Fellow in Leadership Management
BSLA / FELLOWS CLASS OF 2015
Fellow in Leadership Management
TOM ENNIS , FASLA
“ As landscape architects , we have the opportunity and ability to make the world a better place to live , work , and play . The way I have tried to achieve this is through getting involved in policy development and permitting of public works projects through Massport .”
be deleted later in the process . Tom has used this method to develop policy and design achievements that have helped shape the City of Boston .
F or the past 30 years , Tom Ennis has lived in Boston and has been actively involved in striving to make the city one of the most livable , walkable , and bikable cities in the world . He is a landscape architect whose career took a different path , focusing on public sector planning and permitting that affects the foundations of large-scale change in the urban landscape . A number of Tom ’ s projects have had national significance in defining Boston ’ s role as a major trend-setting city . This includes his influential work on the surface artery of the City of Boston ’ s Central Artery Tunnel Project ( CAT ) and his success in developing the first LEED-certified aviation terminal in the world at Logan Airport .
Recognizing that early policy decisions are critical to laying the groundwork for project design , Tom has focused throughout his career on influencing and shaping the early planning and permitting phases of major public projects . Developing the framework for projects provides the ability to formulate design criteria and standards that cannot
Most recently , Tom proposed and designed the Logan Greenway Connector , a bicyclepedestrian segment that provides the missing link in a three-mile long network connecting East Boston ’ s parks and open spaces . Tom recognized that without this segment , the Greenway was not truly a network , just a disconnected set of pathways . The Greenway is now a well-used link that shows high usage statistics , contributing to the enjoyment of the city by its residents .
Additionally , Tom served as the BSLA ’ s representative on the City of Boston Landmarks Commission and the Commissions Design Review Committee for ten years in the 1990s . In the midnineties , he created the BSLA Transportation Committee and served as its Chair . An avid cyclist , Tom was a member of the City of Boston ’ s first bicycle committee , and he continues to advocate for multi-modal transportation throughout the City of Boston .
Tom completed his BSLA at the University of Florida and is licensed in Massachusetts . After 20 years , he recently retired from Massachusetts Port Authority .
Tom contributed his story on how he ended up in the public sector to the Spring 2015 ussue of BSLA Fieldbook . Read it online at http :// bit . ly / FieldbookBSLAspring15
20 BSLA