Bonnie Nickerson

Bonnie Nickerson is the Executive Director of the Roger Williams Park Conservancy, a local nonprofit charged with sustaining and enhancing Roger Williams Park for all.  She also runs an urban planning practice to support people-centered projects and strategies.

Bonnie has a successful track record of designing and executing complex projects to improve the health, vitality and well-being of communities.  As a senior public-sector leader in Providence for many years, most recently serving as City Planning Director and Executive Director of the Providence Redevelopment Agency, Bonnie’s interconnected portfolio of citywide transportation, housing, redevelopment, and public realm projects transformed the city’s approach to planning and redevelopment. Under her leadership and strategic direction, Providence advanced an ambitious agenda of large-scale planning efforts focused on context-sensitive development, affordable housing, mobility choice, equity, and meaningful community engagement. Bonnie oversaw the City’s first blueprint for affordable housing development, the City’s first capital improvement plan in 30 years, the Great Streets Master Plan, impactful redevelopment and corridor plans and reoriented city planning toward people and the civic life of neighborhoods. She is skilled in strategic planning, resource development, effective management, partnership development, advocacy and policy making. She holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MCP from the University of Rhode Island and served as a fellow with the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. She lives in Providence.