Program 2017

John Rossant personally leads the LA CoMotion team. He is the Founder and Chairman of the NewCities Foundation, a major global non-profit institution dedicated to improving the quality of life and work in cities. He previously led the team producing the famous World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland every January and has been been the producer of major World Economic Forum conferences in China, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. He has also played key roles in Monaco, with the Monaco Media Forum and the ongoing Prince’s Roundtable on Philanthropy. In 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked John to organize the first global summit on the future of the Internet, the e-G8. John has worked with heads of state and government and leading CEOs from around the world.

Eric Garcetti is the 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles. His "back to basics" agenda is focused on job creation and solving everyday problems for L.A. residents. Garcetti was elected four times by his peers to serve as President of the Los Angeles City Council from 2006 to 2012. From 2001 until taking office as Mayor, he served as the Councilmember representing the 13th District which includes Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Atwater Village -- all of which were dramatically revitalized under Garcetti's leadership. Garcetti was raised in the San Fernando Valley and earned his B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University. He studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and the London School of Economics and taught at Occidental College and USC. A fourth generation Angeleno, he and his wife, Amy Elaine Wakeland, have a young daughter. He is a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy reserve and is an avid jazz pianist and photographer.

Brogan BamBrogan has more than 20 years of experience in engineering design, manufacturing and materials in the aerospace and automative industries. Before founding Arrivo, Brogan started Hyperloop One in his garage in the fall of 2014 and grew a world class team to greater than 150 people in less than 18 months. He led the vision and drove the technology development, actively supported fundraising of over $120M and built worldwide relationships with potential customers, key corporate partners and investors. From May 2003 to January 2013, Brogan worked in various senior roles at SpaceX, most recently as Senior Staff Engineer, Propulsion. He had primary design responsibility for Kestrel, the upper stage engine of the Falcon 1 rocket, and supported hardware through development, fabrication, assembly, qualification and final integration. He also led the early design of the Dragon spacecraft, including detailed work on the Draco thrusters and the primary heat shield. Brogan supported numerous other technology developments, including zero-g propellant tank design, Dragon escape thruster layout, engine bay RUD containment, nozzle thermal imaging, ultra-low cost chamber design and many other innovations. Prior to SpaceX, Brogan worked as a Mechanical Design Engineer, Spacecraft, Propulsion and Lasers, at Northrup Grumman from June 1996 to April 2001. He designed solar arrays for Geolite spacecraft, developed laser solutions for Airborne Laser (ABL) and other programs, and developed a non-toxic RCS thruster solution for NASA’s Space Shuttle. From June 1994 to June 1996, Brogan was a Design & Manufacturing Engineer at Chrysler Motors, where he designed body panels for Dodge Ram trucks and tooling to support production of 400,000 units per year, and managed suppliers and led installation of tooling in production plants. Brogan earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University (formerly known as GMI Engineering & Management University). Brogan grew up in Michigan.

Shannon is the Chief Operating Officer of the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment and a leader of the Sustainability and Resource Productivity Practice at McKinsey & Company. She has served state and city governments, non-profits, and public utility clients on energy efficiency strategy and program design, mobility, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and sustainability.  Shannon is a co-author on several McKinsey publications focused on energy efficiency and city performance including How to Make a City Great, Mobility at a Tipping Point, An integrated perspective on the future of mobility, and most recently, An integrated perspective on the future of mobility, part 2: Transforming urban delivery. Prior to joining McKinsey, Shannon was a field biologist.  She holds a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology from the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, and a Master of Science in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida, Gainesville.

Kevin Czinger is the founder, lead inventor and CEO of Divergent 3D.  He founded Divergent 3D to revolutionize car manufacturing by creating a new production system that incorporates 3D metal printing. As an EV pioneer, Czinger learned that how we make cars is a bigger economic and environmental problem than how we fuel them. Divergent 3D’s patented manufacturing platform radically reduces the materials, energy, and capital needed to build a car. It was named Frost & Sullivan’s 2016 Technology Innovation of the Year and a Google Solve for X "Moonshot" for its disruptive impact on global transportation.  

Joshua L. Schank is the first ever Chief Innovation Officer at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro), where he leads the Office of Extraordinary Innovation (OEI). The role of this office is to champion new ideas to improve mobility in LA County by informing the high-level vision for LA Metro, piloting and implementing new and experimental programs and policy, and serving as the primary liaison relevant to LA Metro coming from entrepreneurs, established private sector entities, academia, or individual residents. The office is also responsible for LA Metro’s Public Private Partnership (P3), and strategic planning functions. Prior to joining LA Metro, Dr. Schank was President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation, a national non-profit think-tank. Dr. Schank’s extensive work in transportation policy and planning is well documented in his publications, including “All Roads Lead to Congress: The $300 Billion Fight Over Highway Funding,” co-authored with Costas Panagopoulos and published by CQ Press in 2007. He holds a Ph.D. in urban planning from Columbia University, a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.A. in urban studies from Columbia University.

AIA, LEED AP BD+C is co-founder of the urban change management advisory firm CityFi, advising cities and the private sector on a more human-centered approach to smart cities. Previously, Ashley served as the Transportation Technology Strategist for the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation where she developed public policy, an action plan and pilot program recommendations for shared mobility and autonomous vehicle technologies. Prior to her work in LA, Ashley served as the first Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Kansas City, Missouri and the first female municipal CIO in the nation, creating the most comprehensive smart city in North America among other civic innovation projects. Ashley is a registered architect and green building professional having worked for AECOM and Eric Owen Moss Architects. She currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21/T-SET University Transportation Center and Open Architecture Collaborative and is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy.

Assaf Biderman is a technology inventor, author, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Superpedestrian, a robotics company that focuses on the future of personal urban mobility, and co-inventor of the Copenhagen Wheel: MIT's award winning bicycle project and the company’s first product. Superpedestrian has received multiple awards including the Red Dot: Luminary, Time Magazine's 25 Best Inventions of 2014, and the Deutscher Werkbund award. He also teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is Associate Director of the SENSEable City Laboratory, a research group that explores how technology is changing the way we understand, design and live in cities.

As a member of the original Lyft team, Emily has been on the front lines of ridesharing policy since the birth of the industry. She works with transportation agencies across the United States to integrate Lyft as a viable alternative to car ownership and understand its impacts on infrastructure, behavior, and the environment. Emily started her career as a transportation policy aide for a U.S. Congresswoman and later served as a financial advisor for municipal infrastructure projects. She holds an MPA in Public Finance from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from the University of California, San Diego.

Yann Leriche joined Transdev in 2008, beginning as CEO of Group subsidiary Transamo, which provides counseling and assistance in the planning, implementation and operation of large public transportation projects, until 2010. He then took responsibility for Transdev SZ (bus operations) and EurailCo (rail) at Transdev Germany. He was appointed Deputy Director of Transdev North America in 2012. In 2013, he was named Group Chief Performance Officer and joined the Excom. In July 2017, he became CEO Transdev North America in charge of the B2C Business Line and development of the Autonomous Vehicles Activities. Prior to joining Transdev, he served as Director of the Services Division in Europe for Bombardier Transportation guided light transit systems. He began his career in public service, first as Transportation Infrastructure manager in the Calvados region, then as Director of Public Transport in Greater Reims where he was project manager of the line 1 light rail. A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique (1997) and the Ecole nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (1999) and a member of the College of Engineers, Yann Leriche also holds an Executive Specialized Masters in Tax and Financial Engineering from ESCP-Europe.

Seleta Reynolds has over 17 years of transportation experience throughout the United States in both the public and private sectors. Prior to her current position, Seleta was a leader in the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Livable Streets section, coordinating streets projects citywide. B.A. American History, Brown University.

Lilly Shoup is a Principal with Nelson\Nygaard Consulting where she specializes in multimodal transportation planning, performance management, and policy development. Author of the original, “Dangerous by Design” report on national pedestrian safety trends, Lilly is experienced integrating public and private sector projects with effective planning and design. Prior to joining Nelson\Nygaard, Lilly served as a transportation policy advisor to senior leadership at the U.S. Department of Transportation where she managed the DOT-HUD-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities and the DOT Livability Initiative. She has served as Domestic Policy Advisor to former Vice President Joe Biden leading efforts to pass long-term transportation reauthorization with sustainable funding.

Dick Alexander oversees business development efforts for Transdev North America and has helped the business grow to $1.6 billion in revenues over his 15-year tenure with the company. Dick is responsible for developing partnerships with cities, counties and transit agencies to manage and operate public transit systems, ranging from small start-up projects, to large transportation entities. He is also responsible for business development opportunities in the Rail, Streetcar, Paratransit and On Demand divisions of the company. Dick is deeply experienced in structuring business relationships and contracts client objectives to ensure high standards for quality, efficiency and passenger care. He leads many of the company’s strategic initiatives including innovative technology partnerships, service design and new product development. Dick started his career in the transit industry as a transportation planner and later a system manager. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning and Design from the University of Cincinnati and a Master’s of Business Administration from Xavier University.

Joddie Gray is the President of UrbanTrans North America, an urban and transportation planning and social marketing firm with offices in Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, and Toronto. UrbanTrans specializes in innovative transportation demand management with a focus on shared use mobility, behavior change programming, multi-modal planning, market-based policies, stakeholder outreach, organizational development and strategic planning. Joddie has spent over 20 years developing and delivering audience-centered and data-informed transportation strategies across North America and the globe. She’s driven to create outcomes that increase the availability, usage, and viability of travel choices. Her most recent focus has been in generating partnerships and facilitating collaboration among transportation policy-makers, service providers and other key stakeholders to ensure new technologies, modes and strategies are more cohesive, relevant and enduring. Joddie earned her undergraduate degree at Cal Poly Pomona and her Masters of Urban Planning at Portland State University. She is a proud returned Peace Corps Volunteer.

