APA - Key Persons
Aaron leads the Aviation Long-Range Planning group for the Port of Portland and has previously worked in Hillsboro, Benton County, and Cottage Grove, Oregon. He joined the Board in 2016.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of Awards Committee
- Senior Planner at the City of Estacada
Meetings are held on the second Friday of each month from 12:00-1:00 pm via Zoom.
The Emerging Planners Group (EPG) is a sub-group of the OAPA membership committee and will be organizing events and activities intended to provide career growth and networking opportunities for OAPA members who are new to the planning field. There is no cost for membership in the EPG - participation in EPG events and activities is open to all members of OAPA. The EPG is intended for students or emerging planners of any age within the first few years of their career; however, OAPA encourages the participation of all OAPA members, particularly at events that involve mentorship and training opportunities for EPG members.
Allan is Senior Planner at the City of Estacada, working on all manner of land use and long-range planning projects. He joined the Board in 2022.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Awards Committee
The Awards Committee oversees the OAPA Awards Program, focusing on recognizing the outstanding work of planners throughout Oregon. We have been recognizing talented planners and their work across Oregon for over 30 years.
Job Titles:
- Senior Development Project Manager at Metro
Andrea is a Senior Development Project Manager at Metro, where she works on strategic site acquisition and funding for transit-oriented affordable housing. She joined the board in 2023.
Brad works on education, advocacy and policy support for the building industry in Southern Oregon to create affordable housing. He also serves as a Jackson County Planning Commissioner. He joined the Board in 2016.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of Awards Committee
Job Titles:
- Community Development Director for the City of Coos Bay
Chelsea is the Community Development Director for the City of Coos Bay. She previously worked as the City Planner for the City of North Bend. Chelsea has experience with both short-range and long-range planning. She is the current Oregon Cities Planning Director Association Member-At-Large and am serving on various workgroups (ex. CAUTAC; Childcare Facilities Barriers). Chelsea joined the board in 2024.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of Awards Committee
The Legislative and Policy Affairs Committee (LPAC) is responsible for developing and implementing the Chapter's legislative and policy action program. Board oversight and involvement are ensured through Board member participation on LPAC, annual review and adoption of legislative priorities and guiding principles used to inform the Chapter's position on proposed legislation and policy, and Board President review of proposed testimony.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Transportation Planner and Interim Transit Program Manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
- Transportation Planner for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Dani graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish Language & Literature in 2014, and went back to complete the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program in 2018. Although she has visited a lot of places in the world, her home has always been Oregon. She has been fortunate to travel abroad and learn how other cultures and countries have solved problems like affordable housing and transportation and bring those solutions back home to consider local applications. She is most passionate about environmental justice, and all the ways other planning realms intersect with it. She hopes to help OAPA connect with and better serve rural planners.
Dani is the Transportation Planner and Interim Transit Program Manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon, and a descendant of the Oglala Lakota people. She spent 4 years as the OAPA Emerging Planners Group Chair before taking a break to enjoy some dedicated mom time.
She serves on the Northeast Area Commission on Transportation, the ODOT Safe Routes Advisory Committee, and the Walla Walla Valley Policy Board. She appreciates the opportunity to work for a tribal government, where the community takes climate change seriously, and understands that taking care of the land is a critical component of taking care of the people. In April, she completed an overhaul of the Transportation System Plan with extensive community input, and the result was a pedestrian-first plan in a rural community.
On her days off she enjoys doing craft projects, acting as a human jungle gym for her toddler, and hiking with her German Shepherd. Dani likes to read sci-fi and fantasy, preferably in audiobook format so she can read while knitting and hiking.
Dani is the Transportation Planner for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). Before entering the Planning field, Dani worked for the EV charger manufacturer, Shorepower, and the electronics recycler, Free Geek. She joined the board in 2024.
Job Titles:
- Principal and Owner of Communitas
Deb is principal and owner of Communitas, where she collaborates with communities on reinvestment plans, land use and policy strategies, and economic prosperity initiatives. She rejoined the board in 2021.
Erik is a land use planner. He has worked in rural, suburban, and urban jurisdictions throughout Oregon. Erik joined the Board in 2024.
Erin has held a number of professional planning roles, serving as a consultant at a multi-disciplinary engineering firm, a public planner tasked with reviewing development applications, and recently, a long range planner that supports legislative research, analysis, and policy. In the past year, she has contributed to Tualatin's Climate Action Plan, Transportation Planning System update, and Housing Production Strategy implementation. She has also studied graphic design and utilizes this skill to break down technical concepts into digestible visuals for elected officials and interested members of the public.
Erin will bring 18 years of experience in the planning and field to the OAPA Board, paired with a passion for creating more equitable, healthy, and livable places. She has been an active member of OAPA's Education and Outreach and Awards committees since 2016. In 2020, when wildfires devastated numerous communities across Oregon, she spearheaded OAPA's efforts to provide volunteer planning assistance to communities across the state. Her greatest strengths are her abilities to foster strong relationships and connections, actively listen, and synthesize complex problems and issues into succinct action steps. She is also the proud mama of two amazing kiddos who are my daily inspiration for why creating accessible, resilient, and livable communities matters.
