Geoffrey Anderson, who had headed the smart-growth program

Geoffrey Anderson, who had headed the smart-growth program of the US Environmental Protection Agency since 2000, has been chosen to lead the advocacy group Smart Growth America. He will start work Jan. 21 as Smart Growth America’s president and CEO. Anderson will succeed Don Chen, the founding executive director and CEO of the Washington, DC-based organization. Chen is becoming program officer in Community Development at the Ford Foundation, where he will manage a substantial grants portfolio and help shape a new strategy for the foundation’s community development work. Smart Growth America praised Anderson for having built EPA’s program into a critical resource for local communities and for having reinterpreted environmental protection, so that it is seen “not as regulatory interference but as a partnership that helps communities achieve a vision for current and future generations.” Anderson has been at EPA for 13 years, helping to conceive and implement its technical assistance program as well as authoring numerous reports and publications.