Breakout Speakers
Evan Snow
Evan Snow is the Co-Founder of Zero Empty Spaces, a creative placemaking initiative that transforms vacant commercial properties into affordable working artist studios and cultural hubs. Since launching in 2019, Zero Empty Spaces has opened 34 formerly vacant spaces across 5 states, welcomed more than 900 artists into the program, and helped property owners, cities, and communities reimagine underutilized real estate as a platform for creativity, entrepreneurship, and civic life.
Evan’s work focuses on business development, strategic partnerships, community engagement, government relations, and program expansion. Through Zero Empty Spaces and related initiatives, he works with developers, municipalities, downtown organizations, economic development partners, and arts stakeholders to create low-barrier opportunities for artists while bringing new energy, foot traffic, visibility, and community value to vacant and underutilized spaces.
In addition to Zero Empty Spaces, Evan is the Co-Founder of Choose954, a cultural platform focused on storytelling and community engagement in Greater Fort Lauderdale, and Co-Founder of Art Fort Lauderdale, an immersive art fair on the water that helped reimagine how audiences experience contemporary art. He is also the founder of CreativeZen Talks, a monthly breakfast lecture series inspired by the TED Talk format that brings local voices together to share thought-provoking, relatable, and inspiring stories.
Session: Empty Spaces to Civic Assets - A Practical Masterclass on Vacancy Activation
Daniela de Castro
Daniela de Castro Sucre is a Venezuelan multimedia artist and designer based out of Pensacola, USA. She studied classic oil painting as a teenager, graduated with a Graphic Design bachelor’s in 2019, and began painting murals professionally in 2017. Her conceptual approach colors her diverse artist portfolio. Daniela has painted walls in Spain, Venezuela, England, and USA.
In 2024, Daniela expanded her large-scale art business and rebranded as Daniela de Castro Studio. Her studio brings together artists and experts in their field to create conceptual art installations that are closely tied to the brands and the spaces they inhabit.
Behind the scenes, Daniela pursues continued education in optics, color theory, and art history. She continues to work on her exploratory oil painting series started in 2020.
Session: Creativity in the Age of AI - What Our Community Stands to Gain and Lose
Kristen Regan
Kristen Regan received a Master of Fine Art degree at Savannah College of Art and Design and a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is currently a Professor of Photography at the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts at Pensacola State College.
Her work has been published in national and international publications as well as several photographic catalogs. She has had numerous solo and two-person exhibitions and has been featured in galleries across the country from New York to Puerto Rico. In recent years her work has focused on environmental issues associated with plastic pollution.
Session: Creativity in the Age of AI - What Our Community Stands to Gain and Lose
Max Musicant
Max Musicant is a leader in developing and activating public and shared spaces that generate both community vitality and economic value. As founder and Principal of The Musicant Group since 2012, he has pioneered a holistic approach to placemaking that integrates design, operations, and events through the lens of user experience, working across 50-story office buildings to bus stops, main streets to strip malls, parks to parking garages.
He operates from a core belief: every space can and should be a great place. The question isn't whether it's possible, it's whether organizations have structures to make it happen.
Committed to translating practitioner knowledge into accessible resources, he has authored several free toolkits and shares insights for placemakers of all stripes without paywall at his Practice of Place substack.
Session: Snowballing - 7 Steps to Turn Your Ideas Into Pilots, Programs, and Permanence
Mayor Allan Branch
Allan Branch is the mayor of Panama City, FL, a third-generation entrepreneur, and a lifelong Bay County resident who has played a key role in the revitalization of downtown Panama City. A 1999 graduate of Bay High School and member of its Hall of Fame, Allan went on to play Division I football before building a career in technology, real estate, and community development.
After achieving early success in the software industry, Allan and his wife Anna began investing in local properties, restoring historic buildings and launching businesses that celebrate the city's heritage. Their work has contributed to the transformation of once-blighted areas into vibrant community spaces.
Deeply committed to his hometown, Allan has hosted educational events, produced storytelling content highlighting local restoration projects, and worked alongside partners to bring new life to downtown through food, hospitality, and residential development. In 2023, he announced his candidacy for Mayor of Panama City, driven by a desire to give back to the community that shaped him. In April 2025, Allan was elected Mayor of Panama City and sworn into office on May 28, 2025.
Allan lives in Panama City with his wife and two children and remains actively involved in local schools, sports, and civic efforts.
Session: How to Be Annoying, Kind, and Effective at City Hall
Christian Wagley
Christian Wagley is executive director of Bike Pensacola, a volunteer position advocating for a safer and more pleasant city for walking and bicycling. He also works for Healthy Gulf, engaging communities around issues of water, energy, land and climate issues along the coast of NW Florida and South Alabama. In 2018 he had the honor of selecting and recruiting speakers for CivicCon, which brought Chuck Marohn to Pensacola as its very first speaker. He previously worked on green building and development issues in both the public and private sector, and in 2022 served as Environment co-leader on Pensacola mayor D.C. Reeves’ Transition Team.
Christian holds a master’s degree in biology/coastal zone studies from the University of West Florida.
