A native Angeleno and Managing Partner for HR&A’s Los Angeles office, Connie brings an interdisciplinary lens to her work in California and across the country, leveraging her expertise in planning, public realm development and governance, climate strategy, equitable funding, business planning, and public-private partnerships to help clients improve the urban fabric and the lives of their communities. 

  

Over the course of Connie’s career, she has acted as a catalyst and connector for various disciplines to come together and tackle complicated challenges at the urban scale. Connie helps clients and project teams make data-informed decisions about design, planning, development, and programming. Alongside this analytical rigor, she is also a creative problem-solver who challenges multi-disciplinary teams to create solutions that are greater than the sum of their parts. She understands placemaking and how to develop culturally resonant, economically sound built environments and open spaces that serve their community. Whether it’s envisioning a new park that will transform an underserved community, helping a client understand the economic impact of building affordable housing on their land, or studying the climate and equity impacts of the urban tree canopy in a city as large and diverse as Los Angeles — it’s Connie’s collaborative, interdisciplinary thinking that consistently delivers results for her clients.   

Connie advises public, private, and nonprofit landowners on planning and development issues, with an approach that combines rigorous analysis and a talent for collaborating in multidisciplinary environments. Her recent work with museums, community college districts, and nonprofit land owners has focused on helping these clients understand various development scenarios. Clients often come to her with questions like: “We have land we want to build on, but we don’t know what kind of development will be most successful in our neighborhood,” or “Should we build affordable rental housing on our parking lot?” Connie helps these clients answer these questions through rigorous analysis and make informed decisions that will serve their long-term goals as well as the surrounding community.

As a recognized leader in open space, parks, and public realm development, Connie has led programming, business planning, and governance strategies for major park projects across the country. This work includes award-winning projects like the Atlanta BeltLine, Seattle Waterfront, Silver Lake Reservoir, and the Lawn on D where she often guided clients through initial visioning phases, funding and governance strategy, design and construction, and finally helping oversee the launch of programming and management.  

Deeply committed to climate resiliency and public green space, Connie’s work includes thinking about natural resources and sustainability at the macro scale. She works with municipal and nonprofit clients like the Atlanta Parks Department, LA County Parks, and the LA Urban Forest to develop funding and financing strategies for investment in green infrastructure and municipal agencies.  

Prior to joining HR&A in 2013, Connie was Director of Planning at the Alliance for Downtown New York, the business improvement district for New York City’s Lower Manhattan neighborhood. There, she managed the Downtown Alliance’s planning efforts districtwide, including leading placemaking, policy, and other implementation projects for its Water Street corridor plan.  

Connie holds a Master in City Planning with a Certificate of Urban Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a minor in French from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Connie serves as Managing Partner in our Los Angeles office, where she is also based. 

 

Member, Urban Land Institute

Member, American Planning Association