The project is facilitated by William Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. The design team includes the Chicago Field Museum, Ken Snyder of PlaceMatters in Denver, CO. and Jonathan Arnold of Arnold Imaging in Kansas City, Mo.

William S. Becker – Bill is Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project at the University of Colorado School of Public Affairs. He was the executive director, principal researcher and writer of the Presidential Climate Action Plan, a comprehensive 200-point agenda for national climate and energy policy presented to the Obama Administration in November 2008. The co-director of the Obama Transition Team, John Podesta, called PCAP the “gold standard” of climate-energy policy input to the new Administration.  Prior to this assignment, Bill served for 15 years with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the last 10 years as its Central Regional Director. He is an author whose latest book is “The 100 Day Action Plan to Save the Planet”. He is a frequent contributor to environmental blogs, including Huffington Post, Climate Progress, The Environmentalist and SolveClimate. Bill serves on several international advisory boards related to energy, climate and global security and is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts in green energy and sustainable development.

Jonathan Arnold – Jonathan is the Principal and Creative Director of Arnold Imaging in Kansas City, a firm that specializes in using cutting edge visualization and communication technologies to help lay audiences understand sustainable development concepts for buildings, communities and transportation systems. Arnold Imaging has used these tools to market more than $6 billion in smart growth real estate developments since the company’s inception in 1997.  Jonathan received his bachelor’s degree in Design and City Planning from Cornell University and his Masters in Real Estate Development from Columbia University.

Ken Snyder – Ken is the CEO and President of PlaceMatters, a nonprofit enterprise that empowers professionals, elected officials and citizens to engage in sustainable community design with a variety of innovative planning tools and methodologies. Ken is a nationally recognized expert on a broad range of technical and non-technical tools for community design and decision-making. Prior to working for PlaceMatters, Ken led the Planning Tools Program for the Orton Family Foundation.  He  also worked for the US Department of Energy as a Community Development Program Specialist. In 2000, he served as co-chair of a committee on information and tools for the White House’s Livability Council. In 2001, he was selected as a German Marshall Fund Environmental Fellow where he traveled to Europe to study professional peer approaches to land use and transportation planning.  He has a Master’s Degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in Conservation and Development.