It is with great pleasure that I share some exciting news with you.  On August 3, 2015, the Safe Routes Partnership voted to expand its Board of Directors and voted in two new persons to serve as board members.  Led by Board Chair Risa Wilkerson, the Board of Directors has been actively researching and working through targeted board development for the last year.  These two new members bring a wealth of experience, the willingness to roll up their sleeves and get to work as well as a commitment to the sustainability of our organization.  We truly could not be more pleased.  

Alice Cahn is a consultant and project director in the social responsibility, and youth and family media businesses. She spent 10 years at Turner Broadcasting directing content and the implementation of pro-social initiatives across divisions.  Prior, Cahn served as Managing Director of the Markle Foundation’s Interactive Media for Children Program.  Cahn came to Markle from Sesame Workshop where she served as President of the Television, Film and Video group.  From 1993-1998 Cahn was head of children's programming for US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).  

Cahn did her Master’s work in Educational Technology at San Francisco State University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from New York University. She and her partner live in Maplewood, NJ and have three children.

"Safe Routes to School offers an engaging and effective way for students, families and schools to make fitness part of their daily routine. Building partnerships across communities nationwide, we can offer all our children this opportunity, making a substantial contribution to life-long learning,” said Cahn.

Michael Payne has served as Executive Director of BikeHouston since January 2014. He joined with the goal of taking BikeHouston from being a volunteer organization with limited resources to a professionally staffed, self-sustaining bicycle advocacy organization. Before joining BikeHouston, Michael spent 16 years working on sustainable development issues in the private sector. This was initially as a project developer and subsequently as a manager leading large scale wind energy development efforts in Europe, the US and Asia for a global energy company. During this time he gratefully spent 9 years living in the Netherlands, where he enjoyed life cycling under very civilized terms. 

Prior to graduate school Michael lived in Atlanta where he was on the board of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and built up a software service company. 

“I am personally grateful for the work that has been done by the SafeRoutes to School Safe Routes Partnership with the support of the PeopleforBikes and I am honored to be joining the board at this exciting time in its evolution.  I am convinced that people across our country will benefit as this organization expands,” said Payne.

The Safe Routes Partnership Board of Directors serve to provide oversight related to the fiduciary responsibilities of the organization and to ensure all efforts of the organization are aligned strategically over the longer term promoting the mission of the Safe Routes Partnership to advance safe walking and bicycling to and from schools, and in daily life, to improve the health and well-being of America’s children and to foster the creation of livable, sustainable communities. 

You can read more about the Safe Routes Partnership Board of Directors and its other members here.