Sandra Masters was sworn in as Regina’s 35th Mayor on November 23, 2020. She made Regina’s history by becoming the first woman elected and defeating a two-time incumbent Mayor during a global pandemic.
Master Talk
Type: Master Talk
Brent Toderian Master Talk
Brent Toderian is a nationally and internationally respected thought-leader on better cities, and a leading global practitioner in city planning, urban design, transportation, downtown revitalization and advanced urbanism with 30+ years of experience.
Ebony Walton Master Talk
Originally from Miami, Florida, Ebony Patrice Walton is a wife, mom, minister and self-proclaimed BID nerd. A 16-year veteran in the place management industry, Ebony currently serves as Associate Director of Stakeholder Engagement for the DowntownDC Business Improvement District and also supports its organizational development initiatives.
David Downey Master Talk
As President and Chief Executive Officer, David is responsible for the overall strategic positioning of IDA as a world leader and champion for vital and livable urban centers.
Kathleen Rawson Master Talk
Kathleen Rawson has more than 30 years of experience in both Hospitality and Destination Management. Before arriving at The Hollywood Partnership, Rawson served as CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.
Shelonda Stokes Master Talk
Shelonda Stokes serves as the President and CEO of Downtown Partnership of Baltimore and the President of Downtown Management Authority. Shelonda, a results-oriented, mission-driven executive, leads these two non-profit organizations with the goal of establishing equitable change and vibrancy in Baltimore City’s Central Business District.
Ojay McDonald Master Talk
Ojay McDonald works with Government Ministers, parliamentarians, economic development professionals, business leaders and place-makers across the UK and Ireland to support town and city centres.
Guillermo Bernal Master Talk
Guillermo Bernal is the Executive Director of Fundación Placemaking Mexico and Board Member of PlacemakingX. With ten years of experience, he has worked with over 200 public spaces in Mexico, Latin America, and Spanish-speaking communities worldwide, focusing on creating participatory and sustainable communities.
Kassandra Linklater Master Talk
As a serial founder, engaged citizen, community builder, visual artist and storyteller, Kassandra’s passion for entrepreneurship, international relations and ecosystem building spans almost two decades of experience.
Stephanie Allen Master Talk
Stephanie Allen, BBA, M.Urb is a real estate development specialist focused on building affordable, equitable communities. Stephanie’s Masters research focused on the settlement and displacement of Black communities in Canada with a focus on Vancouver, documenting the work done in Vancouver to seek redress for the displacement of Hogan’s Alley.
Ginger Gosnell-Myers Master Talk
Ginger Gosnell-Myers, from the Nisga’a and Kwakwak’awakw Nations, is passionate about advancing Indigenous rights and knowledge through public policy, engagement processes, and urban planning.
Heather Hiles Master Talk
Heather Hiles is an expert in technology, learning and talent development, with a 30-year track record of creating and scaling nonprofit and for-profit organizations that have improved millions of lives. Hiles is the founder / co-founder of SFWorks, EARN, The Hiles Group, Pathbrite, Calbright College and Black Ops Ventures.
Adelee Grand Master Talk
Adelee Le Grand is a leader, with over two decades of experience, who is passionate about utilizing mobility as a tool to create and sustain vibrant equitable communities. As the HART CEO, she is focused on elevating the value of Public Mobility as the foundation of environmentally sustainable equitable communities.
Greg Pepitone Master Talk
Greg Pepitone is a Senior Economist at Tourism Economics with over 13 years of experience providing strategic advisory services to clients in the tourism, sports, and meeting sectors. He focuses in the areas of economic and fiscal impact assessment, market viability and strategy, business planning and analysis, and facility and other capital project planning. Prior to joining Tourism Economics, Greg was a Manager in PwC’s Hospitality & Leisure Practice.
Kathleen Rawson Master Talk 2021
Kathleen Rawson has more than 30 years of experience in both Hospitality and Destination Management. For the past 25 years, Kathleen has served as the CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., a private/nonprofit company contracted with the City of Santa Monica to manage programs to enhance the vitality of the District. During her tenure, Kathleen has successfully transformed Downtown Santa Monica into the largest property based assessment district, by budget, in the State of California.
