Contact Us : Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)

Contact Us

For general questions about CNT or the issues we work on, please email info@cnt.org or call 773-278-4800. For questions about specific issues or programs, please contact the following staff:

Water:: Harriet Festing
Energy:: Anne Evens
Transportation & Community Development:: Jacky Grimshaw
Climate:: Jen McGraw
GRID/Research:: Linda Young
Green Building Tours:: Anjuli Koentopp
Media Requests:: Ryan Kilpatrick
Something else?: Nicole Gotthelf

For a complete staff list, see below.

Visiting CNT Headquarters

The Center for Neighborhood Technology occupies a formerly abandoned industrial building, dating to the 1920s, in the historic neighborhood of Wicker Park. CNT moved to its current location in 1987, at which point it completed an award-winning renovation of the 2nd and 3rd floors, incorporating energy-efficient features such as non-toxic interior finishes and resource-efficient workplace procedures. In 2001, CNT began another renovation, this time also incorporating the 3rd floor. The building was renovated according to the highest green building standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. In December 2005, the USGBC officially certified the building as LEED “Platinum,” making it one of the country’s most high performing buildings; LEED had previously certified only twelve other buildings as Platinum. Read more about the green building.

Traveling to Our Office

If you plan to visit the Center for Neighborhood Technology, we encourage you to take public transportation. Our office is conveniently located 1½ blocks from the Damen stop on the CTA Blue Line, about 15 minutes from the Loop and 45 minutes from O’Hare Airport. Plan your route with the RTA Trip Planner.

Complete Staff List

Management

Scott Bernstein, President and Co-Founder
Scott leads CNT’s work to understand and better disclose the economic value of resource use in urban communities, and helps craft strategies to capture the value of this efficiency productively and locally.

He studied at Northwestern University, served on the research staff of its Center for Urban Affairs, taught at UCLA and was a founding Board member at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Center. President Clinton appointed Scott to the President’s Council for Sustainable Development, where he co-chaired its task forces on Metropolitan Sustainable Communities and on Cross-Cutting Climate Strategies and to other Federal advisory panels on global warming, development strategy, and science policy. He helped write a climate change strategy for the 1st 100 days of the new Administration. Scott is a Fellow of the Center for State Innovation, a Board Member of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and Congress for the New Urbanism, works with governors, mayors and metropolitan organizations across the U.S., and most recently helped create the Chicago Climate Action Plan at the request of Mayor Richard M. Daley. CNT is a signer of the Charter of the New Urbanism and Scott is a member of the Urban History Association, which includes urbanists old and new.

Kathryn Tholin, Chief Executive Officer
Appointed CEO of CNT in September, 2005, Kathy directs and oversees CNT’s research, demonstration, and policy development.

From 2000 to 2005, Kathy was the founding General Manager of CNT Energy (originally Community Energy Cooperative). She was responsible for the development and management of the Cooperative’s energy-efficiency and demand reduction programs in the Chicago area, including an innovative multifaceted, geographically targeted demand reduction program; a natural gas price protection program for residential consumers; and the Energy-Smart Pricing Plan, the nation’s first real-time, market-based pricing program for residential customers. Kathy has also served as Project Director of the Illinois Smart Grid Initiative, a collaborative project to develop a consumer-centered approach to smart grid development in Illinois.

Kathy has more than 25 years experience in program management, policy development, and research on a wide range of community development, environmental and energy areas. Prior to joining the Community Energy Cooperative she has served as Executive Vice President of the Woodstock Institute in Chicago, National Director of the Success Measures Project of the Development Leadership Network, and Assistant Director for Policy and Communications at the Center for Neighborhood Technology. She is a founder and board member of the Chicago Community Loan Fund. She has a BA in sociology from Beloit College. Email Kathy

Stephen Perkins, PhD, Senior Vice President
Steve Perkins joined CNT in 1980 and has since developed and managed many public policy and economic development projects. Currently, Steve directs CNT’s Venture program, developing social ventures based on CNT’s intellectual property.

At CNT, Steve has been the lead planner for the Amoco Neighborhood Nonprofit Energy Program, which offered one-stop energy conservation services to 150 community-based agencies and over 170 buildings, and the Chicago Energy Savers Fund, a consortium of citywide and community groups which managed the energy conservation retrofit of 12,000 units of housing. He was the founder and convener of the Housing Abandonment Task Force, a multi-agency policy initiative to conserve the city’s existing housing stock and the director of the Amoco Fund for Neighborhood Economies which provided training and program related investments in Denver, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago and Northwest Indiana. Steve was founder and Director of Connections for Community Ownership, a CDFI that provided financing to minority entrepreneurs in franchising. He also directed the Wireless Community Network Project, as well as LEGInfo, an internet-based information service through which a consortium of coalitions tracked state legislation. He was co- founder of Faith in Place, the leading regional interreligious organization focused on sustainability.

