Conrad started his planning career by going into his hometown City Hall, Moorpark, CA, to ask about suburban sprawl. He had just come back from a vista point from where he saw hundreds of acres being grubbed to make way for new single-family dwellings. That one sight is what led to his career in planning.

As a planner, Conrad has worked as an Assistant Planner for the Town of Apple Valley, CA, then at the City of Colorado Springs, CO where he was a Planner I, Planner II, Comprehensive Planner II, and a Comprehensive Senior Planner. Most recently, Conrad hopped the Mississippi River eastwards and is now in the City of Burlington, NC, where he joined the team as a Principal Planner and now serves as Planning Manager.

Some notable achievements for Conrad in his career were helping a crematorium business get operational, helping deck contractors get decks installed before the summers’ grilling, and being on the team that got Colorado Springs’ comprehensive plan, PlanCOS, to be a community celebrated plan. He also had a great time doing his MURP Capstone on creating a neighborhood planning strategy for Colorado Springs, which was the grand finale before graduating in December 2018.