Justin is Zipcar’s director of corporate communications and public policy where he leads efforts to promote Zipcar’s brand of “wheels when you want them” to Zipcar members, city leaders, media and other stakeholders. Leveraging his experience in technology as well as public and government relations, Justin works with cities and policy makers to help accelerate the adoption of car sharing as a vital, sustainable part of the urban transportation ecosystem. Before joining Zipcar, Justin served as chief information officer to Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, where he led a number of initiatives to use technology to make the city work smarter and serve its citizens better.  He is a native Bostonian and graduate of the College of the Holy Cross.

Derrick is the co-founder and CEO of Spin. He was most recently a Product Manager on the Growth team at Lyft. Prior to that, he was the first employee at a Y Combinator and True Ventures backed startup (acquired by Lyft), a Team Lead at Pivotal Labs, and started a company right after graduating from Purdue University with a degree in computer engineering.

Tom Maguire is Director of the Sustainable Streets Division at SFMTA, where he directs the agency’s ambitious efforts to achieve Vision Zero and to create world class streets for all San Franciscans. The 1,035 employees of Sustainable Streets operate, engineer, design, and plan the city’s traffic, parking, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and provide transit security and parking enforcement. He joined SFMTA in October 2014 after serving as Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Department of Transportation, where he managed Bus Rapid Transit, Freight Mobility, Peak Rate Parking, congestion pricing, and sustainability, and resiliency programs. He has also worked for the engineering and design firm Arup. Tom is a transportation professional who is passionate about using his experience in planning, engineering, policymaking, and management to build great cities... Unlocking the potential of streets, transit systems, and public space to create places that are safe, sustainable, and equitable... Moving toward Vision Zero... Finding creative ways to use technology and data to help travelers make smart choices... Remembering that as professionals, we work for ALL users of the street - pedestrians, transit riders, drivers, and cyclists. He holds a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and a B.A. from Rutgers.

Sharon is a founder and the executive director of the Shared-Use Mobility Center, a national nonprofit organization working to extend the benefits of shared mobility for all. Sharon oversees SUMC’s work to conduct innovative research, develop pilot projects to test shared mobility strategies, and provide advice and technical assistance to cities and regions. SUMC was also recently awarded a contract to develop an Innovation Knowledge Accelerator program in partnership with the Federal Transit Administration to assist cities undertaking Mobility on Demand projects. Sharon was previously the CEO of IGO Carsharing, the nonprofit organization that started carsharing in the Chicago region. Under Sharon’s leadership, IGO grew from a small pilot project into a successful operating company with 15,000 members in 45 neighborhoods.

Justin Erbacci was appointed Chief Innovation and Technology Officer (CITO) and Deputy Executive Director in July 2016. He is responsible for implementing LAWA’s overall Information Technology vision and strategy, in addition to leveraging innovative technologies and processes to enhance operations at Los Angeles International (LAX) and Van Nuys general aviation airports. Mr. Erbacci brings over 15 years of experience in global IT leadership from inside and outside of the aviation industry. Prior to his appointment with LAWA, he served as Vice President of Customer Experience & Technology for Star Alliance, a global airline network comprised of 28 airlines serving 640 million passengers annually. In this role, he was responsible for the development, implementation, architecting, operations, and maintenance of all global IT applications and infrastructure components, and led all Star Alliance product and service activities at the over 1,300 airports where its airlines operated. Additionally, Mr. Erbacci has served as the Director of Global Product Management for Credit Suisse, and as a Manager of Business Planning and Technology at United Airlines. Mr. Erbacci has also served as a senior IT consultant for firms including Reese McMahon LLC, Cambridge Management Consultants, and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Prior to consulting, he practiced law as a civil rights defense litigator.

Seleta Reynolds has over 17 years of transportation experience throughout the United States in both the public and private sectors. Prior to her current position, Seleta was a leader in the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Livable Streets section, coordinating streets projects citywide. B.A. American History, Brown University.

Joshua L. Schank is the first ever Chief Innovation Officer at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro), where he leads the Office of Extraordinary Innovation (OEI). The role of this office is to champion new ideas to improve mobility in LA County by informing the high-level vision for LA Metro, piloting and implementing new and experimental programs and policy, and serving as the primary liaison relevant to LA Metro coming from entrepreneurs, established private sector entities, academia, or individual residents. The office is also responsible for LA Metro’s Public Private Partnership (P3), and strategic planning functions. Prior to joining LA Metro, Dr. Schank was President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation, a national non-profit think-tank. Dr. Schank’s extensive work in transportation policy and planning is well documented in his publications, including “All Roads Lead to Congress: The $300 Billion Fight Over Highway Funding,” co-authored with Costas Panagopoulos and published by CQ Press in 2007. He holds a Ph.D. in urban planning from Columbia University, a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.A. in urban studies from Columbia University.

Alan covers the evolution of transportation and the intersection of autos, tech and Silicon Valley for Forbes. He is based in Los Angeles, the U.S. capital of cars and congestion, and has chronicled the global auto industry and advanced vehicle tech for more than two decades. Alan joined Forbes after a stint as Chief Communications Officer for TrueCar, a NASDAQ-listed online car-shopping service. Prior to that, he was a senior transportation reporter and editor for Bloomberg News for 15 years, initially in Tokyo before a transfer to Los Angeles. His fascination with cutting-edge transportation was stoked by a dozen years in Japan. There he worked in equity research departments for two brokerages, was a staff writer and editor for the Asahi Evening News and Tokyo Journal, edited broadcast copy for NHK’s Radio Japan, and was (briefly) a BusinessWeek correspondent.

A lawyer by education, Pras pursued his Masters in International Relations in Japan and the United States. He spent his initial career as an in-house legal advisor, and thereafter as a management consultant. For the last 15 years he has been in Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan and Europe, with experience in Human Resources, Accounting & Finance, and External Affairs. During his time in HR he was responsible for Global Employee and Industrial Relations, HR Resource Management and HR Development. In Finance he led teams on Tax & Audit and Profit Planning for Europe. Currently he is responsible for Global Strategic Planning in the External Affairs Function. Pras is concurrently Program Director for the Toyota Mobility Foundation, responsible for the Asia-Pacific Region. In this role he is overseeing three projects in Thailand, Vietnam and India on issues related to multi-modal mobility. In a world with mounting mobility challenges, Toyota believes that enabling people to move freely is essential to unleashing human potential; that’s why the Toyota Mobility Foundation was set up to use Toyota’s know-how in partnership with universities, governments and non-profit organizations to address the mobility issues of tomorrow today

Civ. Eng. Sampo Hietanen is the CEO of MaaS Global Ltd. He is father to the concept “Mobility as a Service”, a paradigm change in transport offering. Hietanen’s background is in executive positions in civil engineering and ITS and he has been founding and heading several international businesses in the field. MaaS Global Ltd is bringing the concept of Mobility as a Service into reality, by building the world’s first Mobility Ecosystem. MaaS Global aspires to upgrade the service level of transportation by joining together public and private transportation providers. Collaboration and integration of services will create a seamless and compelling travel experience for everyone, locally and globally.

Chris is a Founder and Partner of Fontinalis, where he is responsible for a wide range of critical processes ranging from deal sourcing and execution to corporate operations and business strategy. Chris also works in concert with Fontinalis’ portfolio companies on business development, sales and marketing initiatives. Prior to Fontinalis, he worked at Ford Motor Company in Sustainable Business Development and Treasury. Previously, Chris served in the U.S. Army as a Communications Officer in Iraq. Before joining the military, Chris worked as an Investment Banker at UBS within its Technology and Energy groups in New York and San Francisco. Chris currently serves on the Board of Directors of two of Fontinalis’ portfolio companies, nuTonomy and Karamba Security. He also currently serves as a Board Observer of three of Fontinalis’ portfolio companies: Life360, SmartKargo, and SQLstream. Additionally, Chris serves on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Regional Chamber and is a member of both the Global Cleantech 100 expert panel and the Techweek Detroit Executive Advisory Board.  Chris has previously served as the Chairman of Read to a Child, a national children’s literacy and mentoring nonprofit and as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Personal Transportation Systems. Chris earned his Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Yale School of Management. While at Yale he served on the Honor Committee and graduated with distinction in former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s seminar on Faith and Globalization. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Economics and International Relations from Michigan State University. Chris is a resident of the City of Detroit and a staunch advocate of smart cities, early childhood literacy, and the doctrine of the strenuous life.

Zack Wasserman oversees business development at Via, the leading developer and operator of on-demand transit systems. He and his team have forged partnerships with cities, transit agencies, private transit operators, and carmakers around the world. Prior to Via, Zack co-founded and managed a specialty steel manufacturer with operations in China, Southeast Asia, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Yale, where his dissertation examined the origins of entrepreneurial capitalism in Cold War-era California, and a BSFS from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

Russ Mitchell covers the rapidly changing global auto industry, with special emphasis on California, including Tesla, electric vehicles and driverless cars. The Times’ former technology editor, he’s worked on staff at publications ranging from Business Week to Wired. A graduate of the University of Illinois, he also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Vannevar Bush Fellow. Mitchell still drives his black 2000 Audi TT, the rare smooth-backed version manufactured before lawyers made the company attach a spoiler.

Clare’s background is in the development and growth of social enterprises, including with London-based impact investment firm ClearlySo. Her previous experience includes setting up 2nd Chance, which helps young Londoners into work, and working with NGOs in the UK and abroad. She is interested in the power of innovative business to change the world, and sits on the board of various UK social enterprises. She studied for an undergraduate degree in English, with her graduate degree in the Geography Department at the University of Cambridge. Clare also volunteers with the Streetlink project, doing health outreach work with vulnerable women in South London.

