William (Will) Fleissig has been a trailblazer in both the private and public sectors, revitalizing large-scaled districts for diverse North American cities in Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Washington DC and Toronto Canada. He is an industry leader building low-carbon and mixed-income communities – embracing advanced green technologies and expansive collaboration with neighborhood residents, local employers, funders and other community groups – to create vibrant, sustainable and equitable places.

During his career, Mr. Fleissig has planned, developed and built over 4,500 residential units.  As the founder and managing principal of Collaborative Equities LLC, he has recently overseen the development framework for three property owners in Burlington VT’s South End — that will transform a former industrial district into a maker, arts and innovation neighborhood supporting 1400 residential units, of which 20% will become permanently affordable.  Will is also a development partner with Denver-based Urban Villages, working alongside local employers to develop 500 factory-built modular units, targeted to local workers in the Gunnison-Crested Butte Valley of Colorado.

As a partner and senior executive, Will has directed multiple design and engineering teams who have delivered entitlement approvals, building program and designs, open space network, infrastructure and community facilities for five new neighborhood districts:

• 400 acre Treasure Island LEED platinum community in San Francisco
• 27 acre DC Wharf destination on the Potomac River
• 130 acre West Village net-zero energy campus at the University of California, Davis
• 23 block Belmar mixed-use downtown on a former 103 acre shopping mall site in Lakewood, Colorado; and
• 120 acre Bradburn Village in Westminster, CO. 

The planning and development projects where Will had a leadership role have garnered five ULI Awards of Excellence.

Beginning in January 2016, Will became the second President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto, established by national, provincial and municipal governments to revitalize 2,000 acres located immediately adjacent to downtown Toronto.  During Will’s tenure, he secured CDN $1.25 billion for the Don River Naturalization and Infrastructure Project, which will be completed in 2026, transforming the 880 acre Port Lands into a carbon neutral urban community and destination park system serving 80,000+ residents and workers.

Under Moshe Safdie Associates, Will directed the master plan for the North Station Development Plan to the Boston Redevelopment Agency; the master plan for Cambridge Center adjacent to the MIT campus on behalf of Boston Properties, and with Monicelli Associates managed the Kendall Square Development Plan and Mixed-Use Zoning Code to the Cambridge Redevelopment Agency.

Will has served in the public sector as the Director of Planning and Development for the City of Boulder, Colorado, and as the Director of Downtown Planning and Development for Mayor Federico Pena in Denver. Will is a licensed architect in the State of California, a Lecturer and Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Master in Real Estate program, and has taught at UCLA’s Graduate Architecture, Planning and Business Programs, USC’s School of Architecture and the University of Colorado School of Business.

Will holds a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, a Bachelor of Architecture in urban design from the City College of New York, and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.