Fireside Chat: Local Governments Partnerships: Survival Strategies for Ridehailing and Shared Vehicles

Dan Sperling is the Blue Planet Prize Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, and Environmental Science and Policy, and founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS–Davis) at the University of California, Davis. He has held the transportation seat on the California Air Resources Board since 2007 (appointed by Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown) and served as Chair of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies in 2015-16. Dr. Sperling’s forthcoming book, Three Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared, and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future, will be released February 2018.

Shin-pei Tsay’s diverse experience in practice, design, and policy converges on transforming the built environment so that it is more accessible, equitable, and sustainable. Before joining Uber in September 2019, she founded Make Public, a social impact analysis firm that specializes in the public realm. Previously, she was the executive director of Gehl Institute, non-profit dedicated to making public life a driver of policy, design, and governance. Prior to joining Gehl Institute in 2016, Shin-pei was the deputy executive director of TransitCenter, a national foundation focused on improving urban transportation. As the second person hired, she contributed to growing the organization, led initiatives in strategic, research, and program development, managed transportation and technology program activities, and provided program, operational, and staff oversight. Shin-pei founded and directed the Cities and Transportation Program under the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she explored demand-side policies to mitigate climate change. As deputy director of Transportation Alternatives, she developed programs that expanded community participation in bicycle and pedestrian advocacy and forged connections with professionals in the public health and design fields. Her efforts led to New York City adopting the Safe Streets for Seniors program and a Play Streets program as well as recognition by Active Living Research and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Shin-pei also served as the chief operating officer of Project for Public Spaces and was a founding member of the New York City office for ZGF Architects. In 2010, she co-founded and directed Planning Corps, an organization that matches urban planners with neighborhood-based projects. Planning Corps’ work was selected for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Biennale for Architecture. For the last four years, Shin-pei served as a Commissioner for the City of New York Public Design Commission. She is on the Board of the national non-profit In Our Backyard. She received a BA with distinction from Cornell University and an MSc in City, Space, and Society from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Joshua L. Schank is the first ever Chief Innovation Officer at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro), where he leads the Office of Extraordinary Innovation (OEI). The role of this office is to champion new ideas to improve mobility in LA County by informing the high-level vision for LA Metro, piloting and implementing new and experimental programs and policy, and serving as the primary liaison relevant to LA Metro coming from entrepreneurs, established private sector entities, academia, or individual residents. The office is also responsible for LA Metro’s Public Private Partnership (P3), and strategic planning functions. 

Prior to joining LA Metro, Dr. Schank was President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation, a national non-profit think-tank. Dr. Schank’s extensive work in transportation policy and planning is well documented in his publications, including “All Roads Lead to Congress: The $300 Billion Fight Over Highway Funding,” co-authored with Costas Panagopoulos and published by CQ Press in 2007. He holds a Ph.D. in urban planning from Columbia University, a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.A. in urban studies from Columbia University.