Meet Our Team
Our dedicated team of experienced professionals utilizes their unique skills and passion to move forward our work towards equitable climate change solutions. Meet our incredible leaders below.
Our Staff
We are a diverse and dedicated team committed to excellence.
Abibat Rahman-Davies (she/her)
Transportation Policy Manager
Abi is a California native happy to be back in her home state after several years working on economic justice and transportation issues in and out of government. She is passionate about racial and economic equity and centers those issues in her transportation advocacy at Transform.
Abi has an MA in Global Studies from UC Berkeley. She’s had a passion for politics since her youth. She also loves cooking and eating, playing bass and producing music, and seeing movies the old school way: in the theater.
Adrian Cárdenas
Program Coordinator
Adrian Cárdenas is a Program Coordinator at Transform, where he supports the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools program in the cities of Oakland, Emeryville, Livermore, and Dublin. He brings years of experience working closely with students, families, school staff, and community partners to make streets safer and school commutes more accessible.
Previously, Adrian worked with the San Francisco Safe Routes to School program, leading large-scale events and citywide campaigns that encouraged walking, biking, and public transit. He also taught bike education to kids and adults, especially in Spanish-speaking communities, through his work with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.
Adrian spent most of his youth between Mexico City and Cancún, and now lives in Oakland with his wife, toddler, and their dog, Freedia. Outside of work, he enjoys biking with his family, DJing, and making music.
Carrie Harvilla (she/her/they/them)
Deputy Director
Carrie designs and leads programs at the intersection of sustainable transportation and affordable housing for those who are most impacted by historic disinvestment. Her work is founded on community collaboration with a variety of stakeholders: students, parents, senior citizens, elected officials, business owners, and city staff. By linking innovative technology to needs voiced by residents, she’s worked to bridge the transportation equity divide by bringing Mobility Hubs directly to affordable housing. She’s also led one of the nation’s largest Safe Routes to Schools programs in the country. Carrie is passionate about creative projects that build relationships — such as storytelling through oral history and placemaking through murals — as a means to use culture to influence behavior change. Carrie is an ACC-certified professional Leadership and Life Coach. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University and a Master of Science in Community and Regional Development from the University of California at Davis.
Dave Severy (he/him)
Development Director
Dave works to expand the organization’s capacity through securing and stewarding support from individuals, foundations, government agencies, and corporate partners.
Previously, he supported the capital campaign and development efforts for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. Dave also spent several years working with the Public Interest Network, overseeing teams of citizen outreach and fundraising canvassers, directing voter contact offices in swing states, and cultivating a portfolio of high net donors for CALPIRG.
Before attaining an International Relations degree from UC Davis, he developed a passion for social justice activism as an organizer with ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), where he mobilized low-income communities on campaigns for renter protections, prison sentencing reform, and better access to public schools and emergency services.
A resident of Richmond, Dave enjoys exploring the many biking and hiking routes of the East Bay with his wife and two young daughters.
Emilio Elenes (he/him)
Program Specialist
Emilio is an SR2S Site Coordinator. He works primarily with elementary , middle and high schools primarily in San Lorenzo, Hayward , Dublin and surrounding areas. Emilio is a Bay Area native having lived between Oakland and San Leandro all his life. He is no stranger to the challenges families face getting to and from school. He previously worked as a paraprofessional supporting students in a classroom with individualized needs. Emilio has a passion for youth engagement and hopes to make a change in his community. In his spare time Emilio enjoys spending his time outside with friends, exploring the local parks in the Bay Area, and playing tennis.
Jennifer Ledet
Program Director
Jennifer co-leads the programs team and manages several programs at Transform. Her work is community-centered and focuses on uplifting and empowering people from students to caregivers to residents of affordable housing.
Jennifer loves riding her bike and taking the bus, and wants to work to make active and shared transportation options accessible and fun for all. She has a background in health promotion and education and weaves both into her work with the programs team. In her spare time, you can catch Jennifer on a hike, cooking a pot of gumbo, eating delicious food, or playing with her 3 kids.
Jennifer lives in Elk Grove near Sacramento, but still considers Oakland a second home. She has loved working with Transform since 2013 and making positive changes in communities across Alameda County.
Julia Gerasimenko (she/her)
Housing and Parking Policy Manager
Julia is the Housing and Parking Policy Manager at Transform. In her previous role at the Active Transportation Alliance, she spent seven years working on transportation, housing, and parking issues in Chicago. Prior to that she worked in education access at community based organizations in Chicago, motivated by her own experience as a first-generation college graduate and immigrant from the Soviet Union. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Grinnell College.
