At the helm of City Advisors is Stephanie Tomaino, a planning veteran with a deep commitment to delivering quality projects to all of our partners. Bridging her passion for public service with her creative and industrious spirit, Stephanie founded City Advisors with a vision: to redefine planning support and drive lasting community impact.

 

Stephanie has over 15 years of professional experience and served as an in-house planner for the cities of San Clemente, Irvine, Costa Mesa, Lake Forest, and Mission Viejo. During that time, she managed the Current Planning operations of a Community Development Department supervising a team of staff and contract planners to process over 300 planning applications and 2,000 building plan reviews each year.

 

Stephanie is a certified planner and lifelong advocate of professional development. Since 2014, she has held numerous volunteer leadership positions within APA at both the California Chapter and local section levels. She is currently the Orange Section Director, and was recently the Co-Chair of the 2022 APA State Conference in Anaheim. She is an Adjunct Professor at UC Irvine teaching “Planning Career Development” for graduate students. Stephanie is also an active volunteer within the Urban Land Institute (ULI) where she serves as an educator and facilitator for the UrbanPlan program.

 

Her academic credentials include a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Cal Poly Pomona, and a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and International Studies from UC Irvine.