MIG prides itself on the quality of our entire staff: to deliver on promises, to go beyond expectations, and to be inspiring and enjoyable to work with. Our principals have long histories of success in their disciplines and work collaboratively to provide hands-on experience for each project, ensuring unique and successful results on time and on budget. This exceptional team of professionals provides MIG with a range of perspectives and experiences that enriches our approach and creative problem solving and helps deliver solutions that go beyond the obvious or formulaic.
Daniel Iacofano
Ph.D., FAICP, FASLA, Principal, CEO
Daniel Iacofano, Ph.D., FAICP, is a founding principal of MIG. He has over 25 years of experience in urban planning and community design, specifically for downtowns, transit-oriented development, neighborhoods and urban centers. He is nationally recognized as an expert and innovator in the areas of community participation, consensus building, and facilitation. Daniel’s diverse projects have addressed such issues as public transit, traffic, housing, economic development, land use and regional growth. He has worked in a wide range of communities, from Downtown Los Angeles and Downtown Denver to Anchorage and Washington, DC. Daniel received his Ph.D. in Environmental Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of several books including Meeting of the Minds and The Inclusive City.
Susan M. Goltsman
FASLA, Principal, President
Susan Goltsman (FASLA) is an expert in the design and programming of environments for children, youth and families. She has worked worldwide applying social science to design, creating one of a kind environments that respond to the community, the organization, user group needs, building function and site context. Her projects have won awards from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, the Center for Universal Design, the American Institute of Architects, the America Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the National Endowment for the Arts, The United Cerebral Palsy Association, the California Department of Rehabilitation and the California Park and Recreation Society. Susan has taught at numerous universities and colleges and serves as an adviser to a number of landscape architecture programs, children's museums and governmental committees. She is co-author of the PLAY FOR ALL Guidelines, which has been internationally adopted as a reference on the planning, design, and management of outdoor play settings for all children; the Accessibility Checklist, an evaluation system for buildings and outdoor settings; and most recently, The Inclusive City, proposing a more inclusive approach to planning that promotes social and economic equity and community development, with full interaction and accessibility for all residents. Susan holds degrees in Environmental Design, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Psychology.
Carolyn Verheyen
Principal, Chief Operating Officer
Carolyn is an expert in strategic planning, community services planning, public involvement, policy planning and organizational development. Her experience includes public participation program design and implementation; public opinion research; and strategic and organizational planning. She directs a range of projects addressing social policy, parks and recreation planning, transportation and community planning. Ms. Verheyen has designed and managed large-scale, high-stakes stakeholder outreach programs and strategic planning processes addressing a variety of social policy issues, including child welfare reform plans, child development plans, mental health services investment plans, homeless support services plans, public health alternatives, regional coordination plans, statewide system development plans, and welfare-to-work transportation plans. Her facilitative leadership skills, content knowledge, action-research orientation and strategic thinking combine to provide clients with a steady guide and value-added service. With 23 years at MIG, she is in charge of firm-wide operations.
Christopher Beynon
AICP, Principal, Director of Planning and Design Services
Christopher Beynon has extensive experience and a proven track record in land use and transportation planning; general plans and specific plans; community design; transit-oriented development; design of streets and the public realm; group facilitation and consensus building; and the translation of visions and concepts into action-oriented projects and programs. In particular, Mr. Beynon is a national leader in the revitalization of our city centers and urban environments, directing projects that result in real change for cities throughout North America. Reflecting his passion for a wide range of city scales and geographies, Mr. Beynon has led urban planning and downtown design projects for cities such as Dallas, TX; Charlotte, NC; Denver, CO; Anchorage, AK; Ocala, FL; Boston, MA; Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sacramento, San Clemente and Napa, CA; and Calgary, Alberta.
Carie DeRuiter
Principal, Director of Communications and Media Services
Carie DeRuiter brings expertise in marketing, communications and graphic design, with an emphasis on social marketing and behavior change programs, and information and outreach for public agencies. Carie supervises all phases of communications and media production for clients, including communications planning and strategy, writing and editing, graphic design and production. As Director of Communications and Media Services since 1995, she sets the creative direction for the design and production of MIG’s marketing materials, books and periodicals.
Timothy Gilbert
ASLA, CASp, ICC, Principal, Director of Universal Design Services
Tim is a licensed landscape architect in two states, with expertise in public agency planning, Universal Design, park design, the ADA and access codes. He has designed a wide range of community service facilities throughout the United States, including parks, playgrounds, trails, schools, child care centers, courthouses, and rehabilitation centers. He has assisted hundreds of communities in preparing and implementing ADA Self Evaluation and Transition Plans. Tim emphasizes staff and community involvement in the planning and design process, including community preference surveys, staff training, and effective public workshops. Tim is ICC-certified (International Code Council) as an Accessibility Inspector/Plans Examiner and certified by the State of California as an Access Specialist (CASp).
