Council Appoints Natali Fani-Gonzalez to Planning Board

I'm looking forward to working with our new Planning Board member, Natali Fani-Gonzalez. She's a great communicator, and she has a real sense of Montgomery County. She will make a terrific addition to the team. Here's the full press release:

The Montgomery County Council today unanimously named Natali Fani-Gonzalez to a vacant position on the Montgomery County Planning Board.

Ms. Fani-Gonzalez, a Kensington resident, was one of 25 applicants for the position. The Council interviewed four of those applicants. She will serve a four-year term.

Ms. Fani-Gonzalez is the founder and principal of The Matea Group, a strategic public relations firm based in Montgomery County.

In her letter of application, Ms. Fani-Gonzalez wrote, “During the past decade, I have shown initiative, creativity in problem solving and a commitment to building consensus and excellence in a variety of settings. Through my public relations firm, I have successfully advanced local, state, national and international issues, including global migration and development, the Maryland Dream Act, online privacy and Internet freedom, transparency in elections, access to health care, the national Deferred Action for Undocumented Children, Women’s rights, family economic justice and veteran’s rights.”

Earlier this year, Ms. Fani-Gonzalez was awarded a citation by the Maryland General Assembly for outstanding contributions to the state. 

In her letter of application and in her interview with the Council, Ms. Fani-Gonzalez, who is fluent in English and Spanish, told Councilmembers she could bring a unique perspective to the five-member Planning Board.

“As part of the millennial generation—the largest and most diverse generation in the history of the nation, I will bring a pragmatic vision with a strong social conscience amplified by the use of technology,” she wrote in her letter of application. “Indisputably, the planning of a strong and successful Montgomery County must include the realities of my generation: an innovated, open-minded, achievement-orientated, socially focused, informed and high-tech community.”