Meet Our Staff

Executive Director:

Martin A. Bierbaum, M.A., M.C.R.P., Ph.D., J.D.

Martin Bierbaum holds masters' degrees in political science and urban planning, a law degree and a doctorate in planning and public policy. In 1987, Martin was enlisted by the New Jersey Office of State Planning (NJ OSP) to work on New Jersey 's State Development and Redevelopment Plan. In 1991, he moved to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to become its director of Environmental Planning.   In that position, he led NJDEP initiatives in watershed-based management and coastal planning, including the designation of the Barnegat Bay as part of the National Estuary Program and an award-winning watershed pilot planning effort on the Whippany River .

In 1998, Martin was recruited by Governor Christine Todd Whitman's Policy Office to develop an inter-departmental approach to improve the implementation of the State Plan by State departments and agencies. Success in that role led to Martin's recruitment first to Governor-elect James E. McGreevey's transition team and subsequently to the Governor's Policy Office as its Deputy Policy Director. Martin left the Governor's Policy Office in December 2003 to become Executive Director of MLUC.

Martin has also served as a member of the National Governor's Association (NGA) Public Policy Faculty, as a faculty member of Governor's School in Public Policy and as a Governor's Examiner and Team Leader in Quality Management. He is currently a member of the American Bar Association's State and Local Government Section's Committee on Transportation and Land Use, and a member of the Burlington County 's Transfer Development Rights Bank Board.   

Community Planner:

Donna Drewes, P.P., M.C.R.P.

Donna Drewes is an award-winning professional planner with 24 years' experience in community and natural resource planning. Donna worked as a professional planning consultant in the private sector, for public agencies and for private, non-profit organizations. Her experience includes extensive work related to both master and conservation plan development. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in soil science and a Masters' degree in City and Regional Planning, both from Rutgers University . Before coming to the MLUC, Donna served as the director of a six-county, non-profit organization operating in northwestern New Jersey . That organization received financial and technical support from the Federal government's Natural Resources Conservation Service. In 2003, Donna was recognized by the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association for the development of a publication entitled "Building Greener Communities: Planning for Woodland Conservation."

Project Manager:

Carmen V. Valentin, B.A.

Carmen Valentin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Rutgers University and a Certificate in Project Management from the American Management Association. Carmen was formerly the Operations Manager at the NJ Department of Community Affairs’ (DCA) Office of Smart Growth (OSG) where she was responsible for overseeing and coordinating the activities of various work units including the Planning and GIS units. She also created and managed project teams to fulfill specific mandates of the State Plan. In 2000, Carmen worked with Dr. Martin Bierbaum, helping coordinate State Plan implementation efforts in various state departments and agencies. Carmen is a trained facilitator and a former member of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Facilitator Corps. She has provided facilitation services for various state departments, counties and universities. She was the Public Outreach & Education Coordinator for the DEP’s Pesticide Control Program for over 10 years, where she developed and delivered interactive pesticide safety education programs for the general public and provided compliance training to over 2000 pesticide applicators, farmers and agricultural workers annually.

Project Manager:

Winnie Fatton , B.A.

Winnie Fatton’s academic background includes a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri and 30 credits toward a Master of Arts in Teaching from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey). Winnie has been an educator for over 25 years.   Her experience ranges from teaching 4th grade to high school English.  She currently teaches SAT Prep classes (Verbal section) for Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, NJ. She has held a variety of jobs, from writer's assistant to private tutor to secretary, during the years when her main focus was raising her 2 children. Winnie was formerly the Director of Education for the South Branch Watershed Association, Inc. in Flemington, NJ where she helped to develop "The Waterways Stewardship Group" program which teaches students how to conduct biological monitoring of waterways in order to assess water quality. Winnie plans to continue her interest in environmental preservation and in carefully planned land use through her work with the MLUC.

Project Coordinator:

William Beetle, P.P., M.C.R.P

Bill Beetle holds a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from Rutgers University and has over 30 years of professional planning experience in both the public and private sectors, focusing on transportation planning and the interface between transportation policy and project development and land use. While with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), Bill lead the Department’s development of the award winning guide “Managing Transportation in Your Community,” the Department’s participation at the State Planning Commission, the application of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan to NJDOT policy, planning and project development practices and the integration of Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) to project planning and design.  In private practice, Bill led the development of the Meadowlands Transportation Master Plan, The Route 1 Regional Growth Strategy, and the Atlantic City Regional Transportation Plan, and contributed to the Statewide Freight Plan and the Peninsula at Bayonne Redevelopment Plan.  In addition, Bill led the formation and delivery of the CSS Course offered by the National Transit Institute.

Bill was awarded the American Planning Association New Jersey Chapter Distinguished Service Award for 2007.