Printable Resume

Niko Letunic

Before co-founding Eisen|Letunic in 2005, Niko worked as a planner for 12 years at various Bay Area government agencies, including the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and, most recently, the City of Oakland. Niko's first planning job was as a water infrastructure specialist for the EPA. Also while an EPA employee, he completed a year-long special assignment at the BAAQMD assisting cities and developers mitigate the air quality and traffic impacts of proposed land use and transportation projects.

Niko left the EPA after five years to work for ABAG, where he concentrated on open-space and recreational land use planning for ABAG's Bay Trail Project. Subsequently, Niko went to work for the City of Oakland's Public Works Agency, managing a variety of air and water pollution control projects, and then for the city's Community and Economic Development Agency on various long-range planning projects. These included updating the Safety and Noise elements of the Oakland General Plan, overseeing the preparation of master plans for Lake Merritt Park and the Oakland Estuary, and managing the development of a capital improvement project priority list for a successful $300 million bond measure.

Niko's strengths lie in his advanced research, analysis and writing skills. In addition, he takes special pride in creating planning documents that are "citizen friendly:" clearly written, easy to navigate and visually appealing. Niko's work was recognized in 2005 when he received an award of merit from the California Chapter of the American Planning Association for Protect Oakland, the updated Safety Element he prepared for the City of Oakland's General Plan.

Niko was born in Ecuador and raised in Colombia, and has lived in the US since 1979 and in San Francisco since 1991. He holds a master of science in architectural studies from UT Austin and a master of business administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley (where he was president of his program's student association). He has served on the citizens' advisory committee of the San Francisco Transportation Authority, and has completed the year-long "Leadership San Francisco" program sponsored by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.