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The BTA's Wonderful Staff
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.
A life-long fan of bikes, Kristin is delighted to be part of the membership and development team at the BTA. An Idaho native, her background is a mix of action-oriented science, conservation, education, and organizing. While earning her Master's in Science in Michigan, Kristin volunteered with the MSU community Bike Project and greater Lansing's Smart Commute Week, commuted by bike through five Michigan winters and raced for Michigan State. Since moving to Portland in 2008 Kristin has put her science education skills to work with OMSI and the Art Institute of Portland, worked with the great crew at the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, fallen in love with bike moves, volunteered regularly with the Community Cycling Center, and concluded that bike racing in the Portland area is speedy. When not working, fitting helmets or playing leapfrog with buses, Kristin is likely hiking, baking, reading, and/or dreaming of cyclocross.
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.
Before joining the BTA as Office and Finance Assistant, Chris lived in several frosty medium-sized Midwestern towns where he cycled freely through the quiet streets and vast parks and developed a strong independent streak that would often leave him late for dinner. At the University of Minnesota Chris studied Political Science and biked through snowuntil, after one too many frosty winter nights, he decided to move to Portland. Since then Chris has worked at the holiest of Portland institutions, the microbrewery. He also developed a passion for soccer and plays on a local softball team. Downtime finds him mulling over crossword clues and hovering over a stove, often with dubious results.
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 Operations and Communication 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 daughters Ellie, Libby, and Baby Clementine, her husband Craig, and Simon the dog.
Gerik joined the BTA in 2010 as the Advocacy Campaign Manager focused on building strong public support for the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030. As an advocate and organizer over the last ten years he focused on winning environmental, public health, and livability campaigns in the legislature and at the ballot box. A bicyclist originally from Eastern Montana, Gerik grew up mountain biking sandstone flats and backcountry singletrack. Now a daily bike commuter he likes to ride Mt. Tabor and Rocky Butte, and gets fired up about cross-town connections. When he is not volunteering for the Oregon Sierra Club or The Bus Project, Gerik spends as many weekends as possible surfing the cold waters of the Oregon Coast.
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.
Margaux joined the BTA staff as an advocacy assistant in 2009 and is now the BTA's Communication Coordinator. 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. She loves food carts, Twitter, the New York Times crossword, and neighborhood transportation activism.
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. 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. Michael is helping engage our volunteers in support of the BTA's advocacy and bike safety education programs and also assisting with day-to-day office staff support. Currently Michael is faithfully keeping his brake pads in optimal adjustment and is volunteering on the board of Umbrella.
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.
Susan joined the BTA in 2009 as the Statewide Advocate, working to connect Oregonians with active transportation resources while cultivating existing and creating new relationships within communities. Susan brings nearly six years of experience as a bicycle and pedestrian transportation consultant. Her consulting work in Chicago and nationally has included designing and implementing programs that reduce barriers for people to walk and bike more often. Susan is a Midwest transplant who cut her bicycle commuting teeth on the streets of Chicago during college. She was encouraged by a friend to purchase a bicycle in order to have a cheap and easy mode of transportation, never expecting to fall madly in love with the two-wheeled machines and spend nearly all her time working, riding, or talking about bicycles. Susan also loves to ride bikes fast and is vice president of her racing team, Veloforma.
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. |
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Jordan Bailey 
Stephanie Noll 
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