Todd Barman

Main Street Prog Todd Barman - large headshot ram Officer

National Trust Main Street Center
National Trust for Historic Preservation
308 South Monroe Street
Stoughton, WI 53589

Todd Barman is a Program Officer with more than 17 years of experience in the development field and more than 12 years firsthand Main Street experience. Todd's expertise in market analysis is widely recognized. As a member of the Wisconsin Main Staff, he coordinated the market analysis technical support service and led efforts to deveop the nationally recognized Downtown and Business District Market Analysis Toolbox. Since joining the National Trust Main Street Center in 2006, he has conducted many local workshops on market analysis and other economic restructuring topics. As a national thought leader, Todd convenes discussion groups on ways to better approach market analysis and help communities put economic restructuring principles into practice more effectively. Todd has in-depth experience teaching all four points of the Main Street approach and has a degree in landscape architecture.

EXPERIENCE

NATIONAL TRUST MAIN STREET CENTER®
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Washington, DC
Main Street Program Officer, January, 2006-Present
Responsibilities and areas of expertise: Primary duties include the development, coordination, and delivery of technical services and training to assist state and local partners with downtown and neighborhood disrict revitalization strategies. Current roles include client manager for Kansas Main Street, Montana Main Street, and Wyoming Main Street (statewide coordinating programs) and economic restructuring specialist nationally. Areas of expertise include capacity building and evaluation of local Main Street programs and statewide/regional Main Street coordinating programs; strategic market research; and organizational and community planning. Key projects include:

Educate staff, board members, and volunteers of nonprofit community development organizations to build capacity, especially in the area of economic restructuring. Research-based trainings range from one-hour basic level to two-day advanced level and are customized for each delivery: Basic Training in Main Street Four-Point Approach® (33 workshops in the past 3 years); Advanced training in the Main Street Four-Point Approach® (9 one-day and two-day workshops in the past 3 years)
Customizeand convey issue-specific technical assistance to meet the unique needs of clients. Recent technical assistant visits include Red Lodge, Stevensville, and Anaconda, Mont. (April 2009).
Serve as team leader and team member for Resource Teams, Program Assessments, and Reconnaissance Visits (25 teams in the past 3 years). Recent visits include: Livingston, Mont. ( May 2009); Sheridan, Wyo. (April 2009); and Walla Walla, Wash. (February 2009).
Facilate Visioning, Strategic Planning, Action Planning, Non-profit Business Planning and Retreats. Recent visits include Kansas Main Street's coordinating program retreat (March 2009)
Conduct strategic market research to answer specific market-related questions and define and refine market positions.
Co-authored two chapters in Revitalizing Main Street: A practitioner's guide to comprehensive commercial district revitalization © 2009.

WISCONSIN MAIN STREET PROGRAM
Madison, Wisconsin
Assistant Main Street Coordinator, 1999-2006
Responsibilities and accomplishments: Customized technical services to meet the unique needs of local Main Street programs. Served as a team leader and team member for Resource Team Visits, Program Assessments and issue-specific Technical Assistance Visits. Facilitated Visioning, Strategic Planning, Action Planning, and Retreats. Developed, coordinated, and delivered Main Street Four-Point Approach®, Executive, Board, and Volunteer Training. Revised standard services to better meet the common needs of local Main Street programs. Key projects included:

Initiated and improved Wisconsin's Downtown and Business District Market Analysis Service and Toolbox (with UW-Extension).
Designed and improved Wisconsin Main Street's system for online reporting of commercial district reinvestment statistics and calculating Return on Investment (ROI).
Created Wisconsin Main Street's Value of Services invoice system.
Developed Wisconsin Main Street's first statewide Board Member Workshop for training and networking.

DARLINGTON COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION, INC.
Darlington, Wisconsin
Main Street Manager, 1997-1999
Responsibilities and accomplishments: Helped volunteers of the Darlington Main Street Program understand their options for revitalizing their downtown and their community. Facilitated their choice of strategies and then provided them with information that ensured their successful implementation of that strategy. Provided technical assistance to the community's building and business owners through local design and business assistance programs and served as a conduit to the design and business assistance provided by specialists from the Wisconsin Main Street Program. Also served as an advisor to the Darlington Area Chamber of Commerce and the Canoe Festival, Inc., Central Committee. Key projects included:

