Board of Directors

Board Chair: Corinne Winter, President and Executive Director, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

Policy Chair: Amanda Brown-Stevens, Deputy Director, Greenbelt Alliance

Fundraising Vice-Chairs: Barnali Ghosh, Landscape Architect; Co-founder, AviationJustice; Jennifer Jeffers, Environmental Attorney, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Mike Daley, Communications Manager, EAH Housing

Chione Flegal, Associate Director, PolicyLink

Jean Fraser, Chief of the Health System for San Mateo County

Yoriko Kishimoto, Director, Mid-peninsula Regional Open District; former Mayor of Palo Alto

Dan Luscher, COO, Water.org

Brian Raymond MPH, Senior Health Policy Consultant, Kaiser Permanente

Deborah Schoenbaum, Faculty Member, Center for Whole Communities

Evelyn Stivers, Field Director, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California

Rick Theis, Founder and Board Chair, Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy; Executive Committee Member, Accountable Development Coalition; Sonoma County Housing Coalition, Consensus Council

Advisory Council

Board Bios

Corrine Winter, Board Chair

Corinne Winter has served on TransForm's Board of Directors since 2007 and currently serves as the board's chair. TransForm's goal of promoting walkable communities across the region resonates very well both with her values and her role as the Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC). Corinne graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a BA degree in Environmental Studies and a minor in Physics, where she wrote her thesis on Sustainable Transportation Policy. In Spring of 2011 she was named as one of 100 “Women of Influence” by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. In addition to her work with TransForm and SVBC, she sits on the boards of the League of American Bicyclists, the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition, and the Downtown San Jose Parking Board. When she isn't working, she enjoys biking, hiking, traveling, cooking, gardening, and reading.

Amanda Brown-Stevens, Policy Vice-Chair

Amanda Brown-Stevens joined the TransForm Board of Directors in 2006 and currently serves as the board's policy co-vice chair and co-chair of the Policy Committee. Through her experience as Deputy Director of Greenbelt Alliance, Amanda has seen the importance of an effective, affordable transportation network throughout the Bay Area. She has had the privilege of working closely with TransForm both at Greenbelt Alliance and in her capacity on the Board of Directors to advocate for integrated land use and transportation planning. In particular she is proud of the work TransForm has done to help plan and build vibrant, walkable, bikable communities near transit that are affordable to all Bay Area residents. Amanda originally learned the intricacies of city policymaking through her job as an aide to Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Wesleyan University and a M.P.P. from the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley. Amanda lives in Oakland and in her free time loves to hang out at her local farmers’ market, and enjoy the Bay Area’s amazing parks, museums and other activities with her husband and two girls who are growing up using many different modes of transportation. While her husband is an avid cyclist, she hopes to pass on to her girls her love of riding the bus.

Barnali Ghosh, Fundraising Vice-Chair

Barnali joined the TransForm Board in 2011 and is currently the board's fundraising co-vice Chair. She has been car-free for over twelve years, relying on bikes, public transit, walking, and car-sharing. She is excited to serve on the board of an organization that has had a direct impact on her life and whose work allows her to live according to her values. Barnali is a LEED-certified California landscape architect with over a decade of experience in planning, design, sustainability, and community outreach.  She specializes in the design of public parks, schoolyards, and streetscapes, with an emphasis on sustainability and universal design. She has worked on projects in the United States, Japan, and India. Barnali's passion for sustainable transportation and deep concern about the impacts of climate change led her to spend 2009-2010 doing a year-long green citizen journalism project, writing on issues related to global transportation and climate justice, as she and her husband attempted to travel around the world aviation-free. She conducted over 60 interviews with climate justice activists, NGO workers, and climate-impacted community members, while traveling to 60 cities in 14 countries by cargo ship, ferry, express bus, and train. Her reporting can be found at Year Of No Flying (www.yearofnoflying.com). She is also founding member of the Aviation Justice coalition (www.aviationjustice.org), formed in 2010 to raise awareness about the impacts of aviation related to climate change, noise, pollution, and civil rights, while advocating for alternatives to an unsustainable system. Barnali enjoys long walks, good food, movies, and nurturing her newfound love of performing on stage.

Jennifer Jeffers, Fundraising Vice-Chair

Jennifer Jeffers joined TransForm’s Board of Directors in December 2011 and serves as the Board’s fundraising co-vice chair.  Jennifer’s roots in the environmental sector run deep.  With a B.A. in environmental biology from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and an M.S. in environmental science and policy and J.D. in law from the University of California-Berkeley, Jennifer’s first career focused on international marine conservation, an issue still very near and dear to her.  Jennifer is currently an environmental attorney at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco and, as part of her work, she advises clients regarding compliance with state and local agency regulations regarding commercial, mixed-use, and renewable energy project development and permitting.  Jennifer also has a particular interest in the implementation of AB 32 and SB 375.  Growing up in the car-centric suburbs of Colorado, Jennifer appreciates the need for and benefit of smart growth principals and strategic land use planning.  Now, as a daily user of transbay bus and Bart services and a resident of a highly walkable neighborhood in North Oakland, Jennifer is passionate about TransForm’s focus on improving access to affordable, accessible, reliable, and extensive transit service.  Jennifer is an avid gardener, traveler, scuba diver and photographer whenever a free moment presents itself.

Mike Daley

Mike Daley works at EAH Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer and manager that believes that the smartest growth must include housing affordable to all segments of our communities.  Before EAH, he worked nine years with Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter, working with TransForm and BOSS on improving Alameda County Measure B 2000, among other campaigns.  He is an active board member and volunteer with several other environmental and social justice organizations, including the local Sierra Club, East Bay Housing Organizations, League of Conservation Voters of the East Bay and the Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative. Mike holds a BA in Philosophy from University of California at Berkeley and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from California State University, Hayward.

Chione Flegal

Chione L. Flegal, is an Associate Director at PolicyLink, where she works to ensure that infrastructure policy, and public investments in infrastructure, promote social, economic and environmental equality. Chione leads the organization’s California policy work, as well as efforts to address disparities faced by low-income unincorporated communities. Prior to joining PolicyLink Chione was a Senior Program Manager for Latino Issues Forum. In this capacity she directed the organization’s work on issues of environmental health and justice and managed a team of staff members working to promote solutions to the unique environmental problems impacting California’s Latino communities. She has worked as a consultant for organizations in the United States and abroad including, among others, CARE International and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Currently, Chione serves on the board of directors for the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, a statewide coalition of water justice advocates. Chione is a recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency’s STAR Fellowship and received both a Masters in City Planning and a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Science, Policy and Management from UC Berkeley. Chione lives in Oakland, California with her husband Gabriele and her children, Mateo and Adriana.

Jean Fraser

As a public health professional, Jean is a strong proponent of walkable, bikable, livable communities as a critical component of public health. She promotes active transportation and smart growth and looks to bring equity into health and transportation issues in a pragmatic way. Jean currently is Chief of the Health System for San Mateo County, where she is responsible for all County health functions. During her tenure in San Mateo, Jean has strengthened the Health System’s focus on promoting active transportation. Prior to her position in San Mateo, Jean was the CEO of the San Francisco Health Plan, where she helped bring up Healthy San Francisco, the city-sponsored program to cover all uninsured residents, and Healthy Kids, the city-sponsored insurance program that made San Francisco one of the only places in the country where every child had insurance. Prior board service includes SPUR and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, where Jean founded the Freedom from Training Wheels workshop for kids wanting to learn to ride their bikes. Jean and her family commute to work and school by foot, by bicycle and by public transit; Jean now bikes to and from Caltrain from her westside San Francisco home daily. Jean brings a broad and influential network, including connections in public health, law, and government.

Yoriko Kishimoto

Yoriko Kishimoto jumped into politics as a young mother of two because she was passionate about living in a community where children could safely walk and bike to school.  To turn around a deep-seated culture, she discovered she had to get involved in the comprehensive plan, neighborhood organization and eventually run for city council.  As councilwoman and Mayor of Palo Alto, Yoriko's call to action was to "build a green economy through innovation".  She was thrilled to work on many city and regional initiatives from electric vehicles and Caltrain to, of course, safe routes to school.  Yoriko became a board member of Valley Transportation Authority, Bay Area Air Quality Management District and Joint Policy Committee, which worked to coordinate the big four regional agencies of the Bay Area.  Yoriko was a partner of TransForm from its earliest days as the head of Palo Alto Civic League and has long looked to it for its unique analysis and regional leadership.  Today, she serves as a board member of Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and is happy to be able to work on both open space and urban infrastructure issues. She has an MBA from Stanford University.  

Dan Luscher

Dan Luscher, who joined the board in December 2012, is a passionate believer in TransForm’s work to promote vibrant and healthful communities through smart transportation and land use decisions. He is a finance and operations executive with 20 years of experience helping small, purpose-driven organizations grow in scope, impact, and geographic reach. Dan is currently Chief Operating Officer of Water.org, a growing international NGO dedicated to using market-based solutions to accelerate access to safe water and sanitation worldwide. Previously, Dan was CFO of BSR (Business for Social Responsibility), where he built and led BSR's global shared services functions. Earlier in his career, Dan worked as an environmental consultant on transportation, land use, and air quality issues; clients included the U.S. EPA, the Sacramento and South Coast Air Quality Management Districts, and the California Air Resources Board. Dan has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and a Master in Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, where his master’s thesis evaluated transit-oriented development in the Bay Area. Dan, who lives in San Francisco with his wife and three kids, is a trail runner who can occasionally be found in local music clubs playing drums with his rock band.

Brian Raymond

Brian Raymond is excited to bring his passion about the intersections of transportation and health to the TransForm board, where he has served since January 2012.  Having worked in the health care industry for nearly three decades, Brian views healthy transportation options as a key health concern, in terms of air quality, injury risk, physical activity, and access to necessities of life.  In his capacity as Senior Health Policy Consultant at the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy, Brian analyzes emerging policy issues and supports the health policy decisionmaking process within Kaiser Permanente.  At the Institute for Health Policy, his current areas of focus include policy strategies to promote healthy eating, active living, and health equity.  Brian received a bachelor's degree in community health administration from the University of California, Davis, and a master's degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley.  A native of the Bay Area, Brian currently resides in Berkeley where he is an avid, even compulsive, walker.

Deborah Schoenbaum

Since 2003, Deborah has served on the faculty at the Center for Whole Communities, facilitating residential retreats and trainings that focus on encouraging leaders in their aspiration to work more holistically within their communities. These retreats initiate values-based inquiries that help social and environmental change agents better understand and communicate the values that hold them together and, later, inform better strategies and tactics to work collaboratively and see their potential in a new light. Through her prior leadership positions at Social Venture Network, Conservation Corps North Bay, The Nature Conservancy, and Trust for Public Land, Deborah has devoted her non-profit career to working for organizations that align directly with her personal values: environmental protection, social equity, public policy and education, environmental justice and youth development. Born and raised in San Francisco, Deborah currently resides in Novato, California. Along with her husband and two daughters, she enjoys making music, camping, traveling, cooking and exploring the outdoors with their two dogs.

Evelyn Stivers

Evelyn Stivers joined the board of TransForm in 2008 and currently serves on the policy committee and as the audit committee chair. Evelyn is an experienced political organizer and currently works as the Field Director for the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH).  In that role, she works with local organizations to pass policies and programs that enable the development of affordable housing. As an affordable housing advocate, Evelyn is passionate about improving local transit services that low- income communities depend on.  Prior to joining NPH, Evelyn graduated from Green Corps, a field school for environmental organizing. She also directed the Western States Field Office for the US Public Interest Research Group and served as the Livable Communities Associate Director for Greenbelt Alliance.  In her free time, Evelyn enjoys sailing, biking and taking the bus.

Rick Theis

It may seem a curious route that brought Rick Theis, once the executive director of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association, to ardently support progressive transportation and land-use policy. In 1985 he realized that to protect the County’s prized vineyard land required stopping urban sprawl, so he helped organize a campaign with Greenbelt Alliance to create voter-approved urban growth boundaries.  The campaign committee affectionately called him the “drum major.”  Then he realized that to make UGBs permanent required that cities and towns become more desirous places to live—affordable, walkable, bikeable, and pedestrian and transit oriented.   He was appointed to the Santa Rosa Planning Commission in 1989 but was kicked off in 1993 for opposing big-box development.  After that he served on the board of Urban Ecology for 8 years where he helped found what is now TransForm and co-founded the Sonoma County Transportation/Land Use Coalition.  In 2000 he founded the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy (www.ecoleader.org), based in Santa Rosa, which trains leaders to create public policy for a sustainable future; it has graduated 400 fellows in 12 years.  He joined the TransForm Board in December 2011.

Advisory Council

• Elizabeth Deakin, Univ. of California, Berkeley and Univ. of California Transportation Center

• Philip Erickson, Community Design + Architecture

• Deb Hubsmith, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
• Doug Linney, The Next Generation
• Jeremy Nelson, Nelson\Nygaard
• Victor Rubin, PolicyLink
• Sharon Sprowls, Housing California