Our Team
KATHRYN S. MCCARTY, Director
Kathryn S. McCarty is a Professor in Practice with VA Tech’s graduate Urban Affairs and Planning Program in Northern Virginia. She teaches community involvement and has partnered with Joe Schilling to conduct a series of environmental studios for past years. She is co-directing a community sustainability planning project, entitled Eco-City Alexandria. In her consultant role, she has helped to guide an effective collaborative among citizens serving on the Environmental Policy Commission, Alexandria city staff, and other community leaders to produce an Eco-City Charter and 20-year action plan for mobilizing city government, residents and business leaders to reduce their carbon footprint. In her work with Arlington County’s Department of Environmental Services, Kathryn identifies government efficiencies and initiatives to manage with fewer resources and helps local officials achieve their vision of smart growth and civic-oriented community planning.
Kathryn is a facilitator, mediator, and organizational development consultant. Kathryn regularly conducts organizational climate assessments for local and federal government agencies and supports organizational change initiatives. Kathryn has been advising federal, state and local officials as a consultant for the past 20 years. She worked for four local governments and the National League of Cities as a member of its executive staff.
Ms. McCarty is credentialed as a Certified Professional Facilitator by the International Association of Facilitators; Certified Charrette Planner by the National Charrette Institute; a Mediator Mentor by the Supreme Court of Virginia; and a Public Involvement Specialist by the International Association for Public Participation. She holds a masters degree in public and urban affairs from the University of Washington and an undergraduate degree in psychology from Denison University.
JOSEPH M. SCHILLING, Senior Fellow
Joe Schilling is an Assistant Research Professor at Virginia Tech’s Alexandria Center and leads the Metropolitan Institute’s Green Regions Initiative that looks at innovative ways of creating environmentally sustainable regions through better building and community design. Schilling also provides community and non-profit organizations, government, and business leaders with strategic policy guidance and programmatic assessments in such areas as vacant property revitalization, brownfields redevelopment, smart growth, zoning code reform, active living, and military base encroachment.
Joe and Kathryn are directing the Eco-City Alexandria initiative in the City of Alexandria, VA. This has been a strategic collaborative planning process designed to create an Eco-City Charter and Environmental Action Plan that will guide Alexandria toward sustainability over the next 20 years.
Prior to joining VA Tech and the Institute, Schilling directed the community and economic development programs for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) focusing on local governments and the intersection of land use laws and policies as they relate to smart growth and the community revitalization. Together with Smart Growth America and the Local Initiative Support Corporation, he helped launched the National Vacant Properties Campaign as a forum to raise national awareness, coordinate research, and provide technical assistance to communities combating the decay caused by vacant properties. Schilling continues to serve as the Campaign’s Director of Research and Training and work directly with communities on vacant property assessment.
Professor Schilling has written on a variety of community and economic development issues. He completed a series of case studies on the technical tools that local governments and communities can use to revitalize vacant and abandoned buildings, Vacant Properties: Where Broken Windows Meet Smart Growth (2002). Professor Schilling teamed with Charlie Bartsch from the Northeast Midwest Institute to document the lessons learned from EPA’s original 16 Showcase Communities Brownfields Blueprints (2001).
As a public policy facilitator, Schilling has led many forums and workshops, including the September 2004 Brownfields 2020 Executive Symposium, a two-day Brownfields training for EPA Region 9, the Mayor’s Asia Pacific Environmental Summit (MAPES 2001), and numerous sessions on land use controls at the National Brownfields’ Conference and on code reform at the National Smart Growth Partners Conference.
Professor Schilling holds a Masters of Environmental Law (LL.M.) from George Washington University (GWU) and a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He teaches environmental sustainability, community engagement, and land use law as a Professor in Practice at Virginia Tech’s School of Planning and Urban Affairs in Alexandria. Schilling has also taught courses in State & Local Government Law and Regional Growth at GW Law School and Brownfields, Greyfields, & Vacant Properties, Environmental and Land Use Dispute Resolution, and Water Pollution Law and Policy.
JESSICA COGAN MILLMAN, Senior Fellow
Jessica Cogan Millman is an expert and leader in urban planning, environmentally sustainable development, and the principles of smart growth. She has extensive experience working at all levels of government (Federal, State, and Local) and also in the non-profit arena. Her recent experience includes Chair of the committee developing the US Green Building Council’s new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED ND) program, which integrates the principles of smart growth, new urbanism and green building into a rating system that evaluates the environmental attributes of neighborhoods. Ms. Millman now leads a private consulting practice, the Agora Group, which draws on her active and diverse career promoting and advancing the best practices to achieve high quality, sustainable communities.
The Agora Group was founded by Ms. Millman to consult on a variety of smart growth initiatives and development projects. Much of her current work focuses on the LEED ND program. The Agora Group also advises on planning and zoning issues in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Region.
Prior to founding the Agora Group, Jessica served as Senior Advisor of the transition team for the District of Columbia Office of Planning. In this capacity she worked directly with the newly appointed Director of Planning in shaping the office to accomplish the goals and objectives of the new Mayor. To serve the DC government in this capacity, she was granted temporary leave from her position as the Planning Director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. At the Coalition, Jessica primarily advocated for the adoption of good planning policies around the Washington region.
Prior to joining the Coalition, Jessica served as the Deputy Director of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, which was created by former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening to help state and local elected, civic and business leaders design and implement effective smart growth strategies.
Jessica has also served as the Chief of Staff for the Governor’s Office of Smart Growth in Maryland and as the Director of Program and Policy Coordination at the Maryland Department of Planning. Before arriving in Maryland, Jessica was Deputy Director of the Urban and Economic Development Division at the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Jessica has a Master’s Degree in Land Use and Environmental Planning from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and a Bachelor’s Degree in Marine Affairs/Coastal Management from the University of Rhode Island.