chris.mefford@communityattributes.com

The foundation of Chris Mefford’s experience lies in working with jurisdictions, businesses and developers, providing market research; feasibility analyses; economic and financial analysis; and policy analysis, including land use and transportation policies. He brings 17 years of consulting, project management and analysis experience with economic, land use and transportation patterns. Based in Seattle, he brings in-depth expertise with the Puget Sound regional economy. He speaks to audiences often on regional economy and community development considerations.

Mr. Mefford brings professional skills and expertise in regional economic development; financial feasibility analysis; strategic planning; socio-economic and demographic analysis; geographic information systems (GIS) modeling and mapping; land use planning and transportation planning. Mr. Mefford's prior engagements include leading teams for local and national consulting firms, and serving as a regional economist for the Puget Sound Regional Council.

Mr. Mefford holds an M.B.A. from the University of Washington; an M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning (Economic Development and Transportation concentrations) from the University of Iowa; B.A. in Mathematics (with an Economics minor) from the University of Northern Iowa. He is an active volunteer leader in Seattle community organizations, including Leadership Tomorrow Seattle, CityYear, Urban Land Institute, the American Planning Association (AICP), Seattle Public Schools and the Cub Scouts.

csc@communityattributes.com

Chris Strausz-Clark has two decades of experience in philanthropy, investment management, international business, and corporate finance. Mr. Strausz-Clark leads the firm’s philanthropic advisory services practice.

Prior to joining Community Attributes, Mr. Strausz-Clark worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he performed strategic, investment, and cost-benefit analysis; business planning; financial modeling and budgeting; and organizational due diligence. Mr. Strausz-Clark also managed financial planning and analysis for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program, which represented a $2 billion portfolio of grant commitments across a wide range of initiatives. He also led a program team in developing over $100 million in grant commitments to Eastern European and Southeast Asian national governments as part of the Global Libraries Initiative.

Mr. Strausz-Clark was an equity analyst for Trillium Asset Management Corporation in Boston, MA, the oldest independent socially responsible investment management firm in the United States. Mr. Strausz-Clark has also worked in finance and marketing for Sara Lee Corporation in Paris, Johannesburg, and New York.

Mr. Strausz-Clark holds a M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Public Policy from Duke University, and a B.A. in English from Davidson College.

aaron.blumenthal@communityattributes.com

Aaron Blumenthal brings a wide range of analytical expertise to Community Attributes. Motivated by a strong interest in data-driven analysis, Aaron excels in public-sector economic and financial modeling, benefit-cost analysis, statistical modeling and sensitivity analysis. He also has experience with a wide range of qualitative policy analysis and program evaluation techniques including SWOT and stakeholder analysis, theory of change and performance measurement processes.

Aaron has shared these skills with many organizations including the University of Washington, the Utilities and Transportation Commission of Washington, the National CASA Association, and the Congressional Research Service department of the Library of Congress.

Most recently Aaron consulted on transit and tax policy research for the Commuter Services Department of the University of Washington, in collaboration with UW TRAC and the Victoria Transport Policy Institute. His research focused on the financial and economic effects of proposed commercial parking tax policies on regional planning and transit development in Seattle.

Aaron holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, as well as a Bachelor’s of Science in Economics with a Quantitative Methods certificate, both from the University of Washington.

lisa.corrado@communityattributes.com

Ms. Corrado’s professional experience is characterized by a commitment to vibrant communities, value for stakeholder input and high personal standards to act in the community’s best interest. Her skills and experience include data acquisition and analysis, long range planning, redevelopment and economic development, and social participation.
Ms. Corrado joined CAI in 2011, having served as a Project Manager for the Redevelopment Agency at the City of Henderson in Southern Nevada. Recent projects managed include the following:
• City’s Real Estate Management Strategy, an asset management plan designed to leverage real estate to achieve economic development goals;
• A two-year visioning and masterplanning process which resulted in the development of a visioning book, land use update, and marketing collateral for the city’s most valuable real estate parcel representing the first time the City took a proactive approach to real estate management;
• The Redevelopment Agency’s public relations, marketing and outreach contract, which includes a series of activities, events and outreach with diverse audiences to increase awareness of and participation in redevelopment areas and incentives;
• Business and consumer branding of the Water Street District, Henderson’s historic downtown, as a business recruitment effort to gain a competitive edge and;
• The Downtown Investment Strategy, a subarea plan that addresses retail, commercial, public and residential uses and projects aimed to increase community pride and revitalize the area.

Ms. Corrado holds a Master of Public Administration with a major in Urban and Regional Affairs and a minor in International Development Planning and Environmental Sustainability from the University of Pittsburgh.

rachael.crampton@communityattributes.com

Rachael Crampton’s professional background covers a range of areas that include business intelligence, web analytics, data systems design, regional economics and urban planning. Rachael is expert at developing predictive models, integrating the models with existing data systems, and collaborating with clients to augment the model as needed.  

