About the Speakers

Senior Planner, AICP

Susan is a Senior Planner with Elan Planning. For the past 30 years, she has assisted communities across NYS and the Commonwealth of Virginia to prepare economic and community-based plans that are grounded in public engagement. Using creative techniques to gather public input, Susan guides communities to create plans that balance land use, economic development, and quality of life issues.

Senior Planner

Laura is a Senior Planner with Elan Planning. She is an urban resilience expert with a background in international sustainable development. Her career has focused on supporting local communities to increase their sustainability and resilience through integrated planning and policy approaches that balance social, economic, and environmental needs. She has worked with communities in New York and around the world with Elan and in previous positions with ICLEI and the UNFCCC.

Executive Director

Shelly Callahan is the Executive Director of The Center in Utica, NY.  Established in 1981, The Center assists refugees, immigrants, and those with limited English language proficiency throughout the integration process, helping them to achieve independence through services that help to build a community with many cultures. Shelly joined The Center in 2006. Prior to that, she worked for many years in Washington D.C. as an editor in legal publishing including at the United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions Office. Shelly is a graduate of SUNY Buffalo and lives in Holland Patent with her family.

Planner

Luis Roldan is a Planner at the City of Albany, Department of Planning and Development. He is a graduate of the University at Albany’s Master’s in Regional Planning Program, concentrating in Community Development, and the Urban Policy Graduate Certificate Program.

Luis co-authored the 2020 Consolidated Plan for the Albany Community Development Agency.  Luis is currently involved in the South End Strategic Plan and the South End Brownfields Opportunities Area Plan. Native to the New York City borough of Queens, he moved to Albany’s South End Neighborhood in 2007, where he became actively involved in community initiatives focused on social and environmental justice.