Prior to CNT, Steve founded and directed the Phoenix Limited Partnership, an interracial development group, and served as assistant to the chairman of South Shore National Bank, now Shorebank. He was also co-director of Chicago’s Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Organization. In Evanston, Steve is the founder of the Evanston Interreligious Sustainability Project and the Network for Evanston’s Future. Steve has a BA magna cum laude from Harvard College and a PhD in psychology from the University of Chicago. Email Steve

Jacky Grimshaw, Vice President of Policy
Jacky joined CNT in 1992 and has since developed its capacity to engage in public policy advocacy, transportation research, public participation tool development, GIS mapping, and community economic development. Jacky created and has led CNT’s transportation and air quality programs and has led CNT’s Transit Future Campaign in the fight for mass transit reform in the Chicago region.

Jacky serves on numerous boards, including: Chicago Transit Authority, RTA Strategic Plan Advisory Committee, Smart Growth Network, and the IL53 Advisory Council. She recently completed terms on the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board’s Committees on Women’s Issues in Transportation and Environmental Justice. She was appointed to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s Transition Team. She has participated on several Advisory Committees for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, including the Economic Recovery Commission, the Illinois Tollway Transition Team, and the Elgin-O’Hare West Bypass Advisory Council. She was recognized in 2009 with a Leon M. Despres Award from the Midwest Academy. She was a member of the Energy and Transportation Task Force of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, and on the Boards of Congress for New Urbanism, CTA’s Citizens Advisory, Renew America-Renew the Earth and Smart Growth America, and also on the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership Steering Committee, and has been a longtime activist for social justice.

Prior to CNT, Jacky spent time as a researcher in hematology and gastroenterology, worked in both state and federal government, for the Chicago Public School district and served in numerous other capacities, including political advisor for the late Mayor Harold Washington and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Deputy City Treasurer, talk show host for the Chicago NPR and ABC affiliates, and columnist for Crain’s Chicago Business. Jacky has completed the MA in Public Policy requirements at Governors State University and holds a BS in Biology from Marquette University in Milwaukee. Email Jacky
Read “Going Places” – Jacky’s blog

Sarah Campbell, National Policy Director
Sarah Campbell joined the Center for Neighborhood Technology as Director of National Policy, based in DC, on May 2, 2011.

Sarah is a recognized leader in both the transportation reform and mainstream transportation policy and planning communities, having advised several Secretaries of the Department of Transportation, worked in the administration of the District of Columbia twice, and was the top choice of the nation’s leading foundations and public interest advocates to manage the start-up of what became a successful national transportation reform movement. She served as Deputy Budget Director for Capital Projects for the Council of the District of Columbia. She joined the Budget Office in June 2007, reporting to City Council Chairman (now Mayor) Vincent Gray, after 18 years as a consultant and nonprofit manager.

Ms. Campbell served for 14 years as president of TransManagement, Inc., a transportation consulting firm in Washington DC. Her work included policy research, management and budget analysis, planning studies, and public outreach for a wide range of clients, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, American Public Transportation Association, National Park Service, Transportation Research Board, Reconnecting America, Amtrak, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, as well as many MPOs and state DOTs. Through her firm, Ms. Campbell managed the Great American Station Foundation in the late 1990’s, and served as management organization consultant to three Amtrak presidents. She also has provided transportation policy advice for nonprofits and foundations. From 2004 -2007, she collaborated with the National Center for Bicycling and Walking (NCBW) on transportation management projects for the National Park Service.

Sarah has a Masters in Public Administration, Government Policy and Economics from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. Email Sarah

Harriet Festing, Director, Water Program
Harriet is leading on CNT’s program on water, looking at smart solutions such as asset management, water efficiency and green infrastructure. The program includes community demonstration projects, on-line information and support tools, policy development and outreach.

Harriet previously worked for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, UK Government, where she designed, developed and managed a $20M program piloting community-led solutions to carbon emission reductions and sustainable resource use. She was Director of Communications and Engagement at the UK Government’s Sustainable Development Commission, and Head of Fundraising at the Princes Foundation. Prior to this, she was Assistant Vice President for Marketing at Project for Public Spaces in New York.

