NYPF Board of Directors and Staff

The members of the Board of Directors of the New York Planning Federation, as required by the organization’s by-laws, are planning practitioners representing the nine regions that encompass New York State. The Board is a working, grass roots group that understands the needs of the communities it serves and seeks to fulfill its mission of providing training and education to the planning and zoning community. Today's Board includes not only planning and zoning board members from across the state but also professional planners, land use attorneys, educators, engineers and elected officials.

Board Members:

President
Ron Brand is NYPF’s President. He also is President of RLB Group, a Rochester-based planning and consulting firm, and a former planner with the Monroe County Department of Planning. His municipal clients include the Towns of Farmington, Canandaigua and Mendon.

Vice Presidents

Wendy Weber Salvati , AICP, is NYPF's first vice president. She also is a Senior Planner with Wendel Duchscherer Architects & Engineers, PC. Her work experience has focused on comprehensive and waterfront planning and she has been responsible for numerous projects involving land use and zoning. She is 1st Vice Chairman of the Town of Clarence Planning Board.

Fred Wilcox is NYPF's second vice president. He also is Vice President of Demographic Development for Claritas, Inc., and is Chairman of the Town of Ithaca Planning Board and the Tompkins Planning Advisory Board. He is also a member of other local boards and committees dealing with land use planning.

Immediate Past President

David Kay is a staff economist at Cornell University's Community and Rural Development Institute (CaRDI). He provides CaRDI with leadership in the Land Use and Landscape Management programming. His research and outreach topics include land use planning, community and economic development, and local government. He has served as a member and Chairman of the City of Ithaca Planning and Development Board and of the Tompkins County Planning Federation, and he is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Past President
David Tessier, ASLA, is a Registered Landscape Architect and Certified Code Enforcement Officer in New York State. He is Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town of Pompey and former member and Chairman of its Planning Board. He is currently the Commissioner of Planning and Development for the Town of Clay.

Metropolitan Region
Tom Yardley is a Senior Associate with BFJ Planning, a consulting firm based in New York City.  Mr. Yardley works on zoning and land use studies for numerous municipalities in the New York Metro area and the Hudson Valley.  He also represents private developers in the approvals process and environmental reviews.  In his previous position, he worked for the New York City Department of City Planning as the planner for Lower Manhattan. 

Long Island Region
Michael Verruto owns and operates Long Island Precast, Inc. He has served on the Board of Trustees, the Planning Board, and as Commissioner of Public Works and Deputy Mayor of the Village of Port Jefferson. He is currently a member of the Village Zoning Board of Appeals.

Mid/Lower Hudson Region
Rudolph J. Yacyshyn is a community planner. For 37 years has been a member and Chair of the Town of Clarkstown Planning Board, where he is currently Vice Chair. He also served as member and Chair of the Rockland County Planning Board in the 1990’s. He was founder and first President Emeritus of the Rockland Municipal Planning Federation, while also serving as Hudson Valley director of the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association. He lectured on suburban planning at his alma mater, New York University.

Capital District Region
David Everett, Esq. is an attorney with the firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, specializing in environmental and land use practice. His areas of expertise include land use law, zoning and planning, SEQRA compliance, Superfund litigation, solid waste management and wetlands regulations. He is also Chair of the Town of Chatham Zoning Board of Appeals.

Upper Hudson Region

Adirondack/North Country Region
Paul Van Cott is a member of the Planning Board in the Village of Saranac Lake.

Laura E. Moore is the Chair for the Warrensburg Planning Board the "Queen Village of the Adirondacks". She is a Planner for the Warren County Planning and Community Development Department that has a multi facetted involvement in the county from housing rehabilitation, infrastructure projects, and community development to small business assistance. She also serves on the Cornell Cooperative Extension Board of Directors. She is currently chairing the committee to develop a comprehensive plan for the Town.

Southern Tier Region
Rod Howe is Director of Community and Economic Vitality programs at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ithaca, NY. He is also a member of the steering committee of the New York State Rural Development Council.

Central New York Region
Tim Frateschi is a member of the law firm of Harris Beach, PLLC.  He practices in the Public Finance and Economic Development Practice Group, representing governmental and quasi-governmental agencies in all aspects of municipal law.  He also chairs the Planning Board of the Town of Salina.              

Doug Miller is the owner of Miller Engineers located in Manlius, New York.  He has been actively involved in planning activities for over two decades, serving on the Town of Pompey Planning Board as Chairman during that time.  A Registered Professional Engineer in several states with 25 years of professional experience, he has a background in land use planning, municipal engineering, environmental compliance, project management, and construction administration services.  His experience also includes oversight for various projects throughout the United States and has served as liaison between clients and regulatory agencies on a regular basis. 

Finger Lakes Region
Frederick Burgwardt is a Project Designer with the Department of Transportation, Region 4.

T C Lewis has completed 25 years as a member of the Town of Perinton Planning Board: 18 of those years as Chairman or Vice Chairman. He served on the Monroe County Planning Board for 13 years, and previously was on the NYPF Board of Directors for 8 years. He has also won the Levine Award from New York Planning Federation.

Western Region
Tim Pazda is a member of the Town of Clarence Planning board.

