Andy Altman  | Deputy Mayor

Andrew Altman is the Deputy Mayor of Philadelphia having served for five years as the planning director for Washington D.C. under Mayor Anthony A. Williams, and as the first President and Chief Executive Officer of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation that was founded to guide the ambitious regeneration of the capital's waterfront. This project has been recognised as one of the boldest and most innovative planning initiatives currently in the United States. Altman is a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution where he will serve as a principal researcher and advisor to the Metropolitan Policy Program. At Brookings he will work closely with Bruce Katz on the development of a new transformative agenda for cities. Altman has been the recipient of numerous fellowships including the Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Lady Davis Fellowship at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Altman holds a Masters in City Planning from M.I.T.

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Richard Burdett is Director of the Urban Age Programme and Centennial Professor in Architecture and Urbanism at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and founding director of the LSE Cities Programme, a research and teaching centre which explores links between architecture, urban design and urban society. He recently co-curated the Global Cities exhibition at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, London. His latest appointment is as Principal Design Adviser for the London 2012 Olympics. Previously he was architectural adviser to the Mayor of London from 2001–2006, member of the Greater London Authority's Architecture + Urbanism Unit and he sat on the City of Barcelona's Quality Committee. Burdett was founder of the 9H Gallery and the Architecture Foundation in London, and has been a key player in promoting design excellence among public and private sector organizations in the UK and Europe. He was Director of the 2006 Architecture Biennale in Venice on the subject of ‘Cities: architecture and society’ and he is chairman of the Jury for the 2007 Mies van der Rohe Prize. Educated in Rome, Burdett lives in London with his wife and two children.

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Bruce Katz | Vice President and Director

Bruce Katz is a Vice President at the Brookings Institution and founding Director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The Metro Program seeks to redefine the challenges facing American cities and metropolitan areas and promote innovative solutions to help communities grow in more inclusive, competitive and sustainable ways. In 2006, he received the prestigious Heinz Award in Public Policy for his contributions to urban and metropolitan America. Bruce is a frequent writer and commentator on urban and metropolitan issues. He is the editor or co-editor of several books on transportation, demographics and regionalism, including Taking the High Road (Washington DC, 2005), Redefining Urban and Suburban America (Washington DC, 2003), and Reflections on Regionalism (Washington DC, 2000). His op-eds and articles have appeared in a wide range of major national and regional newspapers. Before joining Brookings, Bruce served as Chief of Staff to Henry G. Cisneros, former Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has also served as the staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs. Bruce is a graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School. He is currently a Visiting Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics.

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Wolfgang Nowak| Managing Director of the Alfred Herrhausen Society

Wolfgang Nowak is Spokesperson of the Executive Board of the Alfred Herrhausen Society, the International Forum of Deutsche Bank. He has held various senior positions in Germany’s state and federal governments, France’s Centre national de la recherche scientifique in Paris and UNESCO. A former State Secretary, Wolfgang was Director-General for Political Analysis and Planning at the German Federal Chancellery from 1999 to 2002. He lectures and publishes widely on academic issues and is a regular commentator for German television and newspapers. Furthermore, he was founder of the Erich Pommer Institute for Media Law and Management at the University of Potsdam. Wolfgang is a member of the Advisory Board of the American Jewish Committee’s Berlin Office, the Lawrence and Lee Ramer Center for German-Jewish Relations. In addition, he is a fellow of the Munich-based Centre for Applied Policy Research (CAP) and a member of the Board of Directors of the British think-tank Policy Network.

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Ute Weiland | Coordinator AHS/LSE

Since September 2003 Ute Weiland has been in charge of press and political contacts of Alfred Herrhausen Society, Deutsche Bank's socio-political think tank. In 1997 she co-founded the Erich Pommer Institute for Media Law and Media Management at the University of Potsdam and was its assistant managing director until 2003. Born in the former Eastern Germany she graduated from the Academy of Music in Weimar. After unification she became chief of staff to the Secretary of State for education in Saxony. Ute Weiland is a member of the German-Israeli Young Leaders Exchange of the Bertelsmann Foundation and young leader of the Atlantik Brücke.

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