ROSENHEIM & ASSOCIATES - Key Persons
Brad Rosenheim is President/CEO of the consulting firm of Rosenheim & Associates, Inc. (R&A). R&A is Los Angeles' premier firm specializing in land-use entitlements and planning, project team management, permit processing and clearances, government and community affairs associated with the land-use entitlement process, strategic planning, consulting and analysis for public- and private-sector clients.
Before he began his own firm, Rosenheim served six years as senior associate in the public policy consulting firm of Emerson & Associates and one year as senior public affairs specialist for C.W. Cook Co., Inc., a land-use planning and public affairs firm in West Los Angeles.
Prior to entering the private sector, Rosenheim served a year as aide, then seven years as deputy, to Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude. As a deputy, he was responsible for the management of the San Fernando Valley portion of Council District 11, serving more than 100,000 constituents. Rosenheim advised the Councilman on all local and regional transportation policy matters, assisted in developing land-use planning policies, strategies and positions and led community outreach and city agency liaison efforts.
Rosenheim's broad range of experience in both the public and private sectors allow him a unique perspective and approach to addressing complex issues and developing effective solutions. His effectiveness is derived from a strong commitment to the needs of his clients and an ability to see their issues from the viewpoint of the agencies from which solutions must often be sought. This skill allows Rosenheim to develop arguments that can be supported by the respective agency and thus frame a win/win solution.
Rosenheim was a City of Los Angeles Youth of the Year award honoree in 1980. In 2001, he was named one of the San Fernando Valley's 25 Most Influential Business Leaders by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal and was recognized by the Woodland Hills - Tarzana Chamber of Commerce for his outstanding commitment to community service as the recipient of the 2008 Joseph Staller Award. In 2010, Rosenheim was honored to receive the Clyde Porter Humanitarian Award, presented by the Valley Cultural Center, recognizing his commitment to philanthropy and volunteerism. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA) bestowed Rosenheim with its annual Harmon Ballin Award for community service in 2013. He was also nominated in 2015 and 2016 for The Fernando Award, recognizing outstanding commitment and leadership in volunteerism and philanthropy. In addition, Rosenheim has been identified by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 as one of the "Valley 200" Most Influential Leaders in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys, with special recognition in the 2020 issue as an "Icon of Influence".
A graduate of California State University, Northridge, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, Rosenheim also attended the University of Arizona and the University of Southern California. In 1985, he was the first candidate to graduate from USC with a master's degree in public administration, a special certification in city management and a focus on public-policy development and implementation.
As part of his ongoing commitment to the local community, Rosenheim founded The West Valley Boys & Girls Club in 1992, serving as its first Board Chair, and participated as Chair of the governing board of the Warner Center Children's Corner, which he helped to create in June 1993. In addition to leading the team at Rosenheim & Associates, Inc., he remains actively involved with many professional and philanthropic organizations. His past contributions include serving as Chair of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority - San Fernando Valley Sector, Member and Co-Founder of the Woodland Hills - Warner Center Neighborhood Council, Acting Chair of the Board of Managers of the University of West Los Angeles, Chair of the Board of Trustees of West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, Chair of the City of Agoura Hills Business Task Force, member of the Agoura Hills General Plan Advisory Committee, President of the Fernando Award Foundation, Inc., Vice Chair of Phillips Graduate University Board of Trustees, member of the Valley Economic Alliance Board of Governors, member of the Pierce College Citizen's Bond Oversight Committee, and member of the Pierce College Presidential Search Committee.
Rosenheim remains an active member of several other boards and committees, including serving as Chair and Executive Committee Member of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA), Vice Chair and Executive Committee Member of Homes for Families, member of the California State University Northridge (CSUN) Dean's Ambassadors for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Community Advisory Board Member of the CSUN Center for Southern California Studies, member of the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging's support and leadership group, The Executives, member of the Agoura Hills - Calabasas Community Center Joint Powers Authority, and a Board member of ValPac, a San Fernando Valley Business Political Action Committee.
Brad and his wife, Devon, also a veteran of Los Angeles City Hall, have two grown children and live in the Los Angeles area.
Christopher Murray offers more than twenty years of experience in land-use planning, entitlements, real estate development and environmental management services. He developed much of his expertise through service with an international environmental engineering company, a California-based developer and operator of large-volume solid waste and recycling facilities, and a downtown Los Angeles law firm. Murray is a registered lobbyist with the City of Los Angeles.
