Sustainable Transportation

Aimée Gauthier has over two decades of experience working on sustainable transport and urban development in over 12 countries and 25 cities around the world. Her focus has been the intersection of climate change and equity. She has been at the forefront building a global movement grounded in technical knowledge and applied research on sustainable transport. Most recently, she has been focused on gender mainstreaming, the care economy, universal access, and biophilia. She bridges programmatic expertise with communications and non-profit management skills. She is adept at synthesizing and communicating complex information into understandable, relatable, and actionable concepts. She holds a masters degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan and has dual bachelor degrees in anthropology and political & social thought from the University of Virginia.

Kelly Larson has 30 years of experience managing local, national, and international public health programs.

She currently directs Bloomberg Philanthropies’ road safety, drowning prevention, and Partnership for Healthy Cities programs, while also providing technical support to partners and grantees in the tobacco control initiative. Kelly supports Mike Bloomberg in his role as the World Health Organization’s Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries, and was part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies team partnering with New York State to ramp up its contact tracing program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to joining Bloomberg Philanthropies in August 2008, Kelly managed local, national, and international public health programs with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, National Hemophilia Foundation, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Fiji and the Pacific Islands, and served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer on a remote outer island in the Federated States of Micronesia. 

Kelly received her Master of Public Health from Columbia University and studied Communications at Pacific Lutheran University.

Dr. Michael Rodriguez is director of research at Smart Growth America where he oversees quantitative and qualitative research across the organization's land use, housing, and transportation programs. He is the co-author of Foot Traffic Ahead, SGA's signature report on walkable urbanism in U.S. metros, and helped develop several data tools like the SGA fiscal impact analysis approach, infrastructure efficiency metrics, and fiscal hotspot analysis. He has over 15 years of experience in urban planning and is a certified planner with the AICP. Dr. Rodriguez holds a dual MPA and M.S. in urban planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his doctorate in public policy from the George Washington University. 

Tiffany-Ann Taylor is the Vice President for Transportation at the Regional Plan Association (RPA). Prior to working at RPA, she served as Deputy Director of Freight Programs, Education, and Research for the Freight Mobility unit at the NYC Department of Transportation and as an Assistant Vice President at the NYC Economic Development Corporation. She holds a B.A in Government from The College of William & Mary and a M.S in City & Regional Planning from Pratt Institute. Tiffany is a first-generation American, the brainchild of the nationally recognized Hindsight Conference and a former president of the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association. Tiffany is an alumnus of the Coro Leadership NY program and former fellow of the Urban Design Forum and Transit Center.

Charles T. Brown is an author, professor, entrepreneur, and military veteran advancing transportation equity as a core social justice issue. As Founder & Managing Principal of Equitable Cities, he leads innovative policies and research initiatives to promote walking, biking, and micromobility to improve public health, economic opportunity, and climate resilience. A global expert in urban planning and mobility justice, his work has influenced major federal agencies, such as USDOT, HUD, DOE, EPA, and CDC, and shaped initiatives like USDOT’s Thriving Communities Program.

Brown hosts the award-winning Arrested Mobility podcast and is the author of the newly released book Arrested Mobility: Overcoming the Threat to Black Movement. He serves on Lime’s Global Safety Advisory Board, is an adjunct professor at Rutgers University, and holds leadership roles with New Jersey Future, the World Resources Institute, and the Franklin, NJ Township Planning Board. A proud Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity member, he is committed to mentorship and leadership development opportunities for young men of color, and he advocates for biking as a vehicle for equity, freedom, and social change.

Cristina Albuquerque is an urban mobility and sustainable transport specialist with nearly 15 years of experience, including as Global Director of Electric Mobility at WRI. Throughout her career, Cristina has led projects in Brazil and internationally to accelerate the shift toward cleaner, more inclusive, and more efficient transport systems — with a strong focus on electric buses. She is currently working as a consultant for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), supporting the city of Rio de Janeiro in integrating electric mobility into its public transport system. Cristina is passionate about people-centered urban solutions that address climate challenges with ambition and innovation.  

Dr. Josué C. Velázquez Martínez is a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Transportation and Logistics, where he directs the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab and the MIT Low-Income Firms Transformation (LIFT) Lab. His work focuses on transforming climate commitments into actionable supply chain and logistics strategies, and on developing innovative solutions that strengthen micro and small enterprises in emerging markets. With over 15 years of experience in logistics sustainability and supply chain management across transportation, retail, and manufacturing, Dr. Velázquez Martínez has collaborated with organizations worldwide to reduce environmental impacts while improving operational performance. He teaches MIT’s graduate course on Sustainable Supply Chain Management, has authored numerous academic and industry publications, and is frequently featured in international media such as The New York Times, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post.

Andrea is the Executive Director of the Global Network for Popular Transportation. She has 15 years of experience in the development and implementation of public policy around sustainability, sustainable urban development and sustainable transport. She is the founder and former Executive Director of the Centre for Urban Sustainability in Costa Rica, co-Founder of Agile City Partners, has served as a Presidential Advisor to the Government of Costa Rica and an Advisor to the Ministry of the Environment of Costa Rica. Her work has led her to collaborate as a consultant and advisor to different local and national governments, development banks, international cooperation agencies and NGOs around the world to leverage policy and planning to reduce inequalities and environmental impacts, and improve our cities, communities and ecosystems.   

Eduarda Aun is an urban designer and the Program Lead for the Streets for Kids program at the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI). She works with cities around the world to reimagine streets as safer, more inclusive, and vibrant public spaces for children and their caregivers. Since joining GDCI in 2019, Eduarda has led international collaborations focused on child-friendly street design, combining policy, capacity-building, and on-the-ground implementation.

Previously, she worked at the New York City Department of Transportation, and co-founded a nonprofit advocating for public space in her hometown of Brasília, Brazil.

She holds a Master’s degree in Design and Urban Ecologies from Parsons School of Design and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Universidade de Brasília (UnB).

Norman Garrick is Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at the University of Connecticut and Lecturer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zürich). His work is focused on transportation and city making, especially as they relate to transportation safety, sustainability, and social and economic equity. Dr. Garrick’s research and writings have reached a wide audience through such media outlets as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Denver Post, The Globe and Mail (Toronto), The Hartford Courant, The Bloomberg CityLab, Planetizen, New Urban News, Streetsblog, Streetfilms, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and National Public Radio.

In addition to his academic career, Dr. Garrick has worked as a transportation consultant on numerous design charrettes, including urban revitalization projects with the King’s Foundation in Kingston, Jamaica and in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and also on hurricane recovery in Louisiana and Mississippi. Dr. Garrick is a Fulbright Scholar as well as the recipient of the Transportation Research Board’s Wootan Award for Best Research Paper in policy and organization, and several awards for teaching at the University of Connecticut.