Carolina Ilic, AICP

Carolina serves as Assistant Director at the City of Fresno Transportation Department, also known as Fresno Area Express (FAX). In this capacity, she oversees the Planning, Capital Development, and Information Systems Divisions. Before serving in this role, Carolina was the Planning Manager, managing planning efforts for the transit system and coordinating the integration of land use and transportation planning with various city departments and the regional council of governments. She started at FAX in January 2019.

Prior to her work at the City of Fresno, Carolina worked at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) for 24 years in various capacities, including Acting Principal Planner and Senior Regional Planner. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from UCLA and her Master’s Degree in City Planning from San Diego State University (SDSU). She has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) since 2015. While at SANDAG, Carolina served as project manager of the Regional Comprehensive Plan (RCP) for the San Diego region, coordinated the preparation of the “Smart Growth Concept Map,” worked on visual simulations showing how communities can be transformed by smart growth, managed the Call for Projects for the TransNet Smart Growth Incentive Program and Active Transportation Grant Program, and implemented SANDAG’s Regional Complete Streets Policy. Carolina contributed heavily toward the development of several Regional Transportation Plans.

Carolina was born in Santiago, Chile, and is fluent in Spanish. For many years, she served on the Board of the San Diego Section of the American Planning Association (SDAPA) as both the Planning Journal Editor and as a Mentor for the Young Planners Group. In 2018, she won the Mentor of the Year Award for the SDAPA Young Planners Group Mentorship Program. In 2018, she also received the SDSU Donald B. Leiffer Outstanding Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in the field of City Planning and was awarded one of the top 50 alumni from the past 50 years from the SDSU School of Public Affairs.

From 2019 to 2022, Carolina served as the Professional Development Officer for the CenCal Section, coordinating numerous programs and activities for the section during the COVID pandemic. Starting in late 2022, Carolina was appointed to serve as one of three Conference Host Committee (CHC) Co-Chairs for the APA California 2023 Conference, which will be held in Fresno, California in September 2023 and will celebrate the 75^th Anniversary of APA California.

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