OUR TEAM
LEAH SHAHUM
Founder & Executive Director
Leah is the Founder and Director of the Vision Zero Network, bringing two decades of proven success championing movements to advance safe, healthy, active transportation. She serves on the Steering Group of the national Road to Zero Coalition, as well as the Advisory Board of the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety (CSCRS) at the University of North Carolina.
As a German Marshall Fund Fellow, Leah researched Vision Zero strategies in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. Prior to that, Leah served as the Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, leading significant change on the streets and in the policies of this leading Vision Zero city. She also served as a policy maker on the Boards of Directors of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District and the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, as well as the national Alliance for Biking and Walking.
JENN FOX
Program Director
Jenn Fox is an environmental engineer, a facilitator, and a transportation advocate at Vision Zero Network. She works with communities to help them reach their goals of Vision Zero — eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe injuries — while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. Jenn applies her science expertise to improve public policy; and her facilitation skills to improve coordination between federal, state and local transportation professionals and advocates. At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Jenn worked with regulators, communities, and industry to reduce air pollution. Jenn led the strategic planning, measurement and evaluation teams at the ClimateWorks Foundation. She has served as the Executive Director of the Bay Area Open Space Council, Together Bay Area, and as a Board Member of the League of American Bicyclists and other non-profits.
REETU PETHANI
Program Associate
Reetu Pethani is a transportation planner focusing on safe mobility, active transportation, and complete streets. She earned her Master of City Planning from UC Berkeley, where she worked with the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), conducting stakeholder research for California's Safe System Leadership Institute. With a background in architecture and urban design, she brings a spatial and visual approach to her work and believes in designing as a citizen, not just for the citizen.
As a Program Associate at Vision Zero Network, Reetu supports communities' Vision Zero work by developing resources and sharing promising strategies including webinars and online learning tools. She also leads research and event coordination, such as the annual World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
PROJECT ADVISORS
IVAN CHEUNG
Visiting Senior Research Fellow
Dr. Ivan Cheung is a transportation safety expert dedicated to advancing safe, equitable and sustainable transportation. Most recently he served as Senior Advisor to the Associate Administrator for Safety at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Prior to this, he advised the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), focusing on safety recommendations and policy reforms related to speeding, vulnerable road users, impaired driving and the Safe System Approach. Dr. Cheung has led research on topics including pedestrian and bicyclist safety, speeding, safety cameras and the relationship between public health and environmental changes.
His earlier roles include research scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Director of GIScience Programs at the American Association of Geographers. Originally from Hong Kong, Dr Cheung earned degrees from Hong Kong Baptist University, University of Idaho, Washington State University and UCLA.
LUCY STEPHENSON
Partnerships Advisor
Lucy builds systems and lead pilots to advance road safety across the U.S., including among technology firms and other businesses and organizations in the safety space. She brings a systems lens across technical innovation, policy, and community-based safety.
Lucy has experience working on autonomous vehicle safety standards at Mobileye, global smart cities technology at Intel, and urban safety in Mexico at the International Crisis Group. During her Master's in City Planning, she studied how women's safety perceptions affect transit mode choice in Mexico City as a UCLA Blum Fellow, cross-city learning for seismic-resilient transportation investments as a UC-CONNECT Fellow, and Pogo Park's efforts to convert Richmond's more dangerous streets into playscapes as an IURD Equity Fellow.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
BOB DALLAS
Bob Dallas is a civil lawyer with extensive experience in developing and implementing public health and safety behavioral programs. In 1989 Bob co-founded Safe Kids of Georgia and has spent 25+ years working on public health and transportation safety initiatives, 20 years as a planning commissioner, and 8 years as Georgia’s highway safety director. Bob currently chairs Pedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety (PEDS) and was appointed by DeKalb County to serve on the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority board. He also serves on the Road Safe America, Cowart Family Ashford-Dunwoody YMCA, and Dunwoody Planning Commission boards. Bob now works with DEKRA North America to develop and implement Vision Zero policies.
