2007 Mayor's Development Roundtable

Mayor Mick Cornett hosted over 300 people at the Mayor's Development Roundtable 6 on Monday, May 14 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cox Business Services Convention Center.

Every May, the Mayor holds this event to bring together public and private sector individuals with a commitment to developing a great community. Burns Hargis moderated this half-day conference, which addressed topics relevant to Oklahoma City's growth and development.

Download the Program (Adobe PDF, 1.2 MB)

The conference included a luncheon, at which Mayor Cornett discussed how Oklahoma City can promote sustainability and gain prosperity by LEEDing with Green.

This year, we were honored to have William H. Hudnut, III as our kick-off keynote speaker. In addition, the Roundtable featured notable speakers and local panel members that discussed the following topics:

Mick Cornett
Mayor of The City of Oklahoma City

Mick Cornett became Oklahoma City's 35th mayor on March 2, 2004. Cornett was re-elected on March 7, 2006 with over 87 percent of the vote, the highest percentage in Oklahoma City history. When first elected at age 45, Cornett became the City's youngest mayor since 1959.

Cornett has quickly developed into a statewide and national spokesperson on municipal issues. He is frequently asked to speak to members of Congress and White House staff on behalf of cities across the nation. In 2006, he was elected to the Advisory Board of the U.S. Conference of Mayors where he also chairs the powerful Urban Economic Policy Committee. Cornett is also the national chairman of the organization representing Republican Mayors and Local Officials (RMLO).

Standing for efficient government and responsible leadership, Mayor Cornett has worked to promote an inclusive and optimistic vision of Oklahoma City, one driven by bold ideas. Cornett's humble nature, intense work ethic and optimistic attitude have become emblematic of a city that, as Cornett says, "works hard and dreams big."

As mayor of America's 29th-largest city, Cornett has focused on two fundamental priorities - education and jobs. At the top of his list has been the implementation of MAPS for Kids, which in 2006 saw the opening of the new Frederick Douglass and John Marshall high schools. A new U.S. Grant High School opens in the winter of the 2006-2007 school year, and dozens more school projects are in some phase of construction or planning as a result of MAPS for Kids. Ultimately, every single building in the Oklahoma City Public Schools system will be renovated or built anew. And the 23 other school districts that serve Oklahoma City are also seeing capital funding from MAPS for Kids.

Since Cornett's arrival in the Mayor's Office, the City has continued an economic renaissance, strengthened by significant and rapid growth, and marked by thrilling accomplishments that seem to arrive almost every day. Well over 30,000 new jobs have been created in Greater Oklahoma City since Mayor Cornett took office, and the arrivals of Dell Computers in 2004, the NBA's Hornets in 2005, and MG Motors in 2006 have underscored Oklahoma City's emergence as a world-class city. To long-time residents and visitors alike, the City seems as optimistic as it has been since it was founded in a single day on April 22, 1889.

For that success, Cornett is quick to credit the vision of his predecessors, the hard work of the City Council, the City Manager, the staff of the City, and the people of Oklahoma City. Because of them, Oklahoma City is proudly becoming a model of progress for the nation. By nearly every measure, and on nearly every front, Oklahoma City is booming like never before, and no one is happier about that, or more anxious to share the credit, than Mayor Mick Cornett.

Cornett represents the fourth generation of his family to make their home in Oklahoma. Cornett was born and raised in Oklahoma City, the son of a postman and a school teacher. He graduated from Putnam City High School, where he was honored as the most outstanding student in government. He went on to the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a degree in journalism, and graduated on the Dean's Honor Roll.

Cornett then embarked on his career in broadcast journalism. He spent 20 years in local television, first in sports and later in news. He served as a reporter, anchor and manager, and simultaneously worked as a newspaper columnist and sports play-by-play announcer. As a news anchor, he covered City Hall from 1997 to 1999, where he gained a deeper appreciation for the importance of city government in our daily lives, and to our city's future growth.

In 1999, Cornett left local television and started his own video production business, which he still operates today. He also returned to the University of Oklahoma as a journalism professor.