Harriet has a Masters Degree in Sustainable Food Marketing from the University of London. As part of her studies, she was awarded a Winston Churchill fellowship to travel across the US to film and research farmers’ markets. Her tour was filmed by the BBC and helped further the introduction of farmers’ markets in the UK. Harriet is co-founder of the responsible travel company ‘Insider Tours’. Email Harriet

Jen McGraw, Director, Climate Program, Manager – San Francisco Office
Jen has worked at CNT since 1999, most recently acting as the Manager of the San Francisco office.

Jen is currently working in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, Microsoft, and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability to develop an online greenhouse gas accounting tool for cities. She recently co-led the mitigation research team for the City of Chicago’s climate action plan, including the development of a greenhouse gas emissions baseline for the city and region and documentation of 33 different mitigation strategies. Jen also led the team that researched transportation and land use for the Presidential Climate Action Plan – a set of recommendations for the current Administration.

Jen has a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Email Jen

Linda Young, Research Director
Linda joined CNT in 2007 and oversees the project management, research design, and evaluation for research projects related to urban planning and environmental issues, including integrated transportation and land use planning, housing and transportation affordability, transit-oriented design, and climate change.

At CNT, Linda oversees the research team and community application process of CNT’s Housing and Transportation Affordability Index and acted as project manager for the 22-member CNT team conducting research for the City of Chicago’s climate action plan, including the development of a greenhouse gas emissions baseline for the city and region, and documentation of 33 different mitigation strategies.

Prior to joining CNT, she was the Title I Program Director at the Chicago Department of Public Health, where she oversaw a federally funded community planning program for a nine-county region. Linda also served as Assistant Director at Inspired Partnerships, a community development organization that provided technical assistance and support for facility operators housing community service organizations, and the Executive Director for the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority in Michigan. Linda holds a Masters of Urban Planning (M.U.P.) from the University of Michigan and an Master of Science in Historic Preservation Planning from Eastern Michigan University. Email Linda

Peter M. Haas, PhD, Chief Research Scientist
Since joining CNT in 1994, Peter has expanded its research, geographic information systems (GIS), data, and technical analysis capacity. Peter has revolutionized the geographic analysis of social, environmental and economic data to produce ground-breaking tools for measuring sustainability in urban areas.

Peter has been integral in the development of CNT’s location efficiency metrics, and developed its Housing + Transportation^SM Affordability Index, co-produced with the Brookings Institution. He acted as the Analytical Director for the 22 member CNT Research Team producing a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and 33 mitigation strategies for the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Peter also led the CNT team that analyzed the crisis in intercity travel in the U.S., focusing on the aviation system and produced “Missed Connections: Solving The Crisis in Intercity Travel”, as well as CNT’s nationally recognized community information system – CITYNEWS (www.newschicago.org), which allows citizens to investigate property information in their community. Peter’s innovative adaptation of an existing USEPA air emissions model (Mobile 6) made the addition of pollutant reductions criteria possible to calculate for transit agencies in CNT’s online emissions calculator, TravelMatters.

Prior to CNT, Peter was a systems manager at Sieben Energy Associates, Adjunct Faculty at the William Rainey Harper College, and post-doctoral researcher at Cornell University’s Laboratory for Nuclear Studies, and The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Peter has a PhD in particle physics from Ohio State University. Email Peter

Anne Evens, PhD, Director, CNT Energy
Anne Evens serves as director of CNT Energy and leads programs including demand side management, energy research, multi-family energy efficiency, real-time pricing and regional energy and climate planning. Ms. Evens has been responsible for the development and oversight of an energy education program, a citywide energy efficiency retrofit program, and a plan to reduce energy consumption and emissions for Chicago neighborhoods.

Anne also served as director of lead poisoning prevention in the Division of Environmental Health at the City of Chicago, where she administered energy efficiency, radon reduction and lead abatement programs with an annual budget of $8 million.

Ms. Evens has a BS in applied and engineering physics from Cornell University and an MS in energy management and international development from the University of Pennsylvania. She has a PhD in Environmental and Occupational Health from the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Email Anne

Sharon Feigon, Chief Executive Officer, Alternative Transportation for Chicagoland
Since 2005, Sharon Feigon has been the CEO of Alternative Transportation for Chicagoland, the CNT affiliate that successfully operated IGO CarSharing before its acquisition by Enterprise in May 2013. As CEO of IGO, Sharon tripled its size and brought in many new partnerships and resources.

