CHPlanning and Nspiregreen President/CEO Charnelle Hicks

This episode of the P3 Project features Charnelle Hicks-Gungor, president of CHPlanning/Nspiregreen. Hicks-Gungor describes her background and how she got interested in the urban planning industry as a college student at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She also talks about her experience and strategy for growing her Philadelphia, PA-based DBE firm from a startup in 1998, to building a solid industry reputation through working with several large transportation agencies and leading national consulting firms. She then describes what led to the acquisition of Nspiregreen, a Washington, DC based planning firm in 2020 to accelerate her company’s growth. Hicks-Gungor also shares how the deal to by Nspiregreen came together and her strategy for integrating the firm into the CHPlanning organization. The discussion concludes with her thoughts on how more young people can be inspired to enter the urban planning field. Shelton A. Russell, publisher of American DBE Magazine is host of the P3 Project.