JUST IN: Tysons Partnership selects new acting executive director

Tysons Partnership is getting a new leader.

Starting on Jan. 1, Richard Bradley will serve as acting executive director of the nonprofit, which is charged with helping Fairfax County fulfill its vision for Tysons, Tysons Partnership said in a news release this morning (Tuesday).

A principal at the consulting firm The Urban Partnership, Bradley has been involved in economic development efforts in D.C., Arlington’s National Landing, and Maryland.

He will succeed Sol Glasner, who has served as the organization’s president and CEO since 2017. He announced in August that he will retire on Dec. 31.

Tysons Partnership says Bradley emerged as an appropriate choice to take over based on the past year that he has spent advising the organization, which has been working on a rebranding and searching for a new, more sustainable business model.

This past summer, Tysons Partnership also received $250,000 in Economic Opportunity Reserve funds from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to support its branding efforts, including the transformation of the former Container Store on Leesburg Pike into a community event venue now called The PARC at Tysons.

“Rich is a seasoned professional with decades of experience as an advocate and champion for livable urban management districts in this region and throughout the world,” Tysons Partnership Board Chair Josh White said in a statement. “He has spearheaded numerous strategic planning efforts and headed up transportation management programs, so really is a perfect fit for the Partnership’s current needs.”

Tysons Partnership also announced that Drew Sunderland, its current communications director, has been promoted to deputy director, putting him in charge of overseeing the organization’s daily operations.

In addition, the partnership’s board of directors has approved a resolution endorsing Fairfax County’s One Fairfax equity policy as a guide that it will use to make Tysons “an inclusive urban community.”

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors thanked Glasner for his Tysons Partnership work last week with the passage of a joint board matter put forward by Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik.

“The County is working closely with Tysons Partnership to determine best practices and the best approach for a transition,” Palchik said in the news release. “Rich is helping to frame the picture and providing guidance through his connections to the International Downtown Association. Both the County and the Partnership benefit from his experience as we work together to define what a future anchor organization for Tysons might look like.”

Here is more on Bradley from the press release:

Rich Bradley is a principal in The Urban Partnership, a consulting firm offering a range of innovative urban planning, development and management solutions.

A few of the region’s most successful economic development growth areas have sought Bradley’s expertise including most recently, the National Landing Business Improvement District (BID), Friendship Heights Business Alliance and the incoming Silver Spring BID, in addition to his work with Congress Heights and DowntownDC BID. He is recognized as an urban management leader in developing or refining strategies for improving the effectiveness of urban management organizations and the vitality of their areas.

Bradley was the founding Executive Director of the DowntownDC BID, where he served for 17 years and oversaw an $11 million program of special services and catalytic planning and place making which helped spark the economic renewal of Washington DC’s downtown core.