Golden Valley Community and Economic Development Director Emily Goellner, AICP, recently received the Peg and Otto Schmid Planner of the Year Award for advancing planning in Minnesota, directly influencing the course of local planning, and contributing to the planning field with education and advocacy. The award was presented at the American Planning Association (APA) Minnesota Chapter annual conference in September 2025.

Goellner has led the City of Golden Valley’s Community and Economic Development Department since September 2024 and served as the City’s associate planner/grant writer and senior planner/grant writer from 2014 to 2019. She has also worked in the Community Development Departments for the Cities of Wayzata, St Louis Park, Minneapolis, and Duluth.

During her tenure as a member of APA Minnesota, Goellner presented 20 sessions at APA conferences and launched APA Minnesota’s first mentorship program in 2017. She also served on the APA Minnesota Board of Directors for eight years. She is an active member of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Economic Development Association of Minnesota (EDAM), the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), League of Minnesota Cities, and Urban Land Institute (ULI) Minnesota.

One of Goellner’s goals is to expand the Minnesota chapter of the American Planning Association’s focus to include the 11 federally recognized tribes located in Minnesota. For the last three years, she invited tribal leaders to address APA Minnesota Conference attendees about interjurisdictional cooperation with tribal governments, the importance of planning and community development to tribal communities, and a variety of unique community projects and economic development initiatives led by local tribes. These leaders included Karen Diver from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and University of Minnesota; Melanie Benjamin, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe; and Bill Rudnicki, tribal administrator of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

Goellner was the 2023 recipient of the Emerging Leader Award from the League of Minnesota Cities. The League’s nomination committee noted her leadership with Golden Valley’s Just Deeds Coalition and Wayzata’s Panoway Lakewalk. She has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and political science from the University of Minnesota – Duluth.