Steve Lang
ASLA, Principal
Steve is a licensed landscape architect in California, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania, with over 30 years experience concentrating in planning and design for recreation, park and public facilities. He has been project manager on over twenty award-winning public improvement projects ranging from neighborhood and community parks to multi-million dollar sports complexes and aquatic facilities. A recent emphasis for Steve is the enhancement of underutilized open space areas associated with utility corridors and riverside properties for public use, enjoyment and environmental education. Steve also is active in the design of urban streetscape improvement projects, school campus enhancements, and redevelopment agency projects.
Mukul Malhotra
Principal, Director of Urban Design
Mukul has over 15 years of experience in urban design and architecture. His projects range from downtowns and historic districts to new communities and university campuses, addressing issues related to urban development and revitalization, transit-oriented design, sustainable environments, community connectivity, and preservation of neighborhood and city character. Mukul leads the Streets Studio at MIG. He has worked with an array of cities, agencies and community groups in efforts to redevelop urban and neighborhood corridors and streetscapes in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Massachusetts. From large arterials to small neighborhood streets, he has managed projects from community visioning to design to construction drawings, resulting in award wining streetscapes that are multifunctional, sustainable and green, and cost-effective to maintain.
Sally McIntyre
Principal
Sally focuses on parks and recreation master plans, recreation programming, facility design, strategic planning and communications. Her extensive experience emphasizes involving diverse community members in creative livable neighborhoods, from seniors to children to people with disabilities. Sally co-authored the Vision Insight Planning (VIP) for the California Parks and Recreation Society, a groundbreaking strategic plan for the advancement of the parks and recreation profession. Her work on open space issues involves creating design guidelines and open space system standards for high-density neighborhoods, specific area plans and regional plans.
Patricia McLaughlin
Principal, Director Transportation and Management Planning
Pat is Principal in MIG's Pasadena/Los Angeles Area office and directs the firm’s transportation and management practice. She has over 28 years of experience in strategic planning, organizational development, partnering and policy planning for local, regional, state agencies as well as non-profit organizations. In addition, her transportation-specific work includes local, regional, state and community-oriented transportation project planning, environmental review, community project visioning and joint development. She is a past chair of the Public Transportation Section of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (TRB) and currently sits on the Management and Leadership Section Executive Board.
Robin Moore
Principal
Robin is a founding principal of MIG and an internationally recognized authority on the ecological design of children¿s educational environments, participatory design programming, and user needs in public open space design. Robin has consulted extensively worldwide, recently serving as a public participation consultant on urban parks for the Chilean government. He is currently directing the Argentine segment of the UNESCO study: Growing Up in Cities. Robin has won numerous awards for his contributions to the field of design and has written numerous books on these topics.
Jim Pickel
ASLA, Principal
Jim is a licensed landscape architect in California and Texas with experience in park and recreation planning and design, parks and recreation master planning, community facilitation and construction administration. Jim has 27 years of experience in planning and designing a wide range of recreational facilities including sports parks, neighborhood, community, regional, special use parks and aquatic centers. Jim's emphasis has been in planning and designing oceanfront recreational facilities, beach bicycle and pedestrian trails, plazas, pier entries, lifeguard facilities and recreation vehicle parking. Jim is also active in preparing Parks and Recreation Master Plans, urban design projects and campus planning.
Lauren Schmitt
ASLA, AICP, Principal
Lauren Schmitt is Director of MIG’s Portland and Eugene offices. A planner and landscape architect, Ms. Schmitt has 18 years of experience helping communities articulate their desired future. She has worked with cities, counties and public agencies of all sizes planning and designing park systems around the United States, and has presented her work at parks and recreation conferences in California, Oregon, and Washington. She has helped public agencies and other organizations develop transformative strategic plans and action-oriented master plans. She also oversees a variety of planning and design projects, including neighborhood plans, downtown plans, and natural resource plans.
Joan Chaplick
Principal, Director of Management and Policy Services
Joan Chaplick has more that 20 years experience in public involvement and community planning. Ms. Chaplick joined MIG in 2005 as an expert in public outreach strategies and facilitation, community involvement, funding, and collaborative land use planning. Prior to MIG, she worked for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy where she served as Associate Director of Community Stewardship and the National Park Service, as Grants Chief and Outdoor Recreation Planner. She also worked as an independent consultant for several years.
