Peter Head

Director, ARUP (Dongtan Team Leader)

Peter is a Director of Arup and heads up a newly integrated Business within the Consulting Group. This Group includes Planning, Policy, Environmental and Transport Consulting, Urban Design and Master Planning and Terminal and Interchange Planning.

Peter worked at the forefront of steel bridge technology in his early career and this is reflected in his current role as Chairman of the Steel Construction Institute. He then led the development of advanced composite materials in bridges and received a number of awards including the Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal for an outstanding contribution to British Industry. He then became Project Director for major crossings such as the Second Severn Crossing and received the OBE for services to the industry for delivering projects. It was on this project that his interest in sustainable development took root. He has worked in Hong Kong and China on major bridge crossings such as Kap Shui Mun and Jiangyin. Then, as Chief Executive for Maunsell in Europe, he led a period of huge change and growth in the company, leading to the formation of FaberMaunsell.

He was appointed a Commissioner on the London Sustainable Development Commission in 2002, representing the construction sector. There he was a member of the group that drafted the new Sustainable Development Framework for London and led an initiative to create a voluntary code of practice for sustainable planning, design and construction of London’s built environment. He has facilitated many workshops for major development projects in the UK in order to develop a sustainable development approach. He lectures widely all over the world on sustainable development.

Gary Lawrence

Urban Strategy Leader, ARUP

Gary is Arup’s Urban Strategy Leader providing thought leadership for strategic urban development throughout the firm’s 73 global offices. A locally-grown asset, Gary’s roots are firmly planted in the Pacific Northwest. As Redmond City Manger Gary turned the first shovel of dirt on the development of Microsoft’s campus then, as Planning Director for the City of Seattle, went on to lead development of the first municipal sustainability-focused comprehensive plan in the world: Toward a Sustainable Seattle. National and international recognition of his work soon followed and Gary has subsequently served as advisor to the Clinton Administration's Council on Sustainable Development, the UN’s Habitat II, the US Agency for International Development, the Brazilian President’s Office, the British Prime Minister’s Office, the European Academy for the Urban Environment in Berlin, and the Office of Economic and Community Development (OECD) on matters of sustainable development and environmental policy.

Gary’s speeches and publications have formed the basis for the development of much of the current thinking on sustainable development and he is acknowledged by the Secretary General of Habitat as having authored “the single most important contribution to the entire habitat process.�

Despite his international acclaim no one has ever been able to lure Gary away from the Pacific Northwest. He now leads Arup’s Urban Strategy Consulting practice out of the Seattle office, driving Arup’s vision to create communities of the present and future that address human need and environmental limitations. Gary is also actively involved in the local and national chapters of the Urban Land Institute, the American Planning Association, and the US Smart Growth Leadership Council. Here in Bellingham Gary serves as Adjunct Professor at Huxley College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University.

Douglas McGray

Fellow, New America Foundation

Douglas McGray writes about social and international issues, technology, and culture for The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Public Radio International's This American Life, Foreign Policy, Wired, The Washington Post, Mother Jones, The Economist, and West -- the Sunday magazine of the Los Angeles Times -- where he is a contributing writer. His work has been profiled on the cover of Time Asia and in the “Year in Ideas� issue of The New York Times Magazine. Previously a features editor at Foreign Policy, Mr. McGray was an architect of its transformation from an academic journal into an award-winning magazine. He has appeared as a commentator on CNN, NPR, and PBS’s The Charlie Rose Show. He is a graduate of Brown University.

As a California-based Fellow at the New America Foundation, Mr. McGray investigates a wide array of issues related to poverty and immigration, from education and health care to housing and the criminal justice system. He will also explore the local impact of globalization, and the social and political implications of emerging technology. Mr. McGray's personal Website can be accessed at: www.douglasmcgray.com.