Alain Kornhauser is Professor of Operations Research & Financial Engineering at Princeton University. He serves as Director of the Transportation Program where he continues his basic research in Transportation focused on the real-time operation of large fleets of driverless vehicles and on the development of Deep-Learning Neural Networks that safely drive road vehicles. He was the Faculty Leader of Princeton’s entries the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and 2007 Urban Challenge and continues his interest in the complete automation of the automobile with particular interest in the autonomousTaxi concept and its potential to transform mass transit and deliver ubiquitous mobility to everyone. He is Faculty Chair of Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering (PAVE) an extracurricular undergraduate Smart Driving Car research effort at Princeton, Editor of the Smart Driving Cars Newsletter and Board Chair of the Advanced Transit Association (ATRA). He is currently in the process of creating a major Center for Automated Road Transportation Safety. In addition to his teaching and research duties he serves as the ORFE’s Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Steve Smith is a Research Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, where he heads the Intelligent Coordination and Logistics Laboratory. He is also CEO of Rapid Flow Technologies, a company that focuses on smart transportation infrastructure for urban mobility. Smith’s research at CMU focuses broadly on the theory and practice of next-generation technologies for automated planning, scheduling, and coordination. He pioneered the development and use of constraint-based search and optimization models, and is an internationally recognized leader in the application of these and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to practical problems. He is a Fellow of the Association for Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and has served as a member of AAAI’s executive council since 2014. For the past several years, Smith work has focused on applying AI technology to the problems of traffic congestion and mobility faced by cities. This work has produced Surtrac, a unique, real-time traffic signal control technology aimed specifically at optimizing multi-modal traffic flows in urban road networks. Surtrac uses a novel decentralized planning approach to adapt the traffic signals to the actual sensed traffic on the road on a second-by-second basis. This technology has been commercialized by Rapid Flow Technologies, and current work focuses on the development of broader smart infrastructure capabilities for multi-modal traffic flows that are possible through ubiquitous sensing and vehicle-to-intersection communication.

Justin X. Thompson is a partner advising commercial and industrial developers, investors, lenders and property owners on all aspects of real estate transactions— including financing, development, leasing, loan restructurings, land exchanges, saleleasebacks, property management arrangements and joint ventures.

With an extensive background in the automotive sector and smart mobility, Jean-François Tremblay has been actively involved in the industry since 2001. He is currently President and CEO of Montréal's Institute of Electrification and Intelligent Transportation, a new player in the smart mobility landscape geared to accelerating technological and service innovation through experimentation in a real urban context. Prior to taking leadership of the Institute, Jean-François led EY’s Global Center for Automotive and Transportation, an initiative dedicated to the transformation of the automotive industry towards business models addressing broader mobility and transportation needs. In this role, he assisted companies, cities and governments around the world in identifying current and prospective opportunities triggered by the introduction of vehicle connectivity.

Robert Puentes is President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation a non-profit think tank with the mission of improving transportation policy and leadership. Prior to joining Eno, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program where he directed the program’s Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative. He is currently a non-resident senior fellow with Brookings. Before Brookings, Robert was the director of infrastructure programs at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America. Robert has worked extensively on a variety of transportation issues, including infrastructure funding and finance, and city and urban planning. He is a frequent speaker to a variety of groups, a regular contributor in newspapers and other media, and has testified before Congressional committees. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Virginia where he served on the Alumni Advisory Board, and was an affiliated professor with Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute. Robert serves on a variety of boards including the Shared-Use Mobility Center, UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies, and Young Professionals in Transportation. Recent appointments include the Federal Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity, New York State’s 2100 Infrastructure Commission; the Advisory Council of the West Coast Infrastructure Exchange, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Transportation Reinvention Commission; the District of Columbia’s Streetcar Financing and Governance Task Force; the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s Technical Advisory Committee; and the Falls Church, Virginia Planning Commission where he lives with his wife and three sons.

Lani Ingram is the Vice President of Smart Communities and IoT Platforms at Verizon. She leads the digital transformation of cities, universities and venues. She has been focused on driving economic growth, enabling environmental sustainability, and enhancing the quality of life for citizens, students, and fans across the country. Her team develops an array of smart solutions that focus on citizen engagement and efficiencies in areas such as lighting, traffic congestion, and public safety. In addition, Lani is encouraging innovation by leveraging IoT Platforms to enable entrepreneurs in cities to develop solutions for their own communities. Prior to Verizon, Lani was at Cisco where she spent nearly a decade as a pioneer developing the Smart Communities industry on a global scale. With her many years in finance and strategy, she has implemented several new business models and has driven investments, joint ventures, and strategic alliances with a wide array of cities and ecosystem partners.

Maria is the Chief Information Officer for the City of Sacramento. She has over 25 years of extensive experience in public and private sector IT. She has a proven track record of leading technology programs, strategy development, business process management, advanced analytics, cloud computing, governance, execution, and implementing organizational transformational initiatives. A dynamic high performing leader successful in implementing ‘game-changing’ innovative technology solutions across organizations. Maria is known for building strong partnerships with executives, operational business units, private partners, and the community. She has a long history of public service and local government experience and has led many important transformational initiatives. Including leading the city in digital citizen engagement, smart cities implementations, operational transformation, transparency and accountability, workforce excellence, and enterprise Digital Strategy development and execution

Gabe is a co-founder of CityFi, an advisory services firm, as well as is the former Commissioner of the Chicago and Washington D.C Departments of Transportation. In both cities he revamped technology platforms and government processes while focusing on putting people first vs. automobiles on city streets. This included launching two of the first and largest bike share systems in the U.S. and building protected bike lanes and better pedestrian infrastructure for vulnerable citizens citywide, as well as facilitating private services like carshare and rideshare that could help each cities mobility goals. Gabe honed his creativity and leadership skills working in business, including Zipcar, where he served as Vice President, Bikes USA as national Director of Stores and his own electric powered, organic food truck chain, On The Fly.   Post-government, and after an enriching fellowship with the Urban Land Institute in 2014, Gabe joined Fontinalis Partners as a Special Venture Partner on their $100 million 2nd fund. Gabe also advises governments and companies worldwide on innovation in cities including Singapore where Gabe has been a visiting fellow for the Centre For Livable Cities, working on creating a “car-lite” city-state.  In 2015, Gabe also published Start-Up City with David Vega-Barachowitz on Island Press, a manifesto on revamping how (and how fast) we innovate in cities and rethinking public-private partnerships with a triple-bottom line approach as technology shapes a dramatically different future.   Gabe sits on the boards of Streetsblog, Carma, and advisory boards of NACTO, Sensity Systems, Zendrive, and advises next-gen start-ups including Phone2Action and Transit Screen. As Commissioner, he has worked to bring a new Riverwalk to Chicago as well as the breathtaking Bloomingdale Trail, 100's of miles of bike lanes, new policies combined with technology solutions to revamp parking, permitting, and many other arcane government processes.

H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, a professional civil engineer, graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1983, and holds an Honorary Fellowship of the British Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE), 2010. He was assigned the task of leading the Roads and Transport Authority in November, 2005. Under his leadership and driving force, he established a competent and experienced specialist workforce, thereby driving the organization through remarkable achievements that have positioned RTA into a world-class organization. Prior to taking the helm with RTA, H.E M.AL Tayer worked in Dubai Municipality starting in 1983, assuming several leadership roles and eventually moving as Deputy Director General of the Dubai Municipality. Al Tayer participates in several boards and committees both on the local and federal levels including: Member of the Executive Council of the Dubai Government Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council Member of the Board of Trustees for “Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives” Foundation Chairman of the Board of Trustees for “Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award” Member of Expo 2020 Preparatory CommitteeMember of the Board of Trustees for Dubai Future Foundation Board Member of the Federal Transport Authority – Land & Maritime Board Member of Union National Bank Mr. Al-Tayer is the recipient of many awards throughout his distinguished career for his outstanding achievements, such as: Man of the year award ( CEO Middle East Award ) 2009 Award of the Middle East forum for Accessible Tourism 2009 In September 2011, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, decorated Mattar Al Tayer the “Mohammed bin Rashid Sash” for his efforts and achievements in RTA.

Christopher A. Hart was appointed Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board on March 16, 2015. He became a Member of the Board in August 2009, and was subsequently designated Vice Chairman by President Barack Obama. Hart was nominated for a second term as Board Member in August 2013, and his nomination for a third term as Vice Chairman was confirmed by the Senate in October 2013. He served as Acting Chairman from April 26, 2014, until he was appointed as Chairman. From 1973 until 1990, Chairman Hart held a series of legal positions, mostly in the private sector. He joined the Board for the first time in 1990 and served until 1993. From 1993 until 1995, he was Deputy Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, then went on to serve as Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Assistant Administrator for System Safety and FAA Deputy Director for Air Traffic Safety Oversight before returning to the Board in 2009. Chairman Hart holds a law degree from Harvard University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in aerospace engineering from Princeton University. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association, and is a licensed pilot with commercial, multi engine, and instrument ratings. Chairman Hart’s family has a tradition of accomplishment in transportation. In 1926, his great uncle, James Herman Banning, was the first African-American to receive a pilot’s license issued by the US government.

Chris Heiser is the CEO and co-founder of Renovo, leading the company’s development of software platforms to accelerate the innovation and adoption of automated mobility on-demand (AMoD) systems. Chris is a die-hard gearhead with a passion for motorsports, engineering and technology. He was previously the Director of Product Management at LightSurf—pioneer of the camera phone—before the company was acquired by Verisign. Heiser graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Mark R. Rosekind, Ph.D., is a passionate safety professional with more than 30 years of experience promoting innovation through science and leadership in complex environments. In April 2017, Dr. Rosekind joined the executive team at Zoox, Inc. as the Chief Safety Innovation Officer. He will lead efforts at Zoox to safely develop, test, and deploy autonomous vehicles. Prior to Zoox, Dr. Rosekind was appointed by President Obama to be the 15th Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Serving from 2014 to 2017, Dr. Rosekind led significant transformation, instilling a proactive safety culture while driving both the Agency and automobile industry to be future-oriented. His initiatives included the development and issuance of the first-ever Federal Automated Vehicles Policy, the founding of the Road to Zero coalition to develop a 30-year plan to eliminate traffic fatalities, and aggressive oversight of safety in the automobile industry, including leading the Agency through the nation’s largest product safety recall in U.S history. Before becoming NHTSA Administrator, Dr. Rosekind was appointed by President Obama and served as the 40th member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from 2010 to 2014. He was the on-scene board member for seven major transportation accidents and participated in almost 50 accident Board Meetings, along with numerous NTSB public events on diverse safety topics. Dr. Rosekind advanced the agency’s advocacy goals on substance-impaired driving, fatigue, fire safety, and rail mass transit. Prior to his appointment to the NTSB, Dr. Rosekind founded Alertness Solutions, a scientific consulting firm that specialized in fatigue management, and served as the company’s first president and chief scientist. He previously directed the Fatigue Countermeasures Program at NASA’s Ames Research Center and was chief of the Aviation Operations Branch in the Flight Management and Human Factors Division. He launched his professional career as the director of the Center for Human Sleep Research at the Stanford University Sleep Disorders and Research Center. Administrator Rosekind is an internationally recognized expert on human fatigue, credited with leading the field in innovative research and implementing programs in all modes of transportation. His work has been widely published, and his awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Sleep Foundation; NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal and six other NASA group/team awards; the Mark O. Hatfield Award for Public Policy from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine; two Flight Safety Foundation honors; and Fellow of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Administrator Rosekind earned his B.A. with honors from Stanford University, his M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Brown University Medical School.

Eric Rothman, President of HR&A Advisors, is a nationally-recognized expert in transportation policy, transit-oriented development, and economic development. He is a trusted advisor for cities, transit agencies, and real estate developers on transportation – including emerging technologies – and its impact on the economic, social, and physical health of cities. Eric has advised on major initiatives ranging from PlaNYC and MoveNY to the National Resource Network and the redevelopment of major rail hubs in D.C., Philadelphia, and St. Paul. Previously, Eric served as the Head of Business Planning at Transport for London and directed the planning process for $7.5 billion of investments in London’s transportation network. Eric serves as the Board Chair of the Design Trust for Public Space and is a member of the Urban Land Institute’s Public-Private Partnerships Council.

Grayson is the Co-Founder / President of Brulte & Company, a consulting firm that specializes in designing innovation and technology strategies for a global marketplace. Grayson is also the Co-Founder of Autonomous Tomorrow. Influential in Beverly Hills, he serves as the Co-Chair of the City of Beverly Hills Mayor's Autonomous Vehicle Task Force. He is also an active member of the city’s Smart City / Technology Committee which advises the Beverly Hills City Council on technology. In 2015, the City of Beverly Hills was chosen by Google as one of America’s digital capitals. Along with his Beverly Hills guidance, Grayson was appointed a Global Health Economics Fellow at The University of Vermont College of Medicine. From Autonomous Vehicles to politics, to the future of entertainment and more, Grayson has written articles about innovation, technology, and strategy for Continental’s 2025AD, General Electric Reports, the MIT Sloan Executive Education innovation@work Blog, RealClear Future, Futurism, VentureBeat and The Washington Times among others. His written opinions and insights have been used by organizations such as the Consumer Electronics Association in presentations to the Federal Trade Commission. Grayson has spoken in front of numerous audiences, including the FLDOT’s Florida Automated Vehicles Summit, New York International Auto Show, Princeton SmartDrivingCars, Consumer Telematics Show and Autonomous Vehicles Silicon Valley. His comments have appeared in numerous publications, including The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Telegraph, The International Business Times and The Hollywood Reporter.

Polish-American architect, Daniel Libeskind is an international figure in architecture and urban design. Informed by a deep commitment to music, philosophy, and literature, Mr. Libeskind aims to create architecture that is resonant, original, and sustainable. Libeskind established his architectural studio in Berlin, Germany, in 1989 after winning the competition to build the Jewish Museum in Berlin. In February 2003, Studio Libeskind moved its headquarters from Berlin to New York City to oversee the master planner for the World Trade Center redevelopment, which is being realized in Lower Manhattan today. Daniel Libeskind’s practice is involved in designing and realizing a diverse array of urban, cultural and commercial projects around the globe. The Studio has completed buildings that range from museums and concert halls to convention centers, university buildings, hotels, shopping centers and residential towers. As Principal Design Architect for Studio Libeskind , Mr. Libeskind speaks widely on the art of architecture in universities and professional summits. His architecture and ideas have been the subject of many articles and exhibitions, influencing the field of architecture and the development of cities and culture.

John Rossant personally leads the LA CoMotion team. He is the Founder and Chairman of the NewCities Foundation, a major global non-profit institution dedicated to improving the quality of life and work in cities. He previously led the team producing the famous World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland every January and has been been the producer of major World Economic Forum conferences in China, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. He has also played key roles in Monaco, with the Monaco Media Forum and the ongoing Prince’s Roundtable on Philanthropy. In 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked John to organize the first global summit on the future of the Internet, the e-G8. John has worked with heads of state and government and leading CEOs from around the world.

Rodin is the CEO of A³ and former Project Executive of Project Vahana. Rodin has been making unlikely aircraft fly autonomously since his first aerobatic helicopter at MIT (where he also earned his undergrad and Master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics). He spent several years at Athena Technologies designing flight software for a number of vehicles including the AAI Shadow, Alenia Sky-X, and the NASA Mars Flyer. Subsequently, Rodin led flight software at Zee.Aero. Most recently he was at Airware, building the world’s first hardware and software platform for commercial UAVs. Rodin is passionate about building great teams and making personal flight accessible to all.

Noah Raford is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Futurist-in-Chief of the Dubai Future Foundation. He was also the former advisor on futures, foresight, and innovation in the UAE Prime Minister’s Office. Noah helped establish the UAE’s first national foresight unit, helped established the Dubai Future Foundation and the Museum of the Future, and is part of a team that identifies emerging opportunities, strategic partnerships, and future initiatives for the Government of Dubai.

Gabe is a co-founder of CityFi, an advisory services firm, as well as is the former Commissioner of the Chicago and Washington D.C Departments of Transportation. In both cities he revamped technology platforms and government processes while focusing on putting people first vs. automobiles on city streets. This included launching two of the first and largest bike share systems in the U.S. and building protected bike lanes and better pedestrian infrastructure for vulnerable citizens citywide, as well as facilitating private services like carshare and rideshare that could help each cities mobility goals. Gabe honed his creativity and leadership skills working in business, including Zipcar, where he served as Vice President, Bikes USA as national Director of Stores and his own electric powered, organic food truck chain, On The Fly.   Post-government, and after an enriching fellowship with the Urban Land Institute in 2014, Gabe joined Fontinalis Partners as a Special Venture Partner on their $100 million 2nd fund. Gabe also advises governments and companies worldwide on innovation in cities including Singapore where Gabe has been a visiting fellow for the Centre For Livable Cities, working on creating a “car-lite” city-state.  In 2015, Gabe also published Start-Up City with David Vega-Barachowitz on Island Press, a manifesto on revamping how (and how fast) we innovate in cities and rethinking public-private partnerships with a triple-bottom line approach as technology shapes a dramatically different future.   Gabe sits on the boards of Streetsblog, Carma, and advisory boards of NACTO, Sensity Systems, Zendrive, and advises next-gen start-ups including Phone2Action and Transit Screen. As Commissioner, he has worked to bring a new Riverwalk to Chicago as well as the breathtaking Bloomingdale Trail, 100's of miles of bike lanes, new policies combined with technology solutions to revamp parking, permitting, and many other arcane government processes.

Douglas Moore is Director of Technology for Human Support Group for Toyota Motor North America, where he focuses on applying new technology solutions and robotics to enrich lives and advance the freedom of mobility to more people. Toyota is actively researching ways to apply advanced technologies to help people with limited mobility, including seniors or those who are disabled, and in his role, Doug is helping realize Toyota’s goal of mobility for all. Combining his mechanical and computer science background, Doug has been working on cutting-edge robotics and technology for more than 15 years.  He currently leads Toyota’s efforts in North America to apply the company’s Human Support Robot (HSR) to help people with limited mobility, such as seniors and people with disabilities. Before Toyota, he worked to develop brain-based AI models. Doug received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California at San Diego and master’s degree from the University of California Irvine.

Sean Rhodes leads multi-disciplinary teams at frog with a focus on media, retail and financial service verticals. In this role, Sean partners with firms to leverage digital, product, service, brand and experience design for competitive advantage in dynamic business environments. With over 18 years of experience, Sean has helped bring new products to market, execute strategies and re-boot brands for clients including American Express, Bloomberg, BNY Mellon, CA, Chrysler, Comcast, Estée Lauder, GE, Goldman Sachs, IMAX, Logitech, McKinsey, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Qualcomm, SanDisk, Staples, TD Bank, Theorem and TouchTunes.  

As Managing Director of Gehl in the US, Jeff leads the San Francisco and New York based teams. In his time at Gehl, Jeff has worked with both public and private clients as well as non-governmental organizations in Europe, the USA, Latin America, India and China. Jeff’s background and design experience provides him with a unique insight into the technical, as well as social aspects of urban design. Jeff is an active teacher and lecturer, speaking at conferences around the world and is guest lecturer at Harvard GSD, U. Penn, London School of Economics, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art and DIS.

Jay Walder has more than 30 years of international experience in public transportation, including senior roles at three of the world’s largest transit systems. Most recently, Walder was the Chief Executive Officer of the MTR Corporation in Hong Kong. MTR is regarded as one of the world’s leading railway operators, with an integrated approach to rail transport and property. Walder led the company to build on its success in its home base of Hong Kong with a growing portfolio of rail and property related operations in the Mainland of China, Europe and Australia. Previously, Walder was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York and Managing Director of Finance and Planning at Transport for London (TfL). Walder has also served as a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he lead the firm’s global infrastructure practice and was a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Jay Walder holds a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Binghamton, Harpur College, and a Master in Public Policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. Walder has also served as a member of the Executive Board of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) and as a member of the Executive Committee of the American Public Transit Association. Jay’s favorite place to ride is the Brooklyn Bridge very early in the morning or late at night.

Janea A. Scott is one of five Commissioners on the California Energy Commission. The Energy Commission is the State's primary energy policy and planning agency. Ms. Scott was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in February 2013 and reappointed in January 2016 to serve as the Commission's public member. She is the lead Commissioner on transportation, implementing recommendations from the Commission’s Senate Bill 350 study on the barriers to low income community participation in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and in 2014 Ms. Scott led the 2014 Integrated Energy Policy Report Update. Ms. Scott serves as the Chair of the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body and is on the public policy board of Veloz, a nonprofit founded by public and private sector industry veterans working together to advance the electric car movement. She is also a member of the California Fuel Cell Partnership and the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee. Prior to joining the Energy Commission, Ms. Scott worked at the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Office of the Secretary as the Deputy Counselor for Renewable Energy and at Environmental Defense Fund in both the New York and Los Angeles offices as a senior attorney in the climate and air program. Ms. Scott was also an AmeriCorps member working at the San Francisco Urban Service Project from 1996-1997. Ms. Scott earned her J.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder Law School and her M.S. and B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University.

Being one of the few female leaders in the technology and automotive industry, Larissa Tan heads up Singapore’s first electric automotive company, Vanda Electrics. Under her leadership, Vanda Electrics recently launched the Dendrobium, Singapore’s first hyper car, with Williams Advanced Engineering, the engineering team for Williams F1 as Vanda’s technical partner. Under the Vanda Electrics’ umbrella are also Motochimp, a fast charging electric scooter designed for urban transportation and Ant Truck, an mini electric logistics truck. Larissa first started her career in the field of banking and finance before moving towards the field of marketing, an experience which proved to be fundamental in the pursuit of her career. Having been in the marketing field for close to 15 years, Larissa was once the marketing lead for STIKFAS, a company that made a global impact in the toy industry in the early 2000s. Since then she has held senior branding and marketing roles in the luxury industry, where she created and managed luxury brands. Prior to her role as CEO of Vanda Electrics, Larissa was Head of Marketing for Wong Fong Industries, where she saw to the rebranding of the entire group in preparation for its IPO.

Wheatley joined Envision Solar as a consultant in 2010 and has served as the Company’s CEO since 2011 and as Chairman of the Board since 2016. He has two decades of senior international management experience in technology systems integration, energy management, communications and renewable energy. He was a founding partner in the international consulting practice Crichton Hill LLC. Prior to Crichton Hill, Wheatley was CEO of iAxis FZ LLC, a Dubai based alternative energy and technology systems integration company. From 2000 to 2007, he held a variety of senior management positions at San Diego based Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, fka Wireless Facilities with the last five years as President of ENS, the largest independent security and energy management systems integrator in the USA. Prior to ENS, Wheatley held senior management positions in the cellular and broadband wireless industries, deploying infrastructure and lobbying in Washington DC on behalf of major wireless service providers. Wheatley has founded, funded and operated four profitable start-up companies and was previously engaged in M&A activities. Wheatley evaluated acquisition opportunities, conducted due diligence and raised commitments of $500M in debt and equity.

Danny Kennedy leads the California Clean Energy Fund, connecting entrepreneurs everywhere to capital to build an abundant clean energy economy that benefits all. He is also the President of CalCharge, a public private partnership with the National Labs and universities of California, unions and companies, working to advance energy storage. Kennedy co-founded Sungevity, the company that created remote solar design, and Powerhouse, solar’s premier incubator and accelerator. He was the original backer of Mosaic, the $1B solar loan provider, and remains on the Board of Powerhive, a solar mini-utility in Kenya and Sunergise, a solar-as-a-service business out of Fiji and the EnergyLabAustralia. He is also Director of nonprofits VoteSolar and Power for All. Kennedy authored the book Rooftop Revolution: How Solar Power Can Save Our Economy – and Our Planet – from Dirty Energy in 2012.  Prior to starting Sungevity, he worked at Greenpeace and other groups on climate and energy issues for 20 years.

Stella Li is the President of BYD Motors, a global green technology company based in Los Angeles, California that produces cutting edge battery-electric vehicles, battery-energy storage solutions, solar farms, and energy efficient LED lighting systems. As President, Stella is responsible for overseeing the company's day-to-day operations and long-term strategic vision. She is also the architect of BYD’s thriving expansions in the Americas—including its North America headquarters in Los Angeles, California in 2011 and its electric bus, truck, and energy module factories in Lancaster, California in 2013. Prior to becoming President, Stella served as BYD’s Senior Vice President and was responsible for successfully expanding the company’s operations around the world. Under Stella’s leadership, BYD achieved exponential market growth, developed invaluable partnerships, and became a dominant global force across multiple industries.

Ryan Popple is the president and CEO of Proterra, the leading innovator of zero-emission, battery-electric buses. Prior to Proterra, Ryan was a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. An early employee of Tesla Motors, he was senior director of finance, with a focus on strategic planning, technology cost reduction and corporate finance. Ryan serves as a board member of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and is focused on increasing access to affordable, sustainable transportation solutions throughout Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, through strategic partnerships and policy initiatives. He is also a member of the California League of Conservation Voters Green Advisory Council where he provides guidance on political and legislative priorities, communications planning and development efforts. Ryan has served in the U.S. Army, received a bachelor’s in business administration from the College of William & Mary and a master’s in business administration from Harvard University.

Prior to joining LACI, he was appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti as the first ever Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles. Serving as CSO for four years, Petersen was the chief architect of the groundbreaking Sustainable City pLAn, led efforts to make LA a global leader in EVs, and helped create the Climate Mayors. Petersen co-founded Global Green USA and led the organization for 19 years as President and CEO. The organization was a pioneer in greening of affordable housing, schools, and cities as well as helping grow the solar sector. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Petersen put forth a vision and mobilized resources to green the rebuilding of New Orleans, including schools, the Lower 9th Ward, and more. Petersen is chair of the Climate Mayors board, and a board member of Global Green USA, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, Center for Environmental Health, and the Sir Edmund Hilary Institute for International Leadership. Petersen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the LA Sustainability Leadership Council, and served as an advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative on energy and the environment while a CGI member for 10 years. He has a son, and is a retired AYSO coach.

Hans Arby holds a MScEE and a BSc in arts and has 25 years experiences in marketing, communication, sales and business development in different industries and organisations. The last 10 years he has focused on sustainable transport and ITS for the public and private sector. He provides strategic support to cities in developing transport strategies and long term planning and marketing of public transport. Hans Arby is CEO of UbiGo Innovation and one of the key driving persons behind the successful development and test of UbiGo in Gothenburg, a fully integrated mobility service (MaaS) for urban households and businesses, scheduled for relaunch in Stockholm March 2018. It offers subscription on mobility instead of car ownership, combining modes as public transport, car-sharing/rental and taxi.

Rick Cole has served as City Manager of Santa Monica since June 2015.  During his tenure, he has spearheaded work on the City Council’s five Strategic Goals: converting the Santa Monica Airport to parkland; forging a new model of mobility; taking regional leadership on homelessness; fostering an inclusive and diverse community; and promoting wellbeing so that residents Learn & Thrive. Rick has been recognized as one of “America's Public Officials of the Year” by Governing Magazine and one of the "Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers" by Government Technology Magazine. He has won awards for municipal management excellence from the American Society of Public Administrators and the Municipal Management Association of Southern California, as well as for urban planning leadership from the Congress for the New Urbanism. Prior to coming to Santa Monica, Rick served as Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation for the City of Los Angeles where he was responsible for a budget of $8.6 billion and oversaw five city departments. Rick also spent 15 years as City Manager of two Southern California cities, Ventura and Azusa. As Santa Monica’s City Manager, Mr. Cole is responsible for leading one of California’s most successful and progressive full-service cities.  With a AAA bond rating from all three major public credit rating agencies and an annual budget of more than $700 million, Santa Monica’s award-winning services and programs are delivered by a staff of nearly 2300. Rick received a degree in American Studies from Occidental College in 1978 and earned a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University in 1979. Rick Cole has served as City Manager of Santa Monica since June 2015.  During his tenure, he has spearheaded work on the City Council’s five Strategic Goals: converting the Santa Monica Airport to parkland; forging a new model of mobility; taking regional leadership on homelessness; fostering an inclusive and diverse community; and promoting wellbeing so that residents Learn & Thrive. Rick has been recognized as one of “America's Public Officials of the Year” by Governing Magazine and one of the "Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers" by Government Technology Magazine. He has won awards for municipal management excellence from the American Society of Public Administrators and the Municipal Management Association of Southern California, as well as for urban planning leadership from the Congress for the New Urbanism. Prior to coming to Santa Monica, Rick served as Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation for the City of Los Angeles where he was responsible for a budget of $8.6 billion and oversaw five city departments. Rick also spent 15 years as City Manager of two Southern California cities, Ventura and Azusa. As Santa Monica’s City Manager, Mr. Cole is responsible for leading one of California’s most successful and progressive full-service cities.  With a AAA bond rating from all three major public credit rating agencies and an annual budget of more than $700 million, Santa Monica’s award-winning services and programs are delivered by a staff of nearly 2300. Rick received a degree in American Studies from Occidental College in 1978 and earned a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University in 1979.

