About Us
Peter Allen
Peter is a 35 year resident of Ann Arbor. He lives in a condo overlooking Bird Park, works in a rehabbed office overlooking Argo Dam and enjoys walking and biking to work and downtown. He has been doing real estate development, mostly historic rehab, in Ann Arbor since graduating with an MBA from Michigan in 1973. He is assembling the 7 acres of land for Broadway Village at Lowertown and is focused on North Main redevelopment and the Kingsley Lane mixed use development at Kingsley and Ashley. He has taught real estate development to over 2500 graduate students since 1981 for the UM Ross School of Business and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Janis Bobrin
Janis has served as Washtenaw County’s Drain Commissioner since 1989. Major responsibilities of her office include operation of the County’s storm water systems, development of storm water management standards, review of storm water system design and construction in new developments, and numerous watershed planning and protection initiatives. She is also responsible for management of Washtenaw County’s Stormwater Permit programs, mandated under the Federal Clean Water Act. Prior to joining Washtenaw County, Janis worked as an environmental planner for SEMCOG, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, where she managed projects related to surface and groundwater protection. She serves on boards of many professional and environmental organizations.
Richard K. Carlisle, AICP,PCP
Mr. Carlisle is Founder and President of Carlisle/Wortman Associates, a community planning, environmental planning and landscape architecture firm based in Ann Arbor. Mr. Carlisle is Past President of the Michigan Association of Planning and served as an advisor to the Michigan Land Use Leadership Council.
Jean and Phelps Connell
Jean and Phelps retired and moved to Ann Arbor in 1997. Graduates of the University in Economics before their marriage, they then pursued business and land conservation careers. Jean was Executive Director of a Land Trust, and has been on the Board of the Washtenaw Land Trust here. That experience motivates them to advocate for sustainable development.
Brandt Coultas
Brandt is responsible for the business advocacy program at the Chamber of Commerce. Brandt has also run the Chamber’s getDowntown program and worked for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Jill James Crowfoot. Crowfoot’s current work focuses on understanding global and local unsustainability and the basic changes that are needed to achieve sustainability. He seeks to use what he learns to change his own life and to communicate to others the opportunities we have to possibly lessen the environmental, social and economic impacts of this unprecedented crisis. He is professor emeritus of natural resources and urban & regional planning and dean emeritus of the School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan.
Thomas N. Gladwin
Tom is the Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise and Co-Director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, jointly in the Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources & Environment at the University of Michigan. Tom teaches courses on systems thinking, global change and sustainable commerce. He directs the University’s “Sustainable Mobility & Accessibility Research and Transformation” Project. Tom and his wife Ann reside on a farm in Scio Township where they converted the horse barn into a solar-passive environmental retreat center for use by community and University groups.
Margie Hagene
Margie lives with her family in Washtenaw County. She contributes to the community through her focus on social responsibility and sustainable development for current and future generations. As an organizational effectiveness and leadership coach, Margie works in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Through partnering with key leaders, she supports organizations with: clarifying priorities and strategic planning; identifying and optimizing points of leverage within complex systems; creating system-wide alignment; exploring possibilities; improving decision-making; facilitating work sessions and dialogues; finding common ground for collaboration and building community; and developing leaders at all levels.
W.A.P. John
Father, business owner, waterpolo player, he has lived in the Old Fourth Ward for 33 years.. He is interested in how people and organizations communicate with words and pictures.
Bill Lavery
Bill is a 30 year enthusiast of the Saline area, retired chief executive of the Saline Community Hospital and an adjunct professor of health administration at Eastern Michigan University. He helped found the Saline Leadership Institute, the Coalition for a Quality Community (CQC) and the Saline Sustainability Circle, now a formal regional government dialogue group. He shares a concern for the kind of world in which his grandchildren are growing up.
Robert W. Marans
Marans is a research professor at the Institute for Social Research and a professor emeritus of architecture and urban planning in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. His current research considers the impact of the built and natural environments on quality of life, the role of built environment in promoting public health, and issues of urban sprawl. Marans is active in recreation planning and policy in southeastern Michigan. He is a charter member of the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission and the county’s representative on the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority (HCMA). He presently serves on the board of the University’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, is a trustee (president) of the Washtenaw Land Trust, chair of the Michigan Land Use Institute, and a trustee of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, Inc.
David Milling, AIA
David Milling is an architect, urban planner, and designer based in Ann Arbor since 1976. David passionately believes that quality design can uplift the human spirit while simultaneously providing practical solutions for the built environment. The 208 Liberty Street address of David Milling & Associates / Architects is the usual meeting place for the 208 Group, thus the name.
Wayne Say
Wayne is a 38-year resident of Ann Arbor with a 15 year private sector career as partner in an environmental consulting firm and a 20 year career with the University of Michigan doing program development and fund raising. Wayne has also served as the convener and facilitator of the 208 Group.
Tony VanDerworp, AICP
A practicing planner, he has over 30 years’ experience in community planning, environmental protection, economic development and county and city management. He is the recipient of numerous state and national awards in wetlands protection, community design, regional planning, affordable housing and intergovernmental cooperation.