Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
I am motivated by principled work that centers sustainability, equitable livability, and community well-being. In my early career, I advanced these values as a mobility planner in the US public sector, with emphases on bicycling and public transport. Now residing in Europe, I am thrilled to be helping to foster climate-neutral cities internationally. Reducing auto-dependence is critical, and meaningful work can be done in many spheres to achieve this goal—from design to data, policy to innovation. I am passionate about creating streets for people, scaling these into vibrant low-traffic neighborhoods that invite families to play and children to explore independently, and facilitating comfortable access to opportunity so residents of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds can lead fulfilling lives. I am eager to engage continuously with new challenges and potential solutions, collaborate with diverse peoples, learn from and elevate their stories, and support the evolution of places that inspire pride and joy among those who call it home—honoring cultural heritage while embracing change to address the most pressing issues facing societies today. If you are doing such work, I am keen to connect with you—perhaps we may find opportunities to support one another's efforts.
- Leading CIVITAS MUSE, the coordination and support action of the CIVITAS Initiative for 2024–27. - Leading monitoring and impact evaluation of European Mobility Week, the European Commission’s flagship awareness-raising campaign on sustainable urban mobility.
Served as an ambassador for comfortable, joyful cycling in the world’s cycling capital. I led more than 120 tours for English- and German-language groups, providing visitors an entertaining and informative experience. Beyond presenting the historic and architectural highlights, my tours also commonly addressed themes including the spatial evolution of the city, the influence of social movements on the urban fabric, the mutually reinforcing cycling infrastructure and culture, and how these affect daily life for Amsterdammers of all ages. I like to say that “bicycling is happiness in motion,” and I aimed for people to leave my tours knowing that delight first-hand. I also tried to offer them a new appreciation for what is possible when a city prioritizes people over automobiles—and encourage them to believe such a future is also possible in their home cities.
Applied analytical, creative, communication, and facilitation skills to make Bellevue a more accessible community for people using sustainable travel modes. Emphasis areas included bikeway design and network implementation, bike share program management, multimodal mobility policy, safe systems strategic planning, transit service and capital planning, and community engagement. Notable accomplishments include: – Created the concept for, successfully pitched, and supported implementation and evaluation of the city’s first separated bikeway that repurposed travel lanes in the downtown. People For Bikes gave the demonstration project an honorable mention among “America’s Best New Bikeways of 2018,” and the city council made the project permanent the following year. – Facilitated public-private dialog to establish a framework for and launch the city’s first bike share program. Oversaw installation of 50 painted parking areas and targeted deployment of 300 dockless e-bikes citywide, generating 20,000 trips within the first three months and providing a real-world feasibility study to inform future iterations. – Coordinated $4M+ of rapid-build bicycle network investments over the first four years of a 20-year program, delivering larger shares of separated facilities each year. Leveraged early successes and identified shortcomings to help secure $1.5M of additional funding over three years to enable more high-comfort improvements. – Contributed to various initiatives to improve department culture, including (i) promoting open and informed dialog about race and social justice issues and their intersection with transportation, (ii) building personal relationships and sharing subject-matter expertise across divisions, and (iii) surveying, examining, and challenging attitudes about traffic safety values and goals. – Served as the city’s representative in various regional and professional forums, including invitations to speak on panels at state and national conferences.
Copy-edited chapters and compiled manuscript for publishing "Community Livability: Issues and Approaches to Sustaining the Well-Being of People and Communities," edited by Fritz Wagner and Roger Caves
– Researched and compiled best practices and drafted an RFP scope of work that ultimately resulted in the agency's "Transit Supportive Guidelines for the Chicagoland Region" (published 2013) – Conducted field tests of a demonstration transit signal priority system to assess functionality and identify issues requiring corrective action