Murray is widely recognized for his expertise in land-use development and environmental regulatory compliance, including community and governmental relations and regulatory affairs. His land-use and environmental experience extends to all project-related entitlements. He assists clients in obtaining development permits and approvals and, as part of this process, devises strategies for obtaining support and approval from the community, elected representative(s) and various agencies. Through his close working relationships with staff and officials from local, regional and state planning and environmental-regulatory departments, as well as the community, Murray assists clients in a variety of development projects, including entitlements, environmental review and regulatory compliance.
Prior to joining Rosenheim & Associates, Inc., Murray worked for four years with the downtown Los Angeles law firm of Weston, Benshoof, Rochefort, Rubalcava and MacCuish, LLP, as the director of regulatory affairs and land development. During his tenure there, he was responsible for preparing and processing land-use entitlements for a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial real-estate development projects throughout southern California. His duties included preparing and presenting planning and environmental studies, including land-use feasibility reports, to local, regional and state agencies.
Before working for Weston Benshoof, Murray worked for BLT Enterprises, a small California-based developer and operator of large-volume solid waste transfer stations and recycling facilities. He was responsible for obtaining and maintaining the land-use entitlements and environmental regulatory permits necessary for all of BLT's transfer stations and material-recycling facilities in Burbank, Los Angeles, Oxnard and Sacramento.
Murray also worked as a project manager for Weston Solutions (formerly known as Roy F. Weston, Inc.), an international environmental engineering and consulting company. While at Weston, he was responsible for assisting clients with a wide range of land-use and environmental analysis, compliance and permitting.
Earlier in his career, Murray was an instructor at UCLA's Engineering, Information Systems and Technical Management Extension Department. His course, Environmental Auditing, covered the fundamentals and techniques used to establish and conduct environmental audits and included perspectives from industry, regulatory agencies and consulting businesses.An alumnus of the University of Oregon, Murray graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and a minor in statistics and research methods. He also attended the University of California, Los Angeles, Engineering, Information Systems and Technical Management Extension Program, where he did graduate studies in solid waste and environmental management.
Job Titles:
- Office Manager of Rosenheim & Associates, Inc.
Dina Snow serves as Office Manager of Rosenheim & Associates, Inc. She originally joined the firm in May 2005 in the capacity of Administrative Assistant, and quickly elevated the scope of her responsibilities to serve the needs of the growing firm, bringing the benefit of her extensive past experience in a variety of professional environments. She has eagerly tackled added tasks and learned new skills, receiving professional Management and Human Resources training, obtaining a Notary commission from the Secretary of State in order to provide notarization services exclusively to clients as a complimentary convenience, and becoming the office's primary technical support contact.
Since joining Rosenheim & Associates, in addition to her day-to-day responsibilities, Snow has successfully implemented new systems and procedures to streamline the operations of the small yet busy office, overseen the expansion of the business, and planned and supervised two office relocations as the company continues to grow.
In her current position, Snow manages the company's operations, with duties including Human Resources, Benefits Administration, Support Staff Supervision, Accounts Payables and Receivables, Contracts and Insurance Administration, Information Technologies and Data Management, Marketing Opportunities, Procurements and more.
While under the employ of Rosenheim & Associates, Snow served from 2005 to 2007 as Administrator to the Fernando Award Foundation, which recognizes and rewards outstanding dedication to civic accomplishment, and in this capacity was instrumental in centralizing and updating administrative functions and procedures, as well as in organizing and facilitating the organization's three annual events. She has also twice been nominated for the San Fernando Valley Business Journal's Annual Women In Business Awards.
Snow's previous accomplishments include rising from within the ranks to ultimately serve as Group Editor of Network Magazine Group, a cluster of nationally distributed, format-specific radio and music promotion trade publications then owned by SFX Entertainment, a once dominant force in the live entertainment industry. While in that position, she developed and edited original content for three weekly publications, including news and promotional items, as well as regular and special features, interviewing and writing articles about top industry professionals, and such popular music artists as Lenny Kravitz, Pink, Shakira, Nelly Furtado, and more. She also coordinated advertising and promotions, and proofread all editorial content each week.
Snow also held a position as Executive Assistant to then Senior Vice President of Clear Channel Entertainment, a leading promoter of live entertainment events (which later became LiveNation). Additionally, her prior work history has afforded her a broad spectrum of experience within various other industries including commercial law, property management, consumer banking, and mortgage lending.
Job Titles:
- Senior Planning Associate
Senior Planning Associate Gary Werner offers more than forty years public agency experience in city planning, land use planning, zoning administration, environmental planning, economic development, redevelopment, public planning and building department management. He has also provided private consulting services for public agencies in the preparation of General Plans, Housing Elements, and Environmental Impact Reports, as well as the administration of Community Development Block Grant funds, and has worked with private development entities in the management of architects and engineers, and the procurement of entitlements for housing and commercial projects.