In 2001, Cornett entered politics by challenging a two-term incumbent on the City Council, and won his seat by the largest margin over a sitting incumbent in City history. He served on the City Council until being overwhelmingly elected mayor in 2004.

Mick and his wife Lisa began dating when they were high school sophomores and have been together ever since. They have raised three sons - Michael, Casey and Tristan.

Robert Gibbs
Gibbs Planning Group, Inc.

Nationally recognized, Robert Gibbs is considered a leading urban planning consultant by some of the most respected mayors, architects and shopping center developers in America. Profiled in the Atlantic Monthly, Consumers Reports, New York Times, Urban Land Institute, and The Wall Street Journal, Gibbs is said to have “an urban planning sensibility unlike anything possessed by the urban planners who usually design downtown renewal efforts”. Charleston’s Mayor Joseph P. Riley describes Gibbs’s work as “the Bible for the future of our historic district”.

During the past twenty years, Gibbs has been active in developing innovative yet practical methods for applying current trends in residential and commercial development to more than 300 town centers and historic cities across North America, the Pacific Rim and Caribbean. Gibbs has been consulted on almost every new American town center constructed during the past 15 years and has taught an executive Urban Retail Planning session at Harvard’s School of Architecture for the past 12 years. Gibbs has consulted for the cities of: Atlanta, Cambridge, Charleston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Ft. Meyers, Knoxville, Madison, Miami, Naples, Portland, Sarasota and Seattle. Gibbs has also consulted with many new urban towns including: Alys Beach, Kentlands, Rosemary Beach and Seaside. 

A speaker at the First Congress of the New Urbanism in 1992 and six other CNUs, Mr. Gibbs has been a pioneer and leader in this movement to revive the community-oriented principles of traditional Town Planning and Smart Growth as an antidote to the alienating, formless sprawl of suburbia. Leading clients have included: Calthorpe Associates, EDS, General Motors, Steiner Associates, Duany Plater-Zyberk, Castle & Cooke North Carolina, the St. Joe Company, Simon Properties, The Taubman Company, Kentlands, Charleston, Cambridge and Chicago and the States of Florida and Oregon. 

Before establishing GPG, Gibbs spent a dozen years gaining invaluable expertise in retail planning by advising strip-center and shopping mall developers on the psychology of commerce – the practical science of analyzing and adjusting all elements known to affect a shopper’s mood in the marketplace. From this experience Gibbs distilled many retail and merchandising principles for reviving retail in moribund downtowns and for instilling successful commerce in new ones. The purpose of these prescriptions is not to turn existing or planned main streets into malls, but to give merchants on the street the same competitive advantage that those in the most profitable shopping centers enjoy.

Mr. Gibbs and his wife Elizabeth have been married for 26 years and have two active teenage boys.  The family resides in Birmingham, Michigan, a 19th century model for the new urbanism. Gibbs is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a charter member of the Congress for New Urbanism and has a Masters degree from the University of Michigan. 

Burns Hargis
Vice Chairman, Bank of Oklahoma

Burns Hargis is Vice Chairman of Bank of Oklahoma, N.A. He is a graduate of Oklahoma City's John Marshall High School and holds degrees in accounting from O.S.U. and in law from O.U.

He is a former president of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, former president of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is a charter Master and past President of the Bohanon American Inn of Court. Mr. Hargis practiced law in Oklahoma City for 28 years, most recently with the firm McAfee & Taft. Mr. Hargis is included in the publications, “Who’s Who in American Law” and “The Best Lawyers in America.”

Hargis served as vice-chairman of the Oklahoma State Election Board, the Oklahoma Constitutional Revision Commission, and served as Chairman of the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services. He is a former member of the Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Mr. Hargis was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Oklahoma in 1990.

Hargis presently serves on the Boards of Bank of Oklahoma, N.A., Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce – Chairman (2003, 2004), State Fair of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Lawyers for Children, and several other philanthropic organizations. Mr. Hargis also serves as a member of the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges of Oklahoma State University.

