Staff Experts

Meet our experts RPA's advocacy for critical infrastructure investments, land use and regulatory changes, and enhanced planning and development in the tri-state area, is underpinned by rigorous research and planning. RPA's professional staff are recognized experts in transportation studies, economics, design and environmental planning.

  • Robert D. Yaro
  • President
  • Bob Yaro has four decades of experience in developing and implementing metropolitan strategies for growth management, economic development, environmental protection, transportation and climate change. He has also worked on urban and rural community revitalization and growth management plans. He has worked on these efforts across North America, Asia and Africa. He also initiated America 2050, RPA's national planning strategy. Finally, he has taught these skills at the graduate level for 25 years.
  • Thomas K. Wright
  • Executive Director
  • Tom Wright has extensive experience in growth management, working closely with municipalities and state agencies to focus development into urban centers and other transit accessible locations and away from open space and farmland.
  • Christopher Jones
  • Vice President for Research
  • Christopher Jones has 25 years of experience in regional development research and policy in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region. He has written extensively on the economy, urban development, workforce issues and housing while leading multi-disciplinary projects for RPA, the City of New York and the Port Authority of New York-New Jersey.
  • David Kooris
  • Vice President and Director, Connecticut Office
  • Mr. Kooris specializes in transit-oriented development and sustainability. His projects incorporate best practices in carbon emissions reduction achieved through participatory planning processes. Community design through the charrette process has enabled smart growth throughout the region and results in progressive regulatory tools such as design guidelines and form-based codes.
  • Robert Freudenberg
  • Director, New Jersey Office, Acting Director, Long Island
  • With a background in environmental policy, Robert Freudenberg applies sustainability principles to his project work which includes natural resources stewardship, downtown revitalization, coastal and maritime planning, public access and parks & recreation initiatives. A native of Long Island, Mr. Freudenberg is intimately familiar with the Island's cultural, political and historical landscape.
  • Juliette Michaelson
  • Director of Strategic Initiatives
  • Juliette Michaelson specializes on the broad relationship between transportation and land use. At RPA, she also monitors developments on the Far West Side of Manhattan, including Moynihan Station, ARC, the Hudson Rail Yards and the Javits Convention Center.
  • Robert J. Pirani
  • Vice President for Environmental Programs
  • Robert Pirani is Regional Plan Association's Director of Environmental Programs and Executive Director of the Governors Island Alliance. He has more than 25 years experience developing and directing campaigns and planning projects in landscape conservation, urban parks, waterfront redevelopment, green infrastructure and water quality protection, and the reuse of abandoned industrial sites. Specific recent areas of focus include Governors Island, Brooklyn waterfront, New York City wetlands, Gateway National Recreation Area/Jamaica Bay, and four-state Appalachian Highlands region.
  • L. Nicolas Ronderos
  • Director, Economic and Community Development
  • Nicolas focuses geographically on the urban areas of the New York-New Jersey Connecticut Metropolitan Area in cities like New York City and Newark. Thematically he focuses on Land Use, Zoning and Real Estate and Community and Economic Development.
  • Petra Todorovich
  • Director, America 2050

  • Petra Todorovich specializes in national infrastructure planning and policy for the United States, with a focus on trends in population growth, economic competitiveness, sustainable urban development, high-speed rail, and transportation policy. Her work also focuses on changing spatial development patterns in the United States, including the emergence of urban megaregions and their implications for transportation, land use, and infrastructure planning.

  • Jeffrey M. Zupan
  • Senior Fellow, Transportation
  • Mr. Zupan's expertise extends to all short and long-term planning, analysis, advocacy and policy formulation for transportation and transportation facilities, and includes all modes of transportation -- commuter rail, subways, buses, ferries, pedestrian circulation, streets and highways and their relationship to land use and design.