Steve Mouzon, President
New Urban Guild
Steve has led or contributed to many advances in sustainable place-making and building design. He runs a veritable “skunk works” of sustainability, place-making, and building-making ideas and tools from his office in Miami Beach. He founded the New Urban Guild, which is a group of architects, designers, and other New Urbanists dedicated to sustainable buildings and places native to and inspired by the regions in which they are built. The Guild was instrumental in the creation of the Katrina Cottages concept. Steve’s Katrina Cottage VIII, which opened the second generation of Katrina Cottages, was awarded a Charter Award by the Congress for the New Urbanism. The Guild’s Project:SmartDwelling initiative sets out to redefine the American home much smaller, smarter, and more sustainable. Steve’s SmartDwelling I was featured in the Wall Street Journal’s Green House of the Future story alongside designs by three other notable green architects, including William McDonough.

The Guild Foundation is the non-profit educational arm of the Guild; it sponsors the Original Green initiative, plus a number of workshops, tours, and seminars that fill several of the gaps that previously existed between theory and practice.

Steve is also a principal of Mouzon Design, which produces a number of town-building tools and services. His house plans have been featured repeatedly as Home of the Month in Southern Living and Coastal Living. Steve is Town Architect at several new hamlets, villages and neighborhoods around the country, using a unique face-to-face method of design review he developed that many agree is the most effective in use today. Several of his projects are award-winners.

Steve’s new book, The Original Green, frames sustainability in common-sense, plain-spoken terms. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. wrote the Foreword. Years ago, Bobby’s wife Mary attended the very first Original Green Workshop in New York. Since then, Bobby and Mary have rebuilt their flood-damaged house according to Original Green principles. They have also engaged Steve to design a Katrina Cottage to replace their guest cottage that was destroyed by a falling tree. Steve has also collaborated repeatedly with other notables, including Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of DPZ and the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, which is Prince Charles’ organization.

Steve’s award-winning book A Living Tradition [Architecture of the Bahamas] sets the standard for a new type of pattern book that is principle-based instead of taste-based, and therefore contributes to the creation of new living traditions. Steve has authored or contributed to a number of publications and articles in recent years, and much has been written about him. He is a noted photographer of great places and buildings. Steve lectures frequently across the country and abroad on a wide range of topics. He is a board member of the Guild Foundation and INTBAU-USA, and is the author of the Original Green Blog and the Useful Stuff blog. His Original Green Twitter stream is @stevemouzon. Steve has made significant contributions as a team leader or team member on a number of significant New Urbanist projects, and is involved in a number of organizations devoted to the building of better and more sustainable places.

Richard E. Constable, III,
Acting Commissioner
Department of Community Affairs
Building on his reform agenda for New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie nominated Richard E. Constable III, Esq. to lead the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (the “DCA”). This cabinet-level department plays an instrumental role in helping local governments to reduce property taxes, improve their operations through best practices, and advance sensible affordable housing development. The DCA provides guidance on a wide range of programs and services that respond to issues of public safety including building and fire codes, community planning and development, and financial assistance for individuals in need.

Prior to joining the Department of Community Affairs in January 2012, Acting Commissioner Constable managed the day-to-day operations at the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development where he served as Deputy Commissioner. From 2002 to 2010, he worked as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark. There he regularly investigated and prosecuted high-profile elected and appointed officials, including state senators, assemblymen, and mayors, who were charged with bribery and extortion.

Before his post with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Acting Commissioner Constable worked from 1998 to 2002 as a litigation associate with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York City on sophisticated securities and antitrust matters.

Raised in East Orange, Acting Commissioner Constable graduated magna cum laude with an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Michigan, where he was a Harry S. Truman Scholar. Mr. Constable earned both his law degree and Masters in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. After graduation he clerked for Justice Alan Page of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In addition to overseeing the Department of Community Affairs, Acting Commissioner Constable also serves as Chair of the State Residency Review Commission and is on the State Health Benefit Plan Design Committee.

He lives in Orange.