Scott Kubly is director of the Seattle Department of Transportation. Appointed by Mayor Ed Murray in July 2014, Scott oversees transportation policy, capital project delivery, transportation and maintenance operations, transit and mobility improvements, and management of the City’s right of way. He led the creation of the award winning Move Seattle Plan, which outlines Mayor Murray’s 10-year vision for transportation in Seattle, and delivers a comprehensive strategy for connecting and enhancing the city’s many ways to travel. Scott was also a lead architect of the voter-approved Levy to Move Seattle, which provides $930 million to improve safety, maintain streets and bridges, and invest in reliable, affordable travel options for a growing city. Scott additionally serves as the vice president of the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

Ms. Perez-Estolano is an Associate Principal with Arup. She is an expert in urban planning, transportation, stakeholder engagement, and development. In the planning and land use field, she is highly regarded for developing complex public participation strategies that require collaboration among multi-cultural communities. With her background in community development, private real estate development, transportation policy and urban planning, she is recognized as a leader in the planning and development fields and speaks at conferences throughout the country.

Jeffrey Tumlin is principal and director of strategy at Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, a sustainable transportation planning firm. For more than twenty years, Jeff has led award-winning plans in cities from Seattle and Vancouver to Moscow and Abu Dhabi. During 2016-17, Jeff was the interim director of Oakland’s first Department of Transportation, helping the city create the new department and develop its first budget, including allocating a $350 million infrastructure bond that voters approved by 82% in November 2016. A dynamic and frequent guest speaker, Jeff is the author of Sustainable Transportation: Tools for Creating Healthy, Vibrant and Resilient Communities (Wiley, 2012).

Romel has been a key figure at CicLAvia from the start. As Deputy Mayor for Energy and Environment during the administration of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, his leadership at the city helped the organization and the event gain traction within the city in CicLAvia’s fledgling years. Romel successfully merged the mayor’s vision and CicLAvia’s mission to help create what is now a city institution that transforms communities throughout the region. Prior to being named executive director in 2015, Romel served on the CicLAvia board and was actively involved in the expansion of the organization. Romel has a masters degree in urban planning and has a long history championing environmental, energy, sustainability and social justice issues in both the non-profit and the public sector. He was the first Assistant Secretary of Environmental Justice under former California Governor Gray Davis. He led the environmental justice program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 - Western U.S., Hawaii and the Pacific Territories.

Doug Bloch has been political director at Teamsters Joint Council 7 since 2010. In this capacity, he works with over 100,000 Teamsters in Northern California, the Central Valley, and Northern Nevada in a variety of industries. He was the Port of Oakland campaign director for Change to Win from 2006 to 2010 and a senior research analyst at Service Employees International Union Local 1877 from 2004 to 2006. Mr. Bloch was statewide political director at the California Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) from 2003 to 2004 and ran several ACORN regional offices, including Seattle and Oakland, from 1999 to 2003. He was an organizer at the Non-Governmental Organization Coordinating Committee for Northeast Thailand from 1999 to 2003.

As Southern California Regional Director for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, Michelle Boehm oversees strategy, stakeholder outreach, and related elements of project development for over 300 miles of the planned all electric High Speed Rail system in the Southern California Region’s five project sections: Bakersfield to Palmdale, Palmdale to Burbank, Burbank to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Anaheim and Los Angeles to San Diego. Michelle Boehm brings nearly 20 years of experience in both public and private sectors in transportation planning and policy analysis. Before joining the Authority, she was a Vice President with one of the largest Architectural and Engineering firms in the Country. In that role, Boehm was the regional manager responsible for overseeing business development, strategic planning, and public agency and community outreach for projects throughout Southern California. Over the course of her career Boehm has proven her ability as an industry leader working with business and legislative stakeholders on the high-speed rail project, and as a business manager and strategic planner, having developed strategy for transportation, water, geotechnical, structural, and environmental engineering and planning practice development and projects.

Born in 1975, Alexandre MISSOFFE is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies of Aix-en-Provence, ESSEC and the Institute of Advanced Studies on Urban Planning and Development. After a few years as consultant in economic intelligence followed by the creation in 2006 of a monitoring and internet communication company, he is called in 2009 by Christian BLANC to join his cabinet and participate in the Grand Paris project. In 2010, he joined the Société du Grand Paris, where he was Director of Cabinet with Marc VERON, Etienne GUYOT and Philippe YVIN. In March 2017 he became Managing Director of the Greater Paris Investment Agency.

Gina Trombley is Head of Ecosystem Cluster and Strategic Sales - Americas for Bombardier Transportation. In this new position, Gina is leading Bombardier’s strategic mobility initiatives in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil as well as heading the sales functions in those countries. She is based in New York City. Gina is a highly-accomplished leader with 20 years of experience in the fields of infrastructure, strategy, business development and communications. In her role with Bombardier, she is developing strategic partnerships with transit agencies and infrastructure providers to develop and deliver urban, airport and mainline rail solutions for public and private transport operations. Gina joined Bombardier earlier this year from Parsons where she was Group Executive Vice President, Federal providing services and integrated solutions for U.S. federal contractors. Prior to that, she was Senior Vice President and Division Manager, Aviation and Senior Vice President, Mining and Infrastructure. Before Parsons, Gina was with GE Transportation for 14 years in various positions leading to Commercial Leader, Global Services. Gina is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Greg Lindsay joined NewCities in June 2015 as Senior Fellow to lead our Connected Mobility Initiative. Greg is a journalist, urbanist, futurist, and speaker. He is a non-resident senior fellow of The Atlantic Council in their Strategic Foresight Initiative. He is also a contributing writer for Fast Company, co-author of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, and a research affiliate of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI). His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Fortune, among many other publications. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism.

Chris Ballinger is Chief Financial Officer and Director of Mobility Services for the Toyota Research Institute. Ballinger joined TRI in April 2017 following 14 years at Toyota Financial Services (TFS). Upon his transition, Ballinger served in a global leadership role for TFS as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Officer of Strategic Innovation, helping guide global TFS strategy to address future market trends and business model requirements. Ballinger’s achievements at TFS were recognized with a Pinnacle Award in 2012, given by the Association of Finance Professionals in recognition of excellence in Treasury and Finance, and he was named an Automotive News All-Star in 2013. Prior to joining Toyota, Ballinger’s career stops included Providian Financial as Assistant Treasurer and Bank of America as Senior Vice President of Treasury. He was also Staff Economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan. Ballinger received a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Amherst College and a master’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

An award-winning wireless engineer, academic leader and passionate entrepreneur, João loves to turn complex theorems and algorithms into products and services that can make a real difference in people's lives. After more than a decade developing new wireless networking technologies at Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Universidade do Porto, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon, João founded two venture-backed startups, Streambolico and Veniam, where he serves as board director and CEO respectively. His work has led to 160 science and technology papers, as well as feature articles by NPR, BBC, MIT Technology Review, The Atlantic, and TechCrunch. João Barros has received several awards, including the 2010 IEEE Communications Society Young Researcher Award for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, the 2011 IEEE ComSoC and Information Theory Society Joint Paper Award, the 2012 BES National Innovation Award, the 2013 Building Global Innovators Grand Prize (ISCTE-IUL and MIT) and a state-wide best teaching award by the Bavarian State Ministry of Sciences, Research and the Arts. João Barros has a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany), his undergraduate education in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Universidade do Porto, Portugal and Universitaet Karlsruhe, Germany, and a performing arts degree in flute from the Music Conservatory of Porto, Portugal.

AIA, LEED AP BD+C is co-founder of the urban change management advisory firm CityFi, advising cities and the private sector on a more human-centered approach to smart cities. Previously, Ashley served as the Transportation Technology Strategist for the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation where she developed public policy, an action plan and pilot program recommendations for shared mobility and autonomous vehicle technologies. Prior to her work in LA, Ashley served as the first Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Kansas City, Missouri and the first female municipal CIO in the nation, creating the most comprehensive smart city in North America among other civic innovation projects. Ashley is a registered architect and green building professional having worked for AECOM and Eric Owen Moss Architects. She currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21/T-SET University Transportation Center and Open Architecture Collaborative and is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy.

Avin Arumugam joined Visa in May 2016 as the Senior Vice President of Internet of Things (IoT). Arumugam, brings his diverse experience in payments to one of the largest categories of opportunity, IoT, for growing digital payments. In this role at Visa, Arumugam is responsible for managing and driving partnerships and collaboration with IoT leaders and enablers. With more than 12 years of payments experience, Arumugam has expertise in launching innovative payment solutions at three payments industry pioneers – First Data, PayPal and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Pior to joining Visa, Arumugam was the head of next generation payment products at JPMorgan Chase & Co. In this role, he worked with both internal and external partners to innovate on new payment products for the company. Notably, he spearheaded and ran the Apple Pay and Samsung Pay initiatives for the firm, as well as led the development and deployment of JPMorgan’s proprietary solution, Chase Pay. As an early member of the PayPal mobile team, Arumugam focused primarily on rolling out global mobile applications and features that delighted customers worldwide. He also worked on the Emerging Mobile Markets in Latin America, partnering with telecom providers as well as banking and financial institutions to expand PayPal’s presence in the region. Prior to PayPal mobile, Arumugam was the business and strategic owner for the PayPal Pay Flow Gateway, which processed 25 percent of all U.S. e-commerce transactions. At First Data, Arumugam worked on a wide array of payment products. He pioneered and rolled out the first RFID gift card program for First Data, which has become the foundation for the company’s mobile strategy. He was also responsible for directing and managing First Data’s entire portfolio of e-commerce platforms including Link Point/Your Pay gateway, EFS Net and Encompass. Arumugam earned his undergraduate degree in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Colorado, Boulder and his MBA through a joint program between Columbia Business School and Haas School of Business at Berkeley.