He appears weekly with sparring partner, Mike Turpen, on the award winning television program "Flashpoint" on KFOR (Oklahoma City) and on KOMA, (Oklahoma City) and KRMG (Tulsa).

William H. Hudnut, III
Urban Land Institute

Former four-term Mayor of Indianapolis and Congressman, author, public speaker, TV commentator, think tank fellow, elected official, and clergyman,William H.Hudnut, III,currently occupies the Urban Land Institute/Joseph C. Canizaro Chair for Public Policy at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, DC, a non-profit Washington-based organization dedicated to promoting quality land use and influencing public policy through research and education.

Hudnut is probably best known for his sixteen-year tenure as Mayor of Indianapolis, 1976-1991. His stated goal was to build a "cooperative, compassionate and competitive" city. He established "a national reputation for revitalizing his Midwestern city," (The Washington Post) and came to be regarded as "an entrepreneurial leader willing to take prudent risks" (The Toledo Blade). He spearheaded the formation of a public-private sector partnership that led to Indianapolis' emergence during the 1980s as a major American city. A past president of the National League of Cities and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, Hudnut helped Indianapolis record spectacular growth during his sixteen years in office.

Hudnut sponsored seventeen bills that became public law as a Congressman. He has just completed six years of service on the Chevy Chase, MD, Town Council, for two of which he was Mayor, and is a past member and officer of the Board of the National League of Cities. He was a member of the Millennial Housing Commission appointed by Congress during 2001-2002. Prior to his entry into public life, as a clergyman he served churches in Buffalo, NY, Annapolis, MD, and Indianapolis, IN. After stepping down as Mayor, Hudnut held posts at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the Hudson Institute in Indianapolis, and the Civic Federation in Chicago, before assuming his current position with ULI in 1996.

A much sought-after speaker, "spirited...with high energy eloquence," (The Toledo Blade) Hudnut "gives life to the word charismatic" (The Cincinnati Enquirer). He is the author of Minister Mayor (1987), a book reflecting on his experience in politics and religion; The Hudnut Years in Indianapolis, 1976-1991 (1995), a case study in urban management and leadership; Cities on the Rebound (1998), an analysis of clues to the successful city of the future; and Halfway to Everywhere (2003), a portrait of America’s first tier suburbs.

Hudnut is the recipient of many awards, including Princeton University's highest alumni honor, the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service (1986); City and State magazine's "Nation's Outstanding Mayor of 1988"; the Rosa Parks Award from the American Association for Affirmative Action in 1992; and the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (1985).

Hudnut graduated from Princeton University with high honors and election into Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated summa cum laude from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He has received honorary degrees from thirteen colleges and universities.

Fred Kent
Project for Public Spaces

Fred Kent is a leading authority on revitalizing city spaces and one of the foremost thinkers in livability, smart growth and the future of the city. As founder and president of Project for Public Spaces, he is known throughout the world as a dynamic speaker and prolific ideas man.

Traveling over 150,000 miles each year, Fred has undertaken consultancy work and given talks across the U.S. as well as internationally. Each year, he and the PPS staff train 10,000 people in Placemaking techniques.

Audiences Fred has addressed include the Smart Growth Network, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. General Services Administration, American Society of Landscape Architects, American Public Transit Association, U.S Forest Service, the World Bank, New Jersey DOT, New York DOT, Ford Foundation, Caltrans, Connecticut Main Street Center, and the Princes Foundation. He has trained over 1,000 transportation professionals from statewide DOTs, in addition to many thousands of community and neighborhood groups across the country.

Fred attended Columbia University's Graduate and Undergraduate Schools, where he studied Geography, Economics, Transportation, Planning, and Anthropology. He studied with Margaret Mead and worked with William H. Whyte on the Street Life Project, assisting in observations and film analysis of corporate plazas, urban streets, parks and other open spaces in New York City.

The research resulted in the now classic 'The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces', published in 1980, which laid out conclusions based on decades of meticulous observation and documentation of human behavior in the urban environment.

In 1968, Fred founded the Academy for Black and Latin Education (ABLE), a street academy for high school dropouts. He was Program Director for the Mayor's Council on the Environment in New York City under Mayor John Lindsay. In 1970, and again in 1990, Fred was the coordinator and chairman of New York City's Earth Day.

