Julia Lave Johnston is a Sustainability Program Manager at the Institute for Local Government leading the Land Use and Healthy Neighborhoods components of the Institute’s Sustainable Communities Program. Previously she was Director of the Land Use and Natural Resources program at UC Davis Extension. She also served as Deputy Director for Planning Policy in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) under Governor Schwarzenegger, where she coordinated the Strategic Growth Council during its first two years, and received an US EPA Smart Growth Technical Assistance Award with Caltrans for multiagency program work that provided information to cities and counties on how to plan for more sustainable communities and improve the quality of life for residents. She received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon.