About the Board

Ann Boyd, mother of two, has been traveling by bike since her parents refused to drive her to soccer practice as a kid. Through facility improvements and education, she would like to see more families and especially women chose bicycling as a primary mode of travel without first weighing the risks of the choice. As a Geographer for the City of Bellevue, Ann is passionate about the role local governments have in solving complex world-wide issues. Ann lives in Green Lake.

Allegra Calder lives in Eastlake and is a senior policy analyst at BERK & Associates. At BERK, she works on a variety of strategic planning, financial, and policy analysis, projects for state and local governments, and other local and regional organizations.  A lifelong cyclist and former bike tour guide who has cycled in more than 25 countries, she is passionate about making Seattle a safe and attractive place for cyclists.

Jodi Connolly is a West Seattle resident and regular bike commuter to downtown.  She coordinates the "Getting there" transportation resource center for King County Residents with special needs.  Her combined interest in cycling, public transportation, and mobilizing people around the community has led to a desire to serve on the Bicycle Advisory Board.  She is interested in both infrastructure and education for safe behaviors and visibility of all roadway users.  She and her husband enjoy mountain bike and cyclocross racing and playing on bikes with their two kids.

Matthew Crane has been a practicing attorney for more than 20 years in Seattle.  As a daily bicycle commuter, Matt sees bicycling as a nearly perfect transportation choice that is good not only for one’s health and budget, but also the environment, local and global. For Matt, safety is a paramount issue, as more and more city residents take up bicycling for the joys of transportation and recreation.

Sean Cryan returned to the bicycle in 2000, after 23 years without riding.  He is now a regular bicycle commuter from his home in Ballard, over the Ballard Bridge and down to the waterfront trails, and prefers rainy days when he has a chance of a tailwind on the way home.  In addition to using his bike for transportation, it helped him recover from open heart surgery in 2005.  He works as a project manager at Mithun, and has served on committees related to global warming and carbon releases associated with development activities for the City, County and State.  He was one of the developers of buildcarbonneutral.org.  He has 3 children, in middle school and high school in the City.

Gabe Grijalva has been an avid cyclists since the early 1980's, beginning when he commuted to college, the University of Arizona, on flat and dry roads.  Gabe continues to make cycling part of his life with both commuting and recreational cycling here in Seattle as much as he can.  He lives in Capital Hill and commutes regularly into downtown.  Gabe is self-employed, Grijalva Engineering, as a transportation/traffic engineer and through his work is dedicated to promoting and providing best planning and design practices to support  walking and bicycling and account for a balanced and safe design for pedestrians and bicyclists on all projects he works on.

Max Hepp-Buchanan, vice chair of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, has a Master of Urban Planning and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington. Max is an Organizer for the Cascade Bicycle Club where he commutes to work by bike every day from his home in Ravenna. He rides a beautiful custom Rodriquez that he is still trying to pay off.

Kelsey Jones-Casey got back on her bike in 2007 when she started commuting from her home on Beacon Hill to graduate school at the University of Washington where she studied public administration and community development.  Her primary interests lie at the intersection of gentrification, institutional racism, and biking for all!  She is excited to bring a south Seattle perspective into conversations about bike infrastructure.  Kelsey is a Research Associate at the Rural Development Institute in downtown Seattle.

Neal Komedal is a retired laborer who worked for the City of Seattle.  He has lived in North Rainier Valley for 37 years. He started commuting by bicycle in 1970.  Born and raised in (then-) rural Port Madison, he has always been leery of cars, but fond of machinery.

Liz Nixon started using a bicycle as her main mode of transportation when she first moved to Seattle in 2004. Liz has a degree in architecture from the University of Washington. Her work commutes have taken her from North Seattle to the south end of Mercer Island, from central Seattle to the Eastside. Happily enough, her commute is now short and sweet, from south Seattle to Bike Works where she is employed as the Development & Office Coordinator. Within the next few years, Liz intends to go back to school for a joint masters in Urban Planning and Public Health, focusing on active transportation.

Blake Trask, chair of the Bicycle Advisory Board, works for Triangle Associates, Inc., an environmental consulting firm that focuses on complex multi-party facilitation projects, public involvement and environmental education. In addition to his efforts to make it easier to get around via cycling, he is passionate about making complete (and livable) streets in Seattle a reality. Originally from Vashon Island, Blake now lives in Phinney Ridge.

Jean White has been bike commuter for over 10 years from the North End to downtown. Her goal is to help see that the Bicycle Master Plan is implemented and biking is made safer and more accessible for more people in Seattle.  As lead for implementing a salmon recovery plan for the Lake Washington watershed, she knows something about plan implementation and how to work with local governments.