Werner acquired much of his public agency experience working for the Cities of Antioch, La Canada - Flintridge, La Habra Heights, Big Bear Lake, and Indio. His private sector experience includes serving as sole proprietor of his own consulting company, Community Development Consulting Services, as well as a staff member of firms such as World Development, Inc., KB Home, Inc., and Mayer-Luce Development, Inc., all in the Coachella Valley. He also worked for Apel Design, Inc., an architectural design firm based in Woodland Hills, California.
As a resident and volunteer in the Diamond Bar Community, Werner was recruited to lead the 1988 Diamond Bar Incorporation effort. Under his strong leadership, and resulting in part from his management and strategic skills, the community incorporated with a strong majority vote in 1990. Werner served three terms on the Diamond Bar City Council, including several 1-year terms as Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. While serving on the City Council, Werner also served on the Board of the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, and he was appointed to the Los Angeles Local Agency Formation Commission (CALAFCO), for which he also served on the Executive Board.
Gary Werner is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Architecture, Art and Community Planning, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Community Planning. He resides with his wife Marla in the Los Angeles area, near their daughter Heather and her family, and their son.
Heather Waldstein joins Rosenheim and Associates, Inc. as a Planning Associate, offering over fifteen years of experience with land-use entitlements and project management in residential and commercial developments.
Before joining Rosenheim and Associates, Waldstein worked as the Historic Preservation Liaison and Associate Planner for the City of Ojai, where she was responsible for managing the City's Geographic Information Systems, grant writing, and processing land use entitlement and development permits for the City. As liaison for the City's Historic Preservation Commission, she directed the Commission on Historic Preservation policy, led monthly public meetings, developed the City's first Historic Tree Inventory, and assisted the Commission in setting annual goals.
Waldstein started her career in the public sector, working for various California Municipalities, with an emphasis on downtown revitalization and mixed-use development within the Cities of Brea, Oxnard and Santa Clarita, processing development entitlement proposals.
After taking a short break to start a family, Waldstein continued her work in land use entitlements and project management with the Cities of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, where she provided planning consulting services.
A graduate of Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban Planning, Heather also attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She resides in Woodland Hills with her husband Ari, daughter Sofia and son Nate.
Jessica Pakdaman joins Rosenheim & Associates, Inc. as Project Manager, with over ten years of land-use experience. She has managed and led entitlement efforts on several projects in Los Angeles, ranging from mixed-use, residential, retail and institutional developments. Over the years, she has gained a keen and thorough understanding of the zoning code, urban planning principles and related land-use laws, all of which are essential in navigating through the City entitlement process.
Prior to joining Rosenheim and Associates, Pakdaman was a Senior Administrative Analyst with the City of Santa Monica, where she played a role in coordinating the administration of the Santa Monica Housing Authority's policies, regulations and specialized supportive and affordable housing programs. Her duties with the City also included researching and monitoring administrative activities to ensure program quality and compliance with governmental regulations. After a brief hiatus to start a family, she began providing freelance zoning and land-use consulting services to land-use firms and developers, offering services such as the preparation of property zoning and land-use feasibility analyses, entitlement applications and other advisory and support services.
Upon switching paths into the public sector, Pakdaman worked with Los Angeles-based land-use consulting firm Craig Lawson & Co., LLC for nearly seven years, where she was responsible for preparing, managing and overseeing the processing of land-use entitlement applications for several large-scale developments in the greater Los Angeles area, including notable projects such as the Figueroa and Olympic SUD (Signage Supplemental Use District) in downtown L.A., 8500 Burton Way for Caruso Affiliated in the Mid City West area, and the Southwestern Law School Master Plan Project in Koreatown. She was involved in all aspects of a project proposal, from the land-use feasibility phase through entitlement approval, including community and public outreach efforts. She has presented to various advisory and decision-making bodies, from neighborhood groups to City officials, while serving as a liaison between her clients, the community and the City with the primary goal of ensuring a smooth and transparent entitlement process while meeting project objectives.
Pakdaman graduated Cum Laude from the University of Southern California, with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Annenberg School of Communication. During her time at USC, she studied for a semester abroad in London where she had the opportunity to travel throughout the United Kingdom and Europe while continuing her education in communication and media studies. Her interest in urban planning developed during her last semester at USC, in a course offered by the School of Public Policy, Planning and Development. Born and raised an Angeleno, she continues to live in Los Angeles with her family as she applies her fascination with urban planning in the City.