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A publication of the American Planning Association, California Chapter, Northern Section

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Northern Section leadership election results

By Sajuti Rahman Haque, associate editor 

The results are in from the Northern Section election held in November 2020. 

On January 1, 2021, Michael Cass moves up to Director-Elect. Veronica Flores will continue as Administrative Director for a two-year term ending December 31, 2022.  

As Director-elect, Cass plans to focus on sup­porting the new Section Director, Florentina Craciun, and guiding the Section Board as we tra­verse an unprecedented health crisis and political and social unrest to a post-pandemic world. He also hopes to assist the Board in cap­italiz­ing on the Section’s successes in 2020, including increased virtual presence, region­al col­labora­tion, and expanded emphasis on di­vers­ity, equity, and inclusion. Cass has been Northern Section Treasurer since March 2019 and was the East Bay Regional Activity Co-coordina­tor (RAC) in 2018 and 2019. A public sector planner for more than 16 years, Cass is principal planner for the City of Dublin. He previously worked as a planner for Lafayette and Concord. Separately, he serves as an advisory board member for Sustainable Contra Costa. Cass holds a BA in communications from St. Mary’s College of California, Moraga, and a certificate in land use and environmental planning from UC Davis Extension. 

Flores, who has been the Section’s Admin­istra­tive Direc­tor since November 2019, hopes to build on organiza­tional chan­ges made in 2020 to fur­ther Nor­thern Sec­tion’s efficiency and effect­ive­nessAmong her ob­jec­tives are enhancing the Board’s account­abil­ity to Northern Section mem­bers and refining resources for new and veteran board members — all while con­tinu­ing to focus on event plan­ning and in­forma­tion sharing. Previously, Flores served as SJSU Student Rep­resenta­tive to the Board and Co-director of the Young and Emerging Planners Group (formerly Young Planners Group). She also as­sist­ed with Northern Section’s Mentorship Program, Awards Gala, and state and national conference planning. Flores is a senior planner in the Legisla­tive Af­fairs Sec­tion of the San Fran­cis­co Plan­ning Depart­ment. She holds a master of urban planning from San Jose State University and a BA in sociology from UC Berkeley. 

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