I grew up in Lelystad in the Netherlands, a new town built on reclaimed land in the former Zuiderzee, now known as the IJsselmeer.

From 1985 to 1991 I attended the University of Amsterdam where I studied urban planning. As part of my studies, I made a field trip to New York and visited the Cooper Square Committee, a community group on the Lower East Side. That organization was established in 1959 in opposition to a Robert Moses urban renewal plan. Cooper Square, under guidance of planner Walter Thabitt, developed its own alternate plan, which was eventually accepted by the city.

Two years later, I returned to New York with a grant from the Fund for the City of New York. I researched different approaches to the rehabilitation and management of the city-owned in rem housing stock and worked with the Cooper Square Committee to develop one of the first tenant-run mutual housing associations in the United States. The MHA concept was loosely modeled on Dutch housing corporations, which build and operate low cost housing.

In 1990 I began working for Middelkoop and Partners, later renamed DE LIJN, a planning consulting firm in Amsterdam serving both public and private clients. In 1994 I became partner of DE LIJN. Under my leadership, DE LIJN shifted emphasis from research and policy studies to planning and project management with a focus on community development, neighborhood revitalization and urban innovation.

In 2003 DE LIJN worked with the Regional Plan Association on a professional exchange, providing New York planners and developers an in depth look at the redevelopment of the Amsterdam waterfront, particulary as it might serve as a source of inspiration for the revitalization of the Brooklyn waterfront. A delegation of New York City officials took part in the exchange including Amanda Burden, the City Planning Commissioner.

From 2005 I served as a development director for the Amsterdam office of Bouwfonds MAB, one of the largest housing and mixed-use developers in the Netherlands, also active throughout Europe. I managed a number of large multi-faceted projects in the Amsterdam region.

In January 2007, I moved with my family to New York.

LINKS:
www.bouwfonds.com
www.coopersquare.org