Board of Directors

Jason Duckworth

President of Arcadia Land Company | DVSGA President

Jason Duckworth is the President of Arcadia Land Company.

Jason has received widespread recognition as a progressive developer and advocate of smart growth in the Philadelphia region. Under Jason’s leadership, Arcadia has pursued a strategy of infill redevelopment in walkable places such as Media, Narberth, Hatboro, and Haverford. For years, Jason has advised Seaside developer, Robert S. Davis, and has consulted to property owners and municipalities throughout the United States on smart growth.

Seth A. Shapiro

Director of Planning and Urban Design BartonPartners Architects Planners, Inc. | DVSGA Vice President

Seth has a broad range of professional experience including residential (both affordable and market rate) and mixed-use development, as well as expertise in public outreach and land entitlement. Seth has worked with private developers and public agencies throughout the country, including the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, Brandywine Realty Trust, BPG/ Equus Capital Partners, LTD, and multiple housing and redevelopment authorities. His most recent focus has been on multi-family and mixed use land planning, with a specific concentration on the repositioning of properties previously entitled for other uses.

Michael C. Gross

General Counsel, EMR USA | DVSGA Secretary and Treasurer

In his role as General Counsel, Michael provides legal advice and strategy to senior management concerning general corporate and regulatory compliance matters for EMR USA. He drafts and negotiates a broad range of commercial agreements (services, procurement, real estate, confidentiality) as well as contracts related to maritime and international trade.

Brian O'Leary, AICP

Executive Direction for the Chester County Planning Commission | DVSGA Events Chair

Brian O’Leary is the Executive Director for the Chester County Planning Commission, where he manages commission staff which works on smart growth, land use, comprehensive planning, revitalization, housing, site design, historic preservation, open space, transportation, trails, and pipelines. He has over 25 years of experience in community planning. Brian has a BA in international relations from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA in real estate/urban land studies from Temple University. He is currently the past president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association and the government board representative for the Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance.

Robin L. Murray, FAIA, PP, LEED AP BD+C

Principal rlm architect | DVSGA Past President

Robin L. Murray is a licensed architect and planner experienced is the design of sustainable smart growth through a wide range of projects and principal of rlm architect, based in New Jersey. She is currently a consultant working in coastal community resiliency planning for the Office of Coastal and Land Use Planning at NJ DEP. Prior to this, she practiced both her own firm and with others, in government as the Deputy Director of the NJ Office of Smart Growth and as an adjunct professor at Rutgers, NJIT and Rowan. Her focus has been on creating stimulating livable mixed use, multimodal communities in urban, suburban and rural context, with a special expertise in integrated net zero infrastructure for developers, government, and non-profits.

Brian Berson

Vice President of Development, Brandywine Realty Trust

Mr. Berson joined Brandywine in 2015 and currently serves as Vice President of Development. He has over 20 years of experience in the real estate development industry; prior to joining Brandywine, Mr. Berson was the Vice President of Leasing and Development at Liberty Property Trust, where he had complete operating responsibilities for the firm’s leasing, development, and asset management activity at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Justin Dula, AICP

Community and Regional Planning section Manager at the Delaware County Planning Department

Justin Dula, AICP is currently the Community and Regional Planning section Manager at the Delaware County Planning Department (DCPD) with over 10 years of experience at Delaware County. He is also currently Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA PA) and Chair of the Southeast Section of the APA PA. He contributes those organizations' development and events committees. He received his Masters of City and Regional Planning from the Ohio State University before moving to the Upper Darby Township.

Ann Hutchinson

Senior Director of Municipal Conservation Services at Natural Lands Trust

Ann Hutchinson, AICP, is the Senior Director of Municipal Conservation Services at Natural Lands Trust, a regional land conservancy located in Media, Pennsylvania. Ann has assisted over 100 Pennsylvania municipalities with conservation-minded land use ordinances, plans and site plan reviews. She is a contributing author, with nationally recognized planner Randall Arendt, to the statewide Growing Greener: Conservation by Design program and the interactive CDROM Growing Greener Ordinance Language (Island Press, 2001). Before joining the Trust in 1996, Ms. Hutchinson was the Director of Planning and Community Development for Lower Merion Township, a first-ring suburb of Philadelphia.

Jonas Maciunas, AICP

Principal of JVM Studio

Jonas is principal of JVM Studio, a planning and urban design practice founded to help cities, towns, and neighborhoods manage change. His work includes civic engagement, street design, transportation network planning, public space, development planning and design guidelines, and tactical demonstration projects. He focuses on strategic solutions to conflicts created by growth, that reflect community values and respect economic, social, and geometric realities. Inga Saffron, architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote that Vision2026, the planning framework Jonas wrote for Old City, “reflects a profound shift in thinking” in how business districts operate.

Margaret M. McCauley

Founder & Principal

With her colleagues at Downtown Works, the retail consulting firm she founded, Ms. McCauley creates and implements sustainable retail strategies that turn decaying urban zones into vibrant, vital downtowns. She has been at the forefront of the metropolitan retail industry since her days working with legendary retail developer and real estate visionary Jim Rouse.

Michael S. McCloskey, AIA, LEED AP

Principal at Bernardon

Michael is a registered architect and urban designer. As a principal of Bernardon, he manages the firm’s Philadelphia studio, mentors staff, and supports the firm’s regional and national development goals. Mike is recognized for a design process that instills efficient and aesthetic design considerations that respond to the varying goals of his clients.

Karin Morris, AICP

Associate Director, Planning, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission

Karin Morris, AICP, is an Associate Director of Planning at DVRPC, the regional planning agency for Greater Philadelphia, where she has completed numerous studies on livable communities. She received her Master’s in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan. She was a 2005-2006 Knight Fellow in Community Building at the University of Miami, and a 2014-2015 German Marshall Fund Urban and Regional Policy Fellow. She has served on the Boards of the APA-PA Southeast Section as well as the Passyunk Square Civic Association. She has also been selected to serve on several research panels for the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

Barry Seymour

Executive Director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission

Barry Seymour serves as Executive Director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), the regional planning forum for the Greater Philadelphia region, with a focus on transportation, land use, the environment and economic growth. DVRPC is the federally-designated Metropolitan Planning Organization for the region. In his time at DVRPC, Mr. Seymour instituted the first municipal grant program for revitalization of urban neighborhoods and older suburban communities, spearheaded the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Smart Transportation initiative, and is leading a regional planning program to improve energy efficient. He is a recipient of the 2008 Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Local Government Excellence.

James Wilson

Executive Director of Bike Delaware

James Wilson is the executive director of Bike Delaware. He is a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (by whom he was named the 2014 Professional of the Year, Nonprofit Sector), the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Delaware Bicycle Council. He serves on the board of directors of Delaware Greenways and as the co-chair of the policy committee of the Advisory Council on Walkability and Pedestrian Awareness.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance