2020 Jefferson Smart & Healthy Cities Forum

Jeremy founded Bright Common to continue an explorative collaboration of beauty, truth and regeneration in the natural and built environments. With a deep green ethic, Jeremy’s experience in both traditional architecture and design-build outfits allowed him to work in residential, commercial, non-profit and institutional sectors. As a registered architect, LEED-AP and Certified Passive House Designer he focuses on fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between Partners (clients), Builders (makers), and the earth we inhabit.

Peng Du is an Assistant Professor at the College of Architecture, Texas Tech University (TTU). Dr. Du’s research focuses on quantifying the environmental impacts of the built environment at both the building and urban scales, including life-cycle analysis, high-performance buildings, and zero-carbon cities, especially in the contexts of tall buildings and vertical / dense urban development. Dr. Du is an active member of the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). He has served as Co-Chair of the CTBUH Academic & Teaching Committee, and as a juror on both the Council’s Student Design Competition and International Research Seed Funding program. Dr. Du has been involved in teaching, reviewing, and coordinating numerous design studios and seminars with many institutions globally on sustainable tall buildings and future cities. Prior to joining Texas Tech, Dr. Du was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the College of Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). In addition, he has taught studio modules and organized workshops at Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

Anne Fadullon is the Director of Planning & Development, a cabinet level position in the City of Philadelphia. Her department promotes well-planned neighborhoods with engaged residents, affordable housing options, protected historic resources and public art.

Anne has 30 years development experience in both the public and private sectors. She has developed affordable, mixed-income, market-rate and mixed-use projects.

Anne received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies and Economics from Lehigh University. She has a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

As Senior Vice President, Buildings, Anton Germishuizen leads Practice initiatives for the 4000 plus person Buildings Group. Anton’s responsibilities include the practice areas of Discipline Excellence and Execution, Design Excellence, Digital Practice, Sustainability and Innovation across North America, Australia and the UK.

The underlying design philosophy being advances at Stantec is that of a multi-disciplinary integrated approach informed by systems thinking. The organization touches every aspect of the built-environment and the design of buildings and systems are highly inter-dependent. Stantec is highly focused on market trends and client needs as they see ongoing convergence of technology, design and disciplines. The emergence of smart cities and urbanization is where this is most applicable.

Anton has a B.Arch. from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, a M. Arch. from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, a M.B.A from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh and a Diploma in Real Estate from New York University in New York. He is a member of NCARB and is registered architect in eleven states in the USA. He lives in Wynnewood, near Philadelphia, PA, with his wife and two children. 

Troy Hannigan is Practice Assistant Professor and Program Director of Jefferson’s MS in Real Estate Development program at Thomas Jefferson University and is Program Director at Community Ventures, a Philadelphia-based non-profit real estate developer with the mission to work in partnership with neighborhood-based organizations to improve communities and to increase the supply of affordable housing. Troy has taught Real Estate Development at Jefferson as an adjunct professor since 2017 and joined as Program Director in 2020. 

At Community Ventures, Troy oversees the organization’s real estate programs including neighborhood development, affordable housing, and investment in parks, recreation centers and libraries. During his time with Community Ventures, he has worked on over $77 million in real estate projects all focused on the quadruple bottom line (people, planet, profit and placemaking) including affordable homeownership developments, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) rental developments, permanent supportive housing developments, green space and civic assets. Throughout his career, Troy has worked in various aspects of architecture, construction, real estate and community development. His work has focused on building quality, sustainable, affordable housing through a community informed design process.

A successful administrator, accomplished scholar, design teacher and architect, Barbara Klinkhammer serves as Dean of the College of Architecture and the Built Environment at Thomas Jefferson University. Klinkhammer brings a deep understanding of the contemporary professional design world and a timely vision of the future of design education. She currently co-leads Jefferson’s Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities and actively takes part in the discourse of contemporary architecture through practicing and participation in international design competitions. Klinkhammer holds a terminal degree in architecture from the RWTH-Aachen and is a registered architect in Germany.

David B. Nash is the Founding Dean Emeritus, and remains on the full-time faculty as the Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor of Health Policy at the Jefferson College of Population Health (JCPH). His 11 year tenure as Dean completes nearly 30 years on the University faculty. JCPH is dedicated to developing healthcare leaders for the future. After voluntarily stepping down as Dean, Jefferson Health asked him to take on some additional responsibilities as “Special Assistant” to the Chief Physician Executive, and a member of the board of our ACO, one of the largest in the nation, effective July 2019.

A board-certified internist, Dr. Nash is internationally recognized for his work in public accountability for outcomes, physician leadership development, and quality-of-care improvement.

Dr. Nash’s work is well known through his many publications, public appearances, and online column on MedPage Today. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and edited 25 books, including The Quality Solution, Demand Better, and most recently Population Health: Creating a Culture of Wellness (3rd edition). Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of American Journal of Medical Quality, Population Health Management, and American Health and Drug Benefits.

Edgar Stach is a licensed architect (Germany) with over 25 years of global experience, as well as a senior academic with 20 years of R&D experience and strategic consultant for high-profile R&D organizations, academia, and architecture, and a recognized expert in high-performance buildings and renewable energy technologies. Stach co-leads the Jefferson Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities. Previously, he was the founder and Director of Institute for Smart Structures at the University of Tennessee. ISS emphasizes technologies that improve the quality of architecture and the building envelope in the 21st century by focusing on sustainability, energy, health and safety, and economy. Stach was also the Program Manager for Energy Efficiency and Building Efficiency for a new government agency and responsible for establishing the strategic direction and research portfolio.