Planned and conducted Darlington's 1998 Business Training Seminar Series followed by one-on-one on-site consultations. Surveyed businesses to determine their preferred topics, sought and secured speakers, developed the strategy for using these experts for seminars and one-on-one on-site consultations, made facility arrangements, and developed promotional materials.
Provided design assistance for façade and sign improvements to more than 24 Darlington business and building owners.
Implemented a successful sponsorship program for Darlington Canoe Festival events and entertainment.
Coordinated the creation of three new special events: Community Days, ATV Festival, and Farmers Market.
Developed, designed, and desktop-published the first Lafayette County Visitors Directory (64 page, 4" x 9" brochure).
Facilitated development and adoption of a Design Review Ordinance for Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

20/20 FORESIGHT
Madison, Wisconsin
Aesthetic Assessment Consultant, 1992-1996
Responsibilities and accomplishments: Consultant to the public and private sectors on land-use projects requiring aesthetic assessment for environmental decision making. Specialized in developing defensible methodologies that involved accurate and realistic computerized visual simulations of proposed landscape change. Projects included landfills, highway sound walls, and shoreline boat houses and retaining walls.

PRESENTATIONS

January 2009 to present: Montana Monthly Webinar Series (statewide audience) — "Promotions that Serve the Service Sector"; "Design that Sells"; "Business Planning for Nonprofit Main Street Corporations"; "Helping businesses survive during a slow economy."
April 2009: West Virginia webinar —"Helping Businesses Survive During a Slow Economy."
March 2009, National Main Streets Conference, Chicago, Ill. — "Discussing the Next Generation of Market Analysis for Main Street"; "A Firsthand Look at Community-Owned and Supported Stores and Restaurants."
2008, Main Street Innovation Lab Webinar Series (national audience) — "Thriving in a Slow Economy"; "Main Street Incubators."
2008, Kansas Downtown Symposium (statewide conference), El Dorado, Kans. — "Business Succession: Surviving, Repositioning, Transitioning."
2008, Virginia Main Street E-Training (statewide audience) — "Understanding Business Cycles and How to Give Them a Positive Spin."
2008, Montana Main Street: Revitalizing Our Downtowns (statewide conference), Butte, Mont. — "Incubators on Main Street: The Making of a Successful Revitalization Strategy."
2008, Downtown Revitalization Conference (statewide), Washington, Mo. — "Encouraging Entrepreneur-based Retail and Incubator Start-ups."
2008, Downtown Delaware Feature Presentation (statewide training), Georgetown, Del. — "Creating Entrepreneurial-Friendly Downtowns."
2008, Nourishing Downtown: How Restaurants and Farmers Markets Can Feed Your Revitalization Efforts (statewide training), Culpepper, Va. —"Restaurants and a Healthy Downtown"; "A Marketplace for Restaurants"; "Strengthening your Restaurants."
2008, Maine Downtown Center's 8th Annual Downtown Conference, Biddeford, Maine — "Get 'em and Keep 'em: Filling Your Downtown with Viable Businesses"; "Getting Past Market Analysis Paralysis."
2008, Preserve Wyoming (statewide conference), Cheyenne, Wyo. — "$ & Sense of Preservation."
2008, National Main Streets Conference, Philadelphia, Pa. — "Cautionary Tales of Main Street Incubators."
2007, The Heritage Canada Foundation's Annual Conference, Edmonton, Canada — "Strategies for Revival: Case Studies of Current Practice"; "Assessing the Impact of Revitalization Efforts."
2007, Destination Downtown (tri-state conference), Natchitoches, La. —"Creating a Business and Building Inventory."
2007, Downtown Revitalization Institute Workshop (statewide), New Haven, Conn. — "Restructuring and Strengthening Your Downtown Economy."
2007, Main Street Arkansas Quarterly Training (statewide), Searcy, Ark. — "Downtown Economic Restructuring and Tourism."
2007, National Main Streets Conference, Seattle, Wash. — "Market Analysis Toolbox" (with Matt Kures); "Is Your Main Street Program an Entrepreneurial Support Organization?"
2007, Kansas Main Street and Kansas Downtown Development Association Partnership Training (statewide), Topeka, Kans. — "Three Secrets of Hands on Economic Revitalization for Downtown Districts."

EDUCATION

WISCONSIN RURAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
Wisconsin
Graduate of Group VIII, 2000
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
Madison, Wisconsin
Master of Science in Landscape Architecture, 1996
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
Madison, Wisconsin
Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture, 1990

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