and urban revitalization. His current research focus is on redevelopment and housing, as well as the efficacy of diverse development financing tools and their implementation in Florida.

Mr. Carras earned a B.A. in Urban Sociology from Suffolk University, completed graduate studies for Master’s in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University, and earned a Master’s of Public Administration from Harvard University.

David A. Denslow, Ph.D.
Research Economist BEBR and Distinguished Service Professor
University of Florida

Dr. David Denslow Jr., Research Economist for the Bureau of Economic and Business Research, and Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Economics, is best known at the University of Florida as the effective and popular professor of the televised course Basic Macroeconomics.

Dr. Denslow was Chairman of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors for the State of Florida and has authored numerous articles for the Southern Economic Journal, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Urban Economics, the Journal of Economic history, and the Journal of Political Economy. Dr. Denslow has reviewed a number of books, particularly on economics in Brazil and Latin American and has taught at the Federal University of Ceara in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Dr. Denslow completed his undergraduate education at Earlham College and earned both his Masters and Doctoral degrees from Yale University, where he was a Woodrow Wilson National Fellow and a National Science Foundation Fellow.

Sukumar Ganapati, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Public Administration
Florida International University

Dr. Sukumar Ganapati’s research interests include housing and community development, institutional development, the role of Third Sector Organizations, and IT applications. His research is both domestic and international in scope. His current domestic research is on the housing crisis in South Florida. His international research deals the role of institutions in housing in India and Indonesia.

Before joining FIU, Dr. Ganapati was the Assistant Director of the Center for International Policy, Planning, and Development (CIPPAD) located in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at University of Southern California. He has taught in the planning departments at California State University, Northridge; California Polytechnic State University, Pomona; and the University of Southern California.

Larry Henson
Business Intelligence Officer
Tampa Bay Partnership

Larry Henson is responsible for the Partnership’s Regional Economic Scorecard, a realistic snapshot that assesses the region's economic health in five "economic driver categories," including employment and workforce, income and productivity, housing, innovation, and education.

Mr. Henson comes to the Partnership from the Memphis Regional Chamber where he served as Vice President of Research and Information Technology directing the research activities of the economic development department and managing information systems for the Chamber. Previously, he served as research analyst with the Memphis Biomedical Research Zone and worked with the United States Geological Survey and Memphis City Schools.

He is 2007 Chair of ACCRA, the Council for Community and Economic Research. He has served on the executive committee with the Memphis Technology Council, Board of Directors with the Tennessee Biotechnology Association, was Chairman and founder of the Memphis Area Research Council, and also is a member of the Florida Economic Development Council. Mr. Henson holds a Masters degree in economic geography from the University of Memphis and served as adjunct faculty at Southwest Tennessee Community College.

Z. Joe Kulenovic
Senior Director of Strategic & Market Analysis
Enterprise Florida

With Enterprise Florida since January 1999, Mr. Kulenovic has taken part in a wide variety of Florida’s statewide economic and business development initiatives. Formerly an economist with The World Bank Group in Washington, D.C., Mr. Kulenovic has over fifteen years’ experience in international business and economic development, and has authored numerous analytical studies and published articles. A native of Croatia, he has lived in eight different countries on four continents. Mr. Kulenovic holds a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Belgrade, and an M.A. in International Economics and International Relations from The Johns Hopkins University – The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC, and Bologna, Italy. He currently resides in Orlando, Florida.

Susan J. Leigh
Principal
Community Concept Group, Inc.

Ms. Leigh is a principal of The Community Concepts Group, in Tallahassee, Florida, and is the former president of Governmental Affairs in Tallahassee, Florida. Both groups provide resource recommendations for affordable housing and development-related lobbying services at the state and local government levels.

Ms. Leigh began her real estate career in 1979 and has both public and private sector experience. She served as the CEO of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation under Governor Chiles, and as the Executive Director of Texas Housing and Community Affairs under Governor Richards. In addition, she served as the Director for Governmental Affairs for the Florida Home Builders Association. Most recently, she served as the COO and Principal of a boutique development firm that developed affordable, market rate, and student housing in the southeast.

Ms. Leigh earned her B.S. degree from Florida State University in Housing and Design, and her M.S. from Oklahoma State in Housing and Consumer Affairs.

Dario Moreno, Ph.D.
Director of the Metropolitan Center and
Associate Professor of Political Science
Florida International University

Dr. Moreno conducts research on Miami Politics, Florida Politics, and Cuban-American Politics. He has published over 20 scholarly articles, book chapters and two books. Dr. Moreno is a nationally recognized expert on Florida and Miami Politics and is often quoted in both the national and local media. He is a contributing editor to the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy. Dr. Moreno has been a Pew Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Fulbright scholar in Costa Rica.

James F. Murley, Esq.
Director
Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions
Florida Atlantic University

James Murley became the director of the Catanese Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions at Florida Atlantic University in 1999. Prior to that, he served as Secretary of the Florida Department of Community Affairs and Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Florida. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Congress for New Urbanism and serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the Florida Chapter of CNU. He also serves on the Advisory Boards for the Coastal States Stewardship Foundation, The Seaside Institute, The Dade County Land Trust, Trust for Public Land in Florida, and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He is a 1968 graduate of Denison University and a 1974 graduate of George Washington University Law School.

Ned Murray, Ph.D., AICP
Faculty Member, School of Public Administration
Associate Director, Metropolitan Center
Florida International University
Editor, American Planning Association (APA)
Economic Development Division’s publication News & Views

Dr. Murray holds a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has over twenty years of professional city planning experience.

