Chair
John Federico
John Federico, AICP, PP, PE is a Supervising Transportation Planner and Vice President at WSP USA who leads a team of planners in the Philadelphia office. John holds an MS degree in City & Regional Planning from Temple University, a BS degree in Civil Engineering from Villanova University, and lives in the Queen Village neighborhood in Philadelphia.
Vice Chair
Pattie Guttenplan, RLA, AICP
Pattie Guttenplan, RLA, AICP is the Deputy Director at the Montgomery County Planning Commission in Montgomery County, PA, where she leads efforts to promote good design in the built environment and strengthen regional planning partnerships. She is a certified planner and registered Landscape Architect with over 40 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She has a degree in Landscape Architecture from Penn State University and lives in Lansdale, PA.
Secretary
Matthew Edmond, AICP
Matthew Edmond, AICP, is the executive director of the Chester County Planning Commission, where he is responsible for leading a team of over three dozen planning and technical staff who prepare and implement plans and initiatives that make Chester County's communities stronger and more livable. He holds a Masters of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and lives in the Norristown, PA area.
Treasurer
Richard Collier, Jr., P.P., FAICP
Rick is a professional planner having practiced in private consulting for over 35 years in a national firm and his own company in the Philadelphia region. His focus is land use and environmental planning. He holds a Masters in Planning from the University of Pennsylvania where he also serves on the alumni board of the Weitzman School of Design.
At-Large Member
Michelle Beaulieu, AICP
Michelle Beaulieu is the Chief of Staff at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), where she manages DVRPC’s legislative affairs andsupports the Executive Director’s strategic policy work. She has a Masters in International Planning from the University College London,and a Bachelors in Urban Studies from Brown University.
At-Large Member
Lorianne DeFalco, AICP, LEED Green
Lorianne DeFalco, AICP, LEED Green Associate is a Senior Technical Director in AKRF's Planning and Economics Department, where she prepares and manages environmental assessments, economic benefits analyses, market studies, and revitalization plans. She has lived in Philadelphia, is a member of ULI Philadelphia's Housing Council, and often collaborates with Water Resources staff on climate and resiliency initiatives in the region.
At-Large Member
Nicole Hostettler, AICP, LEED-AP ND
Nicole Hostettler, AICP, LEED-AP ND leads the Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Planning team as part of the Green City, Clean Waters program at the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD). She holds a Masters of City & Regional Planning degree from the Rutgers University, and lives in the South Philly.
At-Large Member
Susan Myerov, AICP
Susan is Director of Environmental Planning at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission where she is currently managing the work to prepare the Greater Lehigh Valley Regional Climate Action Plan and the update to the Act 167 Stormwater Management Plans for the 15 watersheds in Lehigh and Northampton counties.. She holds a Masters of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Abington Township, where she serves as Vice-Chair of the Township's Environmental Advisory Council.
At-Large Member
Matthew Popek, AICP
Matthew Popek, AICP is the Transportation Planning Manager at the Montgomery County Planning Commission, working on roadway, bridge, trail, and transit projects throughout the county and on funding and policy issues at the regional level. He has a Master's of Community and Regional Planning from Temple University and lives in King of Prussia, PA.
Immediate Past Chair
Alexis Williams, AICP, PP
Alexis Williams, AICP, PP is a Principal and Planning Director at STV, Incorporated where she manages the firm’s Pennsylvania Planning Department. She holds a Masters of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and holds over 18 years of experience in the planning industry; overseeing complex professional planning activities and projects related to transportation, transit, land use, infrastructure, and environmental planning.
Student Representatives:
- Phoebe Park (Temple)
- Darcy Eliot (UPenn)
- Abigail Thomas (WCU)
- Connor Walker (WCU)
Citizen Planners:
- Vacant
- Vacant
Our Purpose
As outlined in the bylaws, the purpose of the Section shall be to:
- Provide the opportunity for Section members and the public to actively participate in Section and Pennsylvania Chapter activities;
- Further planning by educating members and the public on various planning topics through program meetings and workshops;
- Provide professional development training and promote membership in the AICP of the APA;
- Promote the involvement of citizen planners;
- Disseminate news of Section interest;
- Further the purposes of the APA in the Section area.
Organizational Structure
To meet this purpose, Section members organize a Section Council, which consists of both voting members and non-voting section advisors. There are situations outlined in the bylaws to allow Section membership to take positions outside of Section Council action if there is a need.
Section bylaws denotes that there are a maximum of fourteen (14) voting members of the Section Council. Section 5 of the bylaws outlines the duties of the officers, while section 6 of the bylaws outlines the remainder of the council and general Section Council duties. The terms of all elected Section Council members shall be two (2) years. Members of the Section Council shall take office on January 1 of every even numbered year. There are more details on the requirements on voting members in our orientation guide. Even those who aren’t voting members are welcome to participate as a section advisor or committee member.
There are any number of non-voting section advisors in addition to the voting Section Council. Section advisors include those who are actively involved at Section Council or committee meetings, but not officially elected. These members are often sought to be appointed to vacant positions or encouraged by the nomination committee to run for elected office. Student representative section advisors represent schools in the region which have a planning program to assist with communication between the Section, students, and program administration. Typically each school has a first year representative and a second year representative to allow for continuity after graduation. Student representatives help inform the Section Council of activities in their university by attending or calling into Section Council Meetings. They also help inform their classmates of the mentorship program, scholarship applications and other Section and Chapter events by coordinating with the administration at their university. Any additional students are welcome to take part in Section Council or the Events and Emerging Professionals Committee meetings.
The Section Council meets every other month to conduct business. Each newly elected committee discusses a regular day and time that works best. Bylaws require elected council members to participate in at least half of the annual meetings. Section Council meetings are open to everyone, whether they are an active APA member or just interested in learning more about APAPASE. To find out more, email admin@apapase.org.
Section 7 of the bylaws also allows for the creation of committees to work on specific task areas and report back to the Section Council. Committees can meet regularly or as needed. See more detail on specific committee contacts, activities and coordination on our APAPASE Comittee Coordination page. Currently active committees are: Events Committee Meets regularly (about every other month) to work out details of events and make recommendations for events to the Section Council. To join or learn more about the Events Committee email admin@apapase.org . Engagement Committee Meets as needed to guide communication and growth of the organization. This committee works to diversify and increase membership and in securing sponsors. The committee assists in reaching out existing and new members to help them get the most out of their membership, and encouraging more diversified membership in the planning field. To join or learn more about the Engagement Committee email admin@apapase.org. APA Divisions Local Presence Activity APA has several divisions at the national level that are either professional interest or population based. APAPASE encourages interested members to start a local presence of the national division to provide more regular networking benefit from their division membership. Currently there is one APA division with a local presence. Transportation Division (email admin@apapase.org if you’re interested in learning more) Queer Urbanist Exchange (QUE) Meets monthly as the local presence of the LGBTQ + Planning Division of APA, which includes architects, landscape architects, engineers, other urban design professionals, and urban enthusiasts to network and plan educational events. To learn more or join QUE, sign up for the Facebook Group, Meetup, Google Group or email quephl@googlegroups.com.
To meet our purpose, a major activity of the Section is to hold an annual section meeting and periodic educational and social events throughout the year, depending on interest from members in planning events. If you have any suggestions for increasing attendance at, types of, or topics for events, please email events@apapase.org or suggest them at a future Section Council or Events & Emerging Professionals meeting. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to attend any Section events that may be of interest as they are created.
Every year, APAPASE holds an annual section meeting, commonly referred to as the annual event. The annual event is the flagship event for our membership, where we also award our student scholarship winners. To encourage members to attend, we seek to provide an exceptional program at a reasonable cost and to alternate the venue for the event between central Philadelphia and suburban accessible locations. As the annual event is our flagship event, we usually form a small subcommittee devoted to planning the annual event and encourage all interested members to take part by contacting events@apapase.org. For questions about the site, email admin@apapase.org. To become an APA National member, click here or you can join just the APA Pennsylvania Chapter by clicking here. Moved? Changed jobs? Need to update your information? Email admin@apapase.org.
