We are excited to share with you our two new employees. Joining our team are Megan Hester and Bradley Spiegel. These two hit the ground running and are already indispensable members of our team.
Megan is a Landscape Designer with a diverse portfolio of experience in the field of landscape architecture. She is a recent graduate of the NC State University Master o
f Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning program in Raleigh, NC. Her experience working with the Coastal Dynamics Design Lab at NC State University as well as Roots First Regenerative Design has given her a sensitivity to the ecology of a site as well as the ability to design with users in mind. Pairing her MLA degree with her background in Environmental Sciences gives Megan a strong background in understanding the ecological systems of a site. She is a systems thinker and is passionate about climate responsible design that reconnects people to the environment around them. Megan brings diverse experience working in climate resilient design, land and ecological restoration planning, urban greenspace design, and construction documentation. As a North Carolina native, Megan is excited to work within the state and mountain region.
Bradley is an AICP Certified Planning Professional, and has a background in Urban, Rural, Regional, and Watershed Planning with an emphasis on outdoor recreation, green infrastructure, and economic development. Guided by his north star ‘planning beautiful places in harmony with nature,’ he provides strategic vision to all projects to fulfill Equinox’s mission and exceed client expectations.
Before joining Equinox, Bradley served as the Building Outdoor Communities Specialist for the Made By Mountains Partnership. In this role, he led an interdisciplinary regional planning process across Western North Carolina to advance outdoor community and economic development for rural Appalachian communities. He successfully stewarded federal funds, provided capacity building and community engagement workshops to hundreds of stakeholders and designed and implemented a planning grant program to advance top priorities. He also managed an academic research team that published landmark data to help communities make data-driven decisions about future outdoor infrastructure investments.
Before moving to the Southern Appalachian Highlands, he spent a decade in New Orleans immersed in post-Hurricane Katrina resilience planning and design efforts. He served as a Resilience Planning Specialist with Louisiana’s Office of Community Development – Louisiana Watershed Initiative, on a team implementing a $1.2 billion-dollar CDBG-Mitigation grant to institutionalize watershed management and flood resilience across the state. Fueled by innovative urban water design & management, he created an Independent Study during graduate school where he traveled to Denmark and the Netherlands to witness first-hand how those countries are implementing green infrastructure solutions. He received a Certificate in Planning & Design with Water from TU Delft as a result of this field work, and ultimately, a Master’s degree in Urban & Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans.
