Innovation Award Judge – Alyson Craig
Alyson Craig currently serves in the role as the City of Charlotte’s Director of Planning, Design & Development. Prior to this appointment, she previously as the Interim Director where she led several major initiatives, including the successful adoption of the Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance and the Charlotte 2040 Policy Map.
Craig first joined the City of Charlotte in 2018 as the Charlotte Planning, Design & Development Deputy Director and managed the Land Development, Entitlement Services (Rezoning/UDO), and Design and Preservation divisions as well as the department’s human resources and budget operations. Craig also led the city’s “one stop shop” initiative and the creation of the CLT Development Center.
Previously, Craig served as the Co-Director of the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate and the Director for the Master of Science in Real Estate program at UNC Charlotte. She taught several courses within the UNC-Charlotte graduate real estate program including planning and real estate development and has been an active member of the Charlotte community, committing her time to the Urban Land Institute, the American Planning Association, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, and several other professional and community organizations. Craig is also a certified planner with the American Planning Association and received her AICP certification in 2009.
Additionally, Craig worked for Grubb Properties’ Investment team as a development and acquisition associate to identify and analyze potential office, multi-family, and mixed-use deals. Before moving to Charlotte in 2011, she was Vice President of a planning and engineering firm in Florida leading planning services that included plan review and approval, re-zoning, permitting, and comprehensive plan amendments.
Alyson has a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has two master’s degrees, one in sustainable development and conservation ecology from the University of Georgia and another in real estate from UNC Charlotte.
