About Schutt & Copmany

Deborah Schutt
President

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Biography

As a highly accomplished county planner with 21 years of management experience, Deborah Schutt's reputation for dynamic leadership is well deserved. She combines excellent communication skills with an outstanding ability to bring people of differing gals and viewpoints together in order to analyze issues and find the solutions that will best serve the community.

Schutt has built her career working on behalf of Oakland County. beginning with a summer internship back in 1976, she worked her way up through the county's planning department, advancing from research assistant through the ranks of county planner. In 1993 she was appointed supervisor of planning for Oakland County. In this role, she gained valuable expertise in planning and negotiating with elected leadership and local and regional government personnel. Schutt oversaw a staff of 18 professional planners, architects, landscape architects, technicians and support personnel. She also initiated and supervised the Planning Department's work program, which operated under an annual budget of over $1,000,000. Major accomplishments include:

Directing Oakland County's Map/Aerial sales program, involving annual revenues of over $200,000. Schutt led the transition to computer tracking of sales, full pricing analysis and expanding and automating customer buying options. She oversaw maintenance of up-to-date property descriptions and associated maps and aerial photography for more than 420,000 parcels of land.

Administering the county's role in a Township Zoning and Master Plan review and State Clearinghouse review of federal grant requests.

Managing the Woodward Corridor Study, for which she was specially commended by Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. The Woodward corridor study involved a massive effort by four county departments, a 26-member steering committee, two universities and one college, the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Road Commission for Oakland County and six cities. Under Schutt's leadership, a comprehensive plan for the nine-mile corridor was envisioned, coordinate and completed. As part of the study, Schutt operated a satellite office, administered grants and contacts with consulting firms and established a not-for-profit corporation to implement the plan's recommendations.

Schutt's accomplishments have been commended through various honors by organizations such as the National Association of Counties for the Transportation Systems Management Plan, National and Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association, Michigan Society of Planning Officials, and the Michigan Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. She was recently named "Michigan's Outstanding Professional Planner of the Year" by the Michigan Society of Planning Officials and the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association.

She was graduated from Valparaiso University and holds a master's degree in urban planning from Wayne State University. Schutt's professional affiliations include membership in the American Institute of Certified Planners, Michigan Professional Community Planner, Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association (Planning Officials Development Officer 1998) and the Michigan Society of Planning Officials (Board of Directors 1989-1995, President 1993-1994).

Schutt is deeply committed to supporting the community through volunteer efforts. She has lent her expertise and energy to organizations including the South Oakland Shelter, the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Chair-Site Selection Task Force for the Southeast Michigan Synod; President, Our Savior Lutheran Church in Madison Heights, Michigan), the Parc Lafayette Condominium Association and has served as a hospice volunteer.