Meet the Planning Board Members
The Montgomery County Planning Board plans for livable communities by developing large and small scale plans, providing guidelines for the pattern and pace of future development and preserving historic resources throughout the 323,000-acre county.
Photo from left: Royce Hanson, John Robinson, Allison Bryant and Jean Cryor.The Planning Board implements plans through its review of development applications and its subdivision decisions. The Board is also responsible for the development and management of Montgomery County's nationally recognized 32,900-acre park system.
The Montgomery County Planning Board, together with the Prince George's County Planning Board, comprise The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
Royce Hanson
Planning Board Chairman and Vice Chairman of
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Royce Hanson previously served as Planning Board chairman for ten years, from 1972 to 1981. Chairman Hanson has been involved in planning in a variety of positions including Research Professor and Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies, George Washington Institute of Public Policy at the George Washington University. He earned a BA in economics from the University of Central Oklahoma, an MA and PhD in government and public administration and a law degree from the American University. Learn more
John M. Robinson
Planning Board Vice Chairman and Commissioner
John M. Robinson, whose current term will expire in June 2009, was appointed to the Commission in September 2001 and reappointed in June 2005. Until his appointment to the Planning Board, Commissioner Robinson was a member of the Planning Board-appointed Transportation Policy Task Force. Since 1988, he has served as a staff attorney with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, DC. Prior to that, he provided representation on real estate, finance and employment issues. And in his first federal career, he worked for 11 and a half years on the revitalization of the national railroad system. A citizen activist for many years, Commissioner Robinson has served as president of the following organizations: Rock Creek Hills Citizens Association; Noyes Children's Library Foundation; the Kensington Historical Society; and the Allied Civic Group. In addition, he has co-chaired the Silver Spring Redevelopment Advisory Board and the Montgomery County Infrastructure Finance Working Group. He also serves on the Board of the Washington Area Housing Partnership. Commissioner Robinson previously served on the Commission on the Future, 2000, the Board of the Allied Civic Group, and as Counsel to the Georgia Gateway Revitalization Corporation. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Swarthmore College, Commissioner Robinson earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Maryland Bars and a member of the Real Estate Committee.
Allison Bryant, Ph.D.
Planning Board Member and Commissioner
Allison Bryant, whose current term will expire in June 2008, was appointed to the Commission in September 1997, reappointed in June 2000 and June 2004. Before his appointment, Dr. Bryant served as the senior member on the Montgomery County Board of Appeals which receives the Planning Board's recommendations and is the final authority on special exceptions and variances to the Zoning Code. As principal of The Assignment Group, a professional management, training and service firm in Rockville, Dr. Bryant's clients include federal, state and local government agencies as well as private sector companies. Dr. Bryant serves as Chairman of the Commission's Employees' Retirement System Board of Trustees. He has been a faculty associate at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Continuing Studies, Division of Business and Management. He also has served as a director of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, on the Board of Trustees of the Maryland College of Art and Design, has served on the Advisory Board to the Salvation Army and is past president and founding trustee of the Board of the Strathmore Hall Foundation. He has also served on the Montgomery County Human Relations Commission and enjoys membership in many business, civic and professional associations. In addition, he has been an adjunct professor of general management at the University of Maryland Graduate School. Commissioner Bryant received a B.S. Degree in Secondary Education from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. Degree in Urban Studies from Southern Connecticut State University, an M.S. (equivalency) in Education from Temple University and his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
Jean Cryor
Planning Board Member and Commissioner
Jean Cryor was appointed to the Planning Board in June 2007. Cryor, who lives in Potomac, was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1994 to 2006. As a civic activist, she has been named The Potomac Almanac’s Citizen of the Year, the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Person of the Year and has served as the West Montgomery County Citizens Association president.
Mission of the Montgomery County Planning Board
Read the board's semi-annual reports
For more information, please call the Planning Board's Community Outreach and Media Relations Office, 301-495-4600