>Listing of all presenters

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Elly Blue has been writing about bicycling and carfree issues for BikePortland.org since 2006. In fall of 2008 she joined Team BikePortland full-time, bringing her experience as a community activist with local bike group Shift, and planning events such as the Towards Carfree Cities conference.

Elly will continue to write editorials as well as news stories and product reviews of utility cycling essentials. Her other myriad tasks include managing advertising accounts; working with new writers; planning events such as the annual BikeCraft holiday bazaar; expanding the site with new features like the BikePortland Bookstore; and generally developing the business and figuring out new ways to bring the community information and inspiration about bikes.

Noah Budnick is the Senior Policy Advisor for Transportation Alternatives, New York City’s advocates for bicycling, walk and mass transit. Noah provides strategic guidance and planning for T.A.’s campaigns to win biking and walking improvements, to reclaim public space for pedestrians, bicyclists and mass transit, to reform government transportation and street safety policy, to discourage driving and prioritize biking, walking and transit use ahead of private motor vehicles and to win more funding for biking and walking projects in New York City. He played a key roll in organizing public comments for the City of New York’s long-term sustainability plan, PlaNYC, as well as building support and providing input for the City's recently released study of cyclist injuries and fatalities.

Noah is also the chair of the board of directors of the Thunderhead Alliance for Biking and Walking, the national coalition of state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups, and a board member of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, a community-based non-profit working to develop an off-street biking and walking route along the north Brooklyn waterfront from Greenpoint to Bay Ridge. He was recently honored with a Revson Foundation Fellowship at Columbia University and is studying public finance and management there during the 2008-2009 academic year. Before working at T.A., Noah was the Administrative Director at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, where he was a specialist in bicycle transportation in developing countries.


Bernardo Baranda Sepúlveda is the Mexico Senior Program Director at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). In his more than 10 years of professional experience, Bernardo has been deeply involved in urban sustainable mobility projects working in the public, private and non-governmental sectors. He is one of the founding members of Bicitekas the main urban cycling advocacy group in Mexico City.

Since opening its office in 2006 in Mexico, ITDP has been working with Mexico City and Guadalajara governments on the creation of Non Motorized Transport infrastructure, Mass Transit and Travel Demand Management policies.

Bernardo holds Master's degrees in Transport Engineer (MEng) from IHE-TU in Delft, The Netherlands, and one in Management and Implementation of Development Projects (MSc) from UMIST in Manchester, United Kingdom. He also holds a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He has given presentations, interviews and written articles related to urban mobility and especially on non-motorized transport.


Dhyana Quintanar Solares, MEM, is the Coordinator of the Bicycle Mobility Strategy for Mexico City, at the Secretariat of Environment of Mexico City. Dhyana has been coordinating the planning and execution of the various initiatives to promote cycling as a mode of transport through infrastructure and cultural changes, with the goal of increasing the number of trips on bicycle from 1% in 2007 to 5% in 2012.

Prior to this position, she was the Director of Mobility and Urban Development at the Center for Sustainable Transport of Mexico. Dhyana holds a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. An avid cyclist, she commutes to work by bike.