About Us
Staff
- Conan Smith, Executive Director
- Melanie Piana, Associate Director
- Brittany Galisdorfer, Program Coordinator
- Luke Forrest, Public Policy Director
- Anna Clark, Communications Coordinator
- Toni Moceri, Strategic Development Coordinator
- Sharon Carney, Special Project Director
- Tracy Lewis, Program Assistant
- Michigan Suburbs Alliance Consultants
Meet our Interns:
- Shanee Harris, Communications Intern
- Brandon Johnson, Cool Cities Intern
- Mozghon Rajaee Regional Energy Intern
Executive Director, Michigan Suburbs Alliance
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Conan, our noble leader, has served as Executive Director at the Michigan Suburbs Alliance since August 2004. His passion for cities - matched only by his insatiable desire to create straw replicas of the seven wonders of the world - stems from a life supporting innovative policies for urban development and regional collaboration strategies. (We're serious about the straw; plans are already in the works for a backyard Stonehenge.)
Prior to joining Suburbs Alliance, Conan worked with the Michigan Environmental Council. As their Land Programs Director, he helped build cohesive support in the environmental community for Smart Growth policies among the state's environmental organizations and their constituents. His past work has been integral in creating conservation subdivision design standards for local governments, instituting an asset management program within the Michigan Department of Transportation, advancing regional governance opportunities and securing more than $55 million in increased funding for mass transit in the state. Conan also serves as a Washtenaw County Commissioner representing the City of Ann Arbor, a position he's held since 2004. In his time at the Suburbs Alliance, he has transformed the organization. Perhaps his most impressive accomplishment is the Lego building he recently architected - all by himself, might I add. However, his white board drawings have given new life to our office space, and undoubtedly take a close second.
Conan was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he lives today with his new wife, Rebekah Warren. He is heavily involved in community activities: the Sierra Club, the NAACP, the ACLU and the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan. Conan attended the Residential College at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, where he earned a B.A. in Creative Writing and Literature. With his combination of professional, personal and educational qualifications, Conan is the ideal leader of the Suburbs Alliance and a role model for its employees. It is his habit of picking up the lunch tab, however, that has secured his popularity with the staff.
Melanie Piana, PMP
Associate Director
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Melanie - known as Mel by friends and coworkers - came to the Suburbs Alliance in March 2004. In addition to overseeing all Suburbs Alliance activities, she leads the Redevelopment Ready Communities (RRC) program. Mel is a Project Management Professional, certified by the internationally recognized Project Management Institute. She recently put another notch in her belt with her completion of the Master of Urban Planning program at Wayne State University. Mel earned her bachelor's in German and Communications from Albion College. Before crossing over to the nonprofit world, Mel worked at Ross Roy/BBDO Detroit and Organic, Inc., two advertising and marketing agencies that service DaimlerChrysler. She lives in Ferndale where she volunteers for the Downtown Development Authority and is an appointed member of the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Mel dabbles every summer in sprint triathlons, even though she dislikes running, and for the last five years, she and her husband have participated in the Zoo-De-Mac, a 52 mile bike ride through northern lower Michigan. Mel intends to build a dream home applying modern design and green build principles, but she's waiting to win the lottery before she begins. In the meantime, she will continue to visit as many foreign places as possible.
Program Coordinator
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Brittany joined the Michigan Suburbs Alliance as a Program Coordinator in May 2005 after working as an intern the previous summer. Known by reputation as the "math wiz," Brittany is the brains behind our financial operations. She graduated from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a minor in Spanish. While in college, Brittany dedicated herself to The Detroit Project, a student organization that works to create change through service learning in Detroit. She also does "Little Women" one better by being the second oldest of five girls.
Here at the Suburbs Alliance, we recognize Brittany as a certified health nut. Her business alone could keep Whole Foods out of the red. She's also a running fanatic and member of the Downtown Runners, a weekly running club in Detroit. Detroit happens to be Brittany's new hometown; after living the nomadic life (15 houses in 11 cities in Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maryland and - finally - Michigan), she and her fiancée are enjoying the downtown life with their kittens, Livernois and Vernor.
Outside of the health arena, Brittany exhibits relentless attention to detail that some would term "perfectionism." We, however, consider her borderline crazy.
Public Policy Director
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Luke has been with the Suburbs Alliance since May 2006, contributing his public policy and urban planning expertise to all three of our program areas. This Ferndale resident graduated from the University of Michigan with a master's degree in urban planning and a graduate certificate in real estate development.
Name something and it is likely that Luke has been there, done that. Serving as a legislative staffer in the U.S. Congress. . . selling music at Encore Recordings in Ann Arbor. . . managing federal relations as assistant director of the National Association of State Universities & Land-Grant Colleges . . . starring as the Tin Man in Benzie Central High School’s production of the Wizard of Oz.. Luke also got to see the inner workings of one of our member cities first-hand when he interned for the city manager’s office in Ypsilanti. All the while, he wrote about everything from real estate trends to music as a freelance journalist, one of his life-long goals. Two others were working in a great record store and having his own radio show. Having accomplished these goals before graduating from college, Luke decided to give government a try and here he is!
Communications Coordinator
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Anna Clark grew up in St. Joseph, MI, a small town she’ll happily point to on her left palm. She graduated from the Residential College at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with degrees in Creative Writing & Literature and Art History, as well as—why not?—a minor in Crime and Justice. Anna facilitated workshops in Michigan prisons and detention centers through the Prison Creative Arts Project and The Portfolio Project while she lived in Ann Arbor. She went on to be a live-in community member at Haley House, a Boston-based social justice nonprofit where she worked with people who were homeless and low-income. Her last months in Boston were spent with The Center for New Words, a feisty nonprofit that creates "spaces and places where women's words matter." In January, 2007, she earned her walking stick (no, really; a hand-carved walking stick) from Warren Wilson College's Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers in Asheville, NC, where she was a fiction student.
Besides being the go-to gal for Suburbs Alliance communications, Anna is a freelance journalist, fiction writer, and blogs at her literary and social justice website, Isak. She’s also a reader, a knitter, a fan of Detroit sports, and a lover of kayaking. She’s habitually barefoot and laughs entirely too loudly at her own jokes. And she’s the queen of writing about herself in the third person.
Strategic Development Coordinator
Here's what you need to know about Toni Moceri: she can fit the whole of the Suburbs Alliance in her minivan (actually it's her momma's). A native of Warren, Toni picked up her master's in Research from the London Consortium with a thesis that just happened to be about … ummm … Warren. It was then that she realized that although she was enjoying her European la la lifestyle, she might as well return home and embrace her nerdiness. While abroad, she also earned a post-grad certificate from the Bauhaus in Transnational Urbanism. Oh yes, and she also has a pair of degrees from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in American Culture and Anthropology, with a minor in Spanish Language & Literature.
Toni has put her studies to practical use as a researcher for Shrinking Cities, based in Berlin, where she was one of the go-to Detroit specialists. True to her metro Detroit heritage, she even worked on the line making caddies and then later joined the Social Security Department at the United Autoworkers International Union to assist with benefits and policy matters. These days, she's deepening the possibilities of the Suburbs Alliance with her super savvy skills.
Special Project Director
After returning to southeast Michigan and to the Suburbs Alliance, Sharon has a new role: she's working to bring the region's city leaders and young professionals together in the collaborative problem-solving model of the Millennial Mayors Congress. Email her to learn about it.
In her free time, Sharon does freelance political communications work, web writing and the occasional feature article. She also enjoys learning about everything from food to aromatherapy to U.S. civil rights movements. She works hard to keep the art of letter writing alive, and she plans to be trilingual by age 30.
Program Assistant
Tracy comes to us via California. She graduated in 1999 from Sacramento City College with an associate’s degree in Languages and Literature and Ethnic Studies, and in 2003 with a Sociology degree and International Studies minor from Wayne State University. Today she's a graduate student on her way to a master's degree in Public Administration from Wayne State.
Tracy's especially skilled in writing, creating and modifying procedure manuals, and executive and group presentations. She's put that expertise to good use in her work with Ferndale to research for Advisory Board and Continuing Education positions; develop departmental programming and policies regarding cable television; and draft an action plan based on the Council's goals for the City.
As if that weren't enough, the Ypsilanti DDA had the advantage of Tracy's talents as well. There, Tracy tracked public records, researched and advised on record-keeping, meeting minutes, and parliamentary procedure; clarified the roles of the DDA, the City and partner arts organizations as they collaborated on property maintenance and contractual responsibilties; and she investigated and drafted regulations on design, signage and the use of public spaces in the central business district. Tracy is also an excellent dancer.
Meet Our Interns:
Shanee Harris
Communications Intern
Bio coming soon!
Brandon Johnson
Cool Cities Intern
As the first intern with the new UniverCities Connection and Cool Cities partnership program, Brandon is applying his Michigan State University education in youth and development to both the Suburbs Alliance and on his Lansing campus. Brandon is providing administrative support to the internship programs at Michigan State, helping students connect to new opportunities.
Brandon's varied background has found him serving as an account representative with GC Services; a Michigan State University custodian; a Phone Bank System fundraiser; and a volunteer with Child Star Development. He expects to graduate from Michigan State this spring.
Mozhgon Rajaee
Regional Energy Intern
Mozghon comes to the Michigan Suburbs Alliance with a passion for conserving natural resources--and she says she's especially interested in energy resources. This Canton resident studied biology and global studies at Spring Arbor University and Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn. At SAU, Mozghon worked with the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies and was a leader in campus social justice organizations. She also was both a resident assistant and a teaching assistant.
After graduating in 2007, Mozghon served as a naturalist with Mission Springs Outdoor Education, where she had the opportunity to share her understanding of ecosystems and outdoor science with younger students. She spent this last summer as a conservation corps crew leader with The Student Conservation Association. Among many other things, she participated in a southeast Michigan tree survey and led environmental restoration projects. Mozghon earned environmental education certifications through Project Learning Tree, Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) and The Aldo Leopold Foundation.
Now joining us as the Regional Energy Intern, Mozghon will spend the fall helping to develop the Suburbs Alliance's new Regional Energy Office. Her understanding of local communities and of our natural systems will be key to moving us forward.
