ADRR Advisory/Editorial Board

Jerome Barth, President, Fifth Avenue Association, New York City . 

The Fifth Avenue Association is one of the original BIDs created to solve urban problems in the New York of the early 1990s.

Jerome is also the founder and Principal of Town Square Consulting, a boutique firm offering the advice of outstanding urbanists and public space specialists to Municipalities, Conservancies, Business Improvement District and private real estate owners on how to create program, finance, design and manage quality public space. In particular, Town Square focuses on how to transform spaces into authentic and lively destinations that promote safety, commerce, investment, and opportunity for people from all walks of life.

Jerome spent his formative years working for the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, 34th Street Partnership and held senior positions at Friends of the High Line and the Times Square Alliance. He was involved in the creation and development of all types of activities, from the first public Wi-Fi network in American to  juggling lessons to the now iconic Winter Village at Bryant Park.

A French native, Jerome is an associate member of the American Association of Landscape Architects. When not pondering how to improve public space, he enjoys being a dad to three daughters and serving on the board of Moliere in the Park, a cultural organization in Brooklyn.

Jerome has more than two decades of experience working with downtown organizations such as the Times Square Alliance and Friends of the High Line.

Michael J. Berne, President, MJB Consulting.

Michael Berne is one of North America’s leading experts and futurists on urban and Downtown/Main Street districts as well as the retail industry more generally.

As the Founder and President of New York City and San Francisco Bay Area-based MJB Consulting, Michael has amassed more than twenty years of experience in conducting retail market analyses, devising tenanting strategies and spearheading implementation efforts across the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Michael is a regular presenter and keynote speaker at industry conferences, including those of the International Downtown Association (IDA), the National Main Street Center, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the American Planning Association (APA) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI), among others.

Michael has lectured at University of Pennsylvania, Pratt Institute, City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on expert advisory panels for the ULI and IEDC. He is quoted often in high-profile publications such as the Financial Times, TheStreet and the Washington Post.

In addition to his widely followed “Retail Contrarian” blog, Michael has penned numerous articles for ULI’s monthly magazine, Urban Land, and has authored a chapter for a recently-published book on the urbanization of the suburbs (“Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places”, Island Press, 2018).

Laurel Brown, President, UpIncoming Ventures. 

A former Wall Street attorney, Laurel has spent the past decade driving economic revitalization in one of the most dynamic cities in the world - New York City. She is an expert in economic development with deep experience in public-private partnerships, economic development finance, community investment, business improvement districts, real estate development, smart cities, placemaking, and infrastructure. 

She currently runs her own consulting firm, UpIncoming Ventures, where she helps private sector entities broker transformative deals with governments, and vice versa - launching strategies that attract investment, accelerate business growth, create jobs, and transform communities. 

Prior to that, Laurel served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of two of the most influential downtown revitalization organizations in New York City - Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Greater Jamaica Development Corp - negotiating over $85 million in public-private infrastructure deals, overseeing a multi-million dollar small business loan fund, and managing over 1 million square feet of public space and infrastructure. For her work, Laurel was recognized by former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg for “Outstanding Impact on NYC Neighborhoods.”

Laurel earned her law degree from Harvard Law School, and holds bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Computer Science from NYU.  In addition to her native English, Laurel speaks Spanish, French, and is learning Mandarin.

Katherine Correll, Executive Director, Downtown Colorado, Inc.  

Katherine is an innovative resource choreographer for local governments, non-profits, and private businesses hoping to achieve more with less. She brings broad experience in public-private partnerships, financing strategies, and organizational and partnership structures. Kat is well versed in professional development and volunteer networks, outreach and engagement, community and economic development, not-for-profit administration, project development and management, communications, and establishing collaboration around shared experience and marketing initiatives. 

Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Katherine has worked with development initiatives in Denver, New York, Chicago, and the Former Soviet Union.  Katherine received her master's degree in Public Administration from Rutgers University and her bachelor's degree in Politics with a Minor in Urban Studies from New York University.

David Feehan, President, Civitas Consultants LLC

Civitas is a Maryland-based international consulting firm assisting downtown and community organizations and local governments. Before entering private practice as a full-time consultant, Feehan served as President and CEO of the International Downtown Association. IDA doubled in size during his tenure, adding affiliates in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean. He is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and meetings around the world, recently speaking in Kingston, Taipei, Denver, Pittsburgh, Burlington, Boston, Montreal, and Maringa, Brazil. He was a research associate at Rutgers’s Institute for Business District Management

Feehan led successful downtown revitalization efforts in Des Moines, Detroit and Kalamazoo. He organized the business improvement district in Des Moines, and directed the Major Projects Task Force, a public-private partnership that led to the design and construction of a new science center, convention center, arena, multi-university center, riverfront improvements, residential and office development.

