Brandon Palankar
Placemaker + Urbanist
An urbanist and marketing strategist, Brandon provides placemaking and development tools to cities, towns and developers abiding by the Triple Bottom Line philosophy of social, environmental, and economic responsibility. He serves as a Council member of the Urban Land Institute’s Mixed Use Development Council and Transit Oriented Development Council of North Texas; Board Member of the Real Estate Institute at SBU, Form-Based Codes Institute and CNU North Texas.
Candy Slocum
Trend Forecaster + Workforce Analyst
She has 30 years’ experience as a Labor Market Strategist forecasting occupation, skill, and knowledge needs for the workforce of the future and trends that will change the way work is performed. The data is used by regional Career and Technical Educators to develop programs of study to prepare students for success in continuing education and the workforce. InterLink was named a Model Program by the State of Texas for impacting North Central Texas Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs which showed measurable improvement by using InterLink’s information to align their programs with regional employer needs.
Designer
Ian has 25 years of experience planning and designing mixed use environments, hotels, commercial office buildings, and corporate headquarters. He is guided by the belief that the smallest, most anonymous project should have the same level of attention, quality, and passion as the largest and most prominent. Ian’s relevant experience and specialization includes the repositioning of several urban buildings, and he serves as the global leader for this practice area.
Architect
As a partner in noted Dallas firm Bush Architects, Michael Zizik has a hand in shaping some of North Texas’ most impactful multi-use projects. In addition to the $1 billion Collin Creek project, Zizik is integral to projects including Entrada in Westlake, River Walk at Central Park in Flower Mound, and North Richland Hills’ City Point development. A masters graduate of the Tulane University School of Architecture, Zizik leads one of the most innovative and technically advanced teams in the marketplace.