Community Outreach,
Research & Education

Community Outreach,
Research & Education

board members and staff

Don Borut, Board Chair

Don has served on many non-profit boards of directors and currently serves on the Levine Music, The Washington Chorus, National Theatre Boards and is a member of the advisory Boards of Think-Kids and the Center of State and Local Government Excellence@ICMA RC.

Don served as the Executive Director of the National League of Cities from 1990 – 2013 following 18 years with the International City/County Management Association. He is a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow and former Chair of its State and Local Government Working Group. He enjoys walking for exercise and rides a bike when on vacation.

Jeff Ciabotti, Board Treasurer

Jeff has spent his more than 25-year planning and advocacy career focused on creating healthy, sustainable communities through developing networks of trails, greenways, and connecting corridors for everyone to use. Over this time, his work has concentrated on the pathway between vision, planning, and implementation – taking good ideas and turning them into reality. Jeff's background as Vice President for Trail Development at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy gives him in-depth knowledge of the connection between land use, transportation, and health. He has presented numerous workshops, trainings, and keynote addresses domestically and internationally to share his knowledge and enthusiasm for trails and greenways. His day job is as the Trails and Greenways Practice Lead and Deputy Director of Planning for Toole Design’s the Mid-Atlantic Region. He is a recognized national leader in trails and active transportation.

Outside of work, Jeff gets his inspiration outdoors through gardening, riding, paddling,or hiking all varieties of trails and experiencing nature with his adventurous family.

Dick Fleming, Board Member

Dick’s experience as a city and regional planner includes community and economic development, and civic entrepreneurship in nonprofit, for profit, and public sector roles at the local, regional, and national levels. He serves as a board member or advisor for several organizations, including the Clean Economy Solutions, a national economic and environmental nonprofit funded by foundations including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Community Development Ventures, a consulting firm dedicated to public/private partnerships, clean economy initiatives, and urban education/charters schools; and the “Innovation District and Placemaking Project” for the Brookings Institution and Project for Public Spaces.

Evren Sonmez, Board Member

Evren is the Director of Strategic Policy and Practice at Living Streets Alliance (LSA), a Tucson-based nonprofit advocacy organization that envisions streets as living public spaces that connect people to places and to each other.

With a passion for people-friendly public spaces, she led the development of Tucson’s Complete Streets policy, collaborated with neighborhoods across Tucson on walkability initiatives, supported schools to implement Safe Routes to School programming, and facilitated various community engagement processes focused on amplifying traditionally marginalized voices.

Evren has a Master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Arizona in Tucson where she currently lives.

Trey Hahn, Board Member

Trey is an urban mobility planner and educator specialized in the user experience of cycling. He trains transportation professionals and activists in people-centered design methods for studying everyday people and fitting cycling infrastructure into their lives. He has worked on 7 online courses on urban mobility that have reached over 25,000 enrollments, actively manages multiple open resources including a database of 600+ cycling infrastructure documents and presents to international audiences. He has worked across the academic, startup, government, nonprofit, and private sectors. Outside of work, Trey enjoys outdoor activities, board games, history and exploring cities.

Carol Kachadoorian, Executive Director

Carol has a breadth of knowledge of and expertise in transportation planning and operations, working at both the city and regional levels, including school- and community-based active transportation plans and older adult mobility. She understands the importance of both big data and personal experience to determine feasible changes to transportation systems that make travel by all modes safe, accessible, and comfortable for all ages and abilities.

Carol has spoken nationally and regionally on the need to revise long-standing perceptions of older adults through words and images. She continues to conduct research on older adult mobility and wellness, partnering with several universities.