Partners for Livable Communities has selected eight distinguished awardees—including individuals, organizations, and one community—to honor for civic stewardship and innovation. These prestigious awards will be presented by Washington, D.C.-based Partners for Livable Communities at its Celebration of Vision & Community Spirit awards program on December 11, 2014 at the Fairfax Hotel in Washington.
For the last 35 years, Partners has honored individuals and organizations in recognition of innovative projects and records of achievement that have advanced the principles of livability. This year's honorees represent lifetimes of leadership in their respective fields spanning architecture, civic leadership, real estate development, arts and culture, and journalism. Their innovative leadership has made their communities better places to live.
Partners hosts its annual awards ceremony because the efforts of the country's most inspiring civic leaders deserve to be lauded, and their stories and practices spread far and wide.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Jaquelin Robertson is the cofounder of the renowned architecture firm, Cooper, Robertson & Partners, and is the former dean of the University of Virginia School of Architecture.
Founders Award for Civic Leadership
Sam A. Williams, the recently retired President of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. has played an integral role in progressing the Atlanta metropolitan region throughout his 17-year presidency.
Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award
Bob Kendrick is the President of the Negro League Baseball Musuem, located at 18th and Vine in Kansas City, and has led a major turnaround in the museum’s popularity and fiscal strength since assuming his position in 2010.
Bridge Builders Award
Harris Ranch Development Corporation, led by Doug Fowler of LeNir Ltd, is developing Harris Ranch, a 1,300 acre site on a former ranch in east Boise, as a sustainable community that aims to preserve Idaho’s country culture in the face of unprecedented growth.
Twenty-Five Years of Excellence Award
SPUR (formerly known as the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research) has evolved from its roots in helping San Francisco recover from the ruinous 1906 earthquake into a regional organization that works on issues as diverse as economic development, good government, transportation, and disaster planning.
Entrepreneurial American Community Award
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, located on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain about 30 miles north of New Orleans, has been a model of resilience in the face of disaster as exemplified by its remarkable recovery from the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Celebrate America Media Award
Neal Peirce is an American writer and journalist who explores the dynamics of state and local government with an emphasis on emerging metropolitan regions at the intersection of their political and economic functions.
William H. Whyte Award
M.J. “Jay” Brodie has been a leader in the real estate development field for more than 40 years, leaving his greatest impact throughout Washington, DC and Baltimore, where Jay headed the Baltimore Development Corporation for 16 years.