At the 2009 AAO conference, we were so honored to have Carol Coletta, President and CEO of CEOs for Cities as our keynote speaker.  Carol's address, given on November 5, 2009, focused on the issues around building and sustaining the next generation of great American cities. Her talk was so inspirational, and was the perfect kick-off for the conference.

Listen to Carol's talk, "Architecture and Design as a Catalyst for Change" at the bottom of this post.

Carol Coletta,  President and CEO, CEOs for Cities

Carol Coletta is president and CEO of CEOs for Cities and host and producer of the nationally syndicated public radio show Smart City.

Previously, she served as president of Coletta & Company in Memphis. In addition, she served as executive director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Conference of Mayors and American Architectural Foundation.

Carol was a Knight Fellow in Community Building for 2003 at the University of Miami School of Architecture and completed coursework toward a Master of Design Methods at the Institute of Design at IIT and at the University of Houston in Future Studies.  She is a highly sought after speaker on the success formula for cities and creative communities and is frequently interviewed as an expert on urban issues by national media.

In 2008 she was named one of the world’s 50 most important urban experts by a leading European think tank.  Most recently, she was named the recipient of the Lamda Alpha International 2009 International Journalism Award for her work with CEOs for Cities and Smart City.