Team Members - SRPEDD

Appointed Executive Director of SRPEDD in January 2016, Jeff Walker brings to the agency an extensive background in land use, environmental and transportation planning, in addition to grant writing, economic development and regional planning agency administration.

Prior to joining SRPEDD, Mr. Walker served as a longtime regional planning agency director in the Commonwealth of Virginia, outside of the nation’s capital, on behalf of a two thousand-square mile region of five counties and eight towns.

He is also a previous multi-term local planning board member, and adjunct/lecturer in urban planning at the undergraduate and graduate levels since 2010, currently teaching at Wheaton College and Bridgewater State University.

Mr. Walker holds a BA in Public Policy from Duke University, and a Master’s in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia.

Grant first began thinking about planning while building homes in western North Carolina. His interest in the relationship between zoning, design, and natural and built environments led him to study at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (MUP 2010). Grant has worked at SRPEDD ever since, focusing on master plans, economic development, housing production, beautiful and easy-to-understand civic engagement, and commonsense project implementation.

Grant co-founded a part-time GIS and design firm, GIS Boston (active from 2010 to 2017), serving clients such as RKG Associates, Howard Stein Hudson, and realtors and developers in New England and beyond. During his undergraduate work at the University of Florida, Grant received a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France) and the History Department’s Hauptman Medal (awarded to the outstanding graduating senior).

Grant is honored to serve as the Vice President of the Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the Land Acquisition Committee for Old Colony Habitat for Humanity. He is also a proud volunteer at the Annelle Delorme Hagerman Food Pantry.

Grant loves visiting cities and towns with his wife, son, and daughter. He’s an avid surfcaster, a proud Florida Gator, and an emerging basketball/soccer dad. Grant enjoys working with SRPEDD’s creative, collegial team of Comprehensive Planners and all our partners – from all professional, political, and personal backgrounds – across southeastern Massachusetts. He values consensus and takes joy in creating high-quality work.

D. Austin Horowitz joined SRPEDD in 2023 as the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) project coordinator, working with regional stakeholders to develop the region’s Safety Action Plan. The Action Plan will provide concrete steps towards achieving Vision Zero by leveraging the safe systems approach, with the goal of developing a traffic safety culture to guide all road users into making safe choices in order to keep everyone safe.

Prior to SRPEDD, Austin worked for 16 years at ICF (formerly SH&E) as a consultant in the commercial aviation space, with an additional year at JetBlue Airways where he served as a revenue management analyst. He also previously served as Mansfield’s representative on the SRPEDD Commission, including a stint as SRPEDD Treasurer.

Austin holds a JD from Columbia Law School, an MS in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BS (Industrial Engineering) and BA (Psychology) from Rutgers University.

Amanda Pontarelli joined SRPEDD in August 2025. She has an extensive background dealing primarily in the government sector and brings her experience of both municipal finance and capital improvement planning to SRPEDD.

Prior to joining SRPEDD, Ms. Pontarelli held the position of Capital Program Manger with the City of Providence, RI. During her tenure, she developed and implemented the city’s 5-year capital improvement plan. Prior to, she gained municipal finance experience in her role with the Finance Department of the Town of North Providence, RI.

Ms. Pontarelli holds a BA in Finance from Bryant University and is currently working towards her MBA. She is a firm believer of understanding not only a project’s budget, but the project as a whole and the benefits it will bring to the community for years to come. In her spare time she enjoys hanging out with her rescue pitbull and best friend, Coco.

Lisa Estrela-Pedro joined the Transportation Planning Department at SRPEDD in 1997 after receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth. Today, her responsibilities include assisting with participation and oversight of the Transportation Planning section on facilitating projects, data collection and analysis efforts for various studies and projects. Lisa is also responsible for managing the development of the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), an annual document for the programming of federal and state funds towards transportation improvements for the region.