At-Large Members

Michael J. Kayes is Director of Planning and Development for Montgomery County. He is also President of the National Association of Planners and the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District and is on the executive committee of the Hudson-Mohawk Resource Conservation and Development Council. In October, 2003, he received the Upstate New York Chapter of the American Planning Association’s award for Professional Planners Distinguished Leadership.

Andrew Labruzzo, AICP, is a Coastal Resources Specialist with the New York State Department of State's Division of Coastal Resources. In nearly 20 years as a professional planner in New York State, Labruzzo has also worked for the Albany County Department of Economic Development, Conservation & Planning, the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and the Putnam County Division of Planning & Development. He has also served as a board member for the Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Association of County Planning Directors and the New York State Association of Environmental Management Councils.

Peter Vars, P.E. is a principal and the Vice President of BME Associates, a civil engineering, surveying, and land planning firm located in Fairport, N.Y. He has 20 years experience in site engineering and private sector land development projects throughout Western New York, including the design, preparation and implementation of stormwater pollution prevention plans and the SEQRA processes. He is a member of APWA, ASCE, ITE, and the Monroe County Stormwater Coalition, working with regional officials on design and compliance issues concerning the Phase II stormwater regulations. He also is a faculty member for the Monroe County Department of Planning’s Land Use Decision-Making Training Program, where he educates local municipal officials on site planning and stormwater management issues. Vars is a 1985 graduate of Clarkson University and is a licensed professional engineer.

Sean Nolon is the Director of the Land Use Law Center at Pace University School of Law in White Plains, New York, where he is also an adjunt professor and coordinator of the Land Use Conflicts Externship.  He trains local officials, environmentalists, and developers in land use law and consensus building techniques, provides strategic assistance to local governments and intermunicipal councils, and mediates land use disputes in addition to the NYPF, affiliations include the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation, and the Westchester County Soil and Water Conservation District and serving as a certified mediator and arbitrator in Westchester County.

Daniel A. Ruzow, Esq. is the managing partner of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, Albany’s largest law firm. His practice is concentrated on the environmental, zoning and planning review and permitting of complex industrial and residential developments, and in litigation defending such approvals. He is recognized statewide for his expertise with SEQR and co-authored the leading treatise on the topic, Environmental Impact Review in New York.

Judith Breselor is currently the Commissioner of Planning and Community Development for the City of Troy.  She previously held the positions of Senior Planner for the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council and was the Director of Planning, Development and Zoning for the City of Rensselaer.  She has been affiliated with the Upstate New York Chapter of the American Planning Association for seven years and in January '07 took over the duties as the Chapter Vice President.  She also presently serves as a Commissioner member of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission representing Rensslaer County.   

Past Presidents (ex-officio)

Bruce Boncke, PE is a partner in BME Associates, with nearly 30 years’ experience in the consulting field. He is the Immediate Past President of NYPF. As a design engineer, he did extensive planning and design work for numerous private and municipal projects, including Eastview and Irondequoit Malls. A past president of the Rochester Section ASCE, he is an active member of NSPE and numerous planning organizations.

James Hotaling recently retired as Chief of Local Government Services for the Adirondack Park Agency. He was also a member of the Saranac Lake Planning Board and its School Board. A registered architect and member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, he co-authored the NYPF publication The Short Course: A Basic Guide for Planning and Zoning Boards of Appeal in New York State.

J. Donald Faso is a Town Councilman in Chili. He is Director of the Gates-Chili Chamber of Commerce and a member of the New York State Association of Professional Land Surveyors. He is also past Chair of the Monroe County Planning Board.

John A. Keough, is a member and former Chair of the Planning Board of the Village of Suffern. He is a planning consultant to the Town of Ramapo, where he was a staff member for many years, and to the Village of Sloatsburg.

Arthur J. Koweek is a member of the Columbia County Planning Board.

Lucille Mayer, Esq. is an attorney specializing in planning and zoning law. She is the former Chair of the Town of Huntington Planning Board and the former Secretary of the Suffolk County Planning Commission.

Mildred M. Whalen is on the Town of Canton Planning Board.

Staff Members:

Thomas R. Bodden has been the Manager of Research and Information for the Association of Towns of the State of New York since 1990.  His Government experience includes four years as Director of Research for the Legislative Commission on State-Local Relations, seven years as Senior Local Government Advisor for the Tug Hill Commission and two years as Administrative Assistance to the NYS Assembly.  He has worked with towns and villages as an accountant, assessor, computer consultant, land-use planning consultant and fiscal advisor and has authored or co-authored numerous books and articles about local government in New York. Mr. Bodden currently serves on the NYS Local Government Records Advisory Committee as Chair of the Grants Advisory Committee.  He also serves as a member of the Town of Glenville Planning and Zoning Commission.

Katherine H. Daniels, AICP, is senior planner for the New York Planning Federation and an adjunct professor of environmental planning at SUNY Albany. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Conservation of Natural Resources from U.C. Berkeley and her Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon. She has worked for a variety of state, county, private and not-for-profit organizations across the country on planning issues and is co-author of the Environmental Planning Handbook and Small Town Planning Handbook.

Lael Locke is a community planner with NYPF. She is a Village Trustee in Chatham, NY, Chair of the Distribution Committee for the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and a former newspaper publisher.

Marie Schlosser is the office manager for NYPF. She oversees all office functions, including maintaining and updating the membership database and assisting in organizing the annual conference.