Erv Klaas, Professor Emeritus, ISU

Erv retired in December 1999 after 30 years service with the U.S. Department of Interior’s, Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey as a Wildlife Research Biologist.  He served the last 25 years as Assistant Leader (1975-92) and Leader (1992-1999) of the Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Iowa State University. He is now Professor Emeritus of Animal Ecology in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology Management.  He is serving his third 4-year term as an elected Commissioner of the Story County Soil and Water Conservation District.  Erv is a volunteer with the IOWATER program and is active in the Squaw Creek Watershed Coalition.  He serves on the Executive Board of Ames Smart Growth Alliance, the Squaw Creek Watershed Coalition and the Board of Directors of the Prairie Rivers of Iowa RC&D.  He is a member of The Nature Conservancy, American Ornithologists’ Union, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Pheasants Forever, Iowa Prairie Network, and The Wildlife Society.  He was led to 1000 Friends of Iowa through his life long interest in land use as it affects biodiversity and environmental health.

Dan Burden, Urban Designer/Founder of Walkable Communities, Inc.

Joe Pietruszynski, Hubbell Realty

Susan Roberts, JD, MS, RD

Susan Roberts integrates food, agriculture, health and the law in developing policies and strategies for safer, sustainable, just food systems which in turn catalyze greater health among individuals, communities, and environments. 

As a consultant, writer and speaker on food systems Ms. Roberts takes scientific information and translates it into policy applications linking public health, food, agriculture and food security. She is currently the Principal of Roberts Law Firm, PLC and professional staff at the University of Northern Iowa. Recently Ms. Roberts directed the WK Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellows Program where national fellows used media to influence food systems, agriculture and health thinking and policy. Ms. Roberts also worked on staff at the Drake University Law School Agricultural Law Center analyzing food policy. Ms. Roberts has experience as a Research Dietitian publishing medical research and experience in government administration as Director of Public Health Nutrition for the Iowa Department of Public Health, directing state nutrition programs such as the WIC Program

Ms. Roberts received her BS in Dietetics, Food and Nutrition from Iowa State University, her MS in Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, and her Juris Doctorate of Law from Drake University School of Law with special certificates in Food & Agricultural Law and Legislative Practice.

Kamyar Enshayan, Cedar Falls City Council

Marty Ryan, Planner, City of Cedar Falls

City Planner, City of Cedar Falls, Iowa since 1989; also serves as Zoning Administrator and Floodplain Administrator.

Education: St. Louis University Metropolitan College, BA, 1976; University of Iowa Urban and Regional Planning, MA, 1987

David Doyle-EPA Region 7, Iowa City

David Doyle works for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 7 Office in Kansas City, Kansas.  David has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Syracuse University and a Master of Science degree in Environmental Health Engineering from the University of Kansas. 

David has been with EPA for over 30 years and has worked in many of EPA’s water, air, and hazardous waste programs as both a staff person and a manager. 

David is presently EPA’s regional Land Revitalization Coordinator, where he assists EPA program staff, property owners, and communities in reusing and revitalizing contaminated properties, as well as properties located in communities impacted by a natural disaster, in a sustainable manner. He is the EPA Region 7 Emergency Support Function (ESF)-14 Coordinator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  He is a certified mediator for both the Kansas City Area Federal Employee’s Shared Neutrals mediation program and the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Board of Commissioners.  He is a board member of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance and the Kansas City Transportation Action Team.

Craig Malin, City Planner, Davenport

Craig Malin was appointed Davenport City Administrator in July, 2001. He has since served four Mayors and six City Councils, setting a record for tenure as Davenport City Administrator.

Mr. Malin holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Science and three Masters Degrees; Public Administration, Human Resources Development and Urban Planning & Policy. He is a graduate of Harvard University’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative and Senior Executive in State & Local Government program.

Mr. Malin had experience with eight local governments prior to being appointed City Administrator in Davenport, including three municipalities, two counties, a park district and a regional planning commission. He was a founder of Prairie Crossing Charter School, a public elementary charter school with a curriculum centered on environmental stewardship and responsible citizenship.

He is a member of the International City / County Management Association (ICMA), has attained the ICMA Credentialed Manager designation and has served on numerous national committees and task forces, including being one of seven city managers asked to rewrite the credentialing exam for the profession and authoring the profession’s white paper on sustainability. He is also a member of the Congress For New Urbanism and American Planning Association; holding the American Institute of Certified Planners credential. He further serves on the Board of the 1000 Friends of Iowa.

Mr. Malin’s record of professional recognition at the national level includes being selected as “Assistant Manager of the Year” and “Outstanding Manager of the Year” by the ICMA. In addition, he has received an “Achievement Award” by the National Association of Counties, and was named “County Leader of the Year” by American City and County Magazine. To date, six local government professionals who have worked under his direction have gone on to be appointed CAOs of local governments.

His tenure in Davenport has coincided with a significant decrease in crime and over a billion dollars of tax base growth as years of population decline and job loss are being reversed with infrastructure investment, improved operations and targeted efforts to revitalize the riverfront, downtown and neighborhoods. Davenport was recognized as the nation’s Most Livable Small City by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2007 and received an International Community Sustainability Award for cities over 50,000 from the ICMA in 2008. Davenport outperformed every major city in Iowa in response to historic flooding in 2008 and leads every other city in Iowa with the number of personnel in departments that meet national accreditation standards. In 2009, community services provided by City departments received the highest customer satisfaction scores ever.

Mr. Malin resides in Davenport with his wife and two school age children. He hopes to enjoy just one pleasant late October day at 1060 W. Addison Street in Chicago before his demise.

Omar Smadi, ISU Institute for Transportation

Dr. Smadi has over 20 years of experience in the area of infrastructure and asset management ranging from pavements, bridges, pavement marking, signs and other infrastructure assets.  He is the Director of CTRE and Co-Director of the Program for Roadway Infrastructure Management and Operations (PRIMO) at CTRE.  Dr. Smadi is also an adjunct professor with the department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University.

Dr. Smadi is involved in several Asset management related projects for the Iowa Department of Transportation and cities and counties in Iowa.  He manages the Iowa Pavement Management Program (IPMP), a project to provide pavement management data, tools, and training to state and local government agencies.  Dr. Smadi’s pavement management research involves the use of state of the art tools, databases, GIS/GPS, and methodologies to quantify the benefits to implementing pavement management systems.

Dr. Smadi chairs the TRB committee on Pavement Monitoring and Evaluation, is a member of the Pavement Management Committee, and the Visibility Committee.  He is also a member of the ASCE committee on Infrastructure Management Systems and the committee on Advanced Transportation systems.  He served as a member of Task Force 45; a committee of AASHTO, FHWA, and ARTBA to look at data needs for asset management.  He is also listed as a friend of the AASHTO Asset Management Sub Committee and TRB Asset management Committee.  Dr. Smadi teaches a graduate class on pavement and asset management at Iowa State University.  He also teaches NHI classes on the topics of asset management and integrating pavement preservation and pavement management.

Aaron Todd, Community Planning Specialist, Rebuild Iowa Office