Dana Anderson’s career as a professional planner spans 30 years and has seen her make significant contributions in both the private and public sectors. Her experience at various levels of government, for national corporations and with communities ranging in population from 2,000 to 2,000,000, speaks to her ability to transfer planning knowledge and practice, as well as to make a substantial and positive change in many communities. In her role as the Director of Planning for Oakville, Ontario she delivered one of the first approved Official Plans and Zoning By-laws to implement the Province of Ontario’s 2006 Growth Plan. She has also successfully managed several complex redevelopment projects across Ontario and has been recognized by the Ontario Professional Planning Institute (OPPI) with awards of excellence for her planning projects and volunteer service to the Institute where she has served as a Council Member and Committee Chair.
 
Dana was involved in an Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing where the Board’s decision dealt directly with the issue of expert planning opinion and objectivity and the decision became a precedent for the role professional planners should demonstrate in a hearing and reflects on her exemplary ethical standards. This OMB decision is now used by the Professional Standards Board and by many Canadian planning school courses as an example of professional planning practice.
 
Dana’s contributions to her profession includes her work as Co-Chair of CIP’s National Membership Standards Committee where she was instrumental in the Planning for the Future project. She also chaired the Task Force on the implementation of planning school program accreditation standards as well the Task Force on ethical standards of practice for the profession.
 
Dana continues to co-teach a studio graduate course in Project Planning at the University of Waterloo and has continuously contributed as a speaker, panel member and guest lecturer on planning practice. Dana has demonstrated over her distinguished career a mastery of the principles of planning and continues to inspire young planners as a mentor and an example of how planners can and should contribute to their communities.