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Richard Perrin is Executive Director of the Genesee Transportation Council where he is responsible for directing and managing federally-funded transportation policy, planning, and investment decision-making in the nine-county Genesee-Finger Lakes Region, which includes the Rochester metropolitan area. Rich is a member of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies’ Metropolitan Policy, Planning, and Processes Committee and currently serves on the Board of the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

He received his Master’s degree in urban planning from the State University of New York at Buffalo and is an alumnus of the Wharton Transportation Executive Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Joni Monroe, AIA, is one of the founding members of the RRCDC and has served as the Executive Director since 2003. Under her leadership the RRCDC has extended its outreach to the nine county Greater Rochester Region as the area’s only non-profit community-driven advocate for planning and design of the built environment offering technical assistance, facilitation and educational programs. Joni, who holds Masters degrees in Architecture from Yale University, Historic Preservation from Columbia University and Education from the University of Rochester, is committed to providing community connections to design and planning resources.

Dedicated to civic engagement, she is active in local and national civic design and community organizations, serving on the Boards of Directors of ARTWalk, Pathstone and the Association for Community Design. In her civic design role she sits on the City’s Stakeholders’ Committee for the Midtown Redevelopment Project and chairs the RRCDC’s Downtown Task Force.

Joni directs much of her energy to working with community-based groups and design professionals to improve neighborhoods. She is a frequent presenter at conferences as well as to regional groups including visiting students and design/planning studios working on projects in conjunction with the RRCDC. Joni is directly involved with developing the education and training programs offered by the design center in an effort to encourage thoughtful policies effecting communities. A key motivating force in her work with the RRCDC is the belief that educated citizens are better equipped.

Mike Governale (that’s me) is an Interactive Art Director at Partners and Napier, a Rochester-based and nationally recognized advertising agency. Mike moved to Rochester from Long Island to study illustration at RIT. After a design project led him to create a popular artistic map of Rochester’s abandoned subway, he began digging deeper into Rochester’s past. He now shares his local historical finds on his blog, RochesterSubway.com.

Mike considers public transit central to civic progress and, in 2010, founded Reconnect Rochester, a transit advocacy group, to educate locals about the importance of a robust public transit system. He also serves on the board of directors of Friends of the GardenAerial, a non-profit organization advocating for the conversion of pre-existing structures and trails along the Genesee Gorge at High Falls into a multi-use, extraordinary public green space.

Mike holds degrees in Illustration and Graphic Design from Rochester Institute of Technology where has returned on several occasions to teach Intro and Advanced Web Design classes in the College for Imaging Arts & Sciences.

Wayne Goodman is the Executive Director of The Landmark Society of Western New York, beginning in January 2011. Wayne graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Ball State University and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Wyoming. He works with communities, local organizations and individuals to preserve historic resources of all varieties and routinely collaborates with real estate professionals, developers, architects and elected officials. Wayne worked for Indiana Landmarks, the nation’s largest statewide preservation organization, until January 2011 – a tenure of ten years.

He serves on the Board of Directors of Preservation Action, the nationwide grassroots lobbying organization for preservation’s voice in Congress. Wayne was actively involved in many local heritage organizations across Indiana and is becoming more involved with local organizations in Western New York. Wayne served as a member of the Graduate Faculty at Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning from 2006-2011, where he instructed architecture and preservation courses. Wayne is married to wife, Angie, and they have three daughters, Carrie, Rebekah and Avery.