Erin came into the planning field via architectural programming for community facilities (recreation centers, libraries, etc.). She loved solving the puzzles of how those buildings come together. Community planning is like that type of puzzle-solving on a grand scale-one with so many different factors and considerations that it is an ever-evolving challenge.
Cheesy though it may sound, she truly hopes that the work that she does is making the world a better place for future generations. She loves having the opportunity to influence so many of the critical systems that our society relies on: where development should occur and what it should look and feel like, where and how we move around the communities we live in, and where and how we locate places and spaces to come together as a community, recreate, and play.
Erin recently had the opportunity to plan and facilitate a pro bono workshop for the Division Midway Alliance (DMA), helping the community envision the future of the Division corridor. Partnered with DMA translators and community liaisons, the workshop had nearly one hundred participants working across 8 different languages. It was beautiful and humbling. She hopes that multicultural collaboration, bringing so many diverse voices to the table, can become the standard practice for all planning projects.
She is a complete podcast addict. Most of them are literature and history-focused, but she does have a soft spot for the APA podcast as well. And if folks haven't checked out our very own OAPA Better Planners Podcast, she highly recommends it!
Genevieve Middleton, is an Indigenous relative, urban planner, local government housing policy manager, landscape designer, and advocate. They are the principal of Indigenized Planning Solutions, offering equity trainings, audits and community engagement using an Indigenous lens. Genevieve hopes to inspire a changed narrative for the future by promoting equitable policy and urban design that empower Black, Indigenous and Communities of Color. Genevieve also works as the Affordable Housing Policy & Planning Manager in Community Development for the City of Eugene, overseeing the Housing and Human Services Team while utilizing a racial equity and access lens throughout their work.
As citizens of the Navajo Nation, Genevieve and three generations of their family recognize that they are Indigenous guests on Kalapuya Ilihi (Eugene). They extend their respect and gratitude to the past, present, and future stewards of this place.
Genevieve is a double Duck, with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and Master of Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon. Between degrees, they lived in Mendocino County California, learning Traditional Ecological Knowledge and working as a nutrition educator. Working with Native populations through their career as an educator on the Round Valley Indian Reservation, Genevieve cultivated a passion to improve the paradigm of Native American health, wealth and housing disparities as a direct result of harmful federal, state, and local government policies. With lived experience, she began her lifelong research on Housing Policy and Intergovernmental Tribal Relations.
Genevieve recognizes that today's housing crisis is a planning topic that intersects with nearly every planning field from historic to contemporary. Their time as an OAPA Board Member At Large will contribute to furthering Affordable Housing advocacy topics as intersected with Racial Equity, Sustainability/Climate Change, Land Use Planning, and Transportation amongst others.
Genevieve is an Affordable Housing Policy & Planning Senior Manager for the City of Eugene and an independent equity planning consultant with their firm Indigenized Planning Solutions. Genevieve has a Master of Community and Regional Planning and a Bachelor's of Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon. Genevieve is a previous Co-Chair of the OAPA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Group, previous OAPA Board student liaison, and interim Member at large board member. She rejoined the board in 2024.
Jackson (He/Him) is a master's student in urban and regional planning at Portland State University, Jackson is excited about planning as an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and forward-thinking field.
Job Titles:
- Principal of WerkSTADT Urban Planning
Kate, Principal of WerkSTADT Urban Planning + Development, has 17 years of sustainable, equitable planning & development experience, including affordable housing development in Portland and city planning for the City of New York. They joined the Board in 2021.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of Awards Committee
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Group (DEIG) works across OAPA committees and with the Board of Directors to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies into OAPA's offerings, advocacy, and operations. The DEIG develops and drives tactics, projects, and programs, and serves as a resource for the Board and committees, in keeping with OAPA's mission, vision, goals, and objectives.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University
Megan is Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University, and serves as program coordinator for the Master of Urban and Regional Planning. She has been on the Board since 2022.
Nancy is a Coastal Planner at the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce, where she specializes in environmental planning. She previously worked as the Planner for the City of Astoria. She has been on the Board since 2020.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor in Planning
Rebecca is Associate Professor in Planning, Public Policy and Management at the University of Oregon and directs the Master of Community and Regional Planning Program. She has been on the Board since 2019.
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Principal Planner With Metro
Serah is a Principal Planner with Metro, where she manages the 2040 grant program. Prior to Metro, Serah spent 15 years working as a consultant doing both private and public sector planning work. She joined the Board in 2020.
Job Titles:
- Independent Planning Consultant
Shelley is an independent planning consultant, housing advocate, and local government nerd. She chairs the Membership Engagement Committee and co-hosts the Better Planners Podcast. Shelley has master's degrees in City and Regional Planning and Public Administration from The Ohio State University, and she has been on the Board since 2023.
Sienna is a first-year master's student at the University of Oregon's Community and Regional Planning program and an alumnus of the Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) program. Their interests lie in community and economic development, rural issues, and the new natural resource economy. They're looking forward to serving as a student representative to OAPA and learning more about planning from current practitioners. They've been on the board since fall 2023.
Vanitha is an in-transition independent planning practitioner and works at the intersection of transportation planning, sustainability, and equity efforts serving on various committees of the Oregon APA and other professional institutions nationally and across state lines. She formerly worked at the Oregon Department of Transportation, Georgia DOT as a consultant and for private firms in Georgia. She joined the board in 2023.