Our staff includes planning experts, each with his/her own unique mixture of education, training, and experience. We are all dedicated to providing the highest quality service to our clients. Below is a biography of each staff member.
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Planning Staff
Larry Mintier, FAICP, Principalmintier@mintierharnish.com
Full Resume
Larry is one of California’s leading general plan practitioners. Since the founding of Mintier Harnish in 1985, he has worked for over 150 public agencies, law firms, and private clients. He has supervised his firm’s work in preparing over 50 general plans, specific plans, and master plans; over 50 housing elements; half-dozen zoning and subdivision ordinances; and numerous other special studies and projects. Many of these projects involved managing multi-disciplinary teams and the preparation of environmental impact reports. Larry specializes in land use planning and policy, housing, seismic safety, intergovernmental relations, permit facilitation, and land use litigation support. He has extensive experience in public outreach and consensus building, and is very effective interacting with staff, elected officials, stakeholders, and groups of people. He relates well to a broad spectrum of people and is an effective problem solver. Larry holds Master’s Degrees in City Planning and Public Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Jim Harnish, JD, Principaljim@mintierharnish.com
Full Resume
Jim has been a planner and manager for many large public agencies and private consulting firms since 1970. He is also an attorney with extensive experience in land use and CEQA. He specializes in project management for general plans, specific plans, and large private planning projects; CEQA compliance and environmental document peer review; zoning and regulatory ordinance preparation; and public outreach and consensus building. His broad experience, in both the public and private sectors, in land use planning, regulatory codes and ordinances, permit processing, environmental analysis, toxics and hazardous materials, wetlands and endangered species, and legal analysis enables Jim to bring a wealth of experience to every project. He holds a Juris Doctor from McGeorge School of Law (University of the Pacific) and a Bachelor’s Degree in California History from University of California, Davis.
Dan Amsden, AICP, Project Manager
dan@mintierharnish.com
Full Resume
Dan has been a planner in both the public and private sectors since 1999. He has managed all aspects of general plan and specific plan production, and has prepared plans for a diverse array of communities, from rural agricultural counties to the complex regulatory environment of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Dan specializes in land use planning, public policy, planning law, public outreach and meeting facilitation, and management of multi-disciplinary consulting teams. He is also a professional graphic designer and has extensive experience designing logos, advertisements, and websites for numerous businesses and organizations. He holds a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from California Polytechnic State University; a Graduate Certificate in Planning Law from Rutgers University; and a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Ted Holzem, Project Manager
ted@mintierharnish.com
Full Resume
Ted has been a planner in both the public and private sectors since 2001. He has managed all aspects of general plan production, and has prepared plans for a diverse array of clients, from rural agricultural counties and small rural communities to large urban cities such as Sacramento and Stockton. Ted specializes in land use planning, public policy, planning law, public outreach and meeting facilitation, and management of multi-disciplinary consulting teams. He is a specialist in climate change and sustainability policy, which he has addressed in planning documents and as a panelist at local, state, and national conferences. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Community and Regional Development from the University of California, Davis.
Jessica Law, AICP, Associate
jessica@mintierharnish.com
Full Resume
Jessica has been a planner in both the public and private sectors since 2005. She has a diverse background in ecology, rural land use planning, real estate, and economic development. She has been involved in all stages of the general plan process from data collection and synthesis, to issues identification, alternatives analysis, and policy development. She also has specialized experience with community outreach and consensus building. Jessica holds a Master’s Degree in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Ecological Biology from Connecticut College.
Chelsey Norton, Associate
chelsey@mintierharnish.com
Full Resume
Chelsey has been a planner in the both public and private sectors since 2005. She has been involved in general plan updates for small and large cities, as well as several rural counties. Chelsey has been involved in all stages of the general plan update process, including preparation of background reports, data analysis, GIS mapping, issues identification, complex alternatives analysis, community outreach, and policy development. She has specialized knowledge of housing element requirements based on experience preparing nearly a dozen housing elements. She holds a Master’s Degree in Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College.
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Professional Staff
Judy Harnish, Business Manager
judy@mintierharnish.com
Judy has been with Mintier Harnish since it began in 1985. As Business Manager she supervises the administrative staff and oversees daily operations. She handles all accounting and financial duties for the firm. She is also the final editor of planning reports and documents. Her previous experience includes various administrative positions in commercial real estate and executive suite companies.
Theda Justiniani, Office Manager
theda@mintierharnish.com
Theda has been the office manager for Mintier Harnish since 1997. Her roles include project billing and maintenance, contract review, budget analysis, human resource manager, and managing everyday office activities. She is currently completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at the University of Phoenix, Sacramento.
Sal Landeros, Office Assistant
Email: sal@mintierharnish.com
Sal has been the office assistant for Mintier Harnish since 2007. His roles include answering telephones, purchasing office supplies, maintaining file systems, and various other duties as needed. He holds an Associate’s Degree in Architectural/Structural Drafting from Sacramento City College and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design. He is proficient with AutoCAD and Revit Architecture.
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Technical Consultants
Ed Goldman, Strategic Marketing Consultant
Full Resume
Ed has served as public information officer for the cities of Lakewood and Sacramento, and as assistant director of the University of California, Davis Medical Center. As a strategic marketing consultant since 1982, he has assisted city, county, and state governments, water and redevelopment agencies, and statewide associations in successfully delivering their messages to stakeholders, and, more importantly, in eliciting candid comments from community and business leaders, citizens, and interest groups. As an assistant professor and lecturer, he has taught journalism, public relations, marketing, and broadcasting at five California colleges. A former reporter, he is the author of three books and more than 4,000 magazine articles, and is a monthly columnist for Sacramento Magazine.
Jim Pepper, Senior Associate
Full Resume
Jim has over 45 years of professional experience as an architect, planner, and educator. He has worked on a wide range of planning and design projects. This varied and extensive experience provides Mr. Pepper with broad expertise, particularly since both his academic and professional work integrates the primary environmental design professions of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and city planning. Jim’s professional emphasis shifted from an early career in architecture to environmental planning in the 1970s, and, since the early 1980s, master planning, site planning, and urban design. He holds Master’s Degrees in City Planning and Landscape Architecture from UC Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Montana State University, Bozeman.
Michael Seaman, Senior Associate
Full Resume
Michael has 39 years of experience in land use, environmental planning, and public policy. He has worked at all levels of government and in the private sector. He created the Smart Communities concept, an economic development strategy for the New Economy that became an international model for global economic competitiveness. Michael is an expert on Smart Communities and related issues, including community networking, community technology centers, telecommuting and new ways of working. He holds a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture and a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley, and a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from San Jose State University.
Al Sokolow, PhD, Senior Associate
Full Resume
Al is a Public Policy Specialist, Emeritus, at the University of California Cooperative Extension. He specializes in community governance, policy, and politics in small and rural communities, farmland and land use policy, local government finance and organization, state‐local relations, California politics and public policy, and community leadership. He holds a PhD and Master’s Degree in Political Science, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, from the University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign.