For email addresses add transcoalition.org at the end of the email listing above.
For phone numbers call TALC's main number at 510-740-3150.

Ann Cheng - Senior Planner

photo www.schoenfeldt.com

Ann Cheng joined TALC in October 2006 as Senior Planner for the Great Communities Collaborative to effect local land use policies that will lead the Bay Area towards great walkable and liveable neighborhoods near transit stations. Ann lives in El Cerrito, the city she grew up in, and enjoys walking to BART and biking home from work. She was inspired to bicycle as a means of daily transportation while obtaining her BS in Environmental Biology and Management at UC Davis in 2000.

Ann was previously Senior Planner at Alta Planning + Design where she coordinated and authored Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plans for various jurisdictions including the City of Berkeley, Marin County, and Solano County. Ann also brings four years of experience working at Contra Costa County, Community Development which involved co-authoring design guidelines to coordinating multiple stakeholders in redevelopment plan implementation. From this experience Ann brings extensive local agency knowledge on projects ranging from GIS system development and urban creek restoration initiatives, to current and redevelopment planning.

Nora Cody - Safe Routes to Schools Director

photo Seth Schneider

Nora Cody joined TALC in July 2007 as the Safe Routes to Schools Director. She comes to the Safe Routes program as the chair of Oakland Unified School District’s Coordinated School Health Council. In eighteen months, Nora built a broad collaborative partnership to improve student and community health and wellness in Oakland that brought together over 30 agencies and organizations and over 100 schools. In addition to her work developing and implementing OUSD’s Wellness Policy, she oversaw several health prevention mandates for the school district. For fifteen years prior to her work at OUSD, she directed a national consumer health organization where she learned the importance of linking strong local collaboratives with state and national partners to achieve both short and long term goals.

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Stuart Cohen - Executive Director

photo www.schoenfeldt.com

Stuart Cohen is co-founder and Executive Director of the Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC), a partnership of over 90 environmental, social justice, labor and community groups. Founded in 1997, TALC has become a primary player in Bay Area transportation and growth issues by combining high quality policy analysis with grassroots organizing and strategic media efforts.

TALC’s campaigns have directly raised over $5 billion for sustainable and socially-just transportation. Stuart has helped lead a number of these efforts, including the recent success in developing a one dollar bridge toll increase to fund public transit, which was approved by the voters in 2004. He also spearheaded the campaign to initiate a regional Smart Growth process.

Stuart has been the primary author of eight Coalition reports, including the 120-page World Class Transit for the Bay Area. TALC’s work in uniting environmental and social justice organizations has been nationally recognized.

Previously, Stuart worked with ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) to promote alternative transportation polices and the New York Public Interest Research Group as a toxics campaign coordinator and Statewide Canvass Director. He received a Master’s Degree in Public Policy (MPP) from the University of California at Berkeley.

Camille Guiriba - Program Assistant

photo Seth Schneider

Camille joined TALC in March 2008 as a Program Assistant to the Great Communities Collaborative. She recently received her B.A. in Urban Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. While an undergraduate, she worked on access to higher education issues for students of color. She also interned with EAH Housing where she worked with both the Real Estate Development and Community and Public Relations Departments. After volunteering in London for the summer and doing some other international traveling, she is excited to be part of a dynamic organization such as TALC. On her free time she enjoys running; one of her favorite Bay Area runs being along Crissy Field and across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Jeff Hobson - Deputy Director

photo www.schoenfeldt.com

In 1998, Jeff joined TALC to start a project to focus on the transportation needs of low-income and people-of-color communities. This effort evolved into TALC's Transportation Equity And Community Health (TEACH) program, a comprehensive effort to increase participation in transportation decisions by poor and people-of-color communities and to ensure that transportation investments promote access, equity and better health for low-income communities. In that role, Jeff played a major role in transportation sales taxes in several Bay Area counties and authored seven Coalition reports, including the Access Now! guide to getting involved in transportation decisions.

Since 2005, Jeff has coordinated the Great Communities Collaborative, which brings together residents and local organizations to participate in community planning processes across the San Francisco Bay Area. The Collaborative aims to create a region of vibrant neighborhoods with affordable housing, shops, jobs, and services within convenient walking distance near transit.

Before joining TALC in 1998, Jeff worked for Communities for a Better Environment and Contra Costa County Health Services as a policy analyst, advocate, and air quality consultant on environmental justice issues. During 1993-95, Jeff worked for the Davis Energy Group as a consultant on solar energy and energy efficiency. He also spent a year developing solar energy programs in a Tibetan refugee community in India.

Jeff holds a Master’s degree from the Energy and Resources Group at University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University.

Jeff and his partner Kim Seashore also enjoy raising two young children.

John Knox White - TravelChoice Program Manager

photo Seth Schneider

John joined TALC in late 2005 after spending 13 years working in one-to-one and grassroots marketing for the entertainment and trend products industries. He chairs the City of Alameda’s Transportation Commission.

In addition to creating marketing programs for music performers, websites, and movies that hit the top of their respective sales charts, John has successfully worked on many local transportation issues. He spearheaded initiatives that resulted in maintaining transit service coverage, implementing innovative funding and marketing strategies for transit, and reducing parking minimums at local developments through improved transit service and bicycling infrastructure.

Over the past 13 years, John has also worked on transportation issues in New York City and San Francisco, including NYC’s Transportation Alternatives, Alameda Transit Advocates, and BikeAlameda.

Karen Kunze - Finance Director

photo Seth Schneider

Karen joined TALC in May 2007 to oversee all accounting and finance functions of the coalition's growing budget. She brings extensive administrative and financial management experience to TALC from the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

Karen has more than ten years of consulting experience as the fiscal manager on a number of federally funded contracts. Her contract administration experience includes negotiation and administration of large real estate leases and construction contracts. Karen has also served as project manager for several construction projects, including retrofit of a residential treatment facility in North Berkeley and rehabilitation of an apartment complex for low-income individuals in North Oakland.

Karen’s civic activities include serving on the Larkspur City Council as both Mayor and a Councilmember for 13 years. The Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers appointed her to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for three years. She has also served on the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations. Karen has a B.S. degree in Finance from the University of Utah.

Marta Lindsey - Membership and Development Director

photo www.schoenfeldt.com

Marta joined TALC in February of 2006. As Membership Director she is the official "point person" for TALC's Member and Affiliate Group representatives. Marta's background includes working at several environmental organizations including a foundation, plus political campaigns in Iowa and Montana. Marta recently received a Master in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, where she most enjoyed her studies in strategic communications, social marketing, environmental planning, and environmental justice.

Carli Paine - Transportation Program Director

Carli joined TALC in August 2006 as TALC's Transportation Program Director. Prior to joining TALC, Carli worked as an Associate Planner for the City of Berkeley, where she analyzed and developed land use policies, including creating a development fee that will fund alternative transportation projects and programs. Prior to that she was an Assistant Planner for El Cerrito's Department of Community Development where she managed projects that focused on pedestrian and bicycle amenities and on connections between transit modes and bicycle and pedestrian circulation. Carli also coordinated the "Climate Change and a Global City" Project of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which assessed climate change impacts on New York City. Carli has a B.A. in Environmental Science from Columbia University and a Master's degree in city planning from MIT.

Karla Pérez-Cordero - Safe Routes to Schools School Site Coordinator

Karla joined TALC in 2006 as the Administrative Assistant and was promoted in May 2008 to School Site Coordinator for TALC's Safe Routes to Schools Program. Each day she's inspired to work in partnerships with schools, parents, community organizations, and agencies, all in a collaborative effort to help create a more socially and environmentally just future for children and families.

Prior to joining TALC, Karla worked as a Community Organizer for Oakland ACORN to bring about fair housing and improvements in neighborhoods. Karla has also interned and volunteered for IDEX (International and Development Exchange) and Global Exchange to help fund community projects in developing countries and educate the citizens of the U.S. on unjust trade agreements.

Karla received a B.A. in International Relations with a concentration on World Development Studies from San Francisco State University. Karla's biggest joy is being outdoors with her toddler and husband and visiting family in their native Nicaragua.

Joel Ramos - Community Planning Associate

Joel joined TALC in June 2006 to help with the implementation of East Bay Bus Rapid Transit and Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Joel was raised in the East Bay city of Pittsburg and previously worked in Oakland's Fruitvale District as an assistant planner/community organizer with the Spanish Speaking Unity Council. Joel also brings four years of policy experience from his work with the Center on Policy Initiatives in San Diego where one of his projects was helping to win a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) around Ballpark Village, one of the largest TODs in the country. It was in his CBA/TOD work where Joel learned the tremendous value of working with diverse coalitions of labor, community, and environmental groups to achieve policy victories.

