We welcome four new board members including former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels

Transportation Choices Coalition Board of Directors welcomes four new members. Joining TCC’s board are Greg Nickels, Genesee Adkins, Josh Kavanagh and Pearl Leung. 

“People are looking for an affordable alternative to driving roads that are increasingly in disrepair and paying high gas prices. But we’re cutting transit service as demand is going up. TCC is in a great position to push for meaningful reform in our transportation system, making sure it works for everyone and gets Washington moving again,” said Kathleen Huckabay, TCC board president and former Sammamish City Councilmember. 

“TCC is really fortunate to have such an outstanding class of new board members to help us succeed. They bring a wealth of experience and skills that will bolster the organization’s ability to fulfill our mission of advocating for reform and real transportation choices for everyone.”

Serving three year terms, the four join TCC as it is poised to help Washington state step up to the challenge of enacting meaningful reform to transportation policy and making critical investments in our infrastructure to give people transportation choices and keep our state moving forward.

“I’m honored to join TCC’s board. As Mayor, we worked together to expand light rail, tackled Seattle’s transportation maintenance backlog, and wrote complete streets legislation,” said Greg Nickels, former Mayor of Seattle. “I’m looking forward to the next set of transportation challenges facing our state, ensuring that we provide long-term funding to meet the growing demand for transit service and that we make smart investments to build great communities.”

TCC will welcome the new board members at their annual event ‘What Choices Look Like’ Thursday September 22^nd from 5:30 – 7:30pm at EM Fine Art Gallery – 410 Dexter Avenue North in Seattle. At that event TCC will also be launching their new website and logo as part of a complete rebranding of Transportation Choices.

Below are short bios on the new board members:

Genesee Adkins is the Director of Government Relations for King County Executive Dow Constantine. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the University of Rochester. She is the county’s chief lobbyist in Olympia on state legislative issues and oversees the county’s federal priorities and lobbying in Washington, DC.

Josh Kavanagh is the Director of Transportation at the University of Washington where he oversees the U-PASS transportation demand management program (transit, ridesharing, & active transportation), on-campus shuttles, parking, and fleet management. He serves in national and regional leadership positions with the Association for Commuter Transportation and International Parking Institute. He holds an MBA from the University of New Mexico.

Pearl Leung is the Community Relations Manager at Vulcan, Inc, where she is responsible for the development and implementation of public outreach strategies and education of Vulcan projects and initiatives. She holds a Masters in Urban Planning from UW and also is a commissioner of the Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs.

Greg Nickels was the 51^st Mayor of Seattle serving from 2002-2009. During his tenure as Mayor, he was both a local and national leader on climate change, creating the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which now boasts commitments from over a 1,000 Mayors representing 86 million Americans. In 2008, Nickels spearheaded the effort to pass an $18 billion expansion of light rail to build out a 52-mile system in the Puget Sound region. Most recently, he has served as a Public Delegate (citizen ambassador) of the United States to the 65th General Assembly of the United Nations.