BELLA DINH-ZARR
The Honorable Tho Bella Dinh-Zarr, PhD, MPH, is Senior Advisor to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) and the FIA Foundation. She co-founded the 05 Saves Lives Coalition to prevent deaths and injuries from drinking and driving. Dr. Dinh-Zarr has served as Vice Chairman,
Acting Chairman, and the 42nd Board Member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Previously, with the FIA Foundation, she played a key role in incorporating road safety into the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and has also worked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Texas A&M Transportation Institute, AAA, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Born in Vietnam and having volunteered and studied in Paraguay, Chile, and the U.K., Dr. Dinh-Zarr is committed to advancing transportation that is safe and ethical for everyone.
NATALIE DRAISIN
As the North American Director & United Nations Representative for the FIA Foundation, Natalie Draisin leads the organization’s activities across the Americas and advances evidence-based solutions focused on safe systems and equity around the world. She ensured the inclusion of road safety in UN Sustainable Development Goals, and lobbied US Congress to encourage the World Bank to implement minimum safety standards on roads. Highlights of her global partnerships include founding Vision Zero for Youth with the National Center for Safe Routes to School and scaling it globally with the Institute for Transportation Development and Policy and the World Resources Institute. She authored UNICEF guidance about preventing COVID-19 and road traffic injuries on the journey to school, created a Conflict Technique Toolkit with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and enabled the foundation of the New Mobility Initiative at Johns Hopkins University.
JUAN MARTINEZ
In his current role as Senior Advisor for
State Legislative Affairs, Juan Martinez lobbies to advance the City of New York's transportation and infrastructure policies, including successful campaigns to expand automated enforcement and win adoption of
congestion pricing. Previously, Juan served as the Director of Traffic Operations Policy at the NYC Department of Transportation, where he led policy development for several of the agency’s Vision Zero efforts, including the expansion of pedestrian right of way within crosswalks. Previously, Juan was General Counsel & Legislative Director at Transportation Alternatives, one of the nation’s leading walking and bicycling nonprofits, where he led the campaign to commence NYC's speed camera program and helped lead the campaign which led to the adoption of Vision Zero in NYC.
NICOLE FERRARA
Nicole Ferrara is Chair of the Vision
Zero Network's Advisory Committee. She is a leader in the City of Oakland Department of Transportation's Great Streets Division and the manager of Oakland's Vision Zero initiative. Prior to Oakland, Nicole was the executive director of Walk San Francisco, the city's pedestrian advocacy organization working to reclaim San Francisco’s streets as
safe, shared public spaces for everybody to enjoy. Nicole has served on the Caltrans District 4 Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the City of Berkeley Transportation Commission, and the board of the Alliance for Biking and Walking.
MARTHA ROSKOWSKI
Martha Roskowski brings people together to develop and implement strategies for
sustainable and equitable mobility. At her consultancy Further Strategies, she’s worked on parking reform, congestion pricing, greenhouse gas budgets, zero-emission freight, and increasing funding
for advocacy efforts. Previously, she helped cities build protected bike lanes with the Green Lane Project. She ran the campaign in Congress that created the national Safe Routes to School program and was deemed the “godmother of Complete Streets” for helping launch that movement. Other jobs include running the City of Boulder’s transportation planning, programs, and policy shop and leading advocacy group Bicycle Colorado. She also serves on the advisory committee for the board of Better Boulder.
CLAY VEKA
Clay Veka is the Vision Zero Program Coordinator at the Portland Bureau of Transportation in Oregon. She has worked in traffic safety for almost 15 years and joined Portland’s Vision Zero program when it launched in 2015. Having led the development of Portland’s Vision Zero Action Plan, she now manages implementation efforts including major street redesigns, safe streets legislation and expansion of Portland’s automate enforcement program. Clay is committed
to advancing racial justice through Vision Zero.