Previously, as CNT’s Manager of Research and Development, Sharon specialized in finding innovative market-based solutions to the problems of urban sprawl. She was the Principal Investigator for a three-year project with the Transportation Research Board, “Combating Global Warming Through Sustainable Surface Transportation Policy”, which included development of an emissions calculator and policies for the use of local transportation and other governmental agencies. Sharon also coordinated CNT’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Program in conjunction with the Great American Station Foundation and was an author of a book on the barriers to transit-oriented development, The New Transit Town published by Island Press in December 2003. Sharon also managed CNT’s Green Building Program which included planning and overseeing renovation of CNT’s 14,000-square-foot facility to attain LEED Platinum status, the highest environmental rating possible from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Sharon is a member of the Congress for New Urbanism and has served on the Evanston Plan Commission and was Chair of that Commission’s Transportation Committee. She was recently a member of the Citizen Advisory Board for the PACE Bus System North Shore Study. She is currently a member of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED-ND Committee, developing LEED standards for neighborhood developments. Sharon has an MBA from DePaul University and a BA in Economics from Antioch College. Email Sharon

Nicole Gotthelf, Director of Institutional Advancement
Nicole joined CNT in 2005 and is responsible for its development activities. Nicole brings to CNT twenty-five years of fundraising and communications experience for nonprofits.

Prior to CNT, Nicole served as Director of Development for the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, Major Gifts Officer for the American Friends Service Committee, Executive Director of Community Shares of Wisconsin, and Business Coordinator for Commonwealth Development Corporation.

Nicole also brings to CNT her knowledge of urban development and municipal policymaking. Nicole was elected to the City of Madison Common Council and served for 8 years. As an Alderwoman, she served on numerous boards, committees, and commissions, in Transportation, Energy, Parks, and Water. She also served and chaired the Community Development Authority that owned and operated the City’s public housing and worked on redevelopment projects throughout Madison. She currently serves on the board of Community Media Workshop. Nicole has a BA in Geography from Beloit College. Email Nicole

Ryan Kilpatrick, Communications Director
Ryan joined CNT in March 2013 and leads media, online and other outreach efforts to promote CNT’s position as a leader in urban sustainability.

Prior to CNT, Ryan worked as an independent communications consultant to nonprofit clients in Chicago and around the world, including Human Rights Watch and the Museum of Science and Industry. In 2011 and 2012, Ryan served as a consultant to the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where he managed media relations for special events and created social media campaigns to reach prospective law students in targeted African nations.

During his four-year tenure at Grisko, a leading Chicago communications firm, Ryan led public affairs and media relations campaigns for nonprofit, corporate and government clients on issues such as car sharing, housing, transit/transportation and municipal policy in Great Lakes states. In four years at what is now Planned Parenthood of Illinois, Ryan coordinated online advocacy activities, before becoming manager of communications.

Ryan holds an MA in Diplomacy and International Commerce from the University of Kentucky, and a BS in Psychology from Bradley University. Email Ryan

Adam Goldstein, Chief Financial Officer
Adam joined CNT in 2007 with 15 years of finance and accounting experience as the first Chief Financial Officer for CNT, CNT Energy, and IGO CarSharing. He is responsible for the preparation and presentation of financial statements and budget analysis to the board of directors of the affiliated entities. Adam provides accounting, finance, and budget support to CNT’s portfolio managers and managed the annual audit process.

Prior to CNT, Adam most recently served in leadership roles in the areas of accounting and finance at Follett Corporation and Amsted Industries. During that time he also spent two years as a teaching assistant at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Adam earned his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and has a Bachelor’s Degree in accounting from Purdue University. He serves on the board of directors at the Chicago Recycling Coalition and is a co-founder of Chicago’s Do The Right Thing – Recycling. Email Adam

Delmar Gillus, Chief Operating Officer, CNT Energy
Delmar Gillus joined CNT Energy in November of 2009 as the chief operating officer. As part of the team, Delmar is responsible for implementing operational and project management processes in support CNT Energy’s growing portfolio of new energy projects. Mr. Gillus is also managing efforts to implement new business strategies, supporting the development of CNT’s IT systems, and supporting the CNT’s CFO in implementing new project accounting tools and processes.

Prior to joining CNT, Delmar worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL in the Strategic Optimization Organization leading the implementation and training of new and improved business processes to internal customers and member. Before joining BCBS Mr. Gillus was the office manager for RWD Technologies Chicago office. As office manager, he was responsible for overseeing all Chicago-based projects and coordinating business development activities. Mr. Gillus is currently involved with several professional and community service organizations, most notability the YMCA’s Black and Latino achievers program which he was recognized as a 2009 Distinguished volunteer.

Mr. Gillus earned a BS in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland College Park, and an MBA in marketing and IT from Loyola University – Chicago. Email Delmar