About FAICP

Jim served as a faculty member and director of The University of Tennessee School of Planning beginning in 1968. He is best known for the Spencer Reports, which significantly impacted planning school accreditation and AICP credentialing. In 2011, he was also inducted as a charter member of the Tennessee Planning Leadership Council. Jim still serves his community and chapter in numerous roles. 

Nancy Benziger Brown displays a true passion for the planning profession. Her commitment to APA/AICP is extraordinary and she has consistently shown outstanding leadership qualities. In her career, she has a record of innovative community and resource planning as evidenced by her diverse accomplishments in professional practice, education, and public service.

Gene helped to create and the Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis. When inducted in 2002, he served as the director of the program, a position he held for 18 years prior. In addition to his dedication to teaching, Pearson has an outstanding record of service to the profession, including his terms served as President of the Tennessee Chapter of APA and Vice President of the Chapter Presidents Council. Gene passed away in May of 2017.

Over four decades, Ron focused on urban change, environmental improvement, and revitalization. At the beginning of his planning career, Chattanooga was declared to be “the dirtiest city in America.” Throughout a career encompassing a variety of issues and places, putting Chattanooga on the short list of progressive communities was a recurring theme. As it became “the most transformed city in America,” Ron was called to tell the story in other struggling cities all over the world. He was elected Mayor of Chattanooga in 2005 and served until 2013. Concluding his two terms as mayor, Littlefield succeeded in placing a new green economic heart in his industrial city.

For more than four decades, Bill has played a significant role in the development of the planning profession at the local and state level as a consultant and planner. In recent years, his role has expanded to the state legislative and national stage with mandates and initiatives to guide development and growth within an integrated framework which implements a comprehensive vision. He has dedicated his professional and personal life to the preservation of urban diversity and environmental causes and believes they can both flourish when adequately provided for by the people who live, work and play within their boundaries. Bill is also a charter member of the Tennessee Planning Leadership Council.

Phil has achieved dramatic change for numerous communities across the South. As the Planning Director in Natchez (MS), he protected the integrity of the National Register “Under the Hill” District from casino development. He followed that success by rewriting their zoning code and leading a downhill plan. In Nashville, he led plans creating great new places, such as the Music Row entertainment district, the Gulch, and Lenox Village – Nashville’s first greenfield TND. Phil has also achieved pioneering work in battlefield preservation planning, planning for casino gaming, and downtown planning, highlighted by his 2009 Planners Press book on that topic.