Keynote Speakers

Keynote Speaker: Carol R. Naughton, Senior Vice President, Purpose Built Communities

Carol Redmond Naughton is the Senior Vice President of Purpose Built Communities, LLC, a non-profit dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty in neighborhoods across the country through a comprehensive redevelopment strategy based on the East Lake model. For seven years prior to joining Purpose Built Communities, she served as the Executive Director of the East Lake Foundation, a neighborhood-focused organization that developed and continues to implement a bold, innovative and successful model of community revitalization that helps families break the cycle of poverty.

An expert in public/private partnerships, Carol has crafted innovative alliances in both housing and education. Prior to joining the East Lake Foundation, she was General Counsel for the Atlanta Housing Authority. Ms. Naughton played an instrumental role in the revitalization of traditional public housing communities into economically viable, self-sustaining, mixed-income communities.

Prior to joining AHA, Ms. Naughton was engaged in the private practice of law with Sutherland, Asbill and Brennan’s real estate group, where she primarily represented developers, lenders and asset managers. She is a graduate of the Emory University School of Law and was Executive Editor of the Emory Law Journal. She graduated with honors from Colgate University. Ms. Naughton serves on the Board of Directors of the Charles R. Drew Charter School and currently chairs the Board of Directors of Progressive Redevelopment, Inc., a regional developer of affordable housing. She is a former president of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers, a member of the State Bar of Georgia and a former member of the Board of Governors of that organization. She serves or has served on the boards of several community and national organizations.

Keynote Speaker: Susan M. Hatchell, President-Elect, American Society of Landscape Architects

Growing up in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, Susan M. Hatchell, FASLA, was greatly inspired by the monuments, parks, and public spaces that speak so symbolically to the American spirit. The National Mall, the Tidal Basin, Dumbarton Oaks, Rock Creek Park, and so many other places instilled in her a love of great public spaces and how people use them.

In her junior year studying horticulture at the University of Maryland at College Park, she finally discovered landscape architecture! She moved south to get a master’s degree in landscape architecture at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and served as the treasurer of the student ASLA chapter.

She served as secretary, president, and trustee of the ASLA North Carolina Chapter and gained much satisfaction from working with colleagues toward common goals. She was chair of the ASLA Public Relations Committee, Professional Interest Groups, Chapter Presidents Council, and Chapter Initiatives Program. She also served on the ASLA Public Relations and Communications Advisory Committee, Emerging Professionals Committee, Nominating Committee, Leadership Development Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Awards Jury Selection Committee, and on numerous community committees and awards juries. She was honored to be inducted as an ASLA Fellow in 2001, and served as ASLA vice president of membership in from 2007 to 2008 during a time of increased growth in membership and leadership training.

Keynote Speaker: Tad Leithead, Chairman, Atlanta Regional Commission

Mr. Leithead was elected in December 2009 as Chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, a 39-member board that steers the planning and development for the ten-county Atlanta region. He has served on the ARC board since 2000, and was Chair of its Transportation and Air Quality Committee from 2007-2008.

Mr. Leithead also serves as Chairman of the Cumberland Community Improvement District, a self-taxing group of commercial property owners that is directly responsible for almost $3 billion of transportation improvements in Cobb County. In 1994, he served as Chairman of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce and also received the Lockheed Corporation Management Association's "Manager of the Year" award. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Bank of North Georgia, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Fulton County Perimeter Community Immprovement District, and the North Fulton Community Improvement District. He is past Chairman of the Board of The Walker School.

Prior to forming his own governmental relations and consulting firm, Mr. Leithead was responsible for leading Cousins Properties developoment efforts as they relate to entitlement issues throughout the region and served as liaison with the various government entities and community-based organizations. He has 26 years of experience in the Atlanta commercial real estate market and has leased some five million square feet of office space.

As founding partner with Childress Klein Properties, Mr. Leithead was instrumental in the operation of the Atlanta Galleria, one of Atlanta's premieir mixed-use developments, and a key participant in the development of the Cobb Galleria Centre--a 300,000 square-foot county-owned convention center.

In 1998, he formed Urban One Associates, a development and transportation consulting firm, working with Midtown Alliance, Perimeter Center, Gwinnett County and others in the formation of several new Community Improvement Districts. He was a principal in the development of Ridenour, a 90-acre "Smart Growth" community in northwest Cobb County, which received the Atlanta Regional Commission's "Development of Excellence" award in 1999.

Mr. Leithead is a resident of Cobb County and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington and Lee University.

Keynote Speaker: Daniel Nadenicek, Dean, College of Environment & Design, University of Georgia

Dean Daniel J. Nadenicek began his leadership role with the College of Environment and Design at the University of Georgia in August of 2008. He had previously served for seven years as Department Chair of Planning and Landscape Architecture at Clemson University, and served as Director of their PhD program in Environment Design and Planning. Prior to that, he was program coordinator for the Landscape Architecture programs at Penn State.

A true landscape historian, Dean Nadenicek holds a BS and MS in History, from Mankato State University, as well as a BS and MS in Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota. His professional and academic experience and interests span the breadth of the programs at the College of Environment and Design, making him one of the first Deans to bridge disciplines. The nature of his collaborative leadership style has earned him great respect from the upper administration levels of UGA and within the society of Deans.

Dean Nadenicek is an author and remains a teaching professor, researcher, and a scholar, particularly of the cultural landscape. He currently serves on the Georgia National Register Review Board, and in 2007 was bestowed the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture’s (CELA) “Outstanding Administrator of the Year” award. He remains very active within professional societies and organizations nationally such as the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Planning Association (APA), and CELA, as well as their State chapters and affiliates.

Keynote Speaker: Barbara Deutsch, ASLA, Executive Director, Landscape Architecture Foundation

Ms. Deutsch has a diverse background in both the not-for-profit and private sector. Before changing careers to become a landscape architect, Deutsch was a marketing professional for IBM for ten years, earning two of its most prestigious awards, the Golden Circle, which recognizes the top 5% of marketing representatives in the country. She has since used these valuable business skills to become a leader in the sustainable design movement.

Prior to heading LAF, Deutsch was an Associate Director with BioRegional’s One Planet Communities, an initiative to create zero carbon, zero waste, and 100% sustainable lifestyle communities. Before that, Deutsch served as Senior Director of the Casey Trees Endowment Fund where she secured $350,000 in grant funding for strategic projects and led the 2002 Street Tree Inventory, Citizen Forester Program, and 1425 K Street Green Roof Demonstration Project. She was principal investigator for the award-winning EPA Grant titled “The Green Build-out Model: Quantifying the Stormwater Management Benefits of Trees and Green Roofs in Washington, DC”.

Deutsch holds a Master in Landscape Architecture from the University of Washington and a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia. She was awarded a Loeb Fellowship in 2006 by the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Keynote Speaker: Spencer Tunnell, II, Principal, Tunnell & Tunnell

Mr. Tunnell’s work includes the restoration of the Boxwood Garden at Swan House for the Atlanta History Center, the multi-phase implementation of the Olmsted Linear Park in Druid Hills, and a Master Plan and specific phase implementation for the Atlanta Botanical Garden. His current work includes the restoration of the Philip Shutze Goodrum Estate (c. 1932). He served as a member of the Charette Faculty for the Millennium Gate Foundation for their proposed monument in Washington, D.C. and has been a part-time faculty member at the School of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia.

Mr. Tunnell is a dedicated community volunteer. He has been a member of the Atlanta Urban Design Commission, the city agency responsible for administering the city’s historic zoning ordinance and currently serves as its vice chair. Mr. Tunnell serves on the Boards of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, the Cherokee Garden Library, and Easements Atlanta. He has served on the Board of the Piedmont Park Conservancy, as well as the programming committee when the National Association of Olmsted Parks held its convention in Atlanta in 1993. Mr. Tunnell is the former co-chair of the Historic Preservation Open Committee of the ASLA.

Mr Tunnell has written and lectured widely on landscape architecture and architecture history including two articles in the recently published "Pioneers of American Landscape Design."