KTGY GROUP Names Former EDAW Urban Planner & Mayor Ken Ryan as Principal to Head Up Community Planning & Urban Design Studio

IRVINE, CALIF. – Award winning KTGY GROUP, INC., Architecture and Planning, has added esteemed urban planner Ken Ryan as principal in the company’s Irvine office. With over 20 years of experience, Ryan has served as a leader guiding the design and implementation of a wide variety of complex high profile projects throughout the United States. Ryan will head up KTGY’s Community Planning and Urban Design Studio providing expertise in master planned communities, urban design, mixed-use/regeneration, resort/recreation, strategic planning and entitlement services.

Some of Ryan’s award winning projects include Chapman University in Orange, California; Anaheim Honda Center; Desert Willow Resort, Palm Desert; and San Antonio’s Salado Creek Sports and Entertainment mixed-use district. Prior to joining KTGY, Ryan was a principal of EDAW, Inc.

“With over two decades of comprehensive community planning and urban design experience, Ken Ryan will be an essential asset to KTGY’s planning services bringing leadership, strategic insight and communication skills,” said KTGY’s CEO Tricia Esser. “Furthermore, Ken’s experience overseeing projects from initial ideas to successful implementation provides him with an understanding of the important interrelationship between marketplace, environmental setting, political sensitivities and design considerations.”

“I’m thrilled to be part of this award-winning design firm,” Ryan said. “KTGY has a great reputation, the very top people in our industry, a management philosophy that rewards excellence and creativity, and a forward thinking approach of providing architecture, planning and entitlement services to our clients that will result in compelling ideas and added value.

Ryan is also a two-term past Mayor of the City of Yorba Linda, and past Chairman of the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Toll Road Agency. He currently serves on several regional and university boards including Founding Advisory Board Member of the Institute for Real Estate and Environmental Studies at Chapman University; Advisory Board Member Department of Planning, Policy and Design at University of California, Irvine (UCI), and ENV; Partners’ Circle Advisory Board Member of the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He also serves on the Placentia Linda Hospital Governing Board.

Ryan is a sought after speaker for his insight and observations by his peers. He was a recent featured speaker at the Homex 2007 Homebuilder Summit and Expo in March and will be speaking at PCBC in San Francisco this month on the topic of “Smart Building Through Urban Overlay Zones.”

He was recently selected in Builder & Developer magazine’s 2007 Who’s Who in Homebuilding, making this his fourth consecutive year for the prestigious ranking, and was identified as one of the “25 Most Influential People” in the March 2006 North Orange County California Magazine. Additionally, Ryan was one of three representatives from the United States invited to participate in an International roundtable discussion held at the SINO-International Real Estate Summit in Shanghai, China this past year. He guest lectures at University of Southern California (USC), California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and University of California, Irvine, publishes numerous articles and regularly participates in radio and television programs. Ryan received his Bachelor of Science degree in Urban Planning from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

KTGY GROUP, INC., Architecture and Planning, was created in 1991, with project viability and client satisfaction as abiding priorities, while providing complete planning and architectural design services for residential communities, retail developments and related specialty projects. In a complex and changing world, the firm consistently delivers innovative solutions that reflect clear understanding of development, marketing and financial performance.

KTGY takes particular pride in its highly motivated and principal led studio teams, who deliver superior services, thus strengthening clients’ long-term growth and earnings objectives. Serving clients throughout the United States, the firm has locations in Irvine, Santa Monica, Oakland and Denver. For more information, contact Sayeh Rad at (949) 851-2133 or visit www.ktgy.com.

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