Sasha Hoffman is the Chief Operating Officer of Piaggio Fast Forward, a new company she helped spearhead in 2015 of the Piaggio Group. She leads an interdisciplinary team of innovators creating new forms of lightweight mobility to revolutionize how people and goods move around 21st century cities. Previously, she was Head of Business Development for Plastiq, a venture-backed payments startup, and worked as an investment banker in the technology group of Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers. She is an active member of the Boston tech community and sits on the board of BUILD Boston, is an instructor at General Assembly, Youth CITIES and guest lectures at Northeastern University. She’s been to over 90 countries, was the 2016 Global Ambassador for Women in Travel and frequently speaks around the country on entrepreneurship, smart cities and robotics.

As Chief Innovation Officer, Colin O’Donnell leads Intersection’s efforts that drive breakthroughs in new products, services, markets, and within the organization. Drawing on his entrepreneurial and technical experience in creating transformative, scalable change within the public and private sectors, Colin delivers disruptive yet pragmatic solutions that respond to the biggest challenges facing our cities, communities, and businesses. Colin has led groundbreaking technology and media projects that redefine how both cities and brands serve and communicate with citizens, including LinkNYC, the first-of-its-kind communications network bringing the fastest free public Wi-Fi to millions of New Yorkers, and the award-winning MTA On the Go interactive kiosks, which simplify wayfinding and communication in the largest public transit system in the Americas. Colin’s insight on the co-evolution of consumer technology and urban experience has been featured in major publications such as Fast Company, Wired, and the New York Times. The NYC Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities recently named Colin as the recipient of the ADA Sapolin Award for his work in making NYC more accessible. He lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Nat Parker is the CEO of moovel North America. Moovel N.A. works to bring mobility solutions for public and alternative transportation options to North American cities through two distinctive but complementary products: moovel transit and the moovel app. The company is part of moovel Group GmbH, a subsidiary of Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz. Prior to leading moovel N.A., Parker co-founded and served as CEO of GlobeSherpa, a market leader in mobile ticketing technology for public transportation. GlobeSherpa launched the nation’s first multimodal white-label mobile ticketing app, TriMet Tickets, in Portland, Oregon in September 2013. Under Parker’s leadership, GlobeSherpa grew to service 16 transit agency clients in eleven U.S. cities. Following the merger of GlobeSherpa and RideScout as moovel N.A., GlobeSherpa’s mobile ticketing platform evolved to become moovel transit.

Dr. Stephen Zoepf is the Executive Director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford.  He holds a Ph.D., M.Sc. and B.Sc. from MIT.  He has eight years of experience in the automotive industry as an engineer and product manager at BMW and Ford, and previously led U.S. Department of Transportation efforts to integrate confidential data submissions efforts into national vehicle energy policy modeling.  He was an ENI Energy Initiative Fellow, a Martin Energy Fellow, and a recipient of the Barry McNutt award from the Energy and Alternative Fuels Committees of the Transportation Research Board. His work has been covered in numerous popular press articles, initiated a Congressional probe, and has been lampooned in The Onion.

Kris Carter is the Co-Chair of the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics in the City of Boston, which acts as an R&D lab for the future of city services embedded within City Hall.  He is a non-practicing engineer, an optimistic urban planner, and a self-taught filmmaker. With the Mechanics, Kris has helped lead the City’s new mobility programs and oversees the City’s autonomous vehicle research efforts. He co-directs a team of entrepreneurs tackling human-centered challenges like making housing more affordable, the public school experience more delightful, and the City’s third spaces more democratic. Prior to leading the Mechanics, he led two youth development agencies, directed Boston’s bicycle programs, launched Boston Innovation District, and helped operationalize One Fund Boston in response to the Marathon bombings. He is a two-time AmeriCorps alum, firmly believes in bagging his own groceries, and has yet to find a job more challenging job than raising twins. ​

Alain Flausch was selected Secretary General of UITP in September 2011 by the UITP Executive Board. This appointment acknowledged Mr. Flausch’s long-standing commitment to public transport on the international stage. Mr Flausch was previously Chairman of the Finance & Commerce sub-committee of the UITP Metro Committee (2001-2009); he has also been a member of the UITP Executive and Policy Boards (2004-2009), an Executive Member of the UITP International Metro Committee (2001-2009), a Member of the Transport Management Committee (UITP) and Chairman of the Design & Culture Platform.

Bernard Sheahan is Director of Global Infrastructure and Natural Resources at IFC, the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. He is responsible for IFC’s investments in power, transport, utilities, and extractive industries. He joined IFC in 1986, and has previously served as Director of IFC’s Infrastructure Advisory Department and IFC’s Director of Strategy. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard University.

Søren Wille is currently Deputy Permanent Secretary of State with the Ministry of Transport, Building, and Housing in the Kingdom of Denmark, a position he has held since 2007. His areas of responsibility include a wide range of issues such as traffic planning for road and rail, urban mobility, local public transport, infrastructure financing, public-private-partnerships, the environmental impact of transport and cost-benefit analysis. Søren is also a central figure in the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link project that will connect the eastern part of Denmark and Germany through the world’s largest immersed tunnel under water. The project is the largest construction project in Northern Europe. Before joining the Ministry of Transport in 2005, Søren was at the Danish Ministry of Finance for six years, including three years as academic private secretary to the minister for finance. MSc Political Science, University of Copenhagen MSc Public Administration and Public Policy, London School of Economics

Benoît started working for Les Echos in 2000, as a sub-editor for the weekly supplement Les Echos.net, then for the Innovation section of the newspaper. Since 2009, he is the editor of the Ideas and op-ed section both on print and online, for which he created a weekly page focused on prospective. He writes mostly about innovation, AI, robotics, 3D printing, big data, collaborative economy and the future of work.

Mark graduated from UC Berkeley in 1996 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. After 11 years leading advanced technology projects in the game development industry and the sale of his first startup, he turned his energy toward solving the worldwide problem of sustainable transportation. He founded Arcimoto in 2007 and has led the team through eight generations of prototype vehicle design and development, culminating in Arcimoto's successful RegA+ IPO and subsequent listing as a public company on Nasdaq earlier this year. The company just opened their manufacturing facility in Eugene, Oregon and unveiled their first customer vehicle, and are poised to ramp production of their electric three-wheeled vehicle in 2018.

Morten Kabell’s vision is to transform Copenhagen into a greener city with a higher level of livability. His political focus is changing the traffic in Copenhagen so more people will use bicycles and public transportation. Morten Kabell is also focused on international corporation and networking between cities in order to inspire each other and show how to implement roadmaps towards ambitious climate and climate change goals. Copenhagen has a solid climate plan to become the first carbon neutral capital in the world by 2025 and has adopted one of the world’s most ambitious climate adaption plans and cloudburst management plan.

Christophe Najdovski was born in Paris, in 1969, from Macedonian parents. He graduated from the University Pantheon-Sorbonne with a Master in environmental economics. He started his carrier as a high school teacher of economics and social politics in Paris and its area. In 1993, Christophe Najdovski joined the green party “Les Verts”. In 2001, he was elected at the Paris City Council and named deputy mayor in charge of transports of Paris 12th district. Re-elected in 2008, Christophe Najdovski became deputy mayor of Paris, in charge of childhood policy. In April 2014, Anne Hidalgo, new mayor of Paris, appointed him as deputy mayor in charge of transports and public space. His 4 main goals for the term of his mandate are: to reduce atmospheric pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, to promote a better mobility for everyone, regardless of age or social condition, to restore the passage of the Seine riverside and the canals banks, and to give back the public space to pedestrians and cyclists.

Ben Plowden has extensive experience of the workings of both national and local government, both from the “outside” as an environmental campaigner and from the “inside” as a senior director at Transport for London (TfL). Ben is currently Director of Surface Strategy and Planning, Surface Transport at TfL, a position he has held since 2011.  Ben's responsibilities include providing the overall strategic direction for Surface Transport and delivery of cycling, walking, public realm, road safety, freight, bus priority and Travel Demand Management. Ben has been at TfL since 2002, during which time he has held a number of senior roles, including Managing Director of Communications. Before joining TfL, Ben was one of the country's leading environmental campaigners, ending up as the first paid Director of the Pedestrians Association, which he re-launched as Living Streets in 2000 to campaign for improved public spaces.

