Staff

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Mike Davis

Executive Director

Mike Davis is the Executive Director of the Central Illinois Land Bank Authority. Before his transition to Illinois, he worked as a Senior Program Officer for LISC Boston. During his time at LISC from 2012-19, he provided affordable housing owners across the state with technical assistance on energy efficiency, clean energy and healthy housing. Additionally, Mike led LISC’s lending for community development projects across Massachusetts. Previously, he worked for five years at New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation & Development as a Director of Operations for the Division of Architecture + Engineering and as a Senior Planner for the Bronx Planning Unit. Mike also spent three years as grassroots organizer on drinking water/watershed protection for Clean Water Action in MA and a year in AmeriCorps with MA Community Water Watch.

Mike has a Master of Urban Planning from New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a BA in English and a BS in Earth Science from Pennsylvania State University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a LEED Accredited Professional with a specialty in Building Design and Construction.

emma

Emma Walters

Community Development Consultant

Emma Walters is a doctoral student in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign researching housing policy and community and economic development within the context of urban shrinkage. Before moving to Illinois for graduate school, Emma was the Executive Director of Allston Village Main Streets where her work focused on small business technical assistance, placemaking and design, and large-scale development review in a business district with over 250 storefront businesses. Previously, she worked as a community organizer with the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation.

Emma received her Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Religion from Boston University.