As Vice President with Lord Cultural Resources, Brad King oversees a number of the firm’s planning and implementation services. Having led or contributed to more than 200 museum planning projects in over 15 countries since joining Lord in 2000, he is an experienced, versatile and knowledgeable consultant who consistently demonstrates an ability to see through to the heart of a particular issue or problem.
Brad works in both management consulting and museum exhibition development and has particular specializations in master planning, collection analyses, business planning and museum learning strategies. He brings a wealth of national and international experience to his work and has led or had a major role in numerous museum planning projects in Canada, the U.S. and around the world.
Brad holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Toronto and is a frequent presenter at museum and academic conferences. He is the author of chapters in The Manual of Museum Learning (1st ed. 2007) and The Manual of Museum Planning (3rd ed. 2012: Chapter 5, “Understanding Collections”) and is co-editor of The Manual of Museum Learning (2nd ed. 2016).
Gil Penalosa is passionate about cities for all people. He advises decision makers and communities worldwide on how to create vibrant cities and healthy communities for all, regardless of age, gender, ability and social, economic, or ethnic background. His focus is on the design and use of parks and streets as great public places, as well as the promotion of sustainable mobility: walking, riding bicycles, using public transit, and new use of cars.
Gil is the Founder and Chair of the board of the successful Canadian non-profit organization 8 80 Cities, as well as Ambassador of World Urban Parks: international representative body for the city parks, open space and recreation sector. In addition, Gil leads a private international consulting firm - Gil Penalosa & Associates, providing services as an inspirational keynote speaker, facilitator of strategic workshops and advisor to decision makers and community groups.
Throughout his career, Gil has been a strong advocate for improving city parks, making his first mark in the late 1990s where he led the design and development of over 200 parks in Bogotá, Colombia - including Simon Bolivar, a 113-hectare park in the heart of the city. His team also initiated the “new Ciclovia”/ Open Streets - a program that sees over 1.7 million people walk, run, skate and bike along 121 kilometres of Bogotá’s city roads every Sunday of the year, and today is internationally recognized and emulated.
Because of Gil’s unique blend of experience, pragmatism and passion, many cities and organizations worldwide seek his leadership and valuable advice. He has worked in over 300 different cities in all continents. He also serves as senior advisor to Vision Zero Network, Children & Nature Network, and America Walks.
Gil holds an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where he recently was selected as one of the “100 Most Inspirational Alumni” in the school's history. In 2015 Gil received a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Faculty of Urban Planning at the prominent Swedish University, SLU. He is a Certified Professional Speaker by the US-NSA. In 2017 Gil was listed in Planetizen’s Top 100 Most Influential Urbanists. In 2018 he received the Annual World Urban Parks Distinguished Individual Award.
Pamela Blais is an urban planner and Principal of Metropole Consultants Ltd. Her professional focus is in creating better cities by integrating planning, economic and environmental thinking in analysing urban issues and developing innovative policy.
In her twenty-plus year career as an urban planning consultant, her work has included reurbanisation strategies and research; regional growth planning; municipal economic development strategies; innovative land use policies for industrial areas; urban regeneration strategies; sustainable urban form, community design and infrastructure; and research on the impact of technology on urban form.
She is the author of Perverse Cities: Hidden Subsidies, Wonky Policy and Urban Sprawl, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Donner Book Prize – awarded for the best Canadian public policy book of the year.
Pamela has a Masters in Planning from the University of Toronto and a PhD in urban economic geography from the London School of Economics.
