The Jury
Members of the Jury represent a range of expertise in real estate and land use, including finance, investment, planning, development, design, public affairs, and professional services, et al. Jury members typically serve a three-year term.
2021 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development Jury
Leslie Woo, Jury Chair
Chief Executive Officer, CivicAction
Ontario, Canada
Leslie Woo is a respected leader with over 25 years of experience building sustainable communities and shaping urban growth in Canada’s fastest-growing urban region, the Greater Toronto Area. Woo recently assumed the role of CEO at CivicAction, a premier civic engagement organization that convenes established and rising leaders from all sectors, backgrounds, and experiences, CivicAction catalyzes actions and impactful solutions to address barriers to inclusion in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and beyond. Before joining CivicAction, Woo was at Metrolinx for over a decade, including her time as Metrolinx’s Chief Planning and Development Officer. She is a trisector athlete with experience in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. She is an experience a planner, architect, and community activator. An accomplished leader, Woo was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in 2017 by WXN, Spacing Toronto’s Transit Changemaker in 2016, and Canada’s Women’s Infrastructure Network’s 2015 Outstanding Leader. Founder of shebuildscities.org, Woo uses her voice and platform to amplify and celebrate other women city builders.
Maurice Cox
Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), City of Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA
Maurice D. Cox was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) by Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and confirmed by the City Council on October 16, 2019. Cox is responsible for leading DPD’s economic development, planning and zoning functions while fostering community-improvement initiatives throughout the city. In his previous capacity as director of planning and development for the City of Detroit, Cox created a new, resident-centered planning and development department and led innovative urban planning and revitalization strategies that championed the equitable redevelopment of neighborhoods that fostered population growth and new mixed-use, mixed-income investment. Cox was formerly the design director of the National Endowment of the Arts under President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. He also served as mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, from 2002 and 2004, following six years as a City Councilor. Cox is a former professor at Syracuse University, the University of Virginia and Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design; a former associate dean for community engagement at Tulane University; and former director of the Tulane City Center in New Orleans. He also practiced architecture for 10 years in Florence, Italy, where he met his wife and raised their two children. A native of Brooklyn, he has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Cooper Union in New York City and an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Detroit Mercy.
Candace Damon
Vice Chairman, HR&A Advisors
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Candace is Vice Chairman of HR&A Advisors, Inc. She has over 35 years of experience in the management of complex, public-private real estate and economic development activity in cities across North America. Her specific areas of expertise include supporting master planning efforts for large-scale revitalizations, ensuring the long-term viability of urban open space, leading organizational planning for non-profits and institutions, addressing the financial challenges of making commercial and multifamily residential buildings energy efficient, and providing strategic direction for downtown and waterfront redevelopment. She points with particular pride to the design of what remains the country’s largest and most successful effort to invest in energy efficiency in affordable housing – New York State’s Affordable Multifamily Program, which ultimately provided a mix of technical assistance and investment capital to 100,000 units across the state – and to a host of new and revitalized urban parks that operate on a financially sustainable basis because of her and her colleagues’ work, including Charlotte’s Romare Bearden Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and (soon) Seattle’s Central Waterfront.
She has served on multiple nonprofit boards over her career, including the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation, where she revamped and revitalized New York City’s largest street fair and led efforts to strengthen the street as a walkable neighborhood retail corridor. Other board affiliations have included the Urban Green Council and New Yorkers for Parks. She currently serves as a board member of the City Parks Alliance, the country’s only national advocacy organization for urban parks, and is a member of the Urban Land Institute’s Placemaking Council.
Candace is an Amherst College and Harvard Law School graduate. She works out of HR&A’s NYC office while living in Vermont with her husband, son, and dog.
Chris Frampton
Chief Executive Officer, East West Partners
Denver, CO, USA
As CEO, Chris works with a team of dedicated developers across the country. East West Partners is pioneering new communities in Charleston, Denver, Snowmass, Deer Valley and Kauai. The goal of East West is simple, Create Terrific Places. Chris is president of the board of the Civic Center Conservancy, Chair of the ULI Spring Meeting, and chair of the 5280 Loop Committee at the Downtown Denver Partnership. He is lucky enough to have a rock star wife, three amazing children, and gorgeous Golden Retriever named Momo.
Randy Rowe
Chairman, Green Courte Partners
Chicago, IL, USA
Randy Rowe is Chairman of Green Courte Partners, LLC (“GCP”), a private equity real estate investment firm focused on niche real estate strategies. GCP currently has three active niche strategies: 1) near airport parking (“The Parking Spot”); 2) manufactured housing communities; and 3) active adult/independent living properties. Previously Mr. Rowe was a co-founder and Chairman of Transwestern Investment Company, LLC and Chairman and Director of Transwestern Commercial Services, LLC. Mr. Rowe was also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hometown America, LLC, a large owner of manufactured housing communities. Mr. Rowe is a Trustee and former Global Chairman of the Urban Land Institute, an Emeritus Trustee of the Steppenwolf Theatre, and a member and former Chairman of the Real Estate Roundtable. Mr. Rowe holds a BA from Denison University, an MBA from Harvard University and a JD from the University of Michigan.
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