Letter from the Chair

4 January 2021

Greetings SCD Members! 

Happy New Year! With 2021 now upon us, I wanted to introduce myself: My name is Merrill St. Leger and I am the new Chair of APA’s Sustainable Communities Division for 2021 and 2022. Last year, I was Chair-elect and served as Secretary-Treasurer a few years prior to that. I am also a Principal at SmithGroup, where I lead the Urban Design and Planning studio in our DC office. I am very excited to assume this role and to work with you and the Executive Committee (EC) over the next couple of years.  

To that end, the first order of business is to express my profound gratitude to Matt Bucchin, now Immediate Past Chair, who will, fortunately for us, remain deeply involved with the SCD and through his ongoing work on APA’s Climate Change initiatives. Matt’s commitment to and leadership of SCD have been critical to the success of this Division over the last three years, and I cannot thank him enough for his guidance, good humor, and kindness. Along with Matt, the SCD’s important work would not be possible without the dedication of the other members of the EC including Karla Ebenbach, our Secretary-Treasurer; Jenny Koch, our Education Committee Chair; Teresa Townsend, our Communications Chair; Anne Miller, Legislative and Policy Committee Chair; Brian Ross, Climate Champions Program leader; Fiona Coughlan and Kate Poppel, co-chairs of our Students and Emerging Professionals committee; and Past Chairs Scott Turner and Rob Kerns. You will be hearing more about opportunities to engage with each of them and their work on SCD initiatives in the coming months. 

In the Fall and Winter of 2020, the EC embarked on developing the 2021-22 SCD Strategic Plan, a process which is currently wrapping up and will become the roadmap for the Division for the next two years. We look forward to sharing the details of that plan with you in the next couple of weeks.  

While 2020 was an incredibly challenging year in so many ways, we are optimistic and hopeful that 2021 and beyond will bring new insights and opportunities to support the work of our members to create and nurture sustainable, resilient and equitable communities. I wish you and your loved ones a bright and healthy 2021.

Sincerely,

Merrill St. Leger

PS, if you haven’t already, please check out apascd.com, the Division’s new website at where you will find great resources on sustainable communities and which we are continuing to update and add to!