Presidio Graduate School hosts the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Ralph Becker, who will discuss Green Cities and Public Entrepreneurship with Jim Heid President & Founder of UrbanGreen. 

Saturday, February 18th | 5:30 – 8:00 PM @ SoMa Hub
901 Mission St, Suite 105 San Francisco, CA 94103

The Program:

Doors will open at 5:30pm

A choice of beverages will be available as well as a selection of hor d'oeuvres.

Schedule:

• ·         5:30 Doors open/reception begins
• ·         6:30-7:30 Program
• ·         7:30 Reception resumes
• ·         7:50 Last Call
• ·         8:00 Reception ends

Ralph Becker was sworn in as Mayor of Salt Lake City in January, 2008. Prior to being elected Mayor, he was a member of the Utah House of Representatives, from 1996 to 2007, serving seven years in leadership including five years as the House Democratic Leader.

As Mayor, Ralph has been an advocate for expanding mobility options within Salt Lake City, including expanding trails and bikeways and developing light rail and street car opportunities. He has also significantly expanded protections for the City’s LGBT individuals through the Mutual Commitment Registry and Non-Discrimination ordinances. Additionally, Mayor Becker worked to bring Salt Lake City’s alcohol policy in line with other major tourist destinations and cities. As Mayor, Ralph Becker has actively expanded public input opportunities, access to City information, and the decision making process. During the recession, Mayor Becker overcame the largest budget gaps in the City’s history without raising taxes, reductions in core City services, or significant layoffs.

Mayor Becker is a professional planner (FAICP) and lawyer. He founded the consulting firm Bear West in Salt Lake City in 1985, specializing in community planning, environmental assessment, public lands, land use, consensus building, and public involvement. Mr. Becker received a Bachelor of Arts in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973 and received his J.D. and Masters Degree in Geography and Planning from the University of Utah in 1977 and 1982.

Mr. Becker is on the board of the Policy Consensus Initiative, an organization promoting collaborative decision making in state and local governments. He is a board member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Democratic Mayor’s Council, the Mayors Innovation Project, the Center for State and Local Excellence, Envision Utah, and the National League of Cities.

Away from work, Mayor Becker is an avid outdoorsman and outdoor enthusiast. He is a backcountry skier, backpacker and river runner and personifies the adventurous spirit that brings so many people to Salt Lake City. He has two sons and 17 year-old granddaughter.

Jim Heid is a sustainable development advisor, land planner and developer, whose focus is the creation of developments that provide a positive contribution to their environment, region, and residents.  In 2000, he founded UrbanGreen to advise established development companies, governments and legacy NGO’s that seek better development models. With over thirty years experience in the design and development of new community, urban infill, and resort developments, Jim is known to effectively resolve the complex layers of community design and real estate development using a variety of proven tools and best practices.  He is motivated by the need to deliver high quality developments to a broader market – in an increasingly complex world of entitlements and financing – without compromising environmental, economic or placemaking objectives. 

Consistent with his belief that sustainable solutions can only emerge from individuals who ‘speak multiple languages’, Jim is trained as a landscape architect (University of Idaho), who then received a Masters in Real Estate Development from MIT’s Center for Real Estate (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) as a way to more fully integrate the practice of land design with real world implementation strategies. He is a CLARB Registered Landscape Architect and continues to gain development expertise through a sister firm  Pathway Real Estate Partners.

Jim brings rigor to the rapidly changing discussion of urban sustainability through a dedication to research and practical hands-on experience. Over the past decade he has pioneered many of the Urban Land Institute’s evolving contributions to sustainable land development, climate change and responsible property investing.  For ULI he serves on the Climate, Land Use, and Energy (CLUE) Committee. He is a regularly featured speaker at national conferences and symposia and the primary instructor for ULI’s Sustainable Communities Development Workshops. He is also a member of the USGBC and CNU, and served as a corresponding member of the LEED-ND drafting committee. He is nationally recognized as an articulate advocate for responsible land development.

Prior to founding UrbanGreen, Jim worked as an urban designer/ land planner and real estate strategy advisor with two of the country’s leading firms, Design Workshop (1987-1993) and EDAW (1994-2000), where he served as Director of Development, Managing Principal for their San Francisco and Hong Kong Offices, and ultimately COO.

Please contact our Events and Special Programs Manager, Annie Sexton at 415-655-8918 or email annie.sexton@presidioedu.org, if you have any questions regarding this event.