At the meeting on February 23, LAIGW members were introduced to four new individuals joining the Chapter. They are Jason Sartori, Dawn Eve Jourdan, Mitra Pedeeom, and Steve Wilson. Learn more about them below.
Don’t forget, the Board will consider new member nominations throughout the year. All new members who join throughout the year will be inducted at the Induction Ceremony in October.
Jason K. Sartori, Director, Montgomery County Planning
Jason was appointed Planning Director by the Montgomery County Planning Board in November 2023. Prior to that, he served as the Chief of the Countywide Planning and Policy (CPP) Division from 2019 to 2023. The CPP division focuses on countywide planning efforts, including transportation planning, transportation networks and modeling, public infrastructure adequacy monitoring (including schools), environmental resources, historic preservation, Vision Zero, zoning, and housing policy. Jason joined Montgomery Planning in January 2016 and has since helped lead two updates to the county’s adequate public facilities ordinance, known as the Growth and Infrastructure Policy, and led the team that developed the county’s first Pedestrian Master Plan, a visionary document to systemically improve the pedestrian experience that the County Council approved in October 2023. Jason previously served as the Associate Director of the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland. While there, he led numerous projects related to affordable housing, transportation modeling, opportunity accessibility metrics, economic development, and growth visioning and scenario evaluation.
Dawn Eve Jourdan, Dean, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, University of Maryland
Dawn Jourdan is the Dean of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. She was previously appointed Executive Associate Dean for the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University. In that capacity, she served as Dean of Faculty, Research and Graduate Programs. She held the rank of professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning. Previously, Dawn was as associate professor and Director of the Division of Regional and City Planning at the University of Oklahoma (2012-2016). Dawn held a joint appointment between the Colleges of Design, Construction, and Planning and the Levin College of Law from 2008-2012. She began her academic career in 2003 at Texas A&M University.
Mitra Pedoeem, Vice-Chair, Montgomery County Planning Board
Mitra has more than 40 years of expert knowledge in public administration, organization, and leadership for different levels of government.
Mitra began her career as a bridge engineer with the State Highway Administration designing bridges for the State of Maryland for five years, then worked as a structural engineer at the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. In 2001, she became a senior budget analyst with the Montgomery County Office of Management and Budget, expanding her knowledge of government organization and operation. She began work as the Chief of Construction for Montgomery Parks in 2004, managing all aspects of construction for park facilities, then in 2009, was promoted to the Chief of the Park Development Division to oversee Montgomery Park’s $200 million Capital Improvement program. In this capacity, she increased the implementation rate for the Parks Capital Improvement Program from 65% to close to 100%. Her final position with the Parks Department was as the Deputy Director of Administration from 2014 to 2019. In early 2020, Mitra was appointed as the Director for the Department of Permitting Services by the Montgomery County Executive; she retired from that position in December 2022.
Mitra Pedoeem is a 40-year resident of Montgomery County. She is a licensed engineer and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Structural Engineering from the University of Maryland.
Stephen P. Wilson, President – Principal, SCG Development
A founding member and owner of SCG Development and its affiliated company Stratford Capital Group (the “Company”), Steve is primarily responsible with the management and oversight of the Company’s property development activities. Since its inception, the Company has raised over $1.8 billion of equity capital resulting in the development of 243 properties comprising 27,400 apartment units across 27 states. The total development cost for the entire portfolio is over $4.2 billion. SCG Development has active development projects in 12 states. The Company maintains offices in Tysons, Virginia and Peabody, Massachusetts.
Prior to forming Stratford Capital, Steve was a senior member with the Franklin Capital Group where he was primarily responsible for the supervision of all development projects. He has a broad development experience managing numerous types of projects that include ground up construction, moderate and substantial rehabilitation and adaptive re-use of historic structures.
He is an appointed Board Member of the Loudoun County Housing Advisory Board. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and holds an MBA from The George Washington University.