Session: Downtown Pensacola Walking Tour
Nannette Chandler
Nannette Chandler is a Pensacola‑based general contractor, preservation advocate, and founder of Chandler & Co. Construction, a woman‑owned firm dedicated to architectural restoration, sustainable development, and community‑centered building practices. Her work blends technical expertise with a deep reverence for Pensacola’s historic fabric—saving structures from demolition, reviving neglected homes, and championing policies that protect the city’s architectural heritage. A vocal advocate for protective policies, Chandler has spearheaded major community initiatives, including the restoration of The Gilded Lady.
Session: Understanding Historic Preservation in Your Community
Scott Sallis
Scott Sallis is a licensed Florida and Alabama architect and community leader who specializes in the custom design of public and private buildings that continue to please owners and users. He has two decades of experience designing and building residential and commercial structures throughout Northwest Florida and the Southeast. Scott’s extensive knowledge in planning, conceptual and schematic design, and construction of buildings, has led him to successfully design and develop more than 300 projects. His comprehensive portfolio includes high-end residences, commercial buildings, casinos, condos, churches, and many other structures dedicated to improving the living and working space of his clients.
Session: Understanding Historic Preservation in Your Community
Carter Quina
Carter B. Quina, AIA, LEED AP, is a Pensacola Architect and a partner in the firm Quina Grundhoefer Architects, founded in 1984. Mr. Quina has a Bachelor of Architecture from Auburn University and a Masters of Architecture from Tulane University. Mr. Quina’s professional career has been focused on creating architecture in an historic setting, preserving historic buildings, and in neighborhood planning and traditional urban design concepts. Mr. Quina has received 26 Northwest Florida AIA Design Awards and 12 Statewide Historic Preservation Awards for notable projects such as Old Christ Church (1879), Pensacola Cultural Center (1922) and the Old County Courthouse (1916). He has completed projects in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, and Louisiana. Mr. Quina served on the Florida Historic Commission for 8 years and is served as a member of the City of Pensacola Architectural Review Board for more than 20 years, his last two years as Chairman.
Session: Understanding Historic Preservation in Your Community
Stephanie Norling
Stephanie Norling is the President and CEO of Communities of Resilience & Excellence (C.O.R.E.), formerly Communities of Excellence 2026, a role she has held since 2014. A nationally recognized leader in community systems change and performance excellence, she has played a central role in developing and advancing the Baldrige-based C.O.R.E. Guide, a practical framework that helps communities align around shared priorities, coordinate action across sectors, and deliver measurable improvements in quality of life.
Under Stephanie’s leadership, C.O.R.E. launched the National Learning Collaborative, supporting communities across the country in applying systems thinking and cross-sector collaboration to complex challenges. This work has since evolved into the Impact Pathway, C.O.R.E.’s milestone-based approach to advancing sustainable community outcomes. Stephanie continues to serve as faculty, mentoring community leaders and guiding teams as they move from shared purpose to sustained impact.
Stephanie began her career at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and spent 11 years as an elephant keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and San Diego Zoo. She later earned an MBA with a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of San Diego. Deeply committed to performance excellence, she served for three years as a National Baldrige Examiner and currently serves on the board of the Alliance for Performance Excellence. In 2023, she received the Baldrige Foundation’s Award for Leadership Excellence in recognition of her contributions to the nonprofit sector.
Session: From Alignment to Action - How the C.O.R.E. Framework Is Transforming Communities
Matt Schaeffer
Matt Schaeffer is a trauma surgery and critical care fellow at Washington University / Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. He specializes in the care of critically injured patients at one of the country's busiest trauma centers and is thus keenly aware of the downstream effects of our urban design choices. As a part of the SHIELD research team at WashU, he and his colleagues utilize trauma registry data and partner with local organizations to mitigate risk, minimize pre-hospital transport times, and improve patient outcomes for victims of traffic violence.
Prior to his fellowship in St. Louis, Matt completed general surgery residency at Wright State University / Premier Health in Dayton, Ohio, where he created a community bicycle safety survey that yielded results which were incorporated into the City of Dayton's first ever Active Transportation Plan. He has been a guest on the Active Towns Podcast and has presented on traffic violence and injury prevention locally, regionally, and nationally in an ongoing effort to make streets and places safe for everyone.r.
Session: Assessing Victims of Traffic Violence - A Trauma Surgeon's Perspective on Safe Streets
Jacob Hyman
Jacob Hyman is a Steubenville, OH based civil-site engineer with the New Urbanist centered–Crabtree Group, Inc (CGI), which provides site engineering services for traditional and infill development across the country and the globe. CGI provides both charette-level civil engineering oversight and detailed construction-level designs for traditional developments. Jacob is also the founder and key leader of Strong Towns Steubenville, a Local Conversation of the national Strong Towns non-profit. For over three years, he has led a team of committed volunteers in grassroots civic revitalization efforts including community bike rides, local election forums, city council reporting, downtown redevelopment initiatives, and more.
Session: Why and How to Power Map - A Tool for Community Organizations and Governments