speakers

Alan Greenberger

Alan Greenberger, FAIA, Executive Director of Philadelphia City Planning Commission

Alan Greenberger, FAIA, is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and also Acting Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and Director of Commerce. He has been with the City since 2008. Prior to that, he was in private practice as an architect and planner with MGA Partners and its predecessor, Mitchell/Giurgola Architects.

During his 34 years in private practice, he was the principal designer on numerous architectural, urban design and planning projects. Among his notable projects are the Salvation Army Kroc Corps Community Center in Philadelphia, the West Chester University School of Music and Performing Arts Center, the renovation of Lehigh University's historic Linderman Library, new campus plan and pavilions at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, new campus plan and buildings for the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, and the Master Plan for the Centennial District in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park.

He serves on the boards of numerous civic and cultural organizations including the Fairmount Park Art Association, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. He is a co-founder of the Design Advocacy Group. He is also on the faculty of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania.

Drew Becher

Drew Becher, President, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Before joining the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Mr. Becher served as Executive Director of the New York Restoration Project. Founded by Bette Midler, the projectÕs mission is to improve the quality of life through greening and beautification of underserved communities throughout New York City. Under Mr. BecherÕs leadership the project grew the annual operating budget from $5 million to over $13 million. He spearheaded the MillionTreesNYC program, created a corporate giving program which resulted in a 250% increase in funding, raised $6M for capital projects to revitalized 22 community gardens on 140 acres of vacant land; and increased access to educational programming for school age children by over 50%. The reformulated environmental education programming now reaches over 10,000 children in underserved communities. From 2004 to 2006 in Washington DC, Mr. Becher served as Deputy Director, Office of Planning for the District of Columbia where he led the creation and implementation of the Department of Environment and the Capital Space Initiative. He also served as Associate Director, Department of Parks and Recreation. From 1996 to 2004, Mr. Becher worked in several different roles for city of Chicago including Chief of Staff, Chicago Park District, Assistant to the Mayor, Assistant Director of Planning, Department of Cultural Affairs, Manager of Finance, Administration, Chicago Board of Education Assistant Commissioner, Department of General Services. Mr. Becher holds a BA in Urban Design and Planning from the University of Cincinnati.