Prior to his arrival at the FIU Metropolitan Center, Dr. Murray was a visiting Assistant Professor with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida Atlantic University. He is also a former Adjunct Professor of both the UMass Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning and Urban Studies Program at Worcester State College. Dr. Murray has also taught in Clark University’s Public Policy Program and developed the first City Planning course for the school’s Israeli College Program. He is regarded as a national expert on industrial clusters having authored the definitive case study on the plastics industry in Central Massachusetts.

Dr. Murray has authored and presented numerous papers on economic development and urban planning, including published articles in Economic Development Quarterly (EDQ), the Economic Development Journal and CUED’s Commentary.

Dr. Murray is currently authoring housing studies for Monroe County, the City of Homestead and Palm Beach and Martin Counties.

Frank Schnidman, Esq.
Senior Fellow
Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions
Florida Atlantic University

Frank Schnidman is an attorney with an LL.M. degree in Environmental Law who has spent more than 30 years dealing with sophisticated land policy and land use regulatory issues as both a practicing attorney and as an academic. In 2005-2006 he served as the consultant founding Executive Director of the new North Miami, Florida Community Redevelopment Agency. He has served as the Staff Director of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Metropolitan and Regional Areas Study, and as Executive Director of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority. He was the founding Executive Director of the Downtown Fort Lauderdale Transportation Management Association. He has been involved in numerous redevelopment projects in both the United States and overseas. He has also taught both planning law and land development law at a number of universities, and served two years as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. Prior to returning to Florida Atlantic University, Mr. Schnidman practiced law with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig after serving as Director of the University of Miami School of Law, Graduate Program in Real Property Development. He is recognized for his knowledge of international land policy and land development issues, and is a prolific writer and frequent national and international speaker, and is frequently quoted in the media as a leading urban planning and law expert. Mr. Schnidman is admitted of practice law in Florida, California, New York and the District of Columbia.

At Florida Atlantic University, Mr. Schnidman has taught courses in the areas of planning law and community and economic development. In addition, he serves as the Director of the “Redevelopment and Revitalization of Southeast Florida” Project, which is reported on the World Wide Web at www.cuesfau.org/cra and he participates in research and technical assistance projects, in addition to chairing the annual “Hot Topics” seminar series for the FAU Institute of Government.

John Talmage
President/CEO
Social Compact
Washington, D.C.

Since May 2006, Mr. Talmage has served as President/CEO of Social Compact, a national not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to help strengthen neighborhoods by stimulating private market investment in underserved communities. Under Mr. Talmage’s leadership, Social Compact is scaling its market analytic, the DrillDown, to document the market strengths of communities in 30 cities through 2008. In addition to performing market analyses in inner-city neighborhoods throughout the United States, Social Compact conducts research projects to contribute to innovation in the community development field. These projects are often undertaken in partnership with local leaders, community based organizations and financial institutions in community development.

Prior to joining Social Compact, Mr. Talmage served as the Deputy Director for Economic Development for the City of New Orleans. In New Orleans, he focused on business development issues, including workforce development, international trade and business recruitment and retention. Before joining the Mayor’s office in New Orleans, Mr. Talmage worked in New York City, primarily for the New York City Council. While in New York, he collaborated with communities throughout North Brooklyn to address economic development, housing and land-use matters. Mr. Talmage is married to Melissa Talmage with whom he has two children, Olivia and Benjamin.

Greta E. vonUnruh
Executive Director
Economic Development Research Institute

Ms. vonUnruh is responsible for the development and coordination of EDRI’s research efforts which seek to inform economic development policy and practice in Palm Beach County and the greater South Florida region. Prior to joining EDRI, Ms. vonUnruh was a program associate for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she administered grant-making process for various departmental programs in Florida. Previously in her career, Ms. vonUnruh has been a project manager for the Collins Center for Public Policy, Palm Beach County Planning Division, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Ms. vonUnruh has served as a commissioner for the Ivey Green Housing Authority in Riviera Beach, and other civic activities include promoting local theatre organizations and volunteering at local adoption agencies. A Palm Beach County native, Ms. vonUnruh is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor’s degree in social work and earned a master’s degree in social work from Barry University.

Jaap Vos, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Department Chair
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Florida Atlantic University

Dr. Vos has an environmental science degree from Wageningen University and a Ph.D. in regional planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He is on the boards of several grassroots environmental organizations and is vice chair of the Broward County Public Arts and Design Committee.

His research focuses on equity considerations in planning and the consequences of sustainable development for the planning profession. His current work on equity in planning focuses on redevelopment from the perspective of residents with extremely low incomes, specifically in the Overtown and Sistrunk areas.

Steven W. Zelkowitz, Esq.
Managing Partner
Gray Robinson, Attorneys at Law

Mr. Zelkowitz specializes in complex real estate, land use and zoning matters for both public and private clients. He has experience in the sale and purchase of commercial properties, commercial leasing and related transactions, secured lending, title insurance, developer representation including subdivision development and construction projects, and the representation of municipal corporations.

Additionally, Mr. Zelkowitz has significant governmental law experience. He serves as general and special counsel to a number of Community Redevelopment Agencies in South Florida including the recently formed North Miami CRA, Naranja Lakes CRA and City of Boca Raton CRA. He has also worked for a number of municipalities in South Florida.

Mr. Zelkowitz is currently the Chairman of the Miami Shores Village Historic Preservation and was recently recognized in South Florida Business Journal's "Best of the Bar" issue.

After receiving his B.S. from the University of Massachusetts, Mr. Zelkowitz attended Rutgers University where he participated in a joint degree program and simultaneously received his Juris Doctor and Masters in City and Regional Planning. Prior to becoming a shareholder at Gray Robinson, He practiced in New York City and Orlando, Florida.