Michigan Suburns Alliance    Michigan Suburbs Alliance

About Us

Staff



Michigan Suburbs Alliance Consultants
  • Walton Business Management Systems
  • Plante & Moran
  • Carlisle Wortman Associates
  • Don Gross


Interns

Fellows

  • Carrick Davis, Cool Cities Research Fellow
  • Lisa Drogin, Cool Cities Coordinating Fellow
  • Hayley Roberts, Cool Cities Promotions Fellow


Conan Smith

Executive Director, Michigan Suburbs Alliance


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

Melanie grew up in Brighton, Michigan among corn fields and a spattering of small lakes. She led an adventurous childhood exploring the swamps and woods near her childhood home and has many stories about her idyllic days hunting for frogs. Mel's spirit of exploration led her to live in and travel to numerous international cities starting at the age of fourteen. These metropolises became her classroom on how other places function and helped shape her ideas about urban space. This understanding of both rural and urban communities gives her a unique perspective, which she continues to explore as the leader of Redevelopment Ready Communities®.

If Mel could, she would be a professional student. She earned a bachelor's degree in German and Communications from Albion College, a Master of Urban Planning degree from Wayne State University and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Before crossing over to the nonprofit world, Mel worked at Ross Roy (now BBDO Detroit) and Organic, Inc., two print and interactive 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. In 2009, Mel was elected to the Ferndale City Council.

Fun Facts About Mel:

  • Easily mesmerized by process flowcharts
  • Randomly blurts out old college band cheers
  • Uses road maps as wrapping paper
  • Annually participates in the Zoo-De-Mack, a 52 mile bike ride through northern lower Michigan

     


Sharon Carney

Special Project Director

Sharon launched and leads the Millennial Mayors Congress, a regional partnership of city officials and young leaders who work to address regional challenges. She has been working with the Suburbs Alliance since 2005 in various capacities.

In 2009, Next American City tapped Sharon to join Next American Vanguard, a group of 30 young leaders from across the country who are working to improve American cities and foster a network of like-minded activists.

Previously, Sharon freelanced as a copywriter and communications strategist, helped women leaders develop self-help groups in rural India and wrote for the University of Michigan's College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Sharon earned a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan.

 

 

Brittany Galisdorfer

Program Director

Brittany joined the Michigan Suburbs Alliance as a program coordinator in May 2005 after working as an intern the previous summer. She graduated from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a minor in and is pursuing her master's degree in public policy at the Ford School. 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 husband are enjoying the downtown life with their cats, Livernois and Vernor. Brittany serves the community as an elected member of the Downtown Detroit Citizens District Council, which represents residents' interests on development proposals in the downtown area. Her math degree suits her well as a member of Central United Methodist Church's Finance Committee, the oldest Protestant church in Michigan. Additionally, Brittany serves as a non-voting Board member for Bridging Communities Inc, a Detroit nonprofit that assists the elderly in maintaining independent lives.

In all that she does, Brittany exhibits relentless attention to detail that some would term "perfectionism." We, however, consider her borderline crazy.

 

Sarah Hoerl

Redevelopment Assistant

Sarah, a lifelong Downriver dweller, first came to the Michigan Suburbs Alliance

as a Redevelopment Intern in the summer of 2009. That fall, she from the University of Michigan – Dearborn, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts with double majors in History and Urban + Regional Studies and snagged the 2009 Honor Scholar Award for Urban and Regional Studies. Sarah returned to the Suburbs Alliance as a Redevelopment Assistant in February 2010 and recently (eagerly, might we add) took on the role of Place Cluster Program Assistant.

 

As a youngster, Sarah’s interest in city planning stemmed from playing too much Sim City 2000. However, the real spark came from her time spent in the Canadian Parliament. In the summer of 2008, Sarah served as an intern in the New Democratic Party’s Office of Aboriginal Affairs in Ottawa. There she was able to learn the ins and outs of the political process—and ditching a car for five weeks wasn’t bad either! Since this experience, her career goal is to work in an urban political setting so that she can be an active participant in the evolution of city culture and growth.

 

In Sarah’s free time, she enjoys curling up with a strong coffee and a good piece of nonfiction, crocheting little cat toys for her furry kids and wasting valuable time living out the lives of her virtual Sims. Still, nothing beats taking a trip to downtown Detroit with a camera and a friend.



Richard Murphy (Murph)

Transportation Programs Coordinator

Murph joined the Michigan Suburbs Alliance as Transportation Coordinator in February 2010, having already served on the Redevelopment Ready Communities Board for a year and a half. Prior to his position at the Suburbs Alliance, Murph was City Planner for the City of Ypsilanti for four years, with additional municipal, consulting and research experience. He earned a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Michigan after undergraduate studies in computer and aerospace engineering.

Murph's transition from total computer geek to total urban geek is a result of following his now-wife to New Jersey for her graduate school program. After spending a year reading about and exploring major American cities, he decided to try out a brief stint in planning before returning to his plans for doctoral studies in computer science. That brief stint is now approaching a decade. The tech geek background emerges every once in a while in the form of civic blogging (such as the now-retired ArborUpdate.com), fascinations with locationally-aware mobile software, and grudging tech support for those around him.

When not professionally obsessing about transit and walkability, Murph can typically be found personally obsessing about transit and walkability: his favorite vacation is hiking national parks that he can get to via Amtrak.


Jamie Latendresse

Art Director

Jamie is a graphic designer and art director of 14 years. First as a contractor and now a staff member, he functions as the creative force behind the Suburbs Alliance's visual communications and identity. In addition to serving as the Creative Arts Director for CPOP Gallery and the first three years of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, he has worked for clients including General Motors, HUMMER, Hour Media, Paxahau Promotions and Children's Hospital of Detroit. Previously, Jamie was co-owner of the Hamtramck art gallery, Primary Space, and was a member of the Hamtramck Downtown Development Authority. Jamie lives and works in New York City.


Interns


Christina Drane

Photographer

Christina Drane is a proud native of Cleveland, Ohio, but she's lived in Brownstown, MI, for the past two years. She's an enrollment counselor for the University of Phoenix in Southfield, where she works closely with military students. No doubt she can relate: Christina served in the United States Marine Corps for seven years, complete with two tours of duty in Iraq. She finished her career in the Marines as a Sergeant (E-5), and says she's "happy to have been part of the most elite and decorated branch of service." 

Christina calls herself a resource broker ("because I am the 'go-to' person for everything," she says), and loves reading and writing. She's married, has an eight-year-old stepson, and is a proud mother of a American Staffordshire Terrier (pitbull). She graduated from John Carroll University with a degree in physical education, concentrating in exercise science. She recently finished her MBA, with a concentration in human resources, from the University of Phoenix. She's now working on a second graduate degree--this one focused on adult education and training.

Christina's goal is to teach photography in a college while working as a professional photographer. She says that in her Suburbs Alliance internship, she wants to "gain practical, real-world experience that will help me to transition into a successful career in either the public or private sector, learn about the role that photography plays in strengthening regionalism and local governments, and learn about the use of photography in a nonprofit's marketing, publication design and brand development."

It's evident how lucky we are to have her on our team!


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