Hi everyone,

Glad to be part of the group!  Here is a little bit of background info about me (admittedly cut-and-pasted from my website):

John is the President and Founder of Intelligent Futures. In recent years, he has earned a reputation as a leader in the emerging field of sustainability planning.

Since 2004, John has been a key player in imagineCALGARY – the long-range urban sustainability plan for Canada’s fastest growing major metropolitan area, Calgary, Alberta. imagineCALGARY is the winner of the 2009 Canadian Urban Institute Natural City Urban Leadership Award, the 2007 FCM-CH2M Hill Award for Sustainable Community Planning and the 2007 AUMA Sustainable Community Planning – Innovator Community Award. John also led the development of the recently completed Cochrane Sustainability Plan – a plan that reflects a unique, fully collaborative approach to sustainability planning not previously seen in Canada.

As a result of his in-depth experience with sustainability plans, John has been approached to advise a number of communities undertaking sustainability planning processes, including Portland, Oregon; Durban, South Africa; Saint John, New Brunswick; Olympia, Washington and Chattanooga, Tennessee. John’s expertise in sustainability planning has allowed him to instruct at two “Boot Camps” on sustainability – one in Surrey, British Columbia (through Simon Fraser University) and one in Cochrane, Alberta as part of the Cochrane Sustainability Plan process.

John also has extensive experience in developing implementation frameworks for sustainability. As the Community Sustainability Leader, John led the development of organizational structures designed to ensure ongoing action towards the imagineCALGARY Plan by more than 50 imagineCALGARY Partners – community-based organizations representing both the public, private and voluntary sectors. During his work on the Cochrane Sustainability Plan, John led the development of an implementation framework to establish the key steps needed to build community action and engagement within the plan.

In addition to his work in the sustainability community, John has a diverse range of planning experience. He led the creation of The City of Calgary’s Sustainability Principles for Land Use & Mobility, which are now used to guide planning and mobility initiatives throughout the city. John has also worked as a community education planner, development planner, land use planner and was the primary author of The City of Calgary’s Transit Oriented Development Policy Guidelines.

A Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, John is a strong believer in continuous development and is active in professional and academic learning. He has led course development and provided instruction in the Urban Studies Program and the Faculty of Environmental Design at The University of Calgary, and has spoken at a variety of professional conferences. John was recently selected to an international group of emerging leaders as part of the Global Environmental Governance Forum in Glion, Switzerlnad, is a contributor to World Changing Canada and is on the Board of Directors for LEAD (Leadership in Environment and Development) Canada. John has a Bachelor Degree in Environmental Studies (Honours) from York University and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Design from The University of Calgary.