Northern News

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

Making great communities happen

Who’s where

Assembled by Hazel (Haeseo) Choi, associate editor.

Shan­non Al­len, AICP, is now Prin­ci­pal Plan­ner with Good City Com­pa­ny. She has more than 20 years of pro­fes­sion­al land use and en­viron­mental plan­ning ex­peri­ence span­ning the San Fran­cis­co Bay Area. Prior to joining the firm, Allen had been the prin­ci­pal plan­­ner with the City of Berkeley for seven years, 2014-2021. She was also a prin­ci­pal with LSA Associates for 11 years, 2003-2014, and an associate manager at EIP Associates, 2000-2003. Allen holds a master of planning from the University of Minnesota and a BA in environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz. You can read more about her in Northern News, November 2018, page 9, http://bit.ly/2NQ23Up. 

 

Gaspare Annibale has joined the City of Dublin as an As­so­ci­ate Plan­ner. He had been an as­so­ci­ate plan­ner with the City of South San Fran­cis­co and an as­sis­tant plan­ner for the City of Sacra­mento. Before coming to the Bay Area, Annibale worked for the City of Mis­sis­sauga (Ontario, Canada) from 2016-2018 as a plan­ning associate leading develop­ment of the city’s middle-income housing strategy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning from Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. 

 

Reena Bril­liot has been pro­moted to As­sist­ant Di­rector of Com­munity Develop­ment at the City of Santa Clara where she has worked since 2018 as the plan­ning manager. She previously worked for the City of San Jose in the City Manager’s Office of Economic Development, Environmental Services Department, and Department of Planning, Building & Code En­force­ment. Brilliot holds a master of city and regional planning from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s in inter­national/inter­cultural studies from Pitzer College.

 

Regina Celestin Williams has been named the next Execu­tive Di­rector of Sili­con Val­ley at Home. Her first day as SV@Home Ex­ec­u­tive Di­rec­tor will be November 15. Celestin Williams most recently served as Di­rec­tor of Hous­ing Develop­­ment at First Com­­munity Housing, a San José-based af­ford­able hous­ing developer. She earlier was a mem­ber of the National Develop­ment Council’s East Team, providing housing and economic development consulting services to several East Coast muni­ci­pal­ities and lead­ing NDC’s green initiatives. Celestin Williams serves on the board of the Richmond, California, Local Action in Neighborhood Development community organization and is a Silicon Valley Next Fellow. She holds a master of city planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in urban studies from Stanford University. Celestin Williams has also officiated professional tennis at WTA and ATP tourna­ments and at juniors and collegiate matches on both coasts.

 

Erin Morris, AICP, is now Com­munity Develop­ment Director for the City of Vaca­ville.  Before joining Vaca­ville, she was man­ager for the Plan­ning and Code En­force­ment Di­vi­sion of the City of Napa since 2017. Morris also worked for the City of Santa Rosa as a se­nior plan­ner for 10 years, and for the City of San Jose for six years. She has more than 20 years of land use per­mit­ting, plan­ning, and public policy ex­per­i­ence with various cities. Morris holds a BA in liberal studies from Sonoma State University and completed master of urban and regional planning coursework at San Jose State University. She lives in Napa with her husband and teenage daughters and is an avid walker. 

 

Mayank Patel is now an As­so­ci­ate Plan­ner with the City of Dub­lin. He had been an as­so­ci­ate plan­ner with the City of New­ark and a se­nior plan­ner at the City of Orinda be­fore that, where he worked on the Downtown Precise Plan, 2015-2020. Be­fore en­ter­ing muni­cipal planning in 2015, he was an urban designer at PlaceWorks for four years. He holds a master of urban and regional planning from UC Irvine and a BS in landscape architecture from UC Davis. 

 

Allison Schus­ter is now an As­sis­tant Plan­ner with the City of Dub­lin. She was pre­vious­ly a plan­ner II with the City of San Jose for two years, from 2019-2021, where she was a mem­ber of the City­wide Ur­ban Vil­lage plan­ning team. Prior to working for San Jose, Schuster managed several federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant-funded programs for affordable housing and homelessness as a planner I, and was the program manager for Continuum of Care for the County of San Luis Obispo from 2017-2019. She holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Cal PolySan Luis Obispo, and a BA in geo­graphy from So­no­ma State University.

 

Laura Ship­man has joined SPUR as Com­mun­ity Planning Policy Director. She was pre­vious­ly the di­rector of community development and planning with One Treasure Island, where she advocated for community facilities, retail, housing, and transportation options and promoted community building and cohesion among the residents. Before that, Shipman was a planner coordinator and urban designer with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and an urban designer and planner with MIG before that. She holds a master of architecture in urban design from Harvard University, and a bachelor of architecture from Cornell University. 

 

Nick Tow­stopi­at is now As­sis­tant Project Manager at David J. Powers. He had been an as­sis­tant plan­ner with the County of Santa Clara and a plan­ner for Shums Coda Associates, Pleasanton, before that. Towstopiat has a master of urban planning from San Jose State University and a BA in en­viron­mental studies from UC Santa Barbara. 

 

Stephen Tu, AICP, is now Nor­thern Cali­fornia En­gagement Manager for the Cali­fornia High-Speed Rail Authority. He had been di­rector of trans­por­ta­tion pol­icy with the Sili­con Val­ley Leader­ship Group for two years, 2019-2021, and a plan­ner with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission before that. Tu holds a master’s degree in public policy from The George Washington University and a BS in biological sciences and political science from the University of the Pacific. 

 

Ju­lie (Haw­kins) Wy­rick, AICP, is now Director of Campus Planning and De­vel­op­ment for CSU Monterey Bay. Pre­vious­ly, she worked for the City of Gilroy, most recently as the customer services manager, 2019-2021. Before that, Wyrick was senior educational facilities planner at UC Santa Cruz and a campus planner at Cal PolySan Luis Obispo. She has a professional certificate in construction management, a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Cal PolySan Luis Obispo, and a BS in environmental studies from UC Santa Barbara. 

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