Kevin Plummer Master Talk
Kevin Plummer is the Immediate-Past Chairman of the Tampa Downtown Partnership. Formerly, Kevin served on the Board of the Executive Steering Committee of the Friends of the Riverwalk. He is a 13-year member of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, and oversaw six years of educational space renovations particularly with local architects Holmes Hepner and Associates and iConstructors, turning roughly 65K square feet of renovated space into active learning environments.
Rob Higgins Master Talk
Since 2004, Rob Higgins has promoted the development of community sports and led the Tampa Bay Sports Commission as the principal organization that bids on and hosts sports and entertainment events in the Tampa Bay area.
Jeff Vinik Master Talk
The Lightning’s success under Vinik has coincided with the emergence of a development company, Strategic Property Partners (SPP), LLC and its plan to develop approximately 60 acres in downtown Tampa’s south core into a new district entitled ‘Water Street Tampa.’ Vinik is expecting to deliver approximately $3 billion in investment to bring Water Street Tampa to life and reinvent the blocks surrounding AMALIE Arena into a walkable, 24-7 live, work, play and stay wellness district.
Mayor Jane Castor Master Talk
Mayor Castor’s key achievements within the past two years include helping secure more than $90 million for transportation and mobility improvements, hiring the City’s first Sustainability and Resilience Officer, and launching various strategic initiatives to support prosperous and equitable job growth, economic developments, and housing opportunities.
Carol Coletta Master Talk
Carol Coletta leads the relaunch of Memphis River Parks Partnership, a nonprofit developing, managing and programming six miles of riverfront and five park districts. Previously, she led the two-year start-up of ArtPlace, a unique public-private collaboration to accelerate creative placemaking in communities across the U.S. and was President & CEO of CEOs for Cities for seven years.
Maurice Jones Master Talk
With deep experience in both public and private sectors, Maurice A. Jones became LISC’s fourth President & CEO in 2016. He previously served as the secretary of commerce for the Commonwealth of Virginia, deputy secretary for HUD, commissioner of Virginia’s Department of Social Services, deputy chief of staff to former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and, during the Clinton administration, director of the CDFI Fund.
Dana Telsey Master Talk and Q & A Session
Dana Telsey, a thought leader and influencer in the world of consumer and retail, blends her Wall Street acumen with real-time insights into the trends shaping consumers’ purchasing decisions. In 2006, Dana founded Telsey Advisory Group (TAG), the leading consumer-focused research, banking, and consulting firm on Wall Street. As the rapidly changing consumer landscape forces companies, Boards of Directors, investors, governments and other stakeholders to rethink the consumer paradigm.
Jennifer Vey Master Talk
Jennifer Vey’s work at the Brookings Institution primarily focuses on the connection between placemaking and inclusive economic development in the digital economy. She is the author or co-author of numerous Brookings publications, including Transformative Placemaking: A framework to create connected, vibrant, and inclusive communities and Assessing your Innovation District: A how-to guide.
Bruce Katz Master Talk
Bruce Katz is the Founding Director of the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Previously he served as inaugural Centennial Scholar at Brookings Institution and as VP and director of Brooking’s Metropolitan Policy Program for 20 years. He is a Visiting Professor in Practice at London School of Economics, and previously served as chief of staff to the secretary of Housing and Urban Development and staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs.
Lateefah Simon Master Talk
Lateefah Simon is a 20-year veteran organizer for racial justice in Oakland and the Bay Area. She has been the President of the Akonadi Foundation since 2016. That same year—driven by the death of Oscar Grant—she ran and was elected to the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors—of which she now serves as President.
Hilton Carter Master Talk
Hilton Carter is a plant/interior stylist, director, fine artist, craftsman and re-patriated Baltimorean. For Carter, it all started with one plant, a fiddle-leaf fig named Frank. His interest in plants started out as purely practical: he was averse to putting up curtains in his New Orleans apartment, and decided to try a more natural approach to creating privacy, using plants.
Kate Joncas Master Talk – Baltimore 2019
Kate is currently the Director of Urban Strategy and Development for MIG. She leads strategic efforts for complex urban projects in downtowns, neighborhoods and urbanizing places. As Seattle Deputy Mayor from 2014 – 2017 she directed 32 departments, led waterfront redevelopment and Convention Center expansion, and developed a nationally recognized government performance initiative.
John Snook Master Talk
John Snook serves as executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, widely recognized as one of the most influential mental health advocacy organizations in existence today. Mr. Snook brings the organization more than 15 years of policy and advocacy experience at both the federal and state levels.
Molly Alexander Master Talk
Molly Alexander is the Executive Director of the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation a new 501(c)(3) organization of the Downtown Austin Alliance. For 30 years Molly’s enjoyed a successful career focused on downtown revitalization and economic development, including enterprises in both the public and private sectors. Molly will be speaking about the global growth of cities, our role as city shapers and place anthropologists.
Albus Brooks Master Talk
Albus Brooks is the Vice President of Business Development and Strategy for Milender White, a development and construction firm operating in Southern California and Colorado. Serving two terms on Denver City Council, including two terms as Council President, Albus accomplished an ambitious range of progressive legislative victories with the goal of building a truly inclusive city.
David Downey – Baltimore
As President and Chief Executive Officer, David is responsible for the overall strategic positioning of IDA as a world leader and champion for vital and livable urban centers. Prior to joining the IDA, David served as the Managing Director for the American Institute of Architects’ Urban Design Center and as Executive Director for the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Tami Door – Baltimore
Tami Door is the CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership. She joined the Partnership in 2005 after serving as executive vice president of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest regional chamber, and as vice president of a five state division of NBD-First Chicago. She is the co-founder of Denver Startup Week and The Commons on Champa.
Natasha Moraga Master Talk
Transforming the dull gray spaces of Puerto Vallarta into open-air galleries, urban artist Natasha Moraga makes mosaic look easy. With over 10 years as the visionary and artistic director behind some of the city’s most iconic public artworks, she continues to inspire with her latest and biggest project yet – the transformation of her city’s main park, into a vibrant space filled with colored tiles and functional spaces, where community is an essential part of the project.
Andrea Batista Schlesinger Master Talk
Andrea Batista Schlesinger leads the Inclusive Cities practice at HR&A Advisors. As a former leader in government, think tanks, philanthropy, and politics, Andrea uniquely understands the capacity and role of government, advocacy, and philanthropy in making cities just and dynamic places. Her current work focuses on supporting equitable economic development and removing barriers to opportunity for all communities in cities.
Jeff Speck Master Talk
Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA is a city planner and urban designer who advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, he presided over the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design.
Scooter Monroe Master Talk
Scooter Monroe is responsible for executing Weller’s vision for development projects and operating businesses from concept through completion. Mr. Monroe has over 14 years of experience in the development of commercial and multi-family projects in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Annie Milli Master Talk
Annie Milli is the Executive Director of Live Baltimore, a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) Residential Marketing Organization. A self-described “accidental urbanist,” Ms. Milli began her career as a graphic designer, later becoming an art director and executive in the field of commercial advertising. Ms. Milli led Live Baltimore’s marketing division from 2013 to 2017, during which time she developed a resident retention initiative, targeting city families.
Tony Seba Master Talk
Tony Seba is a lecturer in entrepreneurship disruption, and clean energy at Stanford University, a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur and a world-renowned thought leader and speaker. He is the author of the #1 best-selling book “Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation – How Silicon Valley Will Make Oil, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Coal, Electric Utilities and Conventional Cars Obsolete by 2030”.
Dhyana Quintanar Solares Master Talk
Dhyana is the Authority of the Public Space of Mexico City. Before that, she was the Director of Transportation Planning and Roads in the Secretary of Transportation and Roads of Mexico City. She has been involved in various urban sustainable mobility projects working from the public and non-governmental sectors for over 10 years. She was Director of Strategic Projects at the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy in Mexico (ITDP) where she promoted pedestrian and bicycle mobility.
Kemi Ilesanmi Master Talk
Kemi Ilesanmi is the Executive Director of The Laundromat Project, which brings arts, artists, and arts programming into local coinops to amplify the creativity that already exists within communities. With over 15 years experience in the cultural arena, she is inspired by the immense possibilities for joy and social impact at the intersection of arts and community. Prior to joining The LP, she was Director of Grants and Services at Creative Capital Foundation.