The next East Town Business Partnership Business Forum is on October 19, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at the Radisson Red – 609 S. 3rd Street. The title for the October forum is the “Getting Around in East Town Now and for the Next 25 Years.” Networking and lunch will start at 11:30 a.m., with the program starting at Noon.
Please RSVP for the business forum at Eventbrite.
Business Forum Description
Transit and access to downtown is a hot topic! This forum will include local and regional leaders talking about transit and access policy and strategies alongside emerging pedestrian, bike, and car technologies that are changing the way we move to and from East Town.
This month’s forum will feature the following guest speakers:
Adam Harrington, Director of Service Development, Met Transit
Adam Harrington is the Director of Service Development at Metro Transit, and has been engaged in planning and managing transit service for more than 20 years. His attention on delivering routes and schedules quarterly that meet the needs of 260,000 daily customers on 130 routes including Green Line, Blue Line and Northstar Commuter Rail, bring long operational experience and understanding that influence long term planning. Adam has led implementation of large scale route restructurings, implementation of LRT, been a champion of arterial BRT, and collaborated with many business and city stakeholders to balance needs and impacts of transit service and facilities in downtown Minneapolis, St. Paul and around the region.
Mary Morse Marti, Executive Director, Move Minneapolis
Mary Morse Marti is executive director of Move Minneapolis where she builds a positive multimodal commuting culture among downtown workers, employers, and residents. Mary brought the sharing economy to the North in 2005 as founder of Hourcar car sharing, the region’s first shared transportation system. She’s written two books and has held leadership positions in several local nonprofits. Although she’s dedicated her career to sustaining nature and the environment, her friends claim that she loves cities, design, and infrastructure even more.
Ethan Fawley, Executive Director, Our Streets
Ethan became Executive Director of Our Streets Minneapolis (formerly the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition) in August 2013 after being a volunteer leader since 2009. He believes you should love what you do and has a big passion for Minneapolis and the power of biking and walking to improve the quality of life in our city. Before joining Our Streets Minneapolis, he was the Transportation and Built Environment Director at Fresh Energy.
He holds a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and a B.A. in Geography, with a minor in Urban Studies from the University of Minnesota. He serves on the Minneapolis Downtown Council’s Transportation Committee and Met Council’s Transportation Advisory Board.
Ethan lives with his wife, Lesley, and young son, Quincy, in the Midtown Phillips neighborhood. He is a big soccer fan (including a season ticket holder of Minnesota United FC, the local team) and tries to play soccer at least twice a week.
Jessica Treat, Executive Director, Transit for Livable Communities
Jessica Treat is an established leader in transportation advocacy and travel demand management (TDM) in the Twin Cities with over 10 years of experience in organizational development and management. Jessica served as the founding Executive Director of St. Paul Smart Trips for eight years. Under her leadership, the organization developed a local and national reputation for their innovative approach to TDM including employing social marketing approaches to successfully shift transportation attitudes and behaviors. In 2016 Jessica became the Executive Director of Transit for Livable Communities (TLC) and oversaw the successful merger of Smart
Trips and TLC to become the largest transportation advocacy non-profit in
Minnesota.
Jessica holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering
from Arizona State University.
Agenda
11:30 am: Registration and networking
12:00 pm: Welcome – Paul Mellblom
12:03 pm: Announcements – Dan Collison
12:10 pm: “Greening Lab” Special Guest Presentation – Ben Shardlow
12:20 pm: Transit Panel Moderated by Dan Collison (5-7 Minute Presentations each, then open Q & A)
- Adam Harrington, Director of Service Development, Met Transit
- Mary Morse Marti, Executive Director, Move Minneapolis
- Ethan Fawley, Executive Director, Our Streets
- Jessica Treat, Executive Director, Transit for Livable Communities
12:55: Wrap up – Dan Collison
1:00 pm: Program ends