'Where Are They Now?' features the words and wisdom of previous Agora staff as a thank you for their contribution to the journal. Without them - their leadership and their commitment - Agora would not be where it is today. In preparation for Preview Weekend Friday, March 28th, we invited them to share their story with Agora and with prospective students. We asked: What was most memorable about your experience with Agora? How did your role with Agora influence your career as a planner? If you could make one recommendation to the journal what would it be?
Cameron Hollingshead was part of the Editorial Board for Agora 5. He is an attorney and registered securities broker/dealer at Krambo Corp. in downtown Ann Arbor.
Krambo is a small investment bank that fosters investment in nonprofit organizations that develop affordable housing. We arrange transactions that put organizations on steadier financial footing, fund additional construction of affordable housing, and promote bank compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act.
My experience with Agora was of attempting to institute a crude peer review system that resulted in the selection of articles for publication. It was a blur of coffee, red ink, and printouts. One big lesson from Agora was to keep it simple when coordinating a large group of volunteers. My advice to Agora is twofold: first, don't take just anything that comes in--commission articles and challenge your writers; second, find a way to publish multimedia submissions (GIS, simulations, videos) that do not fit in paper space.
Image source: Christina Carter, MUP 2012 "Flower" Detroit, Michigan