Environmental Science Associates (ESA), a leading environmental science and planning firm with offices on the West and Gulf Coasts, has added Hillary Gitelman as community development director of environmental planning for its San Francisco Bay Area region. Gitelman most recently served as director of planning for the City of Palo Alto.
“Hillary has a proven track record of managing planning and environmental review processes for highly visible and complex projects in communities across the Bay Area. She is a well-known advocate for sustainable development, and we are thrilled to have her expertise and leadership at ESA,” said Brian Boxer, ESA’s Northern California regional director. “The focus of our work in the Bay Area is environmentally responsible community development, and Hillary is jumping right in, assisting our clients and working with our staff to ensure the preparation of outstanding planning and environmental documents.”
Gitelman brings to ESA nearly 30 years of experience with community planning, development and environmental reviews. In addition to her role with the City of Palo Alto, she has previously served as director of planning for the County of Napa, director of planning for San Francisco’s Presidio Trust, and Environmental Review Officer for the City of San Francisco. Her depth of expertise incudes policy planning, development and infrastructure project review, and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance in both rural and urban settings. Gitelman is a member of the American Planning Association, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation and serves on the steering committee for the Bay Area Planning Directors Association. She earned her M.S. in Historic Preservation from Columbia University and her B.A. in History of Art from Yale University.
“Having partnered with ESA on several projects while in the public sector, I have long appreciated its incredibly thorough and cross-disciplinary tactics. With resource planners across all environmental sectors, the firm brings an all-encompassing approach to complex environmental projects and issues. I look forward to being a part of this challenging and important work and having an even bigger role in Bay Area land and development planning,” said Gitelman.
News Release: Hillary Gitelman Joins Environmental Science Associates as Bay Area Community Development Director of Environmental Planning
