Anna Jones (Co-President)
Progressive Urban Management Associates
Anna Jones is Vice President with Progressive Urban Management Associates (P.U.M.A), a consulting firm specializing in downtown revitalization strategies. Anna focuses on strategic planning, community engagement and implementation strategies in both urban and rural communities. Before working at P.U.M.A, Anna was a Peace Corps volunteer in Sri Lanka where she found a wonderful future husband and learned a language spoken only in that tiny island nation. Anna is a member of the Denver Planning Board, and is on the board of directors of Downtown Colorado Inc.
John Plakorus (Co-President)
Colorado Housing & Finance Authority
John brings more than 15 years of experience in community development and urban planning. His focus has been helping communities revitalize urban areas into livable communities that include mixes of residential, retail and commercial. Since 2001, he has been a Research and Development Analyst at the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. Prior to joining CHFA, John began his career working for Los Angeles County and FEMA on rebuilding efforts following the Northridge earthquake and numerous other national disasters. Building upon this experience, he then worked for the State of Colorado and the CU Real Estate Center on Smart Growth and growth management issues, assisting local jurisdictions and private developers to build and revitalize cities in a "smart” and sustainable fashion. John, a proud native of Colorado, graduated from Metropolitan State College and advanced to receive a Masters degree in Urban Planning from the University of Colorado.
John Batey (Vice President)
Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority
Mr. John R.
Batey, AICP has served as Executive Director of the Pueblo Urban Renewal
Authority since September 7, 2010. Mr. Batey has over 17
years of experience in the areas of community development, affordable
housing, urban planning, state and local government administration and
high-level policy analysis, including positions with the State of
Colorado Governor’s Office, the Palm Beach County Department of Housing
and Community Development, West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Broward
County Housing Finance and Community Development Division, Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. Mr. Batey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a
Master of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Public
Administration, from Florida Atlantic University. Mr. Batey is a member
of the American Institute of Certified Planners. A native of Southern
Colorado, Mr. Batey resides in his home town of Pueblo with his wife,
Tiiu, and their daughter, Brijaana.
Vicki Mattox (Past President)
Stifel
In her career, she has worked with mountain tourism towns and special districts including the towns of Dillon, Winter Park, Gunnison, Grand Lake, Fraser, Frisco, Durango, Grand Lake Fire Protection District, Grand Fire Protection District, Crested Butte Fire Protection District and school districts in Durango, Bayfield, Delta, Denver, Johnstown-Milliken, Jefferson County and Montrose. Ms. Mattox joined the Denver office of Stifel Nicolaus & Company, Inc., early in 2005. Prior to joining the firm she was a banker at George K. Baum & Company for 21 years. While she was with George K. Baum she served as the lead or co-lead banker for more than 400 municipal bond financings and oversaw the issuance of more than $2 billion of tax-exempt bonds and notes. She developed innovative financing structures including the certificates of participation issue for the City of Englewood Civic Center project and the only tax-exempt issue ever completed for a non-profit water company in Colorado. She was also a member of the finance team that designed the City and County of Denver’s successful minibond program. Ms. Mattox holds a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis in finance and policy analysis and a bachelor’s degree in economics, both from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Carrie McCool (Treasurer)
McCool Development Solutions
Carrie McCool is the founder and principal of McCool Development Solutions, LLC, a land use consulting firm specializing in providing municipal planning services to Colorado’s small- to mid-size communities. Carrie has more than sixteen years of national and international experience in all aspects of planning. Much of her work focuses on developing comprehensive land use plans, development code revisions, downtown revitalization, diagnosis and drafting of land use policies, design standards and guidelines; preparing implementation strategies and action plans, as well as community engagement strategies and consensus building. Prior to forming McCool Development Solutions, LLC, in 2001, Carrie held staff planner positions for high-growth communities including Arapahoe County, Douglas County, and the City of Greeley. Her focus in all three jurisdictions was current and long-range planning, streamlining the development review process, and development code revisions. Carrie received her master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado at Denver and her bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with a minor in Environmental Issues from the University of Hawaii.
Kristin Cypher (Secretary)
Britina Design Group
In both her professional and educational experience, Kristin Cypher has had the opportunity to research, design and manage an interesting mix of public and private land planning projects. As both a planner and a landscape architect, Kristin’s expertise ranges from fi eld work documentation to the planning and design of historic and current places. A researcher at heart, Kristin continually drives the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of Britina’s work. As the primary point of contact for Britina’s community planning and design work, Kristin is often the ‘face’ of Britina during public meetings and project presentations, where her gift for communication and consensus-building shines.
Mike Braaten (At Large)
City of Littleton
Mike Braaten is in his 17th year
working in local government in Colorado. Mike recently joined the
City of Littleton as Deputy City Manager where he has a wide array of
responsibilities and duties. Prior to Littleton, Mike was the
Government Affairs and Energy Coordinator for the City of Rifle for five
years where he was primarily responsible for representing and
advocating on behalf of the City at all levels of government, among
numerous other duties. Prior to joining the City of Rifle, he spent
seven years with the Colorado Municipal League, including five years as
one of the League’s lobbyists at the Colorado General Assembly covering
the issues of transportation and tax policy, among others. Before CML,
Mike was the Community Development Coordinator for Region 10 (a council
of governments) based in Montrose, serving the local governments in
Delta, Montrose, Ouray, San Miguel, Gunnison and Hinsdale Counties. He
holds a B.A. in Local & Urban Affairs from St. Cloud State
University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Mark Heller (At Large)
Golden Urban Renewal Authority
Mark Heller applies more than 20 years of experience in community planning, economic development, real estate development, sustainability programming, small business legal counseling, cultural organization management, and community involvement to the challenges placed before the Golden Urban Renewal Authority (GURA). He has overseen significant positive changes in GURA and for downtown Golden since becoming Executive Director in 2004. Among other projects, he co-authored and directed the award-winning Golden Sustainability Initiative in 2007 and managed the Gateway Station mixed-use redevelopment, which was recognized by DCI as the 2008 winner of the Governor’s Awards for Downtown Excellence for new construction. He is currently managing the process for several new potential urban renewal projects, a community-run cinema, and the Golden stage for the Quiznos Pro Challenge professional cycling race.
VOTING MEMBERS
Tracy Huggins,
Denver Urban Renewal Authority
Tracy Huggins is Executive Director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA), a full-service redevelopment agency engaged in neighborhood and downtown revitalization, economic development, home ownership and housing rehabilitation throughout the City and County of Denver. Under her leadership, DURA plays a role in many of the city’s most important redevelopment efforts and also helps revitalize neighborhoods through a variety of housing rehabilitation programs for low and moderate-income homeowners. Huggins, a certified public accountant, came to DURA in 1992, serving as Finance Manager before being promoted to Executive Director in 1999. Previously, she worked for Strait-Kushinsky, a Denver public accounting firm.
Rick Kron
Spencer Fane & Grimshaw
Rick Kron, is a director of the law firm of Spencer Fane & Grimshaw, P.C. in Denver. He holds a Bachelor of Urban Planning and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana (1975), an M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1977) and a J.D. from the University of Colorado-Boulder (1987). Rick worked for several years in community energy research at Argonne National Laboratory prior to, and during the early part of, law school. Since joining Grimshaw & Harring, P.C. in 1987, his practice has concentrated almost exclusively on special districts, business improvement districts, intergovernmental authorities, and the thrill of Colorado election law.
Elaine Mariner
City of Parker
Mariner oversees Parker’s cultural programs and facilities including the
new Parker Arts, Culture and Events (PACE) Center and the development
of Parker’s new Creative District. She formerly served as the Director
of the Colorado Creative
Industries Division where she re-branded the division to represent the
full breadth of Colorado’s creative industries and launched the state’s
Creative Districts program. Mariner holds several board and advisory
roles including Downtown Colorado, Inc. and
Metro State University Center for Innovation. She is a graduate of
Harvard Kennedy School’s 2011 Institute for Executives in State and
Local Government and of Leadership Denver and holds an MBA from the
University of Colorado at Boulder and a BS in Computer
Information Systems from George Mason University.
Kimberlee Mckee
Longmont Downtown Development Authority
Kimberlee McKee has been the Executive Director of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority since 2011. Prior to taking this position, she was the President of the Downtown Akron Partnership, a Special Improvement District in Akron, Ohio. Through her experience in both a DDA and SID, she has worked with a diverse group of stakeholders and municipal leaders to develop projects, programs and events. Throughout her career she has specialized in strategic programs, marketing and event management.
Bruce C. O'Donnell
George K. Baum & Company
Bruce
C. O’Donnell is an investment banker with George K. Baum &
Company’s Denver office. Mr. O’Donnell’s practice primarily focuses on
underwriting tax exempt bond issuances for the purpose of financing real
estate development projects throughout Colorado. Mr. O’Donnell, a
fifth generation Coloradoan, has a diverse background in real estate
development as well as land-use policy and strategies for all types of
real estate projects.
Mr. O’Donnell is
currently serving his third term as a Planning Commissioner for the City
and County of Denver. While a Denver Planning Board member he has
served on the City’s Land Use and Transportation Plan Advisory Committee
which helped to create Denver’s Land Use and Transportation Plan,
Blueprint Denver; on the Quick Wins 2 Committee, on the Denver Zoning
Code reorganization team and on the Denver Union Station Master Plan
Advisory Committee. Mr. O’Donnell is also a member of the National
Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), the Urban Land
Institute (ULI) and serves on the Board of Directors of both the
Colorado State Historical Society and the Colorado Historical Foundation
Revolving Loan Fund.
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