Episode 176 - Ben Shardlow is the Chief of Staff for the Minneapolis Downtown Council & Downtown Improvement District.

Ben Shardlow is the Board Chair for the Creative Enterprise Zone, a place-based non-profit organization dedicated to attracting and supporting creative people and businesses in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

As an urban planner and designer focused on complex public spaces, Ben has worked on developing innovative programs to grow the urban tree canopy in challenging sites for over a decade. In the largely-industrial Creative Enterprise Zone, Ben launched the 100 Trees Initiative, a slow and steady approach to planting and caring for trees that seeks a sweet spot between the scale of operation – a small non-profit can manage and the long-term impact.

Ben's day job is the Chief of Staff for the Minneapolis Downtown Council & Downtown Improvement District, where he has worked since 2012 addressing the root causes of a variety of public space challenges, including urban forestry.