New job! Bike & ped planner for the Richmond region

For those who know me best, I have finally taken the long-awaited next big step in my career, one that will take me away from media and into urban planning.

I’ve accepted a position as a planner for the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission‘s Urban Transportation Planning Division. My primary focus will be biking and pedestrian planning, but I will be able to participate in many different areas of transportation planning for the Richmond region, which is exactly what I have been searching for. I could not be more fortunate and so grateful for this new opportunity.

My years working as a writer, editor, producer and photographer will come in handy in my new role, as I’ll be doing plenty of public outreach and I will always need to write and edit well. I’ll be working with planners throughout the region and I hope that I’ll be able to continue the improved levels of collaboration we’ve been seeing throughout the Richmond area. The instruction I received during the four years I spent earning my master’s degree in urban planning at Virginia Commonwealth University will also serve me well and I’m grateful to my professors and fellow alumni for helping to guide my success.

I must say thank you to all the people who have supported me in this transition, especially my wife, Trish, and our two children. They’ve waited patiently for this new opportunity to finally arrive. I must also thank all the people in my network of friends, classmates, and fellow advocates who gave me good recommendations over the years. I hope I get the opportunity to return the favor someday.

This new job will finally bring to a close my 20-year career with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. After spending the past 24 years as a member of the media in Richmond, I’m now moving on to a career in planning, a switch that has officially been in the works since Fall of 2011 but can be traced back nearly a decade.

Saturday, May 28, 2016, marked my final Why, Richmond, Why?!? column for the Times-Dispatch. I enjoyed my four and a half years writing that column and my two decades with the paper. I will always appreciate being a part of the original TimeDispatch.com website team in 1995. I had a good two and a half years with NBC12 as well, serving as their executive director of new media. I met and worked with some great people over the years and will not forget the support, great lessons, friendships and relationships I made during that time.

That said, I will not abandon writing and photography, but the next time you see my byline, expect it to still be highlighting recreation, tourism, and the great Virginia outdoors!