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On May 8 at 3:00pm ET, join Kona Gray, F911������, PLA, 911������ President, for a live conversation with 911������’s 2026 President-Elect candidates, Gretchen Wilson, 911������, PLA and Jennifer Nitzky, F911������, PLA. Hear their bold ideas, creative visions, and hopes for the profession—straight from the source.

When registering, you have the opportunity to submit a question for the candidates.

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President-Elect Candidate Forum – Question 3

Ahead of the annual election, we are sharing the candidates’ biographies and goals and directions statements.�� Also, over the last few issues of LAND, the candidates responded to questions about the future of the profession and 911������, here is the last question in the series.��

“What part of the Strategic Plan is most inspirational to you and how would you aspire to bring leadership to those aspirations?”

��Gretchen Wilson’s Answer |�� Jennifer Nitzky’s Answer����

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��Gretchen Wilson, 911������, PLA

Question 3: What part of the Strategic Plan is most inspirational to you and how would you aspire to bring leadership to those aspirations?

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

911������ has made much progress on the 2022-24 Strategic Plan and has developed combined strategies as three overarching goals for 2025-27. It inspires me that we have achieved so much through the hard work and commitment of volunteers and staff. In meeting our goals, I am determined to spread the understanding and value of how our profession protects and restores our world, so I will continue to advance our Prominent Voice as part of my commitment to resilience and environmental restoration. 911������ made great headway with the Climate Action Plan as well as participation in national advocacy and global collaborations. By focusing on advancing this goal, we can better achieve our other goals - Professional Sustainability to help us all thrive in our profession, and Unrivaled Expertise to grow 911������’s membership and connections.��

As a master's candidate in environmental science in my final semester, I believe that our profession is paramount in creating climate positive and resilient landscapes. Our diverse skills—listening, analyzing, synthesizing, creating, collaborating, and communicating—allow us to effectively convey the value and return on investment of better solutions as multidisciplinary team members. I will leverage the 911������ platform to continue to highlight these benefits for people and communities, increasing the perceived value of our profession for clients and partners.

In today’s fiscal environment, it is crucial to demonstrate the financial value of nature-based solutions to advance our impact. As an organization of practitioners, educators, researchers, and students, 911������ possesses a wealth of knowledge on costs, impacts, environmental value and returns from the results of our work. We must utilize and further develop tools to gather and share data, through technologies like crowd sourcing and citizen science. We can develop metrics and communications that prove the value of green infrastructure compared to grey infrastructure, the role of the urban tree canopy in combating heat island health hazards and improving air quality, the effectiveness of water quality landscapes in cleaning water, and the benefits of open space in addressing physical and mental health issues. 911������ can be the central channel and voice for conveying these benefits and disseminate them through platforms such as COP conferences, allied professional conferences, webinars, social media, and publications.

Building upon existing programs like the insightful Groundworks Conversations, we should engage allied professionals. Sharing our experience and expertise with economists, engineers, scientists, architects, urban planners, and politicians is necessary to support their efforts, just as their knowledge is valuable in strengthening our solutions.

I look forward to working with you to advance our current goals in ways that benefit our members most and to developing the new 2027 strategic plan together to guide 911������ in 2028 and beyond.�� By listening broadly and collaboratively planning for our future, 911������ will continue to provide its greatest impact.��

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��Jennifer Nitzky, F911������, PLA

Question 3: What part of the Strategic Plan is most inspirational to you and how would you aspire to bring leadership to those aspirations?

The 2022-2024 strategic plan and the most recent 2025-2027 next steps provide 911������ with a robust framework grounded in the 2030 Vision Plan. I am particularly inspired by strategies designed to amplify our collective voice, and I firmly believe that now is the pivotal moment to strengthen that voice and advocate for a deeper understanding of the value we bring to the built environment. The current political climate in Washington, while unpredictable, presents an opportunity for our profession to reconsider our short-term objectives, with the aim of creating a lasting, positive impact on the field. The evolving challenge of communication in these times presents an opportunity to remain true to our mission while reframing our messages to effectively engage with diverse audiences. I am excited by this challenge and eager to lead efforts that will elevate our profession’s voice in these dynamic times.

Raising awareness of our profession has long been a personal passion. My first involvement at the national 911������ level was as a public awareness representative for our chapter. During this time, I participated in several 911������ Public Awareness Summits, where I witnessed firsthand the power of uniting diverse voices from across the country. These summits provided an invaluable platform for generating innovative ideas to promote our profession to the public. The energy from these gatherings has consistently empowered participants to return to their chapters, share ideas, develop local programs, and take action to increase awareness. My tenure as�� Communications Co-Chair for our chapter has further honed my skills in external communications and how to leverage stories that will have the greatest impact.

If elected as president-elect, I plan to utilize the spirit of collaboration and collective advocacy to elevate awareness and communicate the value and benefits of well-designed, healthy, and resilient landscapes. Sharing award-winning projects partnered with new research on how the work of landscape architects can positively impact the world we live in, and easy-to-understand infographics will capture the attention of media outlets and make landscape architecture a more common household name. Landscape architects will save the world - let’s show everyone how!