Earlier this month, Tom Dallessio was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the highest honor AICP bestows upon a member. Fellows are nominated and selected by their peers to recognize and honor their outstanding contributions as a professional planner. Thirty-three Fellows were inducted at the national conference organized by the American Planning Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota. APA has over 40,000 members.
In recognizing Tom, the selection committee noted, “Thomas G. Dallessio is a leader in the field of planning with distinguished experience in the public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors.” Tom has four decades of experience in the planning field, helping to write and cross-accept the first and second State Development and Redevelopment Plans, serving as Senior Policy Advisor to two governors, leading three nonprofit organizations and teaching at two major research universities.
Tom was nominated by APA-New Jersey Chapter. “Tom’s passion for environmental planning made him a natural to draft a statewide policy and law to preserve one million acres of open space, farmland and historic sites in densely populated New Jersey, and lead efforts as a local official to create a greenbelt.”
The College concluded, “Tom is the voice of reason, designing, advocating and implementing equitable, inclusive and sustainable planning.”
A licensed professional planner, Tom is the Executive Director of the Musconetcong Watershed Association and Vice President of Policy for the American Planning Association – New Jersey Chapter. He also is a Lecturer at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, where he teaches seminar courses and studios on Comprehensive Planning, Land Use Administration and Transportation.