Ms. McCarthy has over forty-five years of experience in the city planning field and is currently a Principal with The Urban Partnership, LLC, where she consults with a variety of organizations on land use, zoning, affordable housing, and economic development issues. She also teaches in the graduate Urban Planning Program at Georgetown University and serves as a capstone advisor for selected master thesis projects. Previously, she was the Director of the DC Office of Planning (OP), overseeing the completion of the first new Comprehensive Plan for the District of Columbia in more than 20 years, which was unanimously adopted by the City Council. Earlier in her career, she established her own national practice in land use and transportation planning, followed by several years as the Executive Director of the D.C. Downtown Partnership. She is an active member of the Urban Land Institute (currently co-chairing the DC Placemaking Initiative), the Advisory Council for the DC Office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the Steering Committee of Ward 3 Vision, and has served on the boards of numerous planning, preservation, and affordable housing entities. She has been recognized with awards from the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Planning Association, Partners for Livable Communities, Fannie Mae and Georgetown University, among many others. Ms. McCarthy graduated Phi Beta Kappa with High Honors from the University of Maryland and holds a Master’s Degree in City Planning from Harvard University.