Amanda Eaken is Director of Transportation and Climate in the Urban Solutions Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), where her work focuses on decarbonizing transportation in the United States. She is currently leading a groundbreaking analysis of the environmental impacts of the Transportation Network Companies Lyft and Uber, to help understand whether these shared mobility providers compete with transit, creating new emissions and congestion, or represent part of an evolution in sustainable mobility.  She is also spearheading creation of a Climate and Equity Framework for Shared Mobility in Los Angeles, creating recommendations for policies and programs to leverage private sector mobility innovation to achieve LA’s sustainability goals. In collaboration with the Southern California Association of Governments, she is part of a team examining the technical and political feasibility of launching the nation’s first cordon pricing pilot program in Los Angeles. In 2015 she conceptualized and launched the Live.Ride.Share conference to examine the new mobility movement transforming the national conversation on transportation. Previously, she led the campaign to pass California’s landmark Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act (SB 375), the nation’s first law to link greenhouse gas emissions with transportation and land use planning. She has been named one of San Francisco Business Times’ top 40 under 40 Emerging Leaders, and was honored with the inaugural President’s Award for Sustainability Leadership by the Southern California Association of Governments for her work creating a Sustainable Communities Strategy for the Southern California region. She shared her vision for mobility as a featured speaker at the TEDx World Cities Day in Santa Monica in 2013. She is a founding member and Steering Committee member of ClimatePlan, a statewide coalition of environmental, social equity, and health groups. She holds a Master’s Degree in City Planning from U.C. Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, and a B.A. in Ecology from Dartmouth College.

John Rossant personally leads the LA CoMotion team. He is the Founder and Chairman of the NewCities Foundation, a major global non-profit institution dedicated to improving the quality of life and work in cities. He previously led the team producing the famous World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland every January and has been been the producer of major World Economic Forum conferences in China, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. He has also played key roles in Monaco, with the Monaco Media Forum and the ongoing Prince’s Roundtable on Philanthropy. In 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked John to organize the first global summit on the future of the Internet, the e-G8. John has worked with heads of state and government and leading CEOs from around the world.

Marissa Christiansen is the Executive Director of Friends of the LA River (FOLAR). Prior to FOLAR, she held roles in policy, advocacy and development at XPRIZE and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, among others. Her deep abiding love for LA began at USC where she earned her Master’s in Urban Planning [fight on]. Her inner compass and lifelong passion for counter-culture has magnetized her to the nonprofit world. A proud California native, her primary inspiration is the beauty and power of our natural landscape. To help guide the movement centered on LA’s most diversely textured and inconspicuously beautiful resource is basically her dream come true.

Ms. Perez-Estolano is an Associate Principal with Arup. She is an expert in urban planning, transportation, stakeholder engagement, and development. In the planning and land use field, she is highly regarded for developing complex public participation strategies that require collaboration among multi-cultural communities. With her background in community development, private real estate development, transportation policy and urban planning, she is recognized as a leader in the planning and development fields and speaks at conferences throughout the country.

Marcel Porras is the Chief Sustainability Officer for LADOT, where he directs the city’s newly established Shared Mobility Group including taxis, bike share, car share, ride share, and autonomous and connected vehicles to ensure that available transportation amenities are maximized in Los Angeles. Most recently, Marcel worked in the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti as Associate Director of Transportation where he worked to develop and implement the Mayor’s transportation agenda.  Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, Marcel worked on various issues related to planning, economic development, and transportation for then Councilman Eric Garcetti. Born and raised in Southern California, Marcel is an avid traveler, who has lived and worked in Latin America.  These experiences provide him with a unique range of perspectives on cities, urban development, and mobility. Marcel holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from UCLA, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Latin American Studies.

Denny founded Move LA in 2007, bringing together business, labor and environmental leaders and organizations to create and champion Measure R, a sales tax measure to dramatically expand Los Angeles County’s transit system, approved by voters in 2008 with 67.9% of the vote. Measure M followed in 2016, approved by 71.2% of LA County voters, dramatically expanding the transit system and extending R without sunset. Together these measures will generate about $160 billion in transportation investments over the next 40 years, transforming the future of Los Angeles County. Previously, Denny served on the Santa Monica City Council, including one term as mayor. He led the effort to create the Third Street Promenade and authored many of Santa Monica’s land use policies emphasizing mixed-use development, affordable housing, pedestrian amenities and effective transit access. Denny was executive director of the Coalition for Clean Air during the early 1990s and organized the legislative campaign that resulted in the creation of the Carl Moyer Program that has provided millions of dollars in grants to deploy clean alternatives to diesel vehicles.

Blair Schlecter is the Director of Economic Development and Government Affairs for the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.  In his role, Blair advocates for businesses in the Beverly Hills and surrounding area and promotes and executes a number economic development efforts, including attracting and retaining businesses to the area and promoting new opportunities in a variety of areas including the technology and innovation sectors. Prior to that, Blair held a number of roles, including serving on the planning and legal team for Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, and practicing as an attorney where he represented companies and municipalities in a variety of complex legal subjects. Blair is deeply involved in the transportation field and new mobility issues, including authoring several articles on the potential impact of autonomous vehicles, promoting investment in advanced transportation in the Los Angeles region, and involvement in WTS-LA, LAEDC’s e4 Mobility Alliance and other transportation advocacy efforts.

After a scientific and economic training at the École des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris and at MIT in Boston, and an experience in strategic consulting at Booz Allen Hamilton, Philippe Chiambaretta directed for nine years the international activities of Ricardo Taller de Arquitectura Bofill in Paris. Graduated from the National School of Architecture Paris Belleville in 2000, he created PCA-STREAM, a research and architectural creation agency characterized by the synergy between thinking and doing. Resolutely focused on innovation, the city of tomorrow and new uses, the agency now has a multidisciplinary team of 75 employees with varied profiles (architects, urban planners, designers, engineers, researchers, publishers ...) capable of understanding and responding to the increasingly complex issues of the contemporary world.

Michael Rotondi, FAIA, principal of RoTo Architects, is internationally recognized as an architect/educator. He has practiced and taught architecture for 35 years, and defines both as one activity. He has always been based in Los Angeles, co-founding two international practices, Morphosis (1975-1991) and RoTo Archinects (1991-present). In 1972, he and 50 colleagues co-founded SCI-Arc under the direction of Ray Kappe. He started and was the first Director of Graduate Programs (1978-1987) and for ten years (1987-1997) served as the second director of SCI-Arc. He currently teaches as a Distinguished Faculty and is an Honorary Trustee. RoTo Architects works range from contemplative, to cultural, to commercial. The works have received many awards and have been widely published. Rotondi has lectured and taught worldwide for many years. At SCI-Arc, he teaches thesis students, design studios and a lecture-seminar of creative imagination. After so many years of teaching, he believes he is in the 5th phase shifting his approach and delivery from that of a teacher to a mentor.

Erik Ghenoiu writes about visual urbanism and design theory in Europe and the United States from before the First World War and after the Second, and on contemporary issues of urban transformation and emerging architectural philosophy. He previously served as the Manager of the Harvard-Mellon Urban Initiative, where he coordinated urban research involving more than twenty departments and institutes across Harvard. He was Adjunct Associate Professor of Graduate Architecture and Urban Design at Pratt Institute, where he also served as Director of Publications for the School of Architecture. He has taught or been a fellow at the City College of New York, the University of Queensland, Parsons, Queens University Belfast, Harvard, Freie-Universität Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ghenoiu received an MA in the History of Art and Architecture and a PhD in Architecture from Harvard, a MS in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA in Geography from Clark University.  

Greg Lindsay joined NewCities in June 2015 as Senior Fellow to lead our Connected Mobility Initiative. Greg is a journalist, urbanist, futurist, and speaker. He is a non-resident senior fellow of The Atlantic Council in their Strategic Foresight Initiative. He is also a contributing writer for Fast Company, co-author of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, and a research affiliate of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI). His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Fortune, among many other publications. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism.

Claire Weisz is a founding partner of WXY architecture + urban design, which was named Firm of the Year by the New York State American Institute of Architects in 2016.  For more than 25 years, Claire has developed WXY into a multidisciplinary practice focused on re-imagining the interface between architecture, urban design and infrastructure. From redesigning Battery Park into a world-class destination to infusing municipal architecture with civic dignity, Claire has led the studio’s award winning work, which has been published broadly from Architectural Record to Civil Engineering to Metropolis magazines. Claire is a Fellow of the AIA and the Urban Design Forum; she co-founded The Design Trust for Public Space, New York City’s premier urban design think tank; and has served on design juries both nationally and internationally. Claire holds a B.Arch with Honors from the University of Toronto, and an M.Arch from Yale University.

Kamran is the co-founder and Executive Director of City Innovate Foundation, and recently launched Superpublic with the Mayors Office of San Francisco, UC Berkeley and the General Services Administration (Federal Government Agency). Much of Kamran's professional experience is in financial engineering around new technology ventures, including smart city initiatives. Previously he served as head of investments to a company owned by one of the royal family members in Abu Dhabi, UAE and as an investment banker (VP of Private Equity) for Convergence Capital in the Dubai International Financial Centre, responsible for closing transactions of interest to the general partners in Real Estate, Aviation, Mining, Water Desalination, Carbon Credits, Health, Education, Media. Kamran has a Masters Degree in International Business from Aston Business School (UK) and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Manchester Metropolitan University (UK).

Lilly Shoup is a Principal with Nelson\Nygaard Consulting where she specializes in multimodal transportation planning, performance management, and policy development. Author of the original, “Dangerous by Design” report on national pedestrian safety trends, Lilly is experienced integrating public and private sector projects with effective planning and design. Prior to joining Nelson\Nygaard, Lilly served as a transportation policy advisor to senior leadership at the U.S. Department of Transportation where she managed the DOT-HUD-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities and the DOT Livability Initiative. She has served as Domestic Policy Advisor to former Vice President Joe Biden leading efforts to pass long-term transportation reauthorization with sustainable funding.

Greg Lindsay joined NewCities in June 2015 as Senior Fellow to lead our Connected Mobility Initiative. Greg is a journalist, urbanist, futurist, and speaker. He is a non-resident senior fellow of The Atlantic Council in their Strategic Foresight Initiative. He is also a contributing writer for Fast Company, co-author of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, and a research affiliate of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI). His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Fortune, among many other publications. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism.