ANDREW MURPHY TAFT
Andy is a native of Tampa, Florida and graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in Marketing.
He began his career in commercial real estate with the Florida Commercial Development Association and then joined Grubb & Ellis of Florida as a commercial real estate salesman in the downtown Tampa market.
In 1992, he joined the Tampa Downtown Partnership as its Director of Marketing and Business Development.
Andy served Shreveport, Louisiana’s Downtown Development Authority for six years as its Executive Director and while there was instrumental in relocating City Hall back to downtown after a 40-year absence, launched a new public parking management program and authored the downtown strategic plan.
Andy was Chairman of the United Way of NW Louisiana in 2001.
Andy joined Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. (Texas) as President in 2003. DFWI operates a BID, Tax Increment Finance District, a city park, festivals and events and planning operations.
He serves on the Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Boards of Directors, the Fort Worth Homeless Commission and Day Resource Center for the Homeless Board of Directors.
Andy is the President-Elect of the International Downtown Association.
PETER WILLIAMS
Peter Williams has over 25 years experience in the regeneration sector and has worked in over 50 cities and towns of varying sizes throughout the UK.
In addition to consultancy, strategy development and evaluation Peter has continued to be involved in programme implementation and project delivery, ensuring that assessment is firmly based in reality.
Since 2000, as CEO of Better Bankside, he has developed one of the largest and most innovative Business Improvement Districts in the UK.
He has undertaken a number of auditing and evaluation assignments with the Audit Commission, Association of Town Centre Management and British BIDs for whom he is the external Auditor.