Danielle Arigoni joined AARP in 2017 as Director of Livable Communities, after serving as a leader in national-level efforts to expand investment in sustainability and livability for nearly two decades. Prior to AARP, Danielle served as the Director for HUD’s Office of Economic Resilience, which supported communities and regions to grow in a more sustainable and resilient manner through the $250-million Sustainable Communities Initiative, multi-year nationwide efforts to promote green and renewable energy in affordable housing, and grantmaking to promote more resilient infrastructure. 

Danielle previously served as HUD’s staff representative to the White House Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, and as staff lead for Secretary Castro’s Climate Council, which achieved important new milestones across the agency to advance HUD’s climate mitigation and adaptation goals. She helped to co-lead HUD’s award of $1 billion to states and localities through the 2016 National Disaster Resilience Competition to pilot resilient disaster recovery approaches.  

Danielle received a B.S. in Planning, Public Policy and Management from University of Oregon, and a Master’s of Regional Planning from Cornell University. She has previously served as a Board Member for Youth Ultimate League of Arlington, and currently serves as a Board Member for the League of American Bicyclists. 

Charles Marohn is the Founder and President of Strong Towns and the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity. He is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the State of Minnesota and a land use planner with two decades of experience. He holds a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota. 

Marohn is also the lead author of Thoughts on Building Strong Towns — Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 — as well as the author of A World Class Transportation System. He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns’ web content. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. He is featured in the documentary film Owned: A Tale of Two Americans, and was named one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time by Planetizen. 

Marohn is a long time commentator on KAXE Northern Community Radio. He currently co-hosts KAXE's Dig Deep program, a monthly examination of public policy issues affecting Minnesotans. 

Jamie R. Gauthier, a born-and-raised West Philadelphian, was elected to represent the Third Councilmanic District in November 2019. With two decades of experience fighting for fairness, equality, and justice in neighborhoods throughout the city, Councilmember Gauthier brings a depth of knowledge related to community and economic development, grassroots engagement, and nonprofit administration. 

With an eye towards tackling gentrification and poverty in the Third District, Councilmember Gauthier’s agenda prioritizes creating and preserving affordable housing, improving educational outcomes, connecting residents to family-sustaining jobs, and advancing small businesses.  

Councilmember Gauthier previously served as Executive Director of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, and held prior leadership roles at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.  

After graduating from Central High School, Councilmember Gauthier received her undergraduate degree from Temple University and her Master’s in Urban Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the only elected official in the City of Philadelphia with a planning degree, offering her a unique perspective on issues ranging from zoning to transportation policy. 

After moving to Portland in 1994 as a construction supervisor with Habitat for Humanity, Eli Spevak managed the finance and construction of over 250 units of affordable housing through work in the non-profit sector. He served on the board of Portland’s community land trust for its first 5 years and worked with residents of Dignity Village, a self-built homeless camp, during its first two.  

After taking a year off to work as a backcountry ranger, Eli launched a development and general contractor company, Orange Splot LLC, to pioneer new models of community-oriented housing. Completed projects have been featured in the New York Times and Sunset Magazine – and his most recent community, Cully Grove, just received a 2016 AIA Housing Award.  

Since then, he’s participated in Portland’s Residential Infill Project to reform zoning in single dwelling areas, co-founded an advocacy organization (Portland for Everyone) to support diverse, abundant and affordable housing, and now chairs Portland’s Planning and Sustainability Commission. He continues to launch new communities and hopes they go well enough to fund his policy habit. 

He regularly guest-teaches classes through Portland State University’s Urban Studies and Planning program, and is an adjunct instructor with PSU’s architecture program. He completed a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and a Physics degree from Swarthmore College. 

Yocasta Lora serves as Associate State Director for Advocacy & Community Outreach at AARP Pennsylvania where she implements national and state initiatives through strategic community engagement, local advocacy and member and volunteer management to create housing, transportation and public spaces that are affordable, accessible and livable for all ages. 

Before joining AARP, Lora was the Director of Programs for the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In this role, she supported the two largest programs in the Chamber: the Small Business Development and Education and the Professional Mentoring Network Programs. These programs focused on strengthening professional development and business opportunities in the Greater Philadelphia Region through revenue generation and local job creation. 

Lora currently serves as a board member for The Merchants Funds, The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance (DVSGA) and the Census 2020 –Philly Count Aging Committee Vice-Chair, Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC) Housing Committee, Philadelphia Vision Zero, Philadelphia Transit Alliance Committee. Previous services included Comhar Board Member, Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of commerce-Latina Leadership Advisory Board, Councilwoman Cherelle Parker Retirement Security Task Force, Philadelphia Minority Enterprise Development Week (MED WEEK), University of Pennsylvania Economic & Inclusion –Procurement committee, and the Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney Transition Team.  

Lora received the City of Philadelphia Next Generation of Women Leaders: Rising Stars, Business and Professional Women (BPW) -2017professional of the Year Award, the International Community Service Award, The AL Dia Women of Merit Award and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, (B.B.A) degree from La Salle University. She is also one of the founders of the Dominicanos in the Delaware Valley professional group. 

In her present role, Yocasta Lora continues to advocate for inclusive communities.