In her role at Transform, Julia will be leading our SPOT SJ program and Transit Oriented Communities outreach and engagement in the Five Wounds neighborhood of San Jose. She is excited to help shift the narrative around parking from one of lack to one of abundance and learn from the rich history of housing advocacy in the Bay Area at such a crucial time.
Outside of work, she looks forward to experiencing the flora and fauna of the Bay Area, enjoying fresh Californian produce, and attending concerts.
Liz Holm (she/her)
Operations Manager
Liz is an Operations Manager with extensive experience in retail operations and portfolio management in the Bay Area. With more than a decade’s experience in training, HR, team leadership and business management she is uniquely positioned to eliminate barriers and keep our Oakland office running smoothly.
Liz has a BA and MA in theater and literature and has recently earned her professional certificate in Project Management.
Nia Thompson (she/her)
Program Coordinator
Nia is a Safe Routes To Schools Site Coordinator working primarily with elementary and middle schools in Alameda, Albany, and Fremont. She first began learning about environmental justice while studying the intersections of race, class, and gender in SFSU’s Race and Resistance College and is excited to re-engage this topic while working alongside school communities.
Nia has held roles in a wide range of focus areas, including peer-to-peer mental health, youth leadership development, and working on a national alliance of neurodiversity-affirming campus clubs. She’s also worked as a “plant fairy” in San Francisco and a chocolate barista in Oakland — two of her most cherished titles to date. Nia is a Long Beach native and has called the Bay Area home for the last seven years. She enjoys consuming media, especially from the 90s to 2010s, being a student of disability justice, and engaging the local food economy.
Sheila Islam (she/her/they/them)
Program Manager
Sheila supports Alameda County SR2S schools in K-8 schools in Berkeley, parts of Oakland, Emeryville and San Leandro. Sheila was previously Clean Water Action CA’s first Environmental Justice organizer, spending much of her time focusing on social justice throughout the Bay Area.
Sheila was born and raised in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley where she witnessed the direct health effects living next to a freeway had on her community. She believes that change happens through community empowerment and works to support people in making the best decisions for themselves, their neighborhoods, and the environment.
In their free time, Sheila consumes sci-fi and fantasy media, cuddles with their cat, bikes, and spends time with loved ones (preferably outdoors with some snacks).
Stephanie Jim (she/her)
Program Director
Stephanie co-leads the site coordinator team. Stephanie also does site coordination for elementary and middle schools across Alameda County. Her work is focused on schools in Castro Valley and Fremont.
Stephanie is passionate about building healthier and more active communities. An expert in community health education, she lifts up the strengths of community members in her engagement efforts. Stephanie is particularly inspired by the voices of youth, whose fresh perspectives grow our communities and move us towards a better future.
Stephanie was raised primarily in the Central Valley, and has lived in the East Bay for over 15 years. She appreciates and is proud of the bike culture, beautiful weather, and connected streets of the East Bay, and looks forward to sharing her love of bikes with her growing family.
Zack Deutsch-Gross (he/him)
Executive Director
An organizer by trade, Zack brings over a decade of local, state and federal advocacy experience to the policy team at Transform. Born and raised in San Francisco, for Zack transportation is not just about getting from A to B, but fundamentally about how we engage with each other and build community. Zack is committed to lifting up the voices of the region’s most marginalized communities to craft thoughtful, innovative policies that support an equitable, affordable, sustainable and thriving Bay Area for all.
Prior to joining Transform, Zack was the Policy and Community Investment Director at San Francisco Transit Riders. He holds a Masters in Public Policy from UC Berkeley and a Bachelors in Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz. He currently serves on MTC’s Policy Advisory Council and on the board of I.T. Bookman Community Center. In his free time, he leads backpacking trips for the Sierra Club and is an avid soccer player and fan.
Our Board of Directors
Get to know the talented individuals behind Transform.
Alice Chen (she/her)
Co-Chair
Principal, DKS Associates
Alice Chen brings her expertise as a multimodal transportation planner having worked with several cities in the Bay Area on the circulation elements of their General Plans, bicycle master plans, and pedestrian plans. Her work includes incorporating Complete Streets and Caltrans’ Smart Mobility Framework into transportation planning practices and supporting Caltrans’ efforts to implement Senate Bill 743 and integrate equity into the Strategic Highway Safety Plan.
Originally from small rural towns in New England, she has a degree in Urban Studies from Brown University. She came to the Bay Area for her master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from the University of California Berkeley. She is a certified planner (AICP) with the American Planning Association and a member of the California Planning Roundtable. Alice lives in the walkable, transit-oriented Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland with her husband, who is a transit planner with San Francisco MTA.
Linda Rhine
Co-Chair
Principal, Nelson\Nygaard (Retired)
Linda Rhine is a retiree after 35-plus years in transportation planning. She was a public sector employee at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) before joining Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates in 1992. Linda was a principal, shareholder, and longtime member of the firm’s Board of Directors. Her planning practice was dedicated to transit and paratransit planning including budgeting, funding, auditing, fare policy, and inter-agency service coordination.
Sally Greenspan
Treasurer
Director, Enterprise Community Partners
Sally Greenspan is a Director at Enterprise Community Partners, where she leads Enterprise’s Building Sustainable Communities program. In this role, Sally works to implement programs that address the joint challenges of housing affordability and climate change and create more sustainable, resilient, equitable communities.
Sally’s background also includes positions in private real estate, architecture, public policy & research, and urban planning. She holds a B.A. in urban studies from Stanford and a M.U.P. in urban planning from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.
In her free time Sally loves to make a huge mess in the kitchen, and go on short, slow bike rides around the East Bay with her husband and two young children.
Tejus Shankar
Secretary
Policy Development Manager, Lyft
Tejus Shankar is passionate about the intersection between transportation and land-use to create equitable futures for our cities. As a Policy Development Manager, Tejus leads Lyft’s transit, bike and scooter policy research and strategy while further solidifying opportunities for public-private partnerships in mobility. Tejus brings nearly a decade of experience working in both public and private sectors. As a former management consultant, he has a background in analytics, thought leadership, project management, and mobility innovation and has worked as an innovation fellow with both the MBTA and LA Metro. His academic background also integrates business and public policy. Tejus holds an MBA from UCLA with a focus on real estate and supplementary coursework in urban planning. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelors in economics and public policy. Tejus currently lives in San Francisco and can be found often riding a bike on the slow streets!
Jame Ervin (she/her)
Manager, Stripe
Jame Ervin uses her marketing expertise to help connect and outreach to our communities on the need for smarter development and mobility to support our region’s growth and maintain its diversity. After attending city meetings and planning sessions over the past couple of years, Jame realized that our government agencies (and governing bodies) do not always hear from constituents who most need and desire more inclusive communities and improved transit.
Jame works in demand marketing at Stripe. She formerly worked as a sales and marketing consultant focusing on helping organizations connect marketing and sales by implementing tools and processes to and help marketers provide better ROI for marketing campaigns. Jame studied American Studies at UC Berkeley. She bikes around town and is anxiously awaiting the day we have efficient transit options across the whole region. Jame lives in Oakland and stays Oaklandish by checking out the latest developments, restaurants, and eateries around the Town; her unofficial nickname is “walking Yelp.”
Nirit Lotan
Attorney, Earthjustice
Nirit Lotan is an environmental attorney and has worked in the non-profit and private sector, both in California and in her native country of Israel. She was always fascinated by the impact seemingly mundane land use decisions have on people’s lives and opportunities, and on our shared environment. She has dedicated her professional career to creating a more sustainable and just future for everyone.
Nirit holds law degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and from Columbia University and is currently working for Earthjustice, trying to push back on oil and gas drilling in California and to promote environmental justice. Prior to that, she worked for a Bay Area law firm, was the head of the Environmental Justice Clinic in Tel Aviv University, and a staff attorney in a non-profit.
She lives in South Bay and she likes to spend her free time in the beautiful outdoors of California with her partner and three boys and to read.
Warren Logan (he/him)
City Planning Consultant
Warren Logan is an Oakland resident with a strong history of public service and community engagement. Professionally, Warren is a principal advisor at Lighthouse Public Affairs where he manages government relations and strategic communication projects. Before working in the private sector Warren worked in several public agencies including the City of Berkeley’s Transportation Division managing parking and travel demand management, the City and County of San Francisco managing shared mobility policy, and the Mayor’s Office of Oakland managing local, regional and state transportation policy.
Personally, Warren enjoys exploring Oakland neighborhoods on his electric bike, playing with his corgi QE and German shepherd Frankie, and spending time with friends. Warren received his Master’s in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design in 2013 and his B.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy from Occidental College in 2011.