Stuart Cohen

TransForm's campaigns on transportation sales taxes and other funding measures have brought together diverse coalitions and helped raise over $6 billion for sustainable and socially-just transportation. Stuart has spearheaded a number of these efforts, as well as the successful effort to initiate the Bay Area's Regional Smart Growth Strategy. Stuart has been the primary author of eight TransForm reports, including the 120-page World Class Transit for the Bay Area. 

In 2005 Stuart helped conceive and launch the Great Communities Collaborative.  This partnership of five non-profits, three community foundations, and 24 community partners is engaging communities around the Bay Area in planning for sustainable, equitable development near transit.  He is also the co-founder and chair of ClimatePlan, a statewide network that is promoting smart land use and transportation as critical components of California's climate strategy. Stuart was recently awarded an Ashoka Fellowship for his leadership in developing innovative programs such as GreenTRIP, TransForm's new program to certify and support low-traffic developments. 

Founded in 1997, TransForm now has 30 staff based in Oakland and a regional coalition comprised of over 100 organizations. TransForm just opened a Sacramento office to focus on state transportation policy reform.

Previously, Stuart worked with ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability as a researcher on the climate impacts of alternative transportation policies and fuels, and at NYPIRG (New York Public Interest Research Group) as a toxics campaign coordinator and Statewide Canvass Director.  Stuart received a Master's Degree in Public Policy (MPP) from the Goldman School of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley.

photo: www.schoenfeldt.com