We have two exciting guests for our June lunch and learn - Downtown Designs for Marana and Oro Valley. Heath Vescovi-Chiordi, an Economic Development Specialist for the Town of Marana will give us the scoop on the Marana Downtown Development. Milini Simms of Town of Oro Valley with share their Main Streets project which is focused on creating a town center in Oro Valley

Heath Vescovi-Chiordi, Town of Marana

Heath Vescovi-Chiordi is currently an Economic/Downtown Development Specialist in the Dept. of Economic Development for the Town of Marana, a local government entity just north of Tucson, Arizona. He graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Spanish as well as a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis on local government. His area of focus at the Town of Marana is Economic Development, which focuses his efforts on sustainable growth within the community related to business attraction, job creation, and business retention and expansion, as well as downtown development. Heath is also an elected Precinct Committeeman for the City of Tucson, as well as a certified AZ Economic Development Professional through the Arizona Association for Economic Development. He also received the New Member of the Year Award from the Arizona Association for Economic Development in 2016, and is heavily involved in citizen and youth engagement at the Town of Marana, being a manager of two programs: the Marana Citizens’ Forum and Marana 2.0. Heath co-created an internship/capstone program for the University of Arizona School of Government and Public Policy Masters of Public Administration and Policy programs, as well as designed and instituted a class focusing on teaching the essentials of Economic Development to master’s level students. An Arizona native, Heath was born in Scottsdale where he attended grade school through high school. He then left Scottsdale to Tucson where he pursued his academic career at the UofA. He currently lives in Tucson, AZ.

Milini Simms, Town of Oro Valley

Milini Simms is a Senior Planner for the Town of Oro Valley, where  works in both current development and long range planning. She  began working on the Oro Valley Main Streets project early last year, assisting with public outreach and drafting an Improvement Plan for the area. Her prior experience includes community planning and project management. She has a Masters degree in Urban Planning from the University of Arizona.