In Detroit, Feehan organized the Greater Downtown Partnership and managed a 16 acre acquisition project culminating in purchase of the vacant Hudson's department store. Today Quicken Loan and Compuware have corporate headquarters is on this site.

In Kalamazoo, Feehan directed the award-winning Arcadia Creek project. He pioneered a new management philosophy while managing the municipal parking system, receiving several awards for exemplary customer service.

Feehan founded the Community Technical Assistance Center in Pittsburgh and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Citizens League. He built the Minneapolis Communications Center into a founding member of the National Nonprofit Management Association.

Bob Goldsmith, Partner, Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis

Bob notably has been the longtime president of Downtown New Jersey.

His practice focuses on redevelopment, downtown and urban revitalization, transit oriented development, project financing and incentives, sustainable building initiatives and public-private partnerships. He also has:

  • Served as special counsel for redevelopment to the municipalities of Morristown, Woodbridge, Princeton, Westfield, Millville, Netcong, North Wildwood, Park Ridge, Robbinsville, Chatham and Belmar. 
  • Provided counsel with respect to redevelopment projects in Woodbridge, Rahway, South Amboy, Jersey City, Morristown, South Bound Brook, Matawan, Dover, Wildwood, Stanhope, Linden, Netcong, Phillipsburg, Trenton, Aberdeen, East Brunswick, West Orange, Bloomfield, Hoboken, Newark, Pompton Lakes, South Orange, Linden and Cranford. 
  • Guided Newark in the creation of the Newark Downtown District SID, the Bergen Lyons and Clinton SID and the SID funding mechanism for the Greater Newark Convention and Visitors Bureau. 

Provided counsel to Special Improvement Districts in Newark (both Downtown District and Ironbound), Atlantic City, Westfield, Keyport, Collingswood, Jersey City (both Central Avenue and McGinely Square), Haddon Township, Bergenfield, Gloucester City, Teaneck, the Highlands, West Orange, Red Bank, Bound Brook, Seaside Heights, Ocean City, Summit, Rahway, Montclair, Bunker Hill, Hackensack, Freehold, Spring Lake, Boonton, Toms River, Washington, Pompton Lakes, Newton, Cranford, North Wildwood, Wildwood, Millburn, Gloucester City, Hackettstown, Livingston and Springfield, among others.

 

Nicholas Kalogeresis, AICP, Associate Principal, The Lakota Group

The Lakota Group, a planning, landscape architecture and urban design firm is based in Chicago, Illinois.  Nick's work at Lakota focuses on historic preservation planning, including the development of community preservation plans, architectural and historical surveys, National Register nominations, and historic district design guidelines, as well as comprehensive plans, downtown and corridor plans.  His current projects include the preparation of historic preservation plans for Maui County, Hawaii; Albany, New York; and, Denton, Texas. Nick has also completed preservation planning assignments in Texas, New York, and Maryland. In 2017, Nick led a consultant team for the Yorkville Comprehensive Plan Update, which was awarded a Daniel Burnham Award for Outstanding Comprehensive Plan by the Illinois Chapter of the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association.  Prior to joining Lakota, Nick worked for the National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation from 1998 to 2008, where he delivered planning services to Main Street communities in Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina, and Missouri. A Chicago native, Nick holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Elmhurst College (Ill.) and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.  Nick also serves as an adjunct lecturer in historic preservation planning both at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Paul R. Levy, President & CEO, Center City District, Philadelphia

Paul R. Levy is the founding chief executive of Philadelphia’s Center City District (CCD), serving in that capacity since January 1991. The CCD is a business improvement district with a $26.5 million annual operating budget, which supplements municipal services with programs for security, hospitality, cleaning, place marketing, promotion, and planning for the central business district of Philadelphia (www.centercityphila.org). The CCD has also financed and carried out $148 million in streetscape, lighting and façade improvements, including the transformation of four downtown parks that are now managed and programmed by the CCD. He serves on the board the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. He also teaches in the graduate City Planning Department of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Masters. and Ph.D. from Columbia 

Andrew M. Manshel, author.

Manshel is the author of the forthcoming What Works: Placemaking in Bryant Park. Revitalizing Cities, Towns and Public Spaces to be published in 2020 by Rutgers University Press. Manshel often assists municipalities and organizations on a pro bono basis in revitalizing, planning and managing public spaces and blogs about downtown and public space revitalization at theplacemaster.com. For 10 years Mr. Manshel was Associate Director and Counsel at the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation (conceptualizing and successfully implementing many of its most noted programs including its performances, the film series and the construction and leasing of the Bryant Park Grill) and General Counsel and Director of Public Amenities to the Grand Central and 34th Street Partnerships (where he structured the first tax exempt BID bond issues, developed and leased the Pershing Square Café, negotiated site control for Herald and Greeley Squares, and created the horticulture, street vendor, newsrack and public toilet programs). He was for 11 years Executive Vice President of Greater Jamaica Development Corporation and President of its Jamaica Capital Corporation and Jamaica First Parking affiliates, working to improve public space and the quality of life in a vibrant, but disinvested, African-American, Caribbean, Central American and South Asian neighborhood. 

Prior to that he was a partner in the Real Estate Department of Kalkines Arky Zall & Bernstein LLP (now Manatt Phelps & Phillips).  He later served as Vice President of Finance and Administration at Barnard College. Mr. Manshel is a Director and the Treasurer of Project for Public Spaces, Inc. For more than a decade he served as the Co-Chair of the Streetscape Committee of the Municipal Art Society and was a member of its Law Committee. He has also served as a Vice Chair of the Inner City Council of the Urban Land Institute. He holds Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees (with distinction) from New York University and a BA in Government (with honors) from Oberlin College.

N. David Milder, DANTH, Inc., Editor of the ADRR. 

David has completed leading edge work on downtown central social districts, arts districts, multichannel retailing as well as numerous retail assessments and downtown revitalization strategies for clients such as: Vinalhaven, ME; the City of Gering, NE; the Village of Sherwood, WI;  the Morristown Partnership (NJ); the Long Island City Partnership (NY); the Grand Central Partnership in NYC; Jamaica Center, NY, and the City of Peoria, AZ. David also has been involved in stimulating Transit-Oriented Development projects in Cranford, NJ, and Bayonne, NJ. In Bayonne, he also created Jump Start, a novel and effective facade improvement program. Since 1990, when many experts felt downtowns could no longer be successful retail locations, David has formulated numerous niche-based retail revitalization strategies that have stimulated growth in communities across the nation, including Rutland, VT, and Englewood, NJ.

In the 1980s, David created the Downtown Safety, Security and Economic Development Program for Regional Plan Association to address a key barrier to downtown revitalization. Prior to that, in Charlotte, NC, he helped create the Charlotte Uptown Development Corporation and the municipal service district it managed. In Toledo, OH, he helped the city adopt a programmed budgeting system that used public opinion surveys to drive many of its objectives.

David has published numerous articles in periodicals such as the Economic Development Journal, Urban Land, Main Street News and Downtown Idea Exchange. He has also contributed chapters to books produced by the American Planning Association and the International Downtown Association. David is the author of two books on downtown revitalization: Niche Strategies for Downtown Revitalization (1997) and Downtown Business Recruitment (2005).

David holds a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University, an MA in Philosophy and History from the University of St Andrews, and a BA in Political Science with High Honors from Kenyon College. He taught political science at Cornell and Ohio State, specializing in the politics of economic development in France and the UK. He also directed the Urban Institute at UNC-Charlotte, created and managed the Ohio Cities Consortium (a public management technology transfer network), and served as the vice president for marketing at ManData Corp in Columbus, OH. 

Norman Walzer, Senior Research Scholar, Center for Governmental Services, Northern Illinois University. 

Norman is a well-known specialist in rural economic development. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and  started at CGS in 2008 after retiring as founding director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs located at Western Illinois University.  At WIU, he had served as professor and chair of the Department of Economics and then as Dean of the College of Business and Technology.

At CGS, Norm serves on the Community Work Force and Economic Development team conducting applied economic research and assisting state and local governments on policy issues.  Areas of expertise include rural community and economic development; governmental structure and local public finance; entrepreneurship in both private and public agencies; and community strategic planning/visioning. He is a past president of the Community Development Society and has published regularly in the scholarly and professional literature on these issues. His most recent research involved Community Supported Enterprises and how they preserve or expand social capital.  He advised the Department of Commerce and Community Opportunity in preparing a 5-year Statewide Economic Development Plan (2014) and led a CGS team that staffed the Governmental Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force (2015). Currently, he serves as co-chair of a working group on rural workforce development issues for the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council and continues to research best practices in governmental structure issues.