People
Relying on its staff and network of associates, ACR is capable of assembling multi-disciplinary, multi-lingual, multi-city project teams.
Michel Frojmovic MCIP, RPP, PMP
Director
Michel holds a Master of Urban Planning (1993) and Bachelor of Arts (1991) from McGill University, and is a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Project Management Institute. He has practiced in Canada and overseas since 1993 as an Urban & Community Planner and Project Manager and has directed, managed or participated in numerous projects in the areas of strategic planning, monitoring & evaluation and policy analysis.
Michel is the Director and Owner of Acacia Consulting & Research, established in 1999 to help urban, municipal and community-based organizations make better use of data, information and knowledge in order to inform policy and effect change. Through his company, Michel has served as lead consultant offering comprehensive support to Canada's leading municipal indicator and community data access projects. These include the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Quality of Life Reporting System (since 2002); the Canadian Council on Social Developments' Community Data Consortium Program (since 2005); and the Community Foundations of Canada's Vital Signs Reports (2006-2010). Michel is also serving as lead consultant to Community Data Canada, a multi-stakeholder process aimed at establishing a permanent forum for collaboration among Canadian governments & community organisations in support of improved access to and use of small area data for decision making.
Michel's professional development has a strong Caribbean influence. Following a year of study and research at the University of the West Indies' Department of Land Survey in Trinidad, Michel's first professional assignment (1993-1994) was with Trinidad's National Housing Authority. He has split his time between Canada and the Caribbean ever since.
Building on these networks, Michel has developed and led international cooperation projects on behalf of the Canadian Institute of Planners since 1998. These include the WorldLink International Internship Program for Planners, which has provided over 125 Canadian young professional planners with 6-month overseas placements in over 30 countries; and a series of Canada-Caribbean Planning Partnerships, providing CIP members opportunities to work with their Caribbean counterparts to advance and promote good planning practice.
Michel has lived in Ottawa's Wellington Street West area since moving from Montreal (via Trinidad & Tobago) in 1995. He has taken on an active role in neighbourhood development over the past decade, notably in issues related to community planning and design. In 2004, he founded Creative Neighbourhoods, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing good planning and design to Ottawa's old west end. In 2006, he led a process which resulted in the formal establishment of the Wellington Street West Business Improvement Area.
Michel operates his company from 430 Parkdale Avenue, a mixed use residential and legal non-conforming commercial property and former automotive repair garage which is now home to commercial catering, studio and gallery space, and a family home, where he lives with his wife and four children. 
Michael Ditor
Senior Analyst
Michael has worked on various knowledge-sharing initiatives focussing on the creation and dissemination of sustainability indicators. Projects have involved multiple stakeholders and publishing of shared databases, requiring web-accessibility and rigorous maintenance of the relevant metadata. He has worked on these initiatives as project coordinator, technical support, researcher, analyst, web content authour and database manager. Michael holds a Joint Major B.Sc. in Biology and Environmental Sciences from McGill University and a B.A.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Waterloo and an M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Interuniversity Research Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services at the École Polytechnique de Montréal.
Trish Ta
Associate - Web development and database management
Trish has worked in the IT sector for four years, honing her skills while studying full time at Carelton University. She is skilled with various web development software including Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft Frontpage, as well as web programming languages such as HTML, CSS, XML, PHP, ASP, and JavaScript. Trish holds a Bachelor of Information Technology, Multimedia and Design from Carleton University.
Karin Kronstal
Program Coordinator and Research Analyst
Karin is a program coordinator and research analyst at Acacia Consulting and Research providing support to the Worldlink International Internship Program for Aboriginal youth and young professional planners. Her interest in international capacity-building in planning grew during her experience as a Worldlink intern in Grenada, where she worked on the Greater Sauteurs Local Area Plan. Karin's policy and planning experience encompasses a range of clients from the public and not-for-profit sector, including the Government of the Northwest Territories, Halifax Regional Municipality and Dalhousie University School of Planning. Karin holds a Bachelor of Arts in international development from McGill University and Master of Planning from Dalhousie University.
Mary Pitt
Data Coordinator and Research Analyst
Mary coordinates the data and websites for the Community Data Program and the Quality of Life Reporting System. She facilitates the sharing of data and information over websites to encourage interaction of local governments and non-profits to overcome the financial obstacles of distance. Her experience is in networking and information sharing in the affordable housing sector. Mary has Masters of Urban Planning from McGill University, focusing on affordable housing and environmental housing, and she completed a BA in Geography at the University of Ottawa. She resides in Montreal in the neighbourhood of Pointe St-Charles.
Asad Mohammed, Ph.D.
Associate
Asad has practiced throughout the Caribbean since 1983 in the areas of urban planning, land and housing issues, public policy analysis, programme development and evaluation. During this time, he has prepared numerous studies and technical reports, organized and coordinated short courses, conferences and training workshops, and published and presented papers on the subjects of development planning, low income housing and human settlements planning, land administration and tenure, transportation policy, social infrastructure, informal sector development, and EIA/SIA. He is presently Coordinator of the Graduate Programme in Planning and Development and Head, Department of Surveying and Land Information, UWI. In that capacity, he has served as a principal participant in action research programs in the region addressing socially sustainable cities and community planning in low-income marginalized urban communities. He has also done extensive public service, including serving as the Chairman of the (Interim) National Physical Planning Commission. His social development activities have included serving as a founding director of Sou-Sou Lands and working with the National Land Tenants and Rate payers Association. He is presently working on the establishment of an East Port-of-Spain Revitalization Council and the formation of a participatory process of planning in East Port-of-Spain and a Council of Community Leaders for that area. Asad holds a Master’s degree in Regional Planning and a PhD in City Planning from Cornell University.
Evan Thornton
Associate
Having a life-long affinity for main streets with a variety of pedestrian-scale businesses and services, his moves took him ever closer to his favourite stretch of Wellington Street until in 1999 he moved to his present location, a stone's throw from Parkdale Park. The fantastic range of main-street services and the wealth of public transit options in the Parkdale market area allowed Thornton and his family of four to take advantage of the district's best-kept secret: its residents don't need cars. They went car-free in 2000, and are pioneer members of the auto-sharing organization VRTU-Car. Evanis the editor of Spacing Ottawa and has written on urban issues for print and online publications. He coordinates the Wellington Street Readers and is a co-founder of the Alternative Voices Lecture Series at the University of Ottawa.