The Board of Directors is responsible for advancing LARPHG’s mission, and does this by actively sponsoring seminars, colloquia and conferences. The Board meets several times each year at the Huntington Library.
Prominent Southern California leaders in planning, planning education and planning history have served on the Board during its existence. Brief resumes of each of the current Board members are presented below.
Officers
Marsha V. Rood, President
Marsha Rood, FAICP, is Principal of Urban Reinventions, a firm specializing in downtown revitalization, and has received numerous awards for her work in community-building. She served as the Development Administrator for the City of Pasadena for nearly 20 years and more recently as the Community Development Director of Culver City. Ms. Rood received her B A from Stanford, her Masters in Planning from USC, and serves on numerous professional and non-profit boards.
Bill Trimble, Vice President
Bill Trimble is a land use planner with the City of Pasadena Planning Department. He has worked for more than twenty years in the city, an especially informative location for appreciating relationships between current local issues and the region’s history
Alice Lepis, Secretary
Alice Lepis was Chief of both the City of Los Angeles Transportation Planning and the Parking Management Bureaus for 21 years. Trained in marketing and economics, she also worked in the City Planning Department Citywide Planning Bureau preparing economic studies on transit and down-zoning issues.
Mark Herwick, Treasurer
Mark Herwick, Ph.D., AICP, is Supervising Regional Planner in the Advance Planning Division of the County of Los Angeles Department of Regional Planning. He managed the preparation of the 2008 Los Angeles County draft General Plan; coordinated Urban Land Institute studies of County transit oriented districts in 2010; and prepares new and revised ordinances for community standards and transit oriented development. Mark completed his graduate work in the School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University.
Directors
Ken Bernstein
Ken Bernstein is Principal Planner for the Citywide Planning Division of the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. In this capacity, he also serves as Manager of the City’s Office of Historic Resources, where he directs Los Angeles’ historic preservation policies and oversees SurveyLA, a multi-year citywide survey of historic resources.
Donald Cotton
Don Cotton, AICP is an urban planner and former President of Cotton/Bridges/Associates, a land use and environmental consulting firm that provided services throughout California. Don is past President of the Planner Emeritus Network of the American Planning Association, California Chapter.
Greg Fischer
Greg Fischer was a Planning/Transportation deputy for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry in the Downtown section of her district. He is an amateur Los Angeles historian and Downtown Los Angeles resident.
Samuel Gennawey
Samuel Gennawey is a communications and community outreach professional with recent experience in more than 100 planning projects including general plans and transportation plans. He is a former Board Member of the Pasadena Tourism and Convention Bureau and brings a unique perspective to LARPHG with more than 30 years experience in recording, broadcasting and news media businesses.
Todd Gish
Todd Gish, Ph.D., AIA, is an architect, planner, and urban historian. He earned his PhD at USC, and his professional and research interests include urban design, housing, land use, and production of the built environment in Southern California.
Alan Jutzi
Alan Jutzi is Chief Curator of Rare Books at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. With assistance of the LARPHG, Alan has been collecting Southern California urban planning and architectural records for 25 years. The collection is currently housed at the Library.
Mark Pisano
Mark Pisano is a Senior Fellow in the School of Policy, Planning and Development and a founding member of the Los Angeles Regional History Planning Group. He served as the Executive Director of the Southern California Association of Governments for 32 years.
Steven Preston
Steven Preston, FAICP, is the City Manager and Redevelopment Authority Executive Director of the City of San Gabriel. He has served in numerous leadership roles American Planning Association and founded the Planner Emeritus Network. Consistent with an impressive resume in historic preservation, he is the co-historian for APA California, responsible for documenting the history of planning in the southern portion of the state.
Allyn Rifkin
Allyn Rifkin, PE, was recently Chief of the City of Los Angeles Transportation Programs and Land Development Bureau with over 34 years of experience in a variety of transportation planning projects and programs. Currently Mr. Rifkin is a Commissioner on the Los Angeles County Small Craft and Harbors Commission and owner of a successful consulting firm, The Rifkin Transportation Planning Group.
David Sloane
David Sloane, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. Trained as an historian, Professor Sloane researches both contemporary and historical topics in urban planning, community health, cultural landscapes, and public safety.
Brian R. Smith
Brian Smith, AICP, has 34 years experience as a land use planner, including 21 years in Southern California. He has served in responsible planning roles in various cities, including Escondido, Vista, Modesto and most recently Santa Maria. Smith has supervised major EIR’s and EIS’s for large scale projects such as the San Bernardino County General Plan and the Yosemite Falls Master Plan. Mr. Smith is past President of the California Association of Environmental Professionals, and he is the past Administrative Vice President of the American Planning Association/California Chapter.
