Robert D. Yaro

Robert Yaro is President and Chief Executive Officer of Regional Plan Association (RPA), America’s oldest independent metropolitan policy, research and advocacy group. Based in Manhattan, for nearly a century RPA has promoted the livability, vitality, and sustainability of the New York Metropolitan Region, the nation’s largest urban region. He also founded and co-chairs America 2050, RPA’s initiative to create a national development and infrastructure plan for the United States. He is now leading RPA’s effort to create a 4th Regional Plan for the NY metropolitan region.

Since 2002 Mr. Yaro has also been Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to 2002 he taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

He is also Chair of the Northeast Alliance for Rail, which advocates for investments in inter-city and high-speed rail between Washington, DC and Boston. He is also a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s Sustainability Advisory Board, which helped develop PlaNYC 2030, New York City’s long-range sustainability plan. In addition, he is Co-Chair of the Empire State Transportation Alliance, an advocacy coalition that promotes transit investments in the NY Metropolitan Region. He is also a member of the board of the Forum for Urban Design. He is an honorary member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

He holds a BA in Urban Studies from Wesleyan University and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University. In addition to his work in New York and New England, he has consulted on city and regional planning issues across the United States and around the world.

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