An economist by training, Rachael began her career working in government consulting and regional planning. She later moved to private sector consulting with DRI (now Global Insight), where she led teams in the Regional Economics group. Later she applied this same knowledge and skill set in the financial sector, filling the role of an internal consultant on macro and regional economic conditions for a group of commercial real estate investors at Fidelity Investments. 

Prior to joining CAI, Rachael was Director of Data and Analytics for an Internet start-up, which brought her fresh sources of data, new analytical techniques and novel approaches to understanding market forces. She also led the design and deployment of a new business intelligence reporting system from the ground up.  Rachael currently serves on the board of the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest as Vice Chair of Business Intelligence.

Ms. Crampton has a Master of Arts in Economics from Boston University and Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Studies from American University in Washington, D.C.

mark.goodman@communityattributes.com

Mark Goodman brings five years of professional planning and land use experience to the Community Attributes team.  As a Land Use Planner for the resort city of Ketchum, Idaho in the Sun Valley region, Mark developed and applied a variety of analytical skills in addition to performing outreach efforts. Goodman developed strong relationships by balancing the needs and interests of the tourism development community with an engaged local citizenry.  Goodman managed and performed all aspects of the entitlement process including: design reviews of major projects, drafting zoning ordinance amendments,  creating new zoning and land use categories in the City’s Comprehensive Plan, briefing and presenting applications before Planning Commission and City Council. 

His experience includes public policy analysis, project management, land use permitting and zoning code writing.  He also worked closely with the local business community in Ketchum and regularly organized public outreach efforts and forums. He has hands on experience with form based codes, transfer of development rights (TDR) programs and affordable housing development.  He has also provided land use knowledge in parks master planning and development efforts.  Prior to joining CAI, Mark served as the Planning Manager for the City of Ketchum where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department.  This included oversight and coordination of the City’s development agenda, regular briefing and reports to Planning Commission and City Council and coordinating the public hearing processes. 

Mark is a graduate of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics.  He is currently enrolled in the Commercial Real Estate Certificate Program at the University of Washington.

alex.hudson@communityattributes.com

Alex Hudson brings years of creative communications and operations to Community Attributes. Ms. Hudson’s background is primarily in the public and non-profit sectors and her work has emphasized organizational development through member cultivation, innovative fundraising and social media campaigns.

Prior to working at Community Attributes she was the Communications Staff Intern at the Seattle Office of Film + Music, where she worked on multiple projects which cultivate and bolster the film and music industries in Seattle. She is the House Manager at Town Hall Seattle, a local arts and culture presenting organization. She has done operations for a variety of arts organizations, presenting events which contribute to sustaining a vibrant nighttime arts economy.

She has a B.A. in Political Science with minors in Sociology and Economics from Western Washington University, where she was named the 2006-2007 Associated Students Employee of the Year for her popular newspaper column, The Weekly Buzz. In her spare time she enjoys the immense breadth of the cultural communities of Seattle, travelling and spending time on her Grandmother’s farm.

mara.lemagie@communityattributes.com

Mara Lemagie brings a diverse background of skills and experience to Community Attributes. Prior to joining CAI Ms. Lemagie was a programmer/analyst for Celerity Consulting Group, where she implemented and designed database systems and front-end websites for litigation support and consulting, and manipulated and analyzed datasets of up to three terabytes in size. Ms. Lemagie has also been an Operations Manager for a sports apparel manufacturing company, a community development volunteer for the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso, and a research assistant for the University of Washington Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Nuclear Physics Departments. While at UW she analyzed data sets from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), traveled to Japan to install photo multiplier tubes for the reconstruction of Super-Kamiokande, a neutrino detector, and managed WALTA (Washington Area Large-scale Time-coincidence Array), a high school outreach project aimed at getting students engaged in physics.

Ms. Lemagie is familiar with numerous systems and technical languages, including MS SQL (T-SQL, Stored Procedures), C#, JavaScript, Visual Studio, EnCase, Enterprise Manager, and MSFT SQL Server Management Studio. Ms. Lemagie holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Washington. In her spare time Ms. Lemagie plays soccer, ultimate Frisbee; goes rock climbing, backpacking or surfing and enjoys going for runs with her dog, Roumsii.

maryjo.pellerito@communityattributes.com

Ms. Pellerito has over a decade of experience in project management, database analyst and business systems analyst roles for high-tech companies including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Expedia, T-Mobile and other e-commerce companies in the Puget Sound region.  Her expertise spans end-to-end management of database and business intelligence projects, including relationship, database and online marketing and analytics as well as implementation of IT systems and software, including software as a service (SaaS).  Ms. Pellerito is well-versed in working with the organization and project stakeholders to define the key performance indicators and metrics, extracting and transforming the data to produce dashboards, scorecards and other views of information. 

In addition, Ms. Pellerito performs interpretive analysis that offers to our clients a deeper level of understanding and insight with which to make effective decisions.   Her analysis projects have included evaluation of product, marketing and operational performance; analytics of online marketing and advertising; and return-on-investment models, trend analysis and profitability impact analysis.  She brings a strong technical skill set that includes technology assessment, application development and testing, project management and report development using SQL Server, Oracle, Business Objects/Crystal Reports, Microsoft Access, and Excel.