He has taken over half a million photographs of public spaces and their users, which have appeared in exhibits, publications and articles.

Larry Kilduff
The Kilduff Company, LLC

Larry Kilduff is the President and Managing Member of The Kilduff Company, LLC; a privately held, Milwaukee, Wisconsin based Real Estate Development Company. Over the last 22 years, Larry has been involved in Retail and other Commercial development projects across the country, totaling millions of square feet and with a total value reaching the hundreds of millions of dollars. Since 1997, Larry’s passion and the primary focus of activity, has been revitalization of underserved and distressed communities, both urban and rural. This has led to partnerships of various kinds with communities and community based organizations. In addition to his development activity, Larry and The Kilduff Company, provide development consulting and technical assistance to communities and community-based organizations nationwide.

Larry has been a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the trade association of the Retail Development Community, since the mid 1980’s and has been an active volunteer in the association since 1997. Currently, Larry serves as a volunteer member of ICSC in the following capacities:

• Chairman of Central Division Government Relations Chair
• Chairman of Government Relations Committee, Environmental Issues Sub Committee, Member
• Dean of School of Economic Development, University of Shopping Centers
• Alliance Task Force, Member

Larry is a nationally recognized expert in the issues concerning the revitalization of cities and other underserved markets, Brownfield redevelopment and informing the planning process with Market Realities to generate realistic and sustainable long term growth in communities. Larry is often called upon to speak and teach on these issues nationwide.

Michael S. Laird, Esq.
Crowe & Dunlevy, PC

Michael Laird is an experienced transaction lawyer with the Oklahoma law firm of Crowe & Dunlevy where he served as firm President from 2002 to 2004, and concentrates his practice in commercial real estate, project development, finance, construction and leasing.  He has published numerous articles on real estate topics and has been a frequent speaker to industry groups. He is the immediate past President of the Commercial Real Estate Council of Oklahoma City.

Mr. Laird has been named by Chambers USA as one of America's Leading Business Lawyers in the field of real estate since 2003, and has been selected for inclusion in the Best Lawyers of America in real estate.  He is also a Fellow of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys and a member of the Oklahoma City I-40 Relocation Core to Shore Steering Committee.

He is an active participant in community affairs and currently serves as the President of the Myriad Gardens Foundation, Special Counsel to Ballet Oklahoma and Chairman of the Oklahoma City Heartland Chapter of the American Heart Association. 

Marilee Utter
Citiventure Associates

Marilee A. Utter is President of Citiventure Associates LLC, a Denver-based real estate advisory and investment firm specializing in mixed-use projects with particular expertise in Transit-Oriented Development, failed mall sites, large-scale masterplanning and public-private transactions.

Marilee’s unique background in both public and private real estate has led to nationally published articles and numerous engagements focused on innovative approaches to community redevelopment and urban issues. Projects of note include leading the TOD efforts on the T-Rex project and over 25 other sites in the Denver region; redevelopment of a failed regional mall, Cinderella City, into a one million s.f. mixed-use transit-oriented town center; redevelopment of a 350,000sf historic downtown department store, the Denver Dry Building, into housing, retail and office spaces; and masterplan and zoning for 65 acres in Denver’s Central Platte Valley, transforming the urban rail yard into the region’s premiere commercial, residential and recreational district. 

Previously, she was Transit-Oriented Development Specialist for the Regional Transportation District (Denver), Regional Vice President for Trillium Corporation, a real estate development company, Director of Asset Management for the City and County of Denver, and Vice President of Wells Fargo Bank.

She holds a BA in Mathematics and French from Colorado Women’s College, an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School, and certificate in State and Local Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School. Professional affiliations include designations from the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) and Fellows of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS); National Trustee and Chair of the Colorado District Council of the Urban Land Institute; CU Real Estate Center; CREW and the International Women’s Forum. She also serves on the board of several community organizations, including the Metropolitan State College of Denver Foundation and the Center for the Visual Arts.