Eric Fredericks, President
Senior Transportation Planner
California Department of Transportation
Eric Fredericks is an urban planner who specializes in making communities more walk and bike friendly. Mr. Fredericks is an experienced public speaker on livability issues in several cities across the United States. He has also served as a television panelist, workshop facilitator, and a presenter on walkable neighborhoods at conferences. He has work experience in state, regional, and local levels of government, as well as the private sector. Mr. Fredericks is the founder and principal of Walkable Neighborhoods, providing consulting and technical expertise to agencies and organizations. He is also an avid photographer, and has compiled an online gallery of thousands of photo examples of walkable and not-so-walkable places.
Lavada DeSalles, Vice President
AARP Livable Communities Representative
After a 34 year career with the State of California, Employment Development Department, ending with high level positions in the field of employment and unemployment insurance, Lavada decided to retire and devote her full energies to volunteering in efforts that improved the lives of people, particularly older persons who needed guidance, direction or assistance in living well as they aged. She served as volunteer State President for California AARP for three years and then was promoted to Volunteer Regional Director, responsible for programs and activities involving volunteer activists in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, California, and Nevada. Visiting these states during the next few years, gave her clear insight into the problems facing seniors of all types – able/disabled, low/medium/high income, and the entire spectrum of races and educational backgrounds.
Lavada was elected to the National Board of Directors of AARP in 2000 to serve a six year term. In addition to participating with 21 other directors in setting policy and direction for a membership organization serving over 35 million people, she served on numerous task forces and work groups and was elected vice chair of Membership and Programs, and Chair of the Insurance Trust that provided oversight to the many health offerings of AARP’s service providers. Lavada’s activities covered the breadth of the country and furthered her knowledge and understanding of our challenges as we age. After her term on the national level ended in 2006, she resumed volunteering for AARP in the Sacramento area. As a result, Lavada became active in AARP’s livable communities efforts and joined WALKSacramento as a participant in the Complete Streets Coalition. This led to her current position on the WALKSacramento Board of Directors. Lavada feels that it is absolutely crucial that as a caring community, we devote adequate attention and resources to ensure safe and comfortable mobility options for people of all ages and abilities.
In 2009 Lavada was a panelist at a Capitol Hill briefing on Complete Streets.
Hong Zhang, Secretary
Snell Safety Education Center
Since 1992 Ms. Zhang‘s has been with the Snell Memorial Foundation working in the areas of Random Sample Testing, public relations, education, and special grant projects. As Director of Education, she develops educational materials and head injury prevention programs to increase public awareness of the risk of head injury and the effectiveness of helmets. Ms. Zhang finished her undergraduate studies in China and received Master’s degree at the University of Rochester in New York. Ms. Zhang has served as the President of the Snell Safety Education Center since 1996. She is also the Secretary of the Board of Directors of WALKSacramento.
Jim McDonald, AICP
Senior Planner, Long Range Planning, Community Development Department, City of Sacramento
JIn addition to his responsibilities in the Community Development Department, he has guest lectured for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) and for the Planning Academy. Jim has 20 years experience in planning. Some of the projects he has worked on include the “65th Street/University Transit Village Plan”, “South 65th Street Area Plan”, “2030 General Plan”, “Shining Places: Sacramento and National Examples of Smart Growth” publication, and the “Transit for Livable Communities” land use recommendations for development near light rail.
Jim is an avid cyclist who enjoys riding as a form of transportation around town, as well as racing on and off road for Rio Strada Racing ( http://riostradaracing.com/home/ ).
Ron Anderson
Retired
Ron Anderson is a founding member of WALKSacramento. He is retired from the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. After retiring he served on the Clean Air Committee at what is now Breathe California. He was also President of WALKSacramento for two years. Ron also worked as a volunteer for WALKSacramento on early Safe Routes to School projects plus numerous other WALKSacramento projects.
Lauren Michele
Principal / Owner
Policy in Motion
Lauren Michele, Principal/Founder of Policy in Motion, recently completed her Master’s of Science degree in Transportation Technology and Policy from the University of California, Davis after working as a transportation planning professional in Sacramento at Fehr & Peers for several years, a climate change policy analyst in Washington D.C. at the Center for Clean Air Policy, and an air quality program assistant at the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. During her time at UC Davis, Lauren Michele built strategic relationships at the state and federal level which aided her work as a transportation and climate change policy analyst at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies’ Urban Land Use and Transportation Center (ULTRANS) – focusing on the links between California’s Senate Bill 375 and developing federal climate/energy legislation and the transportation reauthorization. Her firm, Policy in Motion, focuses exclusively on federal and state climate policy analysis, education and implementation as it pertains to transportation and land use plans and projects which improve network management and decrease vehicle-miles-traveled. Lauren Michele has been a Board Member since 2008 because WALKSacramento is a local leader in the move toward a more environmentally sound, socially just, and cost-effective future. Lauren believes that the only way to see such change is to be a part of it.
Larry Robinson
Transportation & Land Use Coordinator
Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District
Larry Robinson, Land Use and Transportation Program Coordinator for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, has been a tireless advocate for walkability for over two decades. Larry, a founding WALKSacramento Board member, has been on the Board continuously since its inception in 1998.
Larry has worked in the areas of transportation planning and transportation demand management for Caltrans and the City of Sacramento, spent 13 years as the Sacramento Air District’s legislative advocate, and is currently coordinating the District’s Land Use and Transportation CEQA mitigation program.
He currently serves on both the national Board of Directors and the Public Policy Council for the Association for Commuter Transportation and is the Association’s current Sacramento Valley Chapter President (and, was also its founding President back in 1989). Larry was also founding Board member for the Power Inn Business and Transportation Association; founding Steering Committee member of the California Alliance for Transportation Choices; founding President of the Sacramento Air District Employees’ Association; and has co-chaired/emcee’d the Breathe CA Clean Air Awards 5 times (including the upcoming 2011 Awards).
In his spare time, he likes to walk (duh), brew beer, travel, and just hang out with his wife, two kids, and 5 grandchildren
Staff Directory: Go here