Ms Pellerito’s interests include gardening, reading and outdoor recreation.  She is an active supporter of non-profit organizations through fundraising and event management through promotion and performance of cross-cultural music.  Ms. Pellerito holds a B.A. from Western Washington University in Human Ecology, with an emphasis in Environmental Policy and Planning.

ruby.sandher@communityattributes.com

Ruby brings a unique perspective on planning issues to Community Attributes with experience in California and British Columbia, Canada. Inspired by her passion for equity, economic development and upward mobility for urban communities, Ruby pursued her studies in urban planning. 

Ruby holds a Master of Planning with a concentration in Economic Development from the University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning and Development, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Sociology and Certificate of Sustainable Community Development from Simon Fraser University. While completing her Master’s degree, Ruby had the opportunity to work on projects concerning sustainable tourism in Rio De Janerio, Brazil and working on improving economic development and helping mitigate the negative impact of Commercial Real Estate’s on the environment in Costa Rica. 

Most recently, Ruby has worked with the City of Compton Community Redevelopment Agency on numerous projects to revitalize the city, including economic development planning, marketing and branding efforts, community engagement and grant writing, amongst many others. Ruby has extensive public sector experience, and has also previously worked in the Southern California region for the City of Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency and for City of Burnaby and City of Surrey, both located in the Greater Vancouver Regional District in British Columbia, Canada. Ruby is fluent in Punjabi, and proficient in both Hindi and Urdu and enjoys travelling to new destinations, hiking and fashion.

tyler.schrag@communityattributes.com

Tyler Schrag brings spatial analysis and cartographic capabilities using GIS applied to a variety of purposes including land use, demographics, policy analyses, as well as epidemic modeling and air photo interpretation. His recent work experience includes public safety projects, including fire response modeling for the Bellingham Fire Department, as well as interning with iXP Corporation (public safety systems provider and consultancy).

Tyler's work at Community Attributes includes leading database systems management and analysis and providing spatial analysis and cartography for strategy decision-making with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s US Programs and US Libraries initiative. His cartography and spatial analyses are featured in the firm's public policy and economic studies. Tyler has a B.A. in Geography from Western Washington University with an emphasis in environmental and resource management as well as a minor in GIS. In his spare time Tyler enjoys playing music with his band The Pilots, skiing and taking apart computers.

Community Attributes provides scalable services, benefitting from affiliated professionals with shared values and professional objectives.

mike.babb@communityattributes.com

Mike Babb applies GIS and data systems expertise to all aspects of Community Attributes. Mike brings consulting experience from firms in Seattle where he has contributed to a broad range of projects in GIS technology, land use planning and public policy. Most recently Mike provided contract support for Microsoft’s Virtual Earth project. At Microsoft, Mike managed integration of worldwide datasets and global logistics coordination in expanding the website’s content and provided programming support for key applications. Mike’s experience includes extending GIS functionality to core practice areas, database analysis, and cartographic design.

Mike’s recent work with Community Attributes includes providing hot spot analysis for La Plaza, LLC, a satellite network of commercial-cultural centers serving Latino businesses; demographic modeling of the nation’s public library systems for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and mapping of accredited childcare centers for the Gates Foundation.Mike has a B.A. in Geography from the University of Washington and is a candidate in the UW’s Masters program in Geography. His areas of interest lie in the visualization of changing economics and demographics of urban and suburban cities as well as urban development.

marlo.isaac@communityattributes.com

Ms. Isaac brings 15 years of professional experience working on assignments for public sector, institutional, corporate and non-profit clients specializing in the service areas of economic development and redevelopment, market analysis, fiscal and economic impact analysis, and strategic planning. Ms. Isaac has worked as a project manager at Seattle and San Francisco-based planning and economics consulting firms, including Community Attributes, and was also the Director of Community and Economic Development for a Durham, North Carolina real estate development company, specializing in adaptive mixed-use urban infill projects.

Ms. Isaac holds an M.A. in Urban Planning from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a B.A. in Urban Studies from Stanford University. She is a certified member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and a member of the American Planning Association. Ms. Isaac has served as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Mercer Island, WA, and on the Advisory Board for King County’s HealthScape initiative, which promotes the cross-section between public health and the built environment. She launched the Safe Routes to School program for the Mercer Island School District, and is currently developing a community action learning curriculum for middle school students in Oakland, CA.

joakdale@communityattributes.com

Jonathan Oakdale has nearly a decade of experience providing financial analysis and development services for dozens of local, national, and international firms. Jonathan has managed analytical projects that span a wide range of scopes and functions, including forecasting, budgeting, reporting, data analytics, and data modeling.  In addition to performing analytics, Jonathan has a deep technical knowledge of numerous applications (including Excel, Excel Services, Access, SQL Server, SharePoint), and he is proficient in automating tasks, rapidly developing databases, and creating organization-specific custom applications.

Jonathan holds a M.B.A. from the University of Washington with an emphasis in Finance, and a B.A. in Economics and Computer Science from Willamette University.