Joel holds a BA in Geography from San Francisco State University and is tenaciously committed to social, economic, and environmental justice. He views TALC as an exciting nexus of opportunity to work on all three of these issues in his “home region” at once.

Chris Schildt - Program Associate

photo Seth Schneider

Chris joined TALC in January 2007 to work as a Program Associate for the Great Communities Collaborative. Before TALC, she pursued her passion for developing environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable communities while working on the green waste program at the University of California at Berkeley, teaching English to migrant laborers in East Oakland, and volunteering to rebuild New Orleans. She holds a BA from the University of California at Berkeley in both Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies, with a concentration on Transformative Community Development. When she’s not too busy, Chris loves cooking delicious vegan food and learning about cultural traditions while traveling.

Seth Schneider - Communications Director

Seth joined TALC in September 1999 to help research, edit, and format the World Class Transit for the Bay Area report. Since then, Seth has helped lead TALC's analysis of the applicability of high-speed Rapid Bus Systems in the San Francisco Bay Area, and worked to build support for systems that will provide fast, cost-effective solutions to the growing transportation crisis. He was the lead author of TALC's Revolutionizing Bay Area Transit...on a Budget report. Seth also coordinated the initial public outreach for the All Nighter, a new late-night transit service funded by the 2004 $1 bridge toll increase for transit.

Prior to joining TALC, Seth worked for Urban Ecology -- a TALC member organization.

Currently, Seth manages TALC's website and email systems, electronic newsletter, and TALC's Individual Supporter donation program.

Noam Shimon - Office Manager

photo Seth Schneider

Noam Shimon joined TALC in June 2008 as Office Manager. Noam, who relocated from Israel to the United States four years ago, shares a commitment to community building and social justice with his colleagues. Before he joined TALC, Noam worked in the private sector as an analyst with Robert Half International, Inc. -- one of the largest professional staffing companies in the world. Seeking greater personal and professional satisfaction, Noam decided to fulfill his goal of employment with an organization dedicated to the improvement of people’s lives and the community as a whole. Noam brings his sense of professionalism and organization to his workplace, and is proud to contribute his efforts to improving the lives of his fellow Bay Area residents.

After living in various parts of the world, Noam has made the Bay Area his home due to its natural beauty and urban setting. Noam is an avid outdoor enthusiast, cycling all over Northern California, running in East Bay parks, and otherwise enjoying the beauty and freedom of living in our region.

Susan Silber - Safe Routes to Schools Education Director

photo Seth Schneider

Susan Silber joined TALC in March 2008 as Education Coordinator for TALC's Safe Routes to School program, bringing more than 18 years of experience in the environmental and education fields. Susan has introduced thousands of youth to environmental issues and the outdoors, working as a naturalist at various outdoor schools, managing environmental education programs with Hostelling International and the River Parkway Trust in Fresno, and teaching rural Costa Rican youth about their environment as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She also created and implemented an after school bicycle program for middle school students with the Presidio YMCA in San Francisco, and most recently created an adult climate change education project with Acterra and the Ecology Center.

Susan received her B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and received a Fellowship from San Francisco State University to receive her teaching credential and Masters, concurrently teaching in a bilingual elementary school classroom in two Bay Area schools. She enjoys bicycling, hiking, and other outdoor adventure sports with her toddler daughter Luna and husband Shea.

Andréa Tyler - Outreach and Development Manager

photo Seth Schneider

Andréa joined TALC in August 2008 as Outreach and Development Manager. Prior to TALC, Andréa gained valuable experience in development, major gifts management, and event coordination at Save-the-Redwoods League and California Pacific Medical Center Foundation. She is a graduate of Humboldt State University and enjoys living the car-free lifestyle with her husband in Oakland.

Ebonie Wallace - Administrative Assistant

photo Seth Schneider

Ebonie Wallace joined TALC in June 2008 as Administrative Assistant. Originally from Los Angeles County, Ebonie relocated to the Bay Area eight years ago to live in an environment more in line with her green and relatively car-free lifestyle. She brings extensive administrative experience, having previously worked for accounting and marketing firms. She is happy to be out of the for profit realm and proud to be working to make positive sustainable change. Ebonie has also enjoyed volunteer work including helping underprivileged students at Monarch Day Academy in Oakland with school work and life lessons. In her free time she enjoys reading, listening to music, and singing.