Lessons Learned From Early- and Mid-Career Planners

Session 7B | Thursday | 9:30 – 10:45 AM (PT)

This session is a must for planners at any stage of their career, which will pass along advice from a panel of professional planners based upon lessons learned during their varied levels of experience in the planning profession.  Audience members will be encouraged to share their viewpoints and ask questions.

Steve Butler, FAICP

Steve has been a professional planner for 40 years. He currently works as the Planning and Policy Manager for MRSC, where he conducts research and provides planning advice to cities, towns, and counties throughout Washington. He has been involved in most aspects of community planning, both in the public and private sectors, in the states of Washington, Oregon, Maine and Wisconsin. Steve has been the President of both the American Planning Association–Washington Chapter (APA-WA) and the Maine Association of Planners. He is a co-chair of the APA-WA’s “Youth in Planning” Task Force and UW UDP Professionals Council member. In 2008, he was inducted into AICP’s College of Fellows. Steve received a M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. in Sociology from St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY).

McCaela Daffern

King County

McCaela Daffern is an urban planner whose career has spanned the public, private, and nonprofit sectors with an ever-increasing focus on building thriving and equitable communities through partnership and collaboration. She currently works in regional housing planning and policy for King County’s Department of Community and Human Services. Prior to joining the County, she held positions with organizations that finance, build, or support affordable housing for over a decade and spent her early career working as a land use planner. McCaela co-chairs the Seattle Planning Commission and the Seattle Central College Development Advisory Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Environmental Policy and Planning from Western Washington University and a Master of City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University.

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Jacob Gonzalez

City of Pasco

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Adrian Smith

City of Port Townsend

 

Adrian Smith is a Long Range Planner at the City of Port Townsend’s Department of Planning and Community Development (PCD). Their work focuses on writing and implementing policies to support affordable housing. Adrian began their planning career in 2021, when they wrote their master’s thesis on transitional housing options in Jefferson County, Washington. After graduating with a master’s degree in public policy, they worked as a Planning Technician and Assistant Planner in Jefferson County before joining Port Townsend PCD. Adrian’s next major project is Port Townsend’s 2025 Periodic Review.

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Donna DeBit

City of Spokane

Donna is an Associate Planner and has been with the City of Spokane for 8 years. She has previously worked for the City of Seattle, the City of West Richland, and the City of Kennewick. She has been involved with the Washington Youth in Planning Task Force since 2017 and has been on the WA APA Inland Empire Section Board since 2016. Donna fell in love with the Spokane area when attending EWU in their Urban and Regional Planning program and is thankful to call it home. For fun she dreams about free time, as she is a mom to a 2 year old and a 5 month old.

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