Michelle joined SRPEDD in November 2023 where she provides technical assistance on greenhouse gas reduction, climate adaptation strategies, floodplain management, open space planning, zoning bylaw updates, and brownfields cleanups. She particularly enjoys using data-driven, place-based strategies to balance community development with environmental conservation.

She supports Southeastern Massachusetts communities with projects focused on flood management, greenhouse gas reduction, pollution mitigation, open space and recreation planning, and brownfields cleanup.

Michelle holds an MS in Urban Planning and Community Development from UMass Boston and a BA in Environmental Studies from Binghamton University. She is grateful for the opportunity to support projects that reflect regional ecological systems, promote stewardship, and meet local needs.

Robert joined SRPEDD in 2021 as a Principal Comprehensive Planner/Project Manager where he provides technical assistance for zoning, master plans, housing production, and transit-oriented development. He particularly enjoys distilling these concepts into clear and impactful graphic analyses.

With several years of consulting experience at firms such as Stimson and Tom Leader Studio, Robert brings a background that includes campus planning, urban design, site design, and master planning. He most recently served as an urban planner for Boston’s Longwood Medical Area, focusing on public realm and transportation improvements.

Robert holds Master’s degrees in Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan, as well as a BA from Tulane University. Having grown up in the Southeastern Massachusetts area, Robert is grateful to serve the region as a planner at SRPEDD.

Lizeth Gonzalez joined SRPEDD as a Senior Transportation/Comprehensive Planner in 2019. She brings the experience of a career in public administration at the local level in the City of Pawtucket and various planning and economic development positions in Washington, DC. Blending her passion for public service, local planning and economic development, Lizeth collaborates on Comprehensive Planning and Transportation related projects throughout the southeastern region of Massachusetts.

During her time with SRPEDD, Ms. Gonzalez has led and assisted in a wide range of planning initiatives including data collection, long-range planning, transit and economic development studies. She excels in providing detailed policy analysis and thoughtful, multi-lingual public outreach with attractive, modern graphically designed materials.

Ms. Gonzalez received her B.A. in Political Science from Providence College and an MPA from George Washington University. She lives in Providence, RI where her life is dedicated to taming her pomksy, Kona and cultivating her Instagram following to super-stardom.

Taylor joined SRPEDD in January of 2020 as a Comprehensive Planner, her background in statistics, GIS, and data visualization. Her primary focus since joining SRPEDD has been providing technical assistance to municipalities and organizations in the form of thoughtfully and creatively designed analyses. She also assists in project branding and visual design.

Prior to her work at SRPEDD, Taylor was an intern at SRPEDD’s sister agency, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. There she worked extensively using data to help inform decision-making regarding housing policy in the metro-Boston area. She was also a graduate research assistant for the City of Boston’s Carbon Free Boston project, her work aimed at understanding the distribution of energy resources and the equity implications of net-zero efforts.

Taylor has a background in environmental analysis and policy, including impact analyses, econometric modeling, and climate change/justice. She is also a practicing artist and writer.

Kevin joined SRPEDD in 2017 after graduating from Bridgewater State University with a BA in Sociology. Before working at SRPEDD, he served in the United States Coast Guard, and then founded Force 4 Photography, an Aerial and 360° Photography company.

Kevin started SRPEDD’s Drone Program and has built the Homeland Security department from a solo, single-grant operation to a collaborative, cross departmental, multi-disciplinary unit. He is proud to manage Homeland Security, Comprehensive Planning, and Transportation projects.

Kevin volunteers his time for the American Red Cross for the Northeast Division and has extensive experience responding to disasters as Planning Section Chief. He has deployed for several recent disasters, notably Hurricane Harvey, historic flooding in 2019 in Nebraska, and the April 2025 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreaks.

He is most proud of bringing order to the chaos of Active Threat incidents by developing response tools (a set of detailed maps infused with public safety data) for multiple public school systems within the region. Kevin hopes to leave a legacy where such tools are as standard as the Rescue Task Force and the tourniquet.