Council

President

Erik Backstrom, RPP

Erik Backstrom is an urban planner with a focus on creating walkable communities and fostering a love of place. As a senior planner at the City of Edmonton, Erik leads complex city-building projects and manages the heritage program. He previously worked in consulting. Erik has degrees from the University of Alberta, where he has since lectured at the School of Urban and Regional Planning, and the University of British Columbia.

Erik has volunteered extensively on behalf of the planning profession. After organizing professional events in Edmonton, he served on APPI Council in 2004-06 and then was an oral examiner, chair of the nominating committee, and returning officer. He led the fundraising to establish the Peter J Smith Medal in Planning at the U of A and represented Alberta on the Canadian Institute of Planner’s centenary committee in 2016-19.

Family, faith, history, and hiking are other important parts of Erik’s life. His best moments are spent in a temple, archive, dinner conversation or on a mountain trail.

Past President

Khalid Mohammed, RPP

Khalid Mohammed, is a professional planner with over 20 years of experience in strategic long-range planning and big picture policy development, advocating for building great, smart and sustainable communities. Khalid is a true believer in innovation when it comes to creating policies and initiatives that facilitate building inclusive and viable communities.  Khalid is a non-believer in solutions that are based on ‘one size fits all’, but rather subscribes to the idea that initiatives should be tailored to the community, and is always willing to take the risk of intelligently challenge the “status quo” of traditional planning. Khalid brings an extensive experience in regulatory land use and policy planning, community and urban growth management, teaching, and public consultation. Khalid in his current role as Manager of Planning and Development for the Town of High River, has not only supervised and mentored staff in the provision of current and long-range planning but also, with Council support, has initiated and lead major transformation in the planning spectrum of the land use and policy planning, which help to guide the community move away from traditional land use planning to a more innovative and creative regulatory land use planning that is based on form-based land use planning which lead to establishing High River as a led by example in the planning world. 

Councillor

Debra Hamilton, RPP

Deb Hamilton is the General Manager of Planning & Development Services at The City of Calgary. Her career in public service spans over 25 years in municipal government settings in both Canada and the United States including 14 years in management positions with The City of Calgary. Deb is a Registered Professional Planner (RPP) and a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners (MCIP). She has a Master of Environmental Design (Planning) from The University of Calgary and a Bachelor of Arts (Geography) from The University of Windsor.

Councillor

Susan Holdsworth, RPP

Sue has worked for three local governments - in Charlotte County, Florida, in Gwinnett County, Georgia, but mostly in Edmonton. Currently, Sue serves as the project manager for the City of Edmonton’s RECOVER Urban Wellbeing Initiative, which uses social research and design (R&D) to improve wellbeing for individuals and communities, with a focus on people living on the margins. This experience has given her an appreciation for human-centered design and ethical space making. Prior to her work with RECOVER, Sue was the project manager for Edmonton’s broad and holistic WinterCity Strategy. Her earlier experience was with land use planning and policy, as well as project management for developing Edmonton’s Planning Academy - a successful public education initiative that ran for 10 years and had over 3000 Edmontonians participate. Sue was also a CIP Worldlink Intern and spent six months working for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) in Zimbabwe. 

Sue has two interdisciplinary degrees, one from McMaster’s Arts and Science Program and the other from York’s Master in Environmental Studies Program. She also has a certificate in urban design (SFU). To all her work, she brings systems thinking and a learning mindset.

Councillor

Lilit Houlder, RPP

Lilit Houlder is an Edmonton-based urban planner with expertise in urban design, community engagement, and development across public and private sectors. She holds a BA in Sociology and Human Geography from the University of Alberta and a Master of Planning from the University of Calgary. Lilit has served as Vice-Chair of Women in Urbanism Canada (WiUC) and President of the Student Association at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPLSA). She remains actively involved in professional committees, including recent contributions to the Events and Awards Committees with the Alberta Professional Planners Institute (APPI) and the Infill Development in Edmonton Association (IDEA).

Councillor

Margaret Kralt, RPP

Margaret has been a Registered Professional Planner with APPI since 2012, prior to that provisional member since 2007.  Located in Yellowknife NT, she is currently a Partner with Dillon Consulting and the National Operations Lead for Dillon’s Planning and Design Group responsible for the development and overall functional team health of the National team.  This gives her a broad understanding of the planning issues in most jurisdictions in Canada.   

In her 17 years of practice, she has been involved in community planning in the North and Alberta, working with many of the small communities in the Northwest Territories and most recently for the City of Yellowknife.  Margaret enjoys the beauty and remote wilderness of this region of Canada.  Her career as a Northern Planner has taught her to be flexible and to apply a unique lens to problem solving.  She has a strong understanding of the planning legislation in the NWT and the planning issues that communities face in the North.

Councillor

Nicholas Kuhl, RPP

Nicholas is a Calgary-based planner with O2 Planning & Design and brings both public and private sector experience to APPI Council. As an active and engaged volunteer within the planning profession and his local community Nicholas has served on the Canadian Institute of Planners and Calgary Parking Authority board of directors in addition to volunteering with the United Nations Habitat Professionals Forum and his local community association. Nicholas takes a pragmatic, outcomes-oriented approach to governance, and looks forward to supporting the continued good work of APPI.

Councillor

Connor Smith, RPP

Connor has been a consulting planner for over 10 years with Al-Terra Engineering Ltd. and has worked extensively throughout the Edmonton region specializing in Area Structure Plans, subdivision design, public engagement, and transportation planning. With a wide range public and private clients, Connor expands public support for innovative development, brings policies to life, and confidence to clients.

Educated in Urban Studies at the University of Calgary, Connor broadly embraces opportunities to share and grow knowledge in all facets of planning. A committed volunteer with APPI and CIP including numerous climate change initiatives and with extensive further education in design and engagement (IAP2), Connor brings high-level policies to the ground and takes pride in thoughtful policy development, forward-thinking design, meaningful collaboration, and effective implementation. 
 

Public Member

Marilyn Hooper

Marilyn Hooper was most recently Executive Assistant and Outreach Coordinator to Mayor Don Iveson. She retired June 2016 after 10 years with the City of Edmonton. She has had a long history working in the public sector and feels she still has some public service left in her. She served as Outreach Coordinator for the NDP Opposition from 1998-2004 and Constituency Assistant for 2 years before that.  She spent two years as Instructional Assistant with the American Sign Language Training Program at Grant MacEwan College and one year as a freelance sign language interpreter. Marilyn holds a diploma in Counselling Women from the U of A Women’s Studies Program.  As a passionate music lover, she is an active volunteer for CKUA Radio Station.