Board + Staff

Board & Staff

President: MaryEllen Thibodeau

MaryEllen Thibodeau, a former lawyer, has been cycling for transportation, fun and fitness for her entire life. About 20 years ago, she began training inearnest for cycling in charity fundraisers, and in 2006 she and her husband rode 3,850 miles cross country to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary and raise money for the American Cancer Society. She joined the board of Bike Walk Connecticut in January 2008 to advocate for the rights of cyclists and for funding for bike friendly projects. In October 2008, she became a League of American Bicyclists League Cycling Instructor through a course organized by Bike Walk Connecticut. She became Bike Walk Connecticut'sfirst staff person in October 2009.

Vice President: Chris Brown

Chris is a year-round bicyclist and bike-related business owner best known in the Connecticut cycling community for his contributions to the Beat Bike Blog (beatbikeblog.blogspot.com) where he chronicles bicycling in the greater Hartford area and beyond. He also serves on the Frog Hollow Neighborhood Revitalization Zone Committee and works as Technical Director for the Hartbeat Ensemble Theater Company. A longtime tinkerer, he can often be found working on bike-related projects. Mr. Brown believes that everyone can benefit from increased bike usage and bike-supportive infrastructure.

Secretary: Emily Wolfe

Treasurer: Ken Livingston

As a principle planner for Fitzgerald & Halliday Planning Consultants in Hartford, Ken Livingston concentrates much of his professional energy bicycle and pedestrian planning, including policy and program evaluations, network development and physical route planning. He is currently managing the update to Connecticut's Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan for the Connecticut Department of Transportation. He has been involved with the development of regional bicycle plans and conducted numerous bicycle and pedestrian demand analysis studies for regional plans and corridor studies. He has also worked in bicycle routing feasibility studies for on- and off-road bicycle networks. His work has focused on community development issues and the linkage between transportation and "livable communities". Mr. Livingston holds a B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Science from SUNY, and a B.S. in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire.

Laura Baum

Sandy Fry

As the Principal Transportation Planner responsible for bicycle, pedestrian and transit planning for the Capitol Region Council of Governments, Ms. Fry organized Hartford’s monthly Bike to Work events. As the effort grew in scope, Ms. Fry organized Bike Walk Connecticut’s previous incarnation (Central Connecticut Bike Association) to take over the event. Her job as Transportation Planner is made easier by Bike Walk Connecticut’s strong advocacy for alternative travel education and encouragement.

Gary Griffin

Beverly Hughes

Mrs. Hughes has been a recreational cyclist since 1968. In the 1990s she started riding more seriously and changed career directions, moving to fundraising for a new Boys and Girls Club in Hartford. This life changing experience led her to want to share her knowledge of fund-raising with other worthy groups like Bike Walk Connecticut. Recently retired, Mrs. Hughes and her husband have biked through many parts of this country as well as Canada and Europe. It is important to her to spread the advantages and delights of green transportation to as many people as possible.

Tom O'Brien

Tom O'Brien is a freelance journalist and carpenter who's committed to making Western Connecticut more amenable to walking and biking. His major accomplishment is the establishment of the New Milford River Trail, a greenway that will follow the Housatonic River the entire length of town. He's looking forward to the day when he and his son will no longer be recognized throughout the community as "the bike riders."

Stuart Popper

Stuart is a recreational cyclist and a League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor. He is a professional planner with over 20 years of planning experience on the municipal and regional levels and in the private sector. Stuart's areas of expertise are community and land use planning, transportation and land use connections and public involvement. He has worked on a variety of planning projects and has always been an advocate of bicycle and pedestrian access. Stuart is
the Director of Planning and Development for the Town of Cromwell.

Luis Rivera

Luis Rivera grew up in Hartford and has worked with the Hartford Community for almost 10 years. Luis Rivera has worked with the North End of Hartford at Jumoke Academy, and also in the Frog Hallow area at MI Casa Community Center. Luis is currently working as the Program Coordinator for the Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Hartford a program of the Injury Prevention Center at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Luis directs community outreach activities, teaching the Hartford Community to be safe, while they enjoy wonderful activities like bicycling and walking. Through his work at Connecticut Children’s he has properly fitted helmets on thousands of kids during health fairs, bike rodeo and helmet safety classes. He has also donated several bicycles to youth in the community. Luis strives to promote wellness by encouraging kids to be active, to walk and ride bikes, but to do so in a safe manner.

Chris Skelly

Executive Director: Kelly Kennedy

Kelly is a devoted outdoor sports enthusiast with roots in environmental work, public policy, management, communications, and health. She has long been a strong supporter of efforts to develop viable options beyond the car for getting around. As the communications director for the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, Kelly helped promote the Complete Streets bill of 2009, as well as other initiatives such as recreational liability reform and vulnerable user legislation in 2011. She has worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations in a freelance capacity, doing web design and communications, strategic planning, and event planning. Her previous careers include working as a tax attorney in state government, and before that, running corporate fitness programs. Kelly is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law and of the Pennsylvania State University, where she studied exercise science.

Board Alumni

Past President: Anne I. Hayes

Ms. Hayes is the Director of Parking & Mass Transit for The Travelers Companies Inc. where she oversees parking and mass transit programs in Hartford, St. Paul, and Travelers field offices nationwide. Through corporate programs, she encourages Travelers employees to bike, walk, take the bus, vanpool, and other low-impact forms of transportation. Under Ms. Hayes, more Travelers employees have consistently participated Hartford’s monthly Bike to Work events than any other company in the city. Travelers provides on-site showers and bike racks to riders, and regularly posts information about Bike to Work on the company intranet, as well as sponsoring the monthly events for the past three years by providing breakfast and employee volunteers to run the day’s events. Ms. Hayes has taken Traffic Skills 101 and encourages all board members to do the same!

Martha Page

Martha Page is the Executive Director of the Hartford Food System, a nonprofit organization in Hartford dedicated to food security. Previously, she was the Environmental Health Manager for the City of Hartford Department of Health and Human Services. Martha is a certified Public Health professional who walks and bicycles often and wants others to do so as well, for the health and fun of it! She particularly enjoys bike touring and has taken several trips with her bicycle, both here and abroad. For Martha, cycling and walking are wonderful ways to be outdoors with friends and family, to see things in a way that you can't when you're stuck in a car, and to allow you to eat more than you otherwise could.

Gerry LaFleur

Mr. Lafleur is a musician and Corrections Counselor with the CT DOC who enjoys mountain bike racing and street cycling. While he currently bikes mostly for recreation/health/fitness/sanity, he is working toward making biking his primary form of transportation. He believes that bicycling has the power to change the world.

Mark Paquette

Mark Paquette is the Executive Director of the Windham Region Council of Governments (WINCOG). Mark serves on the Governors CT Greenways Council as it’s acting chairman. Mark is a member of the EastCoast Greenway (ECG) Trails Committee and chairs the CT section of the ECG. He also serves on the CT Advisory Commission for Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR). The commission is a 24-member agency of the State of Connecticut to study system issues between the state and local governments and to recommend solutions as appropriate. Mr. Paquette also is chairman of the CT Association of Regional Planning Organizations. Mark also chairs the Eastern CT Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Consortium.

Mark is an avid cyclist, runner, golfer and skier. He has been a certified soccer referee for both high school and college soccer for the past 24 years, and serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association and serves as Treasurer/Secretary for the Eastern CT Soccer Officials Board. Mark resides in Mansfield with his wife Chris.

Jeff McGuane

Formerly President of CSG International, McGuane was appointed President of CSG North America in March 2009 and is charged with driving the CSG business in North American from its Bethel, Connecticut global headquarters. For the past 15 years McGuane has held positions with Cannondale and CSG in the United States, Japan and Europe. He was appointed President of Cannondale Europe in 2004 and named President of CSG International in August 2008. Under McGuane's leadership, Cannondale Europe experienced a truly exceptional rate of growth and success. McGuane sits on the Board of Directors for Bikes Belong and is a member of the International Mountain Biking Association.

Improving the safety of our streets and the availability of places to ride in Connecticut is a goal McGuane has set for CSG. Advocating for bicyclists by working in conjunction with groups like Bike Walk Connecticut, local bicycle dealers and cyclists will help to create positive change in our state. McGuane is an avid cyclist and enjoys riding for recreation, commuting and with his family.