The joint City-County search committee for a new executive director of
the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Agency has narrowed its
search to three finalists. Interviews have commenced and will be
completed in the next two weeks.
The search committee received more than 30 applications for the
position vacated by former MPC Executive Director Mark Donaldson, who
retired at the end of 2014. The three finalists will be interviewed by
members of the search committee, as well as Knox County Mayor Tim
Burchett and Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero. The two mayors will make
the final selection.
The three finalists are:
Gerald Green - Green is currently Planning Director for
Jackson County, N.C. He has also served as principal and owner of
NFocus Planning and Design in Asheville, N.C., and as Chief Planner for
the City of Asheville's Planning and Development Department. He has a
B.A. in Urban Affairs from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, an M.S. in
City Planning from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a
Certificate in County Administration from the University of North
Carolina - Chapel Hill.
Stephen M. Park - Park most recently served as
Senior Vice President for Development for the Alter Group of Skokie,
Ill., a private national commercial development firm. He has also served
as Director of Planning and Zoning for the Village of Mt. Prospect,
Ill. He has a B.A. in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois, a
Master's in Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina -
Chapel Hill, and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Alan Travis - Travis is currently Director of
Planning for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
He has also served as Director of Research for the Atlanta office of
Cushman & Wakefield, an international commercial real estate firm.
He also worked as a Principal Planner for the Knoxville-Knox County MPC
in the late 1990s. He has a B.A. in Economics and Business
Administration and an M.S. in Planning, both from the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville.
Members of the search committee are: Co-chairs Dean Rice, Chief of Staff
to Mayor Burchett, and Bill Lyons, Deputy to Mayor Rogero/Chief Policy
Officer; MPC Vice Chair Bart Carey; MPC Commissioner Herb Anders; former
County Commissioner Wanda Moody; and Stephanie Welch, Vice President of
Operations for Community Schools at the Great Schools Partnership.