Speaker Profiles
Jeffrey (Jeff) Casello, Associate Professor, School of Planning, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo.
Professor Casello’s interests lie in urban transportation systems and their impacts on healthy and economically viable urban areas. As such, he conducts research on the design and operation of public transportation systems, urban highway systems, and facilities for non-motorized modes. His research aims to promote efficient, balanced transportation that enhances regional economic competitiveness and supports social mobility. His current work involves the application of GIS to urban area analysis and the development and implementation of utility-based multi-modal travel forecasting models. Dr. Casello has a co-appointment in the Department of Civil Engineering and the School of Planning.
Jeff comes to the University of Waterloo from the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his Ph.D. in December of 2003 and served as a Postdoctoral Researcher for a term. He also did his undergraduate work in Philadelphia, as well as a Masters degree. He also completed a second Masters degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, where his research involved traveler behaviour in the presence of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).
His professional experience includes six years as a highway designer for the New York State Department of Transportation, and recurring consultant work for several transit agencies and metropolitan governments. Jeff is a Professional Engineer in New York and Pennsylvania.
Chris A. Cavacuiti - MD, CCFP, MHSc, ASAM
Dr. Chris Cavacuiti is a family physician in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at St. Michael's Hospital and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Cycling has always played a large role in his life. Not only has he competed in triathlons, he is a member Endurosport's ProjectFreeride.com master men’s cycling team, and is also the former medical director for a professional woman’s cycling team. Dr. Cavacuiti is a contributing editor to Dandyhorse cycling magazine, a co-chair on the Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee, and a board member for the Share the Road Coalition. He also is the principal investigator in several ongoing research studies on cycling health and safety.
Loy Cheah, Manager, Transportation Planning, The Regional Municipality of York
Loy Cheah is a professional engineer and Manager of Transportation Planning at the Regional Municipality of York. Prior to re-joining York Region, Loy was a Senior Transportation Planner with the City of Toronto, Transportation Engineer with York Region and Senior Transportation Analyst with the University of Toronto. His career in transportation planning started in 1988. He is well known for his expertise in the areas of transportation demand management, data collection and analysis and transportation demand model development and application. Loy has a Masters degree in transportation engineering and a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Toronto
Dave Cieslewicz, Mayor, Madison, Wisconsin
Dave Cieslewicz (chess LEV ich) was first elected Mayor of Madison in April, 2003, and re-elected to a second term in April, 2007. As Mayor, Cieslewicz has focused primarily on public safety and provision of quality basic services for Wisconsin's fastest-growing city. Promoting Madison's environmental activism, Cieslewicz was one of the first mayors in America to sign on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to reduce Madison's greenhouse gas emissions. Under his leadership, the city’s Platinum Bicycling Committee was established in 2006, with the overall goal of achieving the Platinum Level awarded by the League of America Bicyclist - Bicycle Friendly Communities program, and to put forward a roadmap - or bike path - for Madison to become the best city in the country for cycling.
Chris Clapham , Program Coordinator, Sustainable Transportation, Traffic Engineering Section, Engineering and Construction Department, Town of Oakville.
Mr. Clapham has been with the Town of Oakville for over 8 years now, and has handled various tasks and responsibilities within the field of Traffic Engineering, Operations, Parking, Environmental Assessments and Transportation Demand Management. Mr. Clapham currently oversees the Smart Commute Program and the Active Transportation Master Plan for the Town of Oakville, is an active member of the steering committee for the Active and Safe Routes to School project with Halton Region, and contributes to a variety of other projects within the Town that are linked to transportation demand management.
Andy Clarke, Executive Director, League of American Bicyclists
Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. In addition to his strong policy background, Clarke has managed a range of bicycle and pedestrian planning projects at the state and metropolitan levels and has worked extensively with state and local advocacy groups. Clarke is a 1984 graduate of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom with an undergraduate degree in Law. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.
Colleen Cooper, Public Health Nurse, Region of Waterloo Public Health
Ms Cooper is a Public Health Nurse working in Health Lifestyles Program at Region of Waterloo Public Health. She has worked in Public Health for 28 years and has been a certified CAN-BIKE Instructor since 1998. She commutes to work on her bike, and works to promote cycling in general, and safe cycling in particular in her community. Colleen will outline the benefits of developing effective relationships with public health agencies in your community, and how these relationships can be mutually beneficial in building bicycle friendly communities.
Phillip Darnton, Chairman, Cycling England
Educated at Oxford, Phillip spent 30 years of his career in Unilever working both in the UK and Canada and for six years in Brazil. Cycling England has worked tirelessly to make the case for cycling, showing how the humble bicycle can transform the way we travel to create a greener, healthier nation "Unless the full benefits of cycling are taken into account we will systematically under-invest in cycling. Cycling must compete for investment with other modes of transport and this requires robust evidence of its benefits." Cycling England has proposed a model to convince planners and politicians of the benefits of investing in cycling. His organization shows how local authority planners can apply conventional cost benefit modeling to ensure a better return on investment for every (dollar) spent on cycling. "We believe the Cycling Planning Model will help give local authorities a clearer sense of the return on investment cycling can deliver. We hope it will enable them to build cycling into their thinking at an earlier stage in the planning process."
Daniel Egan, Manager of Pedestrian and Cycling Infrastructure, Transportation Services Division, City of Toronto.
Daniel coordinated development of the Toronto Bike Plan and his group is responsible for implementing the Bikeway Network, bicycle parking, cycling promotions and cyclist education elements of the Plan. On the pedestrian front, Daniel is leading development of the new Toronto Walking Strategy, which included hosting the Walk21 international conference in Toronto in October 2007.
Pierre Filion - Professor and Graduate Officer, School of Planning, University of Waterloo
Following undergraduate and graduate studies at Université de Laval, Dr. Filion earned his PhD in Urban Studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury. His numerous publications focus on the areas of downtown and inner city planning, metropolitan region planning, and land use transportation interaction.
Diane Freeman, Councilor, City of Waterloo; Chair, Host Committe, Ontario Bicycle Summit
Diane Freeman earned her degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1992 and upon graduation began her employment with Conestoga-Rovers & Associates.
Diane is an Associate with Conestoga-Rovers & Associates and has over 17 years of engineering experience with 13 years in the air and noise department. Diane has considerable expertise in the area of ambient air quality monitoring program development and implementation, air dispersion modelling, and air emission inventories. Diane is also an accomplished meeting facilitator and has managed numerous multi-stakeholder meetings. Diane is a licensed professional engineer in the province of Ontario and in addition to her professional career provides a large amount of her time volunteering.
In November 2006, Diane was elected as a City of Waterloo Councillor. She has served the profession of engineering in Ontario as a Board member for the 70,000 member licensing body known as Professional Engineers Ontario since 2000. Diane was recently elected as President-Elect of Professional Engineers Ontario. In 2007, she was elected a director on the board of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, where she sits as a member of the Large Urban Caucus. She is also the secretary of the Air and Waste Management Association (Ontario section).
John D, Hill, Principal Planner, Transportation Demand Management, Waterloo Region
Mr. Hill has developed policy on road contamination and advises transportation projects on cycling design standards. John Hill is dedicated to sustainable transportation and new urbanism, and, since moving to Waterloo Region in 2004, he has used cycling, transit, and walking to forego owning a car. These experiences inform recent projects which include an update to the Region’s Cycling Master Plan, the development of supportive parking and development guidelines for sustainable transportation, as well as enhancements to the Region of Waterloo’s commuter options program—Travelwise.
Briana Illingworth, Transportation Policy and Planning Advisor, Metrolinx
Briana Illingworth is currently working as part of the Transportation Policy and Planning tem at Metrolinx to implement The Big Move, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area regional transportation plan. A cornerstone for this work is the development of Mobility Hubs, which provide multi-modal access and seamless transfers to the regional rapid transit system and improve the customer experience. Briana will present information on recent activities at Metrolinx, and highlight some of their plans for active transportation.
Kris Jacobsen, Transportation Services Manager, City of St. Catharines
Judith Hull, Senior Counsel, Judith Hull and Associates Personal Injury Lawyers
Ms. Hull is a personal injury lawyer with her own practice in London, Ontario. She has been practicing personal injury law for over twelve years and has successfully argued cycling civil liability cases. The current President of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association Ms. Hull will share her significant knowledge of personal injury law, provide advice as to the various legal liabilities and outline how the legal system works in the event of a collision.
Justin Lafontaine, Bike Train Ontario
Justin Lafontaine has been developing innovative tourism initiatives and collaborative partnerships since 2000. Most recently, he founded the Bike Train Initiative, a project supported by over 30 organizations and businesses and launched in summer 2007, introducing bike racks onboard select VIA Rail departures between Toronto and Niagara Falls. The Bike Train is an independently coordinated, promoted and ticketed service, utilizing existing passenger trains and schedules.
Todd Alexander Litman, Founder and Executive Director, Victoria Transport Policy Institute
Located in Victoria, B.C., VTPI is an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative solutions to transport problems. Mr. Litman’s work helps to expand the range of impacts and options considered in transportation decision-making, improve evaluation techniques, and make specialized technical concepts accessible to a larger audience. His research is used worldwide in transport planning and policy analysis.Mr. Litman is author of the Online TDM Encyclopedia, a comprehensive Internet resource for identifying and evaluating mobility management strategies. He has worked on numerous studies that evaluate the costs and benefits of various transportation services and activities. He authored Transportation Cost and Benefit Analysis: Techniques, Estimates and Implications, a comprehensive study of transport impacts, which provides cost and benefit information in an easy-to-apply format.
Donald F. May, President, Parks and Recreation Ontario; Professional Consultant, Almost There Inc.
Based in Burlington, Ontario, Don is a professional land use planner with over thirty years experience in municipal, private and institutional consulting. He is past president of the Ontario Professional Planning Institute and the Burlington Art Centre. Don is interested in both the built form of our communities and the opportunities for everyone to be active throughout their lives. With a commitment to giving back to the community, Don believes that we all need to work together to improve our quality of life and general health. Don has continued to enjoy the outdoors by recently touring Georgian Bay and Algonquin Park in his kayak.
Lorenzo Mele, Coordinator, Transportation Demand Management, Town of Markham
Mr. Mele has more than 15 years of experience designing and managing environment programs and services, including: home composting, solid waste reduction/recycling, water conservation, and transportation demand management. He has also worked in forest management and forest regeneration programs in Ontario and B.C., and holds a B.Sc. and a diploma in forest technology from Lakehead University. Mr. Mele chairs the board of directors for the Association of Commuter Transportation of Canada and has served as a Western regional director of the Compost Council of Canada, and as president of the Victoria Compost and Conservation Society and the Green Challenge Society.
Norma Moores, P.Eng. Senior Transportation Engineer, IBI Group
Ms. Moores was involved in the Transportation Association of Canada’s original Bikeway Traffic Control Guidelines for Canada (1998), a more than seven-year volunteer effort to publish national guidelines on signs and pavement markings for bikeways.Norma is currently leading TAC’s project on a Synthesis of Practices for Active Transportation in Canada. She recently completed the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Active Transportation Plan, Cambridge Bikeway Network Plan and contributed to Ottawa’s Pedestrian Plan. Ms. Moores is on the Board of Directors for the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) and a fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). She bikes four seasons to work in Hamilton with help of bike racks on the buses for that escarpment climb home.
Gary Murphy, Cycling Advocate St. Catharines, Board Member, Share The Road Cycling Coalition
Gary spent 34 years working with Air Canada rising to the position of Chief of Flight Dispatch Operations. Upon retirement in 2002, Gary started cycling for recreation and was hooked. Gary joined the Burlington Cycling Committee where he became Chair for 3 years and started work on a new Cycling Master Plan. The $41 million plan was enacted by City Council in July of 2009. Gary helped to form Garden City Alliance for Sustainable Transportation (GCAST) in St. Catharines in 2008; he is now Co-Chair. In cooperation with the City of St. Catharines, Gary and GCAST have increased the available road bike lanes from 300 meters to over 20 kms. Their work will also result in bike racks on city busses in 2010 and, this year alone, another 20 kms of on road bike lanes.
Jason Murray, Ontario Representative, International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA).
Jason is a Computer Engineer working at MTS Allstream in Information Security. His first "real" bike was a Raleigh BMX, and he would take that out to the dirt trails and jumps near his house. It was there he developed his love of riding on dirt. Later on he got his first mountain bike and hasn't looked back since. He's been a competitor, coach and commissaire in mountain biking.Jason became a mountain biking advocate after signing a petition to keep Greenwood CA open to mountain biking. As a consequence he founded a mountain bike club (the Durham Mountain Biking Club), that is now in its fifth season. He learned the ins and outs of trail construction, and has been building trails, legally, since 2004 at locations such as the Don Valley, Glen Major, and Durham Forest. He joined IMBA Canada as part time staff in 2008 to focus on advocacy, access, and trail building at a provincial level.
Marc Panneton, Transports Québec
Marc Panneton is an Urban Planner and graduated from the Universite de Montreal in 1982. He worked on urban and regional planning for several organizations until 1992 when he joined the Ministere des Transports du Quebec as their Bicycle Coordinator. As part of his responsibilities, he leads the La Route verte Project for the Quebec Government.Marc’s work is his passion. In 1995, the Ministry created a cycling policy to cover almost all cycling related aspects concerning the Ministry and the auto insurers of Québec. It encompasses legislation and education, as well as planning. Moreover, this policy fixes intervention benchmarks for the Ministry regarding the financing of cycling infrastructure. Revised in May 2008, the new Policy continues the efforts made in 1995 and stresses even more the use of the bicycle as a true means of transport, in particular in the urban environment. It is thanks to this policy and the initiatives of municipal and regional partners that "la belle province" has more than 8000 kilometers of cycling paths, of which 4036 are contained in "La Route verte".
Susan Sauvé, Transportation Demand Management Planner, City of Peterborough
Graduating from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Environmental Studies, Urban and Regional Planning, Susan has been interested and involved in environmental activities all her adult life. In 2004, Susan sprung at an opportunity to work in the sustainable transportation field as the City of Peterborough's first Transportation Demand Management Planner. Previously, she worked in the waste management field for McLaren Engineers, City of Waterloo and the City of Peterborough. The goal of her current work is to reduce auto trips through promotion and facilitation of walking, cycling, public transit, carpooling and telecommuting. As an avid walker and cyclist, Susan brings enthusiasm to this relatively new and rapidly growing field. Trails are an important component of the infrastructure that supports walking and cycling, so Susan has become involved in the development of the trail and bikeway system in the City of Peterborough.
Sue Shikaze, Health Promoter, Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit
Haliburton County has a vibrant group of volunteers and professionals working together to create active communities. Late in 2004, the Communities in Action Committee (CIA) formed to begin promotion and planning for active transportation. The (CIA) formed to begin promotion and planning for active transportation. In 2005 the Haliburton Highlands Cycling Coalition (HHCC) was formed to advocate and plan for cycling. The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit, which covers three different counties, is the administrative parent of the HHCC. Two staff from the Health Unit sit on the HHCC; other members are volunteers and cyclists. Haliburton recently received funds from the Government of Ontario to pursue a "Share the Road" campaign.
Nancy Smith Lea, Program Director, Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT)
Nancy Smith Lea is a strong advocate and champion for active transportation. Before joining TCAT, she worked for over 15 years as a senior research officer at the University of Toronto and holds a M.A. in sociology and equity studies from OISE/UT (thesis title "Cycling Safety: Shifting from an Individual to a Social Responsibility Model"). She was a member of the committee formed by the Regional Coroner of Toronto to prepare recommendations for reducing cycling injuries and death and is the TCAT representative on the University of British Columbia's Bicyclists Injuries and the Cycling Environment research team. Nancy is a co-founder of Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists, a past board director of the Community Bicycle Network, and a founding member and board director of the Toronto Cyclists Union through its first year of operation. Nancy is also the Active Transportation Director for the Clean Air Partnership
Hon. Paddy Torsney, Vice President, Capital Hill Group.
Paddy was a federal Member of Parliament for 12 years. During this time, she was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers of International Cooperation and Environment. More recently, she was Deputy Principal Secretary to the Leader of the Official Opposition. Prior to her election in 1993, Paddy lobbied at Queen's Park and various provincial and municipal governments across the country from 1989-93, following her four year tenure in the Ontario Premier's Office and the Liberal Caucus Services Bureau.
Ken Seiling, Chair, Regional Municipality of Waterloo
A life-long resident of Elmira, Ontario, Ken Seiling attended Elmira District Secondary School and received his post-secondary education at Waterloo Lutheran University, McMaster University, and the University of Toronto. After two years as a councilor and seven years as Mayor of Woolwich Township, Ken was first elected by Regional Council as Regional Chair in 1985 and again in 1988, 1991, and 1994. In 1997, he became the first directly elected Regional Chair in Waterloo Region. He was re-elected in 2000, 2003, and 2006. As Regional Chair, Ken has experience at both levels of municipal government and with many Boards and Commissions, including the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board, Waterloo Regional Library Board, Waterloo North Hydro Commission, and the Grand River Conservation Authority.He has served as Chair of the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board and Chair of Regional Chairs of Ontario. He serves on the Board of Governors of the University of Waterloo. As Regional Chair, Ken is also a member of all Regional Standing Committees. Provincially, Ken sits on the Board of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), and has served on many AMO groups and sub-committees. Currently he is serving as Chair of the Mayors and Regional Chairs of Ontario. He has been appointed by the Province to sit on a variety of advisory panels and committees over the years.Ken and his wife Kathryn live in Elmira. They have five children and four grand children. For 40 years, Ken served as an organist and choirmaster and now enjoys filling in at the organ in churches across the Region. Having started his working life as a history teacher, Ken continues to have an ongoing interest in things historical.Constable Hugh Smith, Toronto Police ServiceConstable Hugh Smith joined the Toronto Police Service in May 1987. For 10 years he worked as a front-line officer in the Downtown Toronto area. He was one of the founding officers of the Bicycle Patrol Unit that was established in 1990. His professional experience includes becoming Can-Bike II Certified Instructor in 1994, and a National Examiner in 1999. From 1997 to 2009, Constable Smith was a Police Vehicle Operations instructor at the Toronto Police College. He is certified in all aspects of vehicle operations; Bicycles, All Terrain Vehicles, Motorcycles, Cruisers, Trucks and Buses. His professional experience has allowed him to instruct to various outside police agencies as well as the private sector. Most of them have adopted some form of bicycle patrol or cycling initiatives within their program. Constable Smith has recently being assigned to the Traffic Services Unit, Traffic programs section, specializing in communications and media relations. Though trained on various vehicles throughout his career, he still states that a bicycle was his first real vehicle and he hopes to stay healthy long enough to make it his last.
Ginny Sullivan, Special Projects Director, League of American Bicyclists
Ginny (or more formally, Virginia) manages two major projects for Adventure Cycling –the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route and the US Bicycle Route System. Ginny kept an eye on Adventure Cycling Association for quite some time before joining the team in 2005. Her work experience lies in health and fitness promotion and disease prevention. For the past 11 years, Ginny has taught fitness classes, including cycling. She loves her job and constantly touts, "I have the best job in Missoula!" When she’s not chasing her three children, two dogs, one cat and husband around to running, biking and hockey events, she enjoys biking, running, hiking/backpacking and playing hockey.
Superintendent Brent Thomlison, Deputy Chief of Police, Administration, Waterloo Region Police Service
Deputy Chief Thomlison joined the Waterloo Regional Police Service in June 1982. Since that time he has held progressively responsible positions including criminal and drug operations, front-line and Communications Centre Supervisor, Executive Officer to Chief of Police, Second-in-Command of Division #1, and Superintendent of Community and Corporate Services.Deputy Chief Thomlison serves as the Administration Commander, providing senior leadership to the Support Services, Community and Corporate Services Divisions, as well as the Finance and Administration Branch.He currently serves as a member of the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Council of Waterloo Region, and is an active member of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, serving on both the Training and Youth Committees.
Staff Sergeant Chris Whaley, Manager of Specialized Patrol, Ontario Provincial Police
Chris Whaley has been a police officer since 1993. He is the Provincial Manager of Specialized Patrol for the Ontario Provincial Police which includes oversight of the Police Cyclist Program. He is an off-road riding instructor and former coach as well as a former CAN-BIKE and OMBI Instructor. He was the first League Cyclist Instructor (LCI) outside the U.S. certified by the League of American Bicyclists and the first Police and EMS Cyclist Instructor in Canada certified by the International Police Mountain Bike Association. Chris was also one of the contributing authors to “The Complete Guide for Public Safety Cyclists” and is always willing to talk bikes with anyone that will listen
Doug Wyseman – Principle, Municipal Risk Services.
Mr. Wyseman has been involved in Risk Management since 1973. He has worked in the public sector as risk manager for a large Canadian municipality and in the private sector for insurers of public entities.He is the principal of the firm Municipal Risk Services Limited which specializes in the development and implementation of risk management initiatives; risk assessments; and the developing and presenting risk management training programs. Doug has unique experience having done risk training and assessments with groups such as the American Public Works Association, American Trails, and the Public Risk Management Association and having worked on the committee for the development of the Minimum Road Maintenance Standards in Ontario. He also provided assistance to the Health Canada in the development of the Safe Routes to School/ Walking School Bus program and has been fortunate enough to provide advice on roads and trail concerns for individual municipalities from Halifax to Honolulu.His experience also includes providing risk management advice to a US municipal insurance pool after they paid $49,890,000 to settle a bicycle lane lawsuit.
