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The BTA's Wonderful Staff
Scott is a ten-year BTA veteran. Joining the BTA staff in 1998, Scott developed the organization’s Safe Routes to School program, including the BTA’s award winning Bicycle Safety Education curriculum. Scott went on to then serve as the Policy Director and Lobbyist from 2002-2007, where he helped pass state, regional, and local legislation promoting increased and safer cycling. Scott authored the BTA’s Blueprint for Better Bicycling and presents regularly on bicycle planning, non-profit management, and politics. Scott stepped-up in July, 2007 to become the BTA’s Executive Director with the expressed goal of partnering and growing the bicycle movement across all sectors. Scott holds a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University, and Bachelor’s of Political Science from the University of Albany, New York. A firm believer in stylish and practical cycling, Scott is a proponent of wool clothes and leather saddles.
Jordan joined the BTA staff in the spring of 2008 as a Bike Safety Education Instructor and is now working on a variety of outreach and education projects with our Safe Routes to School program. Hailing from Beaverton, Jordan discovered years ago that it's easy to commute by bike accross the metro area with a little multi-modal help from a friend named MAX. While attending the University of Oregon as a journalism student, Jordan went on to become a proverbial bike fanatic, enjoying rides and also tinkering on beater bikes. Jordan's intrepid spirit is calling him to next take a bike excursion through South America. Stay tuned for his updates from south of the border.
LeeAnne Fergason LeeAnne is a recent resident of Portland. Growing up in Texas, she merrily moved away to New York City for a few years after college. In New York she gave up her car and learned about the exciting world of bike commuting, walking and public transportation. Following the big city, she took a 6 month, 1700 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail. In a round about way, this led her to Tucson, AZ where she worked as a crew member for the Southwest Conservation Corps. She then joined their staff as a recruiter, hiring all new crew members, providing field support and organizing their community outreach work. In Tucson she also taught and worked as a teacher’s aide for a 3rd and 4th grade class at Satori Charter School. LeeAnne joined the BTA staff and the Safer Routes to School program in August of 2007. She is excited about this opportunity to work in Portland’s innovative education and bike community with such an enthusiastic organization. She loves exploring her new digs with her partner, Jon-Paul, and with reading, hiking, eating tasty food…and biking, naturally.
After volunteering in the office in support of the National Walk+Bike to School Day, Joel joined the staff in the fall of 2007 as a Bicycle Safety Education instructor. Now a Coordinator for the BTA’s Safe Routes to School program Joel hands out “I biked” stickers to third graders and helps wrangle the bike fleet for the BTA’s school programs. After work Joel is usually way too busy with self-employment as a bike bag maker, theater, music and trying to fit in all those bike repairs he has put off for way too long.
Lillian Karabaic first started bike commuting in the 6th grade in the suburbs of Cincinnati, OH, where it really was uphill both ways. After helping found the former Queen City Bicycle Co-op in Cincinnati, she moved to Oregon and joined the BTA staff as the Americorps Safe Routes to School Outreach Coordinator in 2007 and now works as the BTA's Event Coordinator. She has given presentations on Portland's bicycling to regional governments and local advocacy groups across the midwest. She spends her "free time" volunteering with the IPRC, Red Cross, and bike fun group Shift, zoobombing, building her recycled-materials home, drawing her comic, taking pictures and moving by bicycle.
Angela Koch joined the BTA in May 2007 as the Safe Routes to School Director, moved on to supervise all programs staff and is now the BTA's Managing Director. Angela oversees the BTA's youth and adult education programs and advocacy staff and also helps to maintain integrated workplans and a positive work environment for the entire organization. Having earned a fine arts degree from Western Carolina University, Angela gained valuable experience working as a designer before moving to Portland in 2000. Once she found her way from the Tarheel state to this great city of bikes and roses, she established the world’s first kids’ café based on her dedication to healthier lifestyle choices for kids. She eventually left the café to focus more directly on her own children and now lives car-free with her two daughters, Ellie and Libby, her husband Craig, Simon the dog and a new bikey baby on the way!
After never going home from the roadtrip that dropped him in Portland in 2006, Carl has become thoroughly enveloped by Portland's rich bike culture and is involving himself with just about everything bikey the city has to offer. Despite rumors to the contrary, however, it is true that Carl has spent some time not riding a bicyle. He took a break from his bikes at Middlebury College while studying sledding, skinny-dipping, cheese and architectural history, but a semester in Copenhagen brought him back to his old bikey habits. While living on an island in the St. Lawrence River, he commuted for a few summers by kayak to architecture, construction and environmental advocacy jobs. Recently, though, Carl spent the summer delivering alternative transportation resources by bike as part of the City of Portland's Smart Trips individualized marketing campaign and is now very happy to now be part of the Safer Routes to School team.
Scott joined the BTA in November 2006. He studied public policy at the University of Oregon and later was elected to the Eugene City Council and then to the Lane County Commission. Before he joined the BTA staff, Scott had been a substitute teacher for Kindergarten through 8th grades and supervised the after school intramural program at Glencoe Elementary School. It is safe to say that Scott really likes bikes. He commutes by bike, does errands with his trailer, and enjoys training rides on the weekend, tours in the summer, and community rides through the year. Scott spent ten years repairing and selling bikes and now maintains his own repair shop in his basement where he repairs bikes for his family and neighbors. He volunteers in his children's schools, as well as for several other community projects such as Downspout Disconnect, Community Cares school clean-up and the Boy Scouts. Margaret and Scott live in East Portland and have two children in Portland Public Schools.
Margaux joined the BTA staff as an advocacy assistant in 2009 after volunteering in the office for almost a year. She is currently working towards a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning at PSU, and in her spare time she makes neighborhoods safer by petitioning for more crosswalks. Margaux became an advocate for biking and walking after spending a year in the cycle-friendly town of Strasbourg, France in 2005. After returning to Portland to finish her history degree, she worked as a barista and then traveled through South America, where she biked the “world’s most dangerous road."
Lynne joined the BTA in early 2007 as a member of the Safe Routes to School Team. Hailing from Toronto and then Vancouver, Canada where she taught special needs students, in her spare time Lynne developed the provincially sanctioned bike safety program, Bike Smarts and delivered training for teachers throughout British Columbia. With this experience, and her entrepreneurial sprit, Lynne went on to author an animated, interactive CD-ROM, CycleSmart, to give young riders initial information and opportunities to experience and practice safe riding skills. Lynne loves seeing children learn and continue to seek ways to be active, healthy and safe in their community. Shortly after moving to Portland, Lynne became Statewide Coordinator of Community Traffic Safety for ACTS Oregon where she learned the importance of understanding multi-modal needs, in cities of all sizes, rural, urban and suburban by developing school and community travel plans. She continues to spread these values as the BTA's Youth Programs Manager.
Stephanie has been an active participant in local bike culture since first moving to Portland in 2001. She holds a particular fondness for the Breakfast on the Bridge crew, the annual spring Bunny on a Bike Ride, and the wacky bicycle events coordinated through Shift. Stephanie has been a bike commuter since she finally got brave enough to remove her training wheels at age eight. During the summer of 2003 she biked from Portland, OR to Brooklyn, NY. Previous to joining the Safe Routes to School Team in March 2007, Stephanie served as assistant director at St. Francis Dining hall, worked as a landscape gardener, and led bike tours for teenagers. When not working or biking, Stephanie enjoys cooking, gardening, camping, reading, and playing old time banjo.
Michael O’Leary grew up biking to elementary school in Eugene back in the 1970s on a red and chrome Schwinn Typhoon. A fifth-generation Oregonian and a resident of Southeast Portland for over 12 years, Michael has previously worked as an organizer in both the labor and environmental movements, and he claims to have never missed his opportunity to vote in a special, primary or general election. Now after having taught Bike Safety Education and the Share The Roads traffic safety class, Michael is helping keep the BTA’s wheels spinning true as the Office Manager. Currently Michael is faithfully keeping his brake pads in optimal adjustment and is working on doing a better job of stretching before and after his rides.
Roopal traveled 3200 miles to join the BTA from Montreal, Quebec. (Apart from that, she is carfree!) Her studies and career in international business & finance have taken her and her bike to many parts of the world. She earned her MBA from Thunderbird in Arizona, attended the graduate accounting program at McGill University in Canada, worked for five years as a management consultant to several global corporations and worked as an auditor for two years at Deloitte & Touche in Montreal. Working as the Finance Director for the BTA is the ultimate for Roopal because it allows the integration of what she does to earn a living with what she loves to do to live. In her free time she cleans, practices yoga, hangs with her partner (a framebuilder/mechanic) and throws the ball for her blue heeler, Arlo.
Michelle Poyourow Michelle has worked with local elected officials and nonprofits in the Portland region since 2003 and designed and implemented Metro's original “Get Centered” tours of regional urban centers. While she was trained as a biologist and worked most recently as an economist, she also has experience managing communications efforts, web sites, volunteers, and publications. She joined the BTA staff in March 2006 and is our lead advocate on transit and planning issues. When she's not at work, Michelle loves to dance, eat, sit on committees and get misty eyed over how much she loves Portland.
Tom came to the BTA in March of 2006 as a volunteer and then became an intern on the Bicycle Boulevards Campaign where he helped to develop, administer and review an online survey and assisted with field work in Davis, CA, Berkeley, CA, Eugene, OR, Seattle, WA, and Vancouver, BC. Tom continued to volunteer in the office between classes at PSU following his internship and started working part-time as the Safe Routes To School program assistant following an internship with Alta Planning + Design. Tom completed his bachelor’s degree in community development in the spring of 2007. He enjoys hiking with his wife and dog, racing cyclocross and volunteering as a board member for Bikes To Rwanda. Tom and his wife Samantha welcomed their first child to their family in April, 2008.
Eileen Trudeau joined the BTA staff in April 2009 as the Director of Development and Communications, combining her love of bicycling with her professional experience in fundraising. She has worked for a wide range of non-profit organizations. She is drawn to the BTA's enthusiastic commitment to enhance the livability of Oregon's communities by advocating for safer roads for biking and by teaching kids bicycle safety. Eileen lives in northeast Portland and especially enjoys the bike-friendly neighborhoods and the access to public transportation. During the spring and summer months she can be found tending her garden, and when the gardening season ends she returns to her fabric art studio.
Stephen grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where he commuted to high school by mountain bike through the woods and on suburban streets. He fell in love with urban cycling after moving to Portland to attend Reed College, where in 2007 he completed his senior thesis on the poetry of Li-Young Lee. Before joining the BTA in 2008 he interned at the Citizens Housing and Planning Association in Baltimore, coordinated Portland Bureau of Transportation permits for the City Repair Project, and helped plan the program and manage volunteers at the Toward Carfree Cities Conference in 2008. When not hauling lumber, matzo, guitar, or groceries on his two-wheeled miracle, Stephen coordinates the flow and accuracy of Development and Finance information at the BTA, and resolves the more mysterious technological conundrums that emerge in a fast-paced advocacy-education organization.
Scott Yelton came to us in 2008 as a graduate of Portland State University's master's program in Leadership in Ecology, Culture, and Learning. He brings a variety of community organizing and event planning experience to the BTA, from planning marketing events at the Boston Marathon and AltaVista's launch party, to organizing the first neighborhood cleanup for the South Tabor Neighborhood Association. These leadership skills are being put to good use as he heads up the BTA's marketing efforts in addition to being the event planner for the 2009 Safe Routes to School National Conference and the Alice Awards and Auction. He hopes his work at the BTA will make the streets safer for his three rosy-cheeked children to bike to school every day. He has an unnatural fondness for unicorns, Matthew McConaughey, and Google chat.
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Jordan Bailey 
Stephanie Noll 
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