Debra A. Varnado

Debra Varnado, Planetizen Correspondent

Debra A. Varnado is Principal of D. A. Varnado Analytics, a private consulting firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Debra assists public sector managers with planning studies, policy analysis, and outreach and communications. A typical job involves a cast of engineers, planners, and economists trying to solve the transportation, environmental, and economic problems afflicting Southern California. Debra's role is to spread the word regarding plans or proposals to public officials, and to leaders of business, industry, labor, and community groups. In return she listens to stakeholders' ideas and issues, assesses plan and policy implications, and helps to develop acceptable alternatives for all concerned.

Debra began her planning career in Little Rock, Arkansas and has held management positions in the Finger Lakes Region of New York and in Southern California. She received a Master of Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University (Ames) and a Master of Fine Arts from Antioch University Los Angeles. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Debra writes on planning-related issues and has been published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Her poetry appears in on-line and print literary journals. Oxford University Press will publish two of her non-fiction historical essays in spring 2008. Her charcoal drawing -- Mediterranean After Aristide Maillol -- appears in the spring 2006 print edition of Prism Review published by the University of Laverne (California). Her recently completed abstract self-portrait was exhibited in Antioch University's spring 2006 group art show, Know Thyself.

Debra is married to an artist-educator and is the proud mother of a football player and a cross-country runner.

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