Kevin Shepherd is the founder of Verdunity, a Dallas-based firm that provides fiscally-informed planning, design, and community engagement to help cities cultivate strong neighborhoods. Kevin is a licensed engineer with over 26 years of experience in civil engineering, planning, site development and municipal finance. He spent 17 years at global A/E firm HDR as a leader of the Dallas office's municipal services program and later as National Director of the Community Planning + Urban Design market sector. In 2011, he founded Verdunity to provide people and resource-focused planning and engineering solutions to progressive cities and developers seeking to move beyond business as usual.

Known for his willingness to challenge the status quo, Kevin enjoys educating others on fiscal and environmental impacts of various development patterns, and thrives in environments where multiple perspectives must be brought together. Kevin has served as a Verifier for ISI’s Envision rating system and a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the STAR Communities program, is a vocal advocate for Strong Towns, and serves on the board of the north Texas chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. He hosts the Go Cultivate! podcast and writes and speaks regularly on the topics of fiscally-based planning, small scale development, economic gardening and neighborhood revitalization.