Springfield on the Move hires new executive director

The Springfield on the Move Board of Directors has hired a new executive director following an extensive search and interviews with many qualified applicants. The board has selected Stephen Plunkard, a former member of the board and downtown supporter since 1978.

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Stephen Plunkard, FASLA has practiced planning, urban design and landscape architecture for more than 35 years. 

He was born in London and has lived in Continental Europe and North America. The majority of his work has been in the United States, but on occasion he has completed projects in Canada, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. 

Projects he has been involved in have won awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, American Institute of Architects, American Planning Association, Urban Land Institute and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

During his career he has led a successful firm and served in leadership positions in multi-national consulting firms, In ;addition, he has been a lecturer and critic at more that a dozen universities and colleges, served on the Board of Trustees of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Editorial Advisory Board of Landscape Architecture magazine and was the former President of the Vermont Society of Landscape Architects.

Central to Stephen's success is the collaborative network of planners, architects, engineers, soil scientists, branding and marketing specialists, botanists and agronomists he has been working with for decades, He was classically trained in the principles of art and design and conceptual thinking, The foundation of his success is based on his ability to listen, creative problem solving techniques and consensus building.

Stephen practices and lives with his wife of 44 years, and their Old English Bulldog in the Village of Cavendish, Vermont. . 

2016-10-12 / Local Springfield on the Move hires new executive director Stephen Plunkard — COURTESY OF SPRINGFIELD ON THE MOVE Stephen Plunkard — COURTESY OF SPRINGFIELD ON THE MOVE SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield on the Move Board of Directors has hired a new executive director following an extensive search and interviews with many qualified applicants. The board has selected Stephen Plunkard, a former member of the board and downtown supporter since 1978, as the nonprofit's new executive director, replacing former executive director Carol Lighthall. Plunkard has assisted with dozens of downtowns with regeneration projects and has successfully completed a variety of planning and design projects in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a news release from SOM. Springfield on the Move (SOM) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to work with property owners, businesses, citizens and town government to enhance Springfield's downtown as an attractive, desirable and economically viable destination for residents and visitors. Its members include local business owners, community leaders, local government and residents who want to help revitalize Springfield's downtown and the surrounding areas. In 1987, Plunkard was selected with his partner Peter Bourgois as Vermont’s SBA Small Businesspersons of the Year and was invited to the White House. He worked for many years for Dufresne-Henry as a senior vice president, marketing director and head of planning, landscape architecture and urban design. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University and has completed additional course work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Architecture Lab, the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Miami New Urbanism program. Plunkard will be in the office at 6 Valley St